Martha awoke before the first rays of sun. She tossed and turned. She didn’t want to get up and make herself coffee in case she woke Sheryl. Today was the day they were going camping. Martha considered she’d had a little bit too much excitement lately with the trip to New York. Sure, she had gained a chocolate contract, and that was what she had wanted. However, she didn’t feel as though she could go back to New York ever again. She also wasn’t sure about camping.
Martha had followed the same pattern since she was born, and now in a few short weeks of rumspringa her world had been turned upside down. She was beginning to crave the stability of her familiar surroundings. What’s more, she missed Moses. She hadn’t seen him for a while and she wondered what he was doing.
Mary had told her that Abigail Eicher was interested in David, but Martha knew that Abigail had always had eyes for Moses. Was that why she hadn’t heard from Moses? Was it because he was interested in Abigail? Or someone else?
Moses’s mother’s store was not too far from Martha’s apartment and Moses could easily visit if he wanted. Obviously he didn’t want to visit her.
Martha sat up and then lay back down. She tossed and turned, willing herself back to sleep. It did not work. Martha’s thoughts turned to Sam. She had seen more of him in the past day. He had shown her his stick collection and some of his rocks. He was a delightful boy. Martha wondered what her own son would look like. Would he look like Sam? Sam was tall for his age, and Moses was tall.
Martha sat bolt upright. Moses? Why did her mind follow that train of thought? Maybe she was overtired.
Martha laid back down and put the pillow over her head in the hopes she could go back to sleep if it was dark. That didn’t work, so after half an hour Martha got up and tiptoed into the kitchen. She looked at the coffee machine. It made a loud sound when it was turned on, and she didn’t want to wake Sheryl. Still, she faced this decision every morning and usually ended up making the coffee. Sometimes Sheryl woke and sometimes she didn’t. But even if the noise of the coffee machine did wake her, Sheryl never seemed to mind. Or maybe she was just being polite. Martha shrugged and turned on the coffee machine.
Martha was sitting alone at the table eating toast and drinking coffee. She had never once eaten alone before she had become English. It seemed strange and she didn’t like it. “Am I having second thoughts about being English?” Martha said quietly to herself.
“What did you say?” Sheryl said.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t even see you come out of your bedroom. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No. I thought Gary said we were going to get an early start.”
“He did?”
Sheryl laughed. “Silly me. I forgot to tell you. Anyway, did you like the clothes I bought you?”
Martha was once embarrassed. “Yes, but Sheryl, you must allow me to pay for them.”
Sheryl held up both hands in front of her. “No way! It’s kind of you to help Gary with Sam. We’re both doing him a favor, so I wouldn’t want you to have to pay.”
Martha scratched her head, thinking how easy it was to scratch her head when there was no prayer kapp or bonnet in the way. “But we’re doing Gary a favor. I’m not doing you a favor.”
Sheryl laughed. “Don’t be so confusing before I have caffeine.” She disappeared into the kitchen and then returned with a mug of coffee. “When you fell asleep while watching TV the other night there was a show on about Amish people.”
Martha was intrigued. “There was? I missed it.”
“Never mind. It will be back on soon. Anyway, there was a man who ate coffee soup. Have you ever heard of it?”
“I know Mary likes coffee oats,” Martha said, “but I don’t like it. Some people in the community eat coffee soup. They break up toast or crackers into a bowl and then pour coffee over it along with cream and sugar. Some people even put potatoes and cheese in it.”
Sheryl pulled an expression of distaste. “Eek! That sounds absolutely disgusting.”
Martha chuckled. “I’ve never had it. It doesn’t sound too nice, but it might surprise you.”
“I won’t be trying it,” Sheryl said over her shoulder as she hurried to answer a knock on the door.
Gary and Sam walked in. Sam was twirling a stick between his fingers.
“Are you excited to be going camping?” Martha asked him.
Sam nodded but did not meet her eyes.
“Are you ready to go now?” Gary said. “We haven’t had breakfast, by the way. If you want to take that as hint, it is.”
Sheryl waved them over to the table. “Would you like coffee?”
“Sam’s too young!” Gary said in fright.
Sheryl rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Gary! I meant for you. I’ll give you both toast.”
“I’ve been meaning to buy eggs and bacon,” Martha said. “How have you been going with cooking for Sam?”
“We’ve been getting takeout,” Gary said.
Gary must have been ravenous as he ate five pieces of toast in quick succession. Sam seemed too busy twirling his stick to eat much, which made Martha a little concerned. “Gary, can I get Sam something else to eat?”
“We’ll get him something on the way to the campground,” Gary said. He seemed a little distracted.
“Laura is still coming, isn’t she?” Martha asked him.
“Yes, we’ll swing by her house next.”
Gary spent a long time eating, and asked for ice cream as well. Sam, too, seemed hungry. So much for the early start—they waited at Laura’s apartment for an hour for her to get ready.
It was late morning before they were on their way to the campground. Martha wondered what camping would be like. Part of her was looking forward to the new experience, and part of her wanted to go home and see her family. Just a little visit, she thought. Maybe I could visit my family once a week.
Laura sighed. “I’m not sure about camping. I don’t like getting dirty.”
Gary looked across at her. She was in sitting next to him, while Martha and Sheryl were in the back seat with Sam sitting between them.
“You’re doing me a favor, Laura,” Gary said. “Thanks.”
“You weren’t joking when you said they had bathrooms, were you?” she asked him.
He hurried to reassure her. “Of course not. They have nice, clean bathrooms. I’ve been there before. If you don’t believe me, go to their website and check out the reviews. Mom wouldn’t take Sam camping somewhere where they didn’t have good facilities.”
“It’s a shame they don’t have cabins,” Laura added.
“They do have cabins,” Gary said, “but we always have more fun in an actual tent. What fun is a cabin?”
Laura leaned over to the back seat and wriggled her eyebrows at Martha and Sheryl.
Martha figured that camping couldn’t be all that bad. After all, she was used to plain living, and Gary even said they there were airbeds. How hard could it be? She just didn’t want to sit around idly. She would rather be doing something. Besides, there was her chocolate business to plan, but Gary certainly did need help with Sam and she could hardly begrudge him her time. Gary seemed quite absent-minded and Martha didn’t think he was the most suitable person to mind a young child.
The drive to the camping grounds was not far, much to Martha’s relief. “You might see a deer,” Gary said to Sam. To the women, Gary said, “Sam loves animals.”
“Mary said you should take him out to see her dog, Pirate, one day,” Martha said.
“Already discussed,” Gary said.
Martha gasped. “It is?” She wondered when that had happened. She certainly hoped Mary wasn’t going to try to make David jealous. Martha would have asked Gary more, but he was already out of the car and heading over to the office.
“The area is more wooded than I thought,” Laura said with dismay. “I thought we would be camping on rolling fields and not stuck in the woods. I wonder how big the tents are?”
That was the first question she asked Gary when he returned to the car. “You’ll soon see,” he said.
“Put me out of my misery,” Laura said. “I’d rather know now.”
“Sam and I have a two-person dome tent, and the three of you have a big four person tent,” he said. “They won’t take long to pitch.”
“I went camping when I was a child,” Laura said, “and the tent took ages to pitch and then it fell down.”
Gary shook his head. “Tents are much better these days. You’ll see!”
Martha wondered how she would feel camping for so many hours. She had brought along Dutch Blitz and was planning to show them how to play it. Sheryl had brought Scrabble. Martha had also brought along pen and paper in case she had ideas about her chocolate business. She doubted she would have, but she did not want to be unprepared.
Gary drove off. They drove past RV’s, campers, and cabins, and then came to a heavily wooded area. “Is it much further?” Laura asked him. “Aren’t we too far from the bathrooms now?”
“No, we’re not that far at all,” Gary said. “Anyways, we’re here now.” He pulled into an area next to a picnic table. “See! There’s method in my madness,” he said. “We don’t need a camping table, because this table is already here. We’ll camp here and we’re not far from the stream either, so we’ll have fresh water.”
Gary jumped out of the car and within two strides was at the trunk. Martha wondered where he got his energy. He was always rushing around, whereas the Amish always did things deliberately and some would say, slowly. On the other hand, Gary was always in a hurry, but he never did seem to get much done.
Gary had put all the parts of the tents on the ground when Martha noticed Sam was still in the car. “Do you want to get out of the car?” she asked him, but he did not look at her and continued to wave the stick in a set pattern. “Would you like to come out and find more interesting sticks and rocks?” she asked him.
Sam slid across the seat.
“Unless you need help with the tents, Sam and I going looking for sticks and rocks,” Martha told Gary.
“That’s great. Thanks, Martha. No, I don’t need anyone’s help. I can get these tents up by myself.”
Laura and Sheryl exchanged glances, while Martha and Sam went off to explore and look at sticks and rocks.
Martha thought she would have trouble finding interesting sticks, but found plenty around a fallen tree. Sam seemed quite excited, although proved to be quite fussy when selecting sticks. In the end, he only selected five small sticks. Martha offered to help him carry them, but he wanted to carry them himself.
When they got back, the tents were up. There was a big red tent and a smaller yellow tent. The red tent was much better than Martha had expected. Gary even had a fire going.
Martha was impressed. Still, she couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen.