Chapter 3

 

 

That Wednesday morning, chores were done a little quicker with Jim's help. John stuck his head in the mudroom door. “Hal, we are leaving for the salebarn. We will eat dinner there. Be gone most of the day.”

“That's gute. Have fun,” Hal called after him.

Around the house to the front came the two men and two boys. They climbed into the enclosed buggy and drove away.

“What are we going to do this morning now that the dishes are washed?” Tootie asked.

“What do you want to do?” Nora countered, expecting her sister had something in mind not to do.

“Not the cooking that's for sure,” Tootie said. “I'm not very good at cooking.”

“Aendi Tootie, I am going to work in the garden this morning. Come with me, and I will show you our garden,” Emma said.

Tootie gave a half shrug of indifference. “I never had a garden so don't know anything about one.”

“I started my own tomato and pepper plants from seed in February in the house,” Emma continued to explain. “Want to see how big they are now since I set them out?”

“Ah, I suppose if you've seen one tomato or pepper plant, you've seen them all,” Tootie said lamely.

“Oh, pittle, Tootie. Just go look at Emma's garden. You might learn something,” Nora ordered. “Emma, if you have an extra hoe, give it to Tootie. Let her help you.”

“Nora, you know I don't know a weed from a vegetable,” Tootie barked.

“That's what Emma's going to show you,” Nora replied.

“My back is bad. Doubt I'd last but a few minutes trying to hold onto a heavy hoe,” Tootie whined, rubbing the small of her back.

Emma said, “It does me gute to hoe in the garden when I am thinking about things that are a worry. Weeding helps settle the soul, Aendi Tootie. I'll show you how it feels to work in my garden.”

“I didn't know anything was really worrying me,” grumbled Tootie.

“See you after while, Aunt Tootie,” Hal said, trying hard not to smile as the elderly woman reluctantly followed behind Emma. She worried to Nora, “It really won't be too much for Aunt Tootie if she hoes will it?”

Nora smiled. “No! About time she did a little something, but knowing my sister, she'll figure out a way to get rid of the hoe and be back in the house shortly.”

Meanwhile, Jim anticipated this trip to the salebarn with John and the boys. “Listen, what's that I hear?” He leaned forward to look out the windshield at the sky. A wild geese flock, on their return trip north in a gigantic V, honked with a clatter. The geese flew over the road in front of the buggy. Jim and John watched until the honks grew distant.

Other scenes came along to catch Jim's attention. A child worked in a garden with his mother, ankle deep in soft, moist topsoil. He hoed long trenches under tautly stretched string. His mother followed, dropping her spring seed crop; radishes, lettuce and spinach. Already in the garden were rows of milk jugs with the bottoms cut out to cover tender plants.

Jim pointed to the boy. “You boys help Emma and Hallie in the garden like that?”

“Jah,” Noah and Daniel said in unison, peering out the back window.

“That's good. Nothing better than fresh food from the garden,” Jim said over his shoulder.

“As soon as Emma gets around to cutting the potato eyes, we will help her plant them,” Noah said.

“It will be time to plant the pumpkin, squash and sweet corn soon,” Daniel added.

By the time they reached the salebarn, buggies, semi trucks and pickups were lined up to unload stock and find a parking place for the sale. John stopped at the end of the line. “Looks like a crowd today.”

“Probably not much else to do until the farmers get into the field full time,” Jim surmised. He chuckled as he pointed out the buggy in front of them with a hand painted sign on the back. It read Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust. “Pretty cute.”

John parked in the row of buggies at the back of the parking lot. They wove their way through the trucks and stock trailers to cross the street.

John had been right about the equipment sale. Jim glanced around in awe. “Where do they find all the different carriages? Look over there at that red stagecoach. It looks like it's right out of a western movie. Now who would want to buy that?”

“Can not say, but if no one bids, the buyer takes it home and brings it back to another sale,” John explained.

They started between the two first rows. The boys quickly grew impatient. They had seen equipment like this many times before. Noah asked, “Daed, can Daniel and me go check out the small animal sale room to see who all is there?”

“Jah. See you later,” John said.

Jim watched the boys run to search for some of their friends. He shook his head. “Them two boys sure have an abundance of energy. Look at them scatter like quail.”

“They do indeed. Them days are long gone for me,” John declared, grinning.

“Me, too,” Jim agreed.

John pointed as they approached the end of the first rows. “See that glass coach. Ain't that a sight?”

“Why, it reminds me of the one in the Cinderella story Hal used to read as a kid,” Jim exclaimed. “I can't imagine who would want to spend money for that.”

A man opened up the right side door to look in. John said from behind him. “Figure on buying this fancy coach, Bud?”

The blond haired man, in his thirties, turned around. “By golly, how are you, John Lapp?”

“Been a while since we met up,” John said, shaking hands with the farmer. “Bud Carter, meet my father-in-law, Jim Lindstrom. He is visiting us.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lindstrom,” Bud said politely as they shook hands.

“Call me Jim.”

“Where you from?” Bud asked.

“Titonka, a small town in northern Iowa,” Jim explained.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your visit,” Bud said.

John's curiosity made him repeat, “Are you figuring on buying this glass coach?”

“Yeah, I am,” Bud said, with a foolish grin.

“What use can you have for this?” Jim asked, amazed.

Bud gave them a sheepish grin. “The legion hall's having a Memorial Day dance. I figure on asking a woman to go with me. I'm going to show up at her place in this coach to impress her.”

“That ought to do the trick,” Jim said. “Women go for stuff like that.”

“Anyone I know?” John asked.

“She's a newcomer in town. She's living in my old home place,” Bud explained.

“That right. I thought the city man who owns the place only comes in the summer.”

“He does, but Elizabeth Morris has lived there for a few months. As much as I hate to hear it, she claims she's leaving at the end of the month,” Bud supplied.

“Looks like you've figured out a way to make her change her mind. Good luck,” Jim told him.

John reminded Jim, “We better keep moving, or we will not be done looking at the equipment before the livestock sale starts.”

They strolled between small and large enclosed buggies that had seen plenty of wear. A surrey, with four seats, looked like the ones used to give English people tours of Amish country. From the worn look of the surrey, it was time to sell it and buy a new one since tourist trade brought in money to the area.

In the next line were the open buggies. Jim halted fast in front of one. “Will you look at that beauty?”

“It is called a courting buggy,” John said.

“That bright red seat sure sticks out like a sore thumb,” Jim exclaimed.

“It does at that.” John studied the buggy. “Seems to me I have seen this buggy somewhere before. I can not think where.”

“Suppose the horse hooked to it goes with the buggy?” Jim wondered as he studied the dozing sorrel horse, standing with one back leg cocked up.

“It does,” came a voice behind them.

John turned. “Enos Yutzy, is this your rig?”

Enos looked rather sheepish as he admitted, “Jah.”

That's when it came to John where he'd seen the buggy. “This was Eli's buggy, ain't so?”

“Jah, he will not ever be back to use it so I might as well get rid of it and the horse,” Enos said sadly.

“That is not the horse that Eli always used if I remember recht,” John said.

“Nah, I sold his black horse at the last horse sale before I decided to get rid of the buggy,” Enos replied.

Jim's eyes sparkled as he circled the buggy. “Sure is a nice looking outfit.”

“We better keep moving if we are going to finish looking before the livestock sale begins.” John waved at Enos. “See you at the next Sunday meeting.”

When they were out of earshot from Enos, Jim stopped short. “I want to buy that courting buggy.”

John's mouth flew open. Finally, he got one word out. “Why?”

“I can use it to get around in here. With the high price gas is these days, it will save me money. Can't you see my neighbors eyeballs pop out when I drive by at home.” Jim laughed as he pictured it.”

“You have a car,” John said bluntly.

“Sure I do. If we want to go any distance from home, I'll be glad to drive us, but that buggy looks like fun to ride to the Sunday meetings in. Nora and I could take it. That way your buggy wouldn't be so crowded.”

“That is not a problem. We have the open carriage. The older children use it,” John insisted.

Jim frowned. “Are you trying to talk me out of buying that buggy?”

John worried, “It just seems like something that could get both of us in trouble when you come home with that buggy. What is Nora going to say?”

“Don't know and don't care.” John raised an eyebrow. “All right, I do care. Once I have the buggy bought and back to your place, I'll worry about getting Nora talked into liking it,” Jim insisted.

“All recht. It is your money. We better go back and take another look at that horse. I know the buggy is practically new. The boy who owned it used to date Emma,” John informed him.

“I noticed that man seemed upset at the mention of his son's name. Did the boy die?”

“Might as well have as far as the Yutzy family and the Plain community is concerned. Eli Yutzy left the Plain faith and is shunned by all of us. He will never be coming back,” John shared.

“That's too bad. Well, I don't know much about carriage horses so you might be able to help me out,” Jim agreed.

Enos Yutzy was talking to a very tall, thin man. When John and Jim approached, the man looked down his nose at Jim disdainfully and walked away

John said, “Enos, we want to know more about the courting buggy and horse.”

Enos nodded at the tall man that stopped a few yards away. He had his back to them, but he was close enough to hear the conversation. “You should know, Laverne Rapp, is going to bid on the buggy for his boy, Jake.”

“Denki for telling us,” John said.

Jim eyed the man that was now watching them. “That man sure is tree tall.”

“You will find that his bark is as rough as hickory. The man can be a bear if he does not get what he wants,” John replied softly as he ran his hand along the spine to the back end of the horse. He moved his hand from the rump down the back leg and picked up the horse's hoof. After he felt of the hock, he placed the hoof gently on the ground and moved to the front leg and hoof. He opened the horse's mouth and checked the teeth. “How old is the horse?” He asked Enos.

“He is a strong five years old gelding.”

John checked the other two legs and tapped the horse's rib cage, listening to the sound of the thumps. He turned to Enos again. “ Is this horse a pacer or a trotter?”

“This one is a trotter.”

“What's his name?” Jim asked, knowing that wasn't a very important question, but he wanted to ask something.

“Mike,” Enos said.

“Jim, me and you should talk about this some more.” John took him by the arm.

“The sale has started,” Jim said anxiously. “See the auctioneer on the other end of the row coming this way.”

John pulled Jim along until they were out of Enos's hearing. “We need to discuss this.”

“What did you think of the horse?” Jim asked anxiously.

“He seemed sound enough, and he is young. Would last a gute long while,” John surmised.

“What's the difference between a trotter and a pacer?” Jim quizzed.

“The gait. Pacers sway from side to side as they go down the road. Trotters hold their heads up high and put one foot in front of the other in a prance. If you ever noticed, my horses are trotters,” John explained. “Are you really serious about bidding on that buggy?”

“I am,” declared Jim.

“You have to get a number from the office. We better hurry inside so we can get back here in time to bid.”

When John and Jim returned, they had a few minutes to wait for the auctioneer to get to the courting buggy. Laverne Beiler stopped other farmers to talk to them as they followed behind the auctioneer. Laverne's gray whiskered austere face looked stern as he spoke to the farmers. From the grave looks on their faces, Jim figured they didn't think much of the pushy man. He nodded toward the auctioneer, and they edged closer. Laverne Beiler continue to talk in Pennsylvania Dutch to the Amish men as he waved his hand toward the courting buggy. Jim asked John what the man was saying.

John listened. “He is telling other prospective buyers not to bid on the buggy. He says he will run the bid up on them if they do so they might as well not bid.”

Jim said crossly, “He has his nerve doing that.”

“The man has been that way his whole life when he wants something at one of these sales. He can afford to be.”

“He hasn't said anything to me about not buying the buggy. Wonder why not?” Jim asked.

John hesitated before he said, “Laverne would not imagine you buying an Amish buggy. Probably he has not spoken to you because you are English. Laverne Beiler does not speak to English people if he can help it.”

“Well, doesn't matter what he wants this time. I'm buying that buggy,” Jim vowed.

Soon the auctioneer was to the courting buggy. Jim went on the alert. The auctioneer called the starting price. Jim shook his finger in the air. The auctioneer said he had a bid and looked around the crowd. Laverne Beiler held up his hand. The auctioneer looked at Jim. He shook his finger again. The auctioneer looked at the others in the crowd as he waited for Laverne Beiler to bid. Beiler bid, glaring at Jim to scare him off. When the auctioneer had that bid, he looked at Jim. Jim upped his bid. The auctioneer tried to get a higher bid from the crowd, but the buyers avoided his eyes. They weren't interested if Laverne Beiler wanted the buggy. Beiler bid. Jim bid. The bidding war went on for several more bids.

John whispered out of the side of his mouth, “You should stop. You are paying too much.”

“I'm buying that courting buggy. No matter how much it costs me I'm not letting that guy have it,” Jim said through clenched jaws and upped the bid.

“What are you going to tell Nora when she asks what you paid?”

“Maybe she won't ask,” Jim said as he watched Beiler struggled to make a decision.

“Good luck with that idea. She will ask,” John hissed to deaf ears.

The auctioneer waited on Beiler. Finally, he shook his head no. The auctioneer said, “Sold to the guy in the straw hat next to John Lapp.”

Excited as a kid with his first jalopy, Jim held up his number card for the auctioneer. When the crowd moved out of the way, he grabbed the lead rope and led his horse and buggy over to the hitch rack.

John tied the horse. “Almost time to watch the livestock sale.” They went into the salebarn through the small auction so John could check on his boys.

Geese honked, ducks quacked, lambs and baby goats cried for their mothers. The babies didn't like to be contained in small pens. In front of them were cages filled with rabbits, cackling chickens and small turkeys. A rooster crowed as they passed his cage.

On a table, cartons of bright red eggs, small boxes of freshly hatched chicks, guineas, ducklings, and goslings shared the area with rhubarb and apple pies, packages of oatmeal cookies and saran wrapped bread loaves.

Noah and Daniel sat in chairs behind the partition. They were by an English boy holding some sort of flat square box with a screen on it. Noah and Daniel watched him with interest as the boy poked buttons below the screen. The boy gloated to them, “Don't you wish you had one of these games?”

Noah shook his head. “Nah, we play kick the can. That game is more fun then sitting in one place poking buttons.”

John smiled, pleased with his son's response.

Daniel waved when he saw them.

The boy looked John over. “Do all Amish wear beards?”

Daniel replied, “Nah, the women do not.”

Jim cackled as he elbowed John.

John told the boys they were going to the other arena. The boys should come find them when it was time to eat.

In the large sale area, tiers of wooden seats built in a half circle around the sale ring were filled with English and Amish men waiting for the sale to start. The Amish voices rose and fell in the heavy accented German dialect which intermingled with English words. All the conversations had the same theme about farming and weather.

John and Jim watched the sheep and goats sell. In the afternoon, there would be the cattle auction. Jim admired the long, silky brown beard on a young farmer near them. He leaned over to John and nodded toward the man. “I grew a beard like his for the town centennial contest. After the contest, I couldn't stand to look at myself in the mirror. I looked so terrible I shaved it off.”

John grinned. “I used to have a smooth face. When I saw how terrible I looked I grew a beard to hide my face.”

Jim laughed.

When Noah and Daniel sat down by them, John said, “You ready to eat?”

“I'm starved,” Daniel chirped.

John snorted. “What else is new?”

The diner filled up fast as the farmers hurried to eat so they could go back for the cattle auction. Behind the long counter, the young Amish women hustled from one end to the other, racing to keep up with the orders.

John pointed out to Jim the menu board on the wall. They gave the waitress their orders and sat down in one of the red leather booths to waited for their food and drinks. John nodded at English men and some of the Amish farmers while they ate. When they exited the diner, John bumped into Ben Krayman, an older Amish widower. He introduced Jim to Ben. They shook hands.

“How you and Susie getting along these days?” John asked.

“Since my wife passed away, she has been the next best thing to keep me gute company,” Ben said with sparkling eyes.

As Jim noted the sparkle, Ben continued, “Susie lives with me but in another part of the house. She does not come over to my side when company comes to visit. Kind of shy that way.”

John added, “She's much younger than Ben.”

“Jah, and real gute looking,” Ben boasted.

Jim couldn't fathom how an Amish widower got away with talking blatantly about living with a single woman. He couldn't imagine anything like that being stood for in the Amish community.

John said, “It is my understanding if a person really wanted to meet Susie you would be glad to oblige, Ben.”

“Jah, I would introduce her to anyone that wants to get to know her. She has never minded that. Jim, you want to meet my Susie?” Ben asked.

“Guess that would be all right if we was to drop in on you sometime.”

“She is with my buggy in the parking lot recht now if you want to meet her. She does not let me come to town without her. Goes everywhere I do,” Ben said. “Follow me.”

Jim looked at John.

John nodded. “Sure, we might as well go with Ben so he can introduce you to Susie before she decides to head home and hide out again.”

John, Jim and the boys walked along with the elderly man. Ben stopped near the front of his buggy and patted his red horse on the rump. Jim eyed the enclosed buggy, trying to see movement inside. He didn't. His thought was, Susie must be taking a nap in the back.

Ben cleared his throat. “Jim, meet my girl, Susie.” He walked along the horse, extended his hand toward the mare and rubbed her face.

Jim did a double take at John, the horse and Ben. “All that time, you were talking about a horse?”

The men broke out laughing and Jim right along with them. He had fell for that joke hook, line and sinker.

Later that afternoon when the sale ended, they made their way through the traffic to the line of parked buggies. John and the boys stopped at their buggy. Jim marched on.

“Where is Dawdi Jim going?” Daniel asked.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. He bought his own buggy,” John said.

“Why?” Noah asked.

John parroted Jim's reasoning. “He wants to drive around in it while he is here, and after he goes home just like we do.”

Daniel was confused.“But he has a car.”

“I pointed that out to him, but I could not talk him out of it,” John said.

Jim untied the horse, backed the courting buggy up and walked the horse toward them.

Noah blew out a breath. “That is what he bought?”

“Afraid so,” John said.

“That is a courting buggy!” Daniel voice filled with wonder.

“Eli Yutzy's courting buggy to be exact,” John informed them.

“That ain't Eli's horse,” Noah remarked.

“Nah, Enos sold the black horse already so he hooked this one to the buggy,” John explained.

Daniel said softly, “Mammi Nora is going to have a cow.”

Noah nodded solemnly.

John looked at his son. “What did you say, Daniel?”

“Mammi is going to have a cow.”

Noah explained, “That wondered us, too, at first when Dawdi Jim said it. That is how he says she is going to be mad at him.”

John chuckled. “Jah, I am afraid it might be more like two cows this time. What worries me is your Mama Hal is probably going to have a cow, too, because I didn't stop your dawdi from buying that buggy. One of you want to offer to ride with him just in case he gets into trouble. Buggy driving is new to him.”

“I can do that,” Noah offered.

Jim stopped the horse beside them.

John said, “Looks like you have everything under control.”

“I think so. You lead the way so I don't get lost,” Jim suggested, grinning at John.

“Jah, I will do that.”

Noah stepped forward. “Dawdi, this is a really nice buggy. Can I ride with you and try it out once?”

“Sure can. Meet my horse, Mike,” Jim said with pride and climbed up to perch in the flashy red seat.