2 Titus 1:6-7.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Rebecca, her mudder, and Sarah Beachy all sat in the bishop’s living room, chatting to his talkative wife, Fannie. Mrs. Miller had driven the familye buggy there on the pretext of delivering whoopie pies, but Rebecca knew full well that her mudder was there for one reason, and one reason only, to find out all she could about Benjamin Shetler. Mrs. Miller was not a gossip, but the one thing she could not abide was having information kept from her.
By contrast, Mrs. Fannie Graber had a reputation in the community for not being able to keep a secret, and everyone suspected that her husband, the bishop, kept most things from her. Nevertheless, she did appear to have a far deeper knowledge about the goings on in the community than any other person.
“I had just made a pot of bone set tea when you arrived,” Fannie said. “It will go nicely with the whoopie pies.”
Rebecca was a little concerned. The bishop’s wife fancied herself as a healer, and was always mixing up a concoction of herbs and serving them to people as tea. Most of them tasted downright awful.
Fannie poured everyone a cup of hot tea, and then looked expectantly at them while they tasted it. Rebecca took one sip, at the same time as Mrs. Miller said, “Denki, Fannie. I’ll just wait for mine to cool down.”
Why didn’t I think of that? Rebecca asked herself. Aloud she said, “Oh it tastes unusual. What’s in it?”
Fannie smiled. “It is a mixture of comfrey, wormwood, mallow, and horsetail.”
“Isn’t wormwood poisonous?” Rebecca asked, while wincing at the glare directed at her by her mudder.
Fannie shrugged. “There’s only a little wormwood in the tea.”
Rebecca forced a smile. The tea tasted dreadful but she felt she needed to drink it so as not to offend the bishop’s wife. She wished the weather was warmer so they could have sat outside and she could have tipped it into the garden when Fannie Graber wasn’t looking.
Fannie turned her attention to Sarah, who was already fidgeting nervously. “Do you like living in these parts, Sarah?”
“Oh yes, denki, Mrs. Graber.”
Fannie sipped some bone set tea before speaking again. “Do you think you will stay here long?” She shot a long, penetrating look at Sarah, a fact which did not go unmissed by Rebecca.
Hmm, Mrs. Graber knows something about Sarah that I don’t know, she thought.
Sarah twisted her apron in her hands. “Jah, so long as Mrs. Miller will have me.”
“You are welcome to stay as long as you like, Sarah.”
“Denki, Mrs. Miller.”
Mrs. Miller turned her tea cup around, but did not pick it up. “There have been several new people arrive in our community lately, haven’t there, Fannie.”
Mrs. Graber set her tea cup down. “Jah, that there have been. Sarah, the Flickingers, their son Eli, and now Benjamin Shetler.”
“Oh, I meant new people who were staying in the community some time, not just passing guests.” Mrs. Miller narrowed her eyes and Rebecca could see that this was part of her mudder’s plan to extract information from Fannie Graber.
Fannie did not take the bait, but merely asked, “What do you mean?”
Mrs. Miller looked a little exasperated. “Benjamin Shetler is only a guest at the B&B; he hasn’t moved into the community.”
“Oh, he’ll be here quite some time.” Fannie Graber smiled to herself, and Rebecca could see that she was enjoying some private knowledge.
Rebecca was so intent watching the exchange between her mudder and Fannie that she had not noticed Sarah’s reaction, but clearly her mudder had. “Sarah, are you all right? You look quite ill,” Mrs. Miller said.
Sarah had gone white again. “I just feel a bit dizzy.”
Fannie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Sarah. Drink the tea; it will help you feel better.”
Rebecca and her mudder exchanged glances. Why did Fannie apologize to Sarah? Was Sarah connected in some way with Benjamin Shetler?
Clearly exasperated, Mrs. Miller tried the straight forward approach and addressed Fannie Graber directly. “Do you know why Benjamin Shetler is here?”
Rebecca had to hide her gasp by pretending to cough. She had never heard her mudder being so blunt in trying to extract information from somebody. Her gaze turned to Fannie.
Fannie laughed and her eyes settled on her tea, rather than on Mrs. Miller. “Oh, goodness me. I don’t know too much about the goings on around here. People come and go all the time.”
Rebecca knew that was not the case. There wasn’t very much in the way of coming and goings at all and never anything like this. It seemed quite clear from Fannie’s reaction that there was definitely something going on that she was not at liberty to disclose. Rebecca unconsciously tapped on her chin as she wondered what it could be.
Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, before she said, “It’s very cold for this time of year, isn’t it?”
Fannie was very quick to accept the change in the conversation. “Jah, it is dear. I was just thinking that this morning as I pinned out the washing.” Fannie took another sip of tea, placed it back on the saucer and smiled widely. A little too widely, Rebecca thought.
Mrs. Miller, undaunted, pushed on. “Someone said that Benjamin was taken to the B&B by Mr. Graber, so you’d know a little something about him, wouldn’t you?”
Fannie fixed her eyes on Mrs. Miller and then shot a glance at Sarah, before saying, “He very well could have been. Mr. Graber entertains visitors all the time, and often I don’t get to see who they are at all.” Fannie finished off with a flourish of her hand and a giggle.
The statement did not ring true to Rebecca and by the look on her mudder’s face, it seemed clear that she too, realized that they were not going to get any information from Fannie. It was as if Fannie had suddenly become tight lipped. She was usually much easier to get information from. There was clearly something going on.
“Are you feeling better, dear?” Fannie asked Sarah.
Sarah nodded. “Jah, denki.”
“I had just made a tray of sandwiches just before you visited,” Fannie said. “I’ll fetch them. Sarah, you probably have forgotten to eat, haven’t you?”
Sarah smiled weakly, and before long, Fannie returned with a tray of sandwiches, all cut into triangles, which she placed on the table. “Here, Sarah, eat this one.” Fannie held out the tray to Sarah, and then to Mrs. Miller, and finally, to Rebecca. They all dutifully took a sandwich and put it on their plates. Rebecca wished she had pockets so she could stuff the sandwich into them to avoid having to eat it.
“Now Sarah, eat that sandwich; that’ll make you feel better.”
Sarah took a mouthful and at once looked as if she was going to be violently ill. She reached for the bone seat tea and took a gulp, while tears ran down her face. “What’s in the sandwich?” she finally managed to ask.
“Wasabi on canned eel,” Fannie said. “It’s a bit hot, but you get used to it. I should have told you to eat it slowly.”
Rebecca and Mrs. Miller exchanged glances. “How inventive, Fannie,” Mrs. Miller said politely. “And what is in these sandwiches that Rebecca and I have?”
Fannie leaned over and peeled each sandwich open to look inside. “Yours is hazelnut-chocolate spread on anchovies, and Rebecca’s is thin slices of raw liver with soft cod roe and parsley. It’s very good for you, full of iron and vitamin C.”
“Perhaps you could take a plate of sandwiches to Benjamin Shetler,” Mrs. Miller said, and Rebecca could not help but admire the way in which her mudder had brought the mann in question back into the conversation. “It must be hard for him not knowing anyone in the community.”
“I didn’t say he didn’t know anyone in the community,” Fannie said smugly, looking directly at Sarah before while helping herself to one of her sandwiches.
Rebecca studied her mudder who sat primly with a straight back and her hands clutched tightly together in her lap. In her mudder’s eyes was a determination to get to the bottom of the Benjamin Shetler story, but Fannie was being uncharacteristically less than forthcoming.
And why did Fannie Graber look at Sarah like that when she answered Mamm? Rebecca wondered. There was definitely something fishy going on, and it wasn’t just the sandwiches.