Trees and buildings in countryside glowed red from the sunrise. An old weather saying came to Hal’s mind. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. Not a good omen if she let herself believe in such old wives tales.
When they arrived at the Lapp farm at 5:30, the dark shadows of the farm buildings sprawled west into the driveway as the sun rose behind them. All was quiet in the barn, and the other helpers hadn’t arrived yet.
When they got out of the car, Jim listened to the silence and groaned, “I told you if you two women didn’t get a move on, I’d miss milking. That’s just what happened.”
“Cheer up, Dad. Maybe John and the boys were lucky enough to get to sleep in. If you did miss milking this time, chores happen twice a day. You’ll get your share of milking until you’re sick of it if you stick around,” Hal assured him.
Nora teased, “Milking will make you remember why you sold the dairy cows.”
Hal lead the way through the house and walked into the kitchen with her parents behind her. The sun shone through the open window and dappled the black and white linoleum, making the kitchen bright and cheery.
“Good morning, everyone,” Hal greeted John and the children. They were eating breakfast.
John looked surprised. “Since your folks just got in last night, I didn’t expect you this early.”
“Mom’s idea. Looks like my parents are eager to get me married off,” Hal quipped.
“Hallie Lindstrom, what a thing to say,” Nora chided, blushing when John smiled at her.
The prospective bridegroom stood up and motioned for his children to join him.
Hal introduced, “John, this is my parents, Nora and Jim.”
John shook Nora’s hand. “Wie bist du beit, Nora.”
Nora looked at Hal for a translation. “He says it’s nice to meet you.”
As Jim shook hands with John, Hal finished with, “These are John’s children. Emma, Noah and Daniel.”
Jim shook hands with each of them. “We bust do bet, you all.” The kids snickered behind their hands. “Was I even close?” Jim asked, grinning at them.
Emma laughed. “With some practice, you will be speaking Deutsche before you know it.”
Nora, on the other hand, gave each of the kids a big hug. “It’s nice to finally meet my new grandchildren and son-in-law.” She smiled at the kids warmly.
Emma ducked her head bashfully. “Sit down please and have a cup of coffee. We will be running ourselves ragged to get everything done later. Have you had breakfast?”
“Yes, Dear, so you go ahead and finish eating before your food gets cold. Anyway, Jim did. I wasn’t hungry, and Hal has the wedding jitters. She wouldn’t eat,” Nora shared.
“Mom, for Pete sakes,” Hal groaned as John winked at her. The look on his face told her she was in for more teasing from him if Mom kept going.
“I guess you already milked,” Jim quizzed John.
“Just finished. We were up and at ‘em early this morning,” John replied.
Nora brightened. “That reminds me. What time do you usually get –—.”
“Mom!” Interrupted Hal shrilly. Everyone stared at her. She tried to breathe in easy and sound quietly calm when she said, “Mom, Emma is getting your coffee. Why don’t you sit down at the table and drink it. Emma, I think I’d like a cup, too.”
Very softly, Nora muttered to no one in particular, “We should shut you off. I think you’ve had enough coffee already.”
None of them acknowledged they heard Nora, but Jim’s mouth twitched at the corners as he spoke to Jim. “Can you stay a few days after the wedding so we can get acquainted? We have a spare bedroom that is yours as long as you want it.”
“We’d like that. I’m thinking my farm can get along without me for a few days,” Jim said. When he saw John lift an eyebrow, he added, “I gave up livestock some time back. All I have now is crop ground. Harvest is a few weeks off yet.”
“Besides, we’d like to get to know Hal’s family a little better. We live so far apart,” Nora said regretfully. Emma sat down by Nora and received another hug. “Listen, if you ever feel comfortable with doing it, I’d love to be called Grandma.” She looked accusingly at Hal, laying the blame on her. “Seems like I’ve waited forever to hear someone call me that.”
Emma smiled at her. “Ja, to call you Mammi Nora des gute.”
“Hey, how about me? I’m Grandpa,” Jim said, pointing to himself. Then he ruffled the hair on the boy’s heads, sitting on either side of him. They didn’t speak, but Hal could tell they were sizing up this stranger. She just hoped her English father wasn’t so forward that he scared the timid boys away. It was easy to do. She remembered her first encounter with them. Her sharp tongue had sent both boys scurrying from the room like startled rabbits when she was John’s home health nurse.
“Jah, you are for sure our Dawdi Jim.” Emma laughed as Jim gave her a wink.
Hal was proud of her parents at that moment. They had won Emma over. One down and two kids to go.
“Sounds like you just made it here before the rest of our help arrived. Listen,” Emma said, heading out of the kitchen to the front door. The crunch of buggy wheels on gravel was loud, coming through the open kitchen window.
Hal peeked past the curtain at a dozen buggies coming from both directions. They slowed down to take their turn coming into the driveway. “Would you look at this? Mom and Dad, it’s the Amish version of rush hour traffic.”
As people filed up on the front porch, Hal introduced them to her parents. Emma directed women to the kitchen, and John took charge of the men.
Emma introduced Roseanna and Samuel Nisely to Hal’s parents.
“Believe I’ll go with the men otherwise the women might have me washing dishes or something else equally disagreeable. Mind if I tag along, Samuel?” Jim asked.
Ducking his head, Samuel chuckled. “Komm quickly with me.”
Next in line was Luke Yoder, his wife, Linda, and his mother, Margaret. The four Yoder children, Levi, Jennie, Mark and Rose, tagged along back of their parents and grandmother. Behind them was a young man Hal didn’t know. Hal hugged both women before she introduced them to her mother and then introduced the rest of the family. She told Luke to find John. He would be giving instructions to the men. The biggest chore was to help pitch the tent before the bench wagons arrived.
“Papa, we should get busy.” Seventeen year old Levi, a fair young man like his father, started to leave, but he noticed Hal and Emma staring at the stranger, a gangly young man. “This is Josh Beiler. He is staying with us while he works for Papa.”
The young man took his straw hat off to reveal a shock of unruly black hair. He nodded at Hal, staring listlessly at her from under his averted head. When his attention turned to Emma, he livened up as he inspected the girl from her head to the hem of her skirt.
Hal didn’t like the curious gleam in his dark eyes. She was relieved to find the girl’s attention was directed toward the women. She ushered them toward the kitchen and completely missed Josh’s inspection.
By the middle of the morning, the driveway was filled with buggies. In the grassy lawn beside the clinic, men pitched the large tent. The two bench wagons arrived before lunch time. The drivers parked near the barn and hopped down, strolling toward the tent. The church district’s one wagon of benches wouldn’t be enough so wagon number two was sent for from another district. The tent was almost secured. Next, the men needed to unloaded the benches and carry them inside the tent. The legs were unfolded, and the benches arranged for the congregation.
While the men finished putting up the tent, John came in the mud room and stood in the kitchen doorway. Jim was right behind him.
Emma pointed to the two steaming pails on the wood cookstove. “Papa, the water is hot enough to scald the chickens. You ready to butcher? Cutting the chicken’s heads off and cleaning them will take a while.”
Jim asked from behind John, “How many chickens you plan on butchering?”
John turned to him. “Forty fryers should feed everyone for the wedding lunch.”
Jim snorted, “Is that all. Maybe I better tag along and help.”
“Not in those good clothes, you’re not,” admonished Nora. “I’d hate to see how you looked later with all that blood and feathers on you. What will all these people think of you for the rest of the day?”
John suggested, “Mind wearing some of my chore clothes until we get done?”
“Not at all. Get them for me,” Jim said eagerly.
When the men came back downstairs and went out the back door, Hal grinned at how Amish her father looked except he was minus a beard. She peeked out the door later. Several headless fryers spurted blood as they flopped this way and that in the grass around the gathered men.
Emma said, looking over Hal’s shoulder, “That group of men are witnesses to how good a job Papa does chopping off the heads. He needs to kill every chicken with one chop. Some people still believe he will have bad luck of some kind if he does not.”
John held a rooster by the legs and raised the hatchet up high. He came down hard. The hatchet went through the rooster’s neck with a resounding thud and cut into the wood block. The rooster’s body struggled in John’s hand until he let go. The chicken somersaulted in a circle and headed toward the men. They scattered. Somehow, the headless rooster got to his feet and made a stiff legged hop a couple of times then flopped over on his side, kicking. By that time, the chicken left blood from John’s farmer shoes across the grass. A crimson trail that crisscrossed all the other headless roosters bloody paths.
Emma said to Hal, “I think it’s time the witnesses willfully partaken picking feathers.” She went after the water to scald the fryers.
Hal heard one of the men say to Jim, “Do you have as much wind up north as we do here?”
She froze in her tracks, waiting to see how her father answered.
“It’s bad up our way all right. Wind gets so strong. Sometimes when the hens lay their eggs, the wind blows the eggs right back into where they came out of,” Jim allowed.
“Oh Dad,” Hal groaned to herself. She bent her head into the door facing to hide her face and waited for the farmer’s reaction.
All the men looked at each other and at Jim. He grinned from ear to ear, and they burst out laughing. Hal blew out a breath. It might take a while but just maybe these Plain farmers would get the hang of her father’s sense of humor.
“What was so funny?” Emma asked as she came out the door with a potholder around the hot handle of a pail.
“You don’t want to know,” Hal declared softly. “Trust me.”
Emma sat the steaming water down near the men. She informed them they could dunk the chickens and start picking as her father killed the rest. She pointed to a metal grain basket nearby to put the feathers in.
When Emma came back by her, Hal asked, “What happens to the chickens after they’re cleaned?”
“Four ladies will take them home to roast tonight so the meat will be ready by lunch time tomorrow. Now I’ve got one more bucket of water to bring out. Come with me and get the dish pans to lay the chickens in after they are picked.”
Emma returned with the bucket and placed it in front of the men. One man was dunking a fryer up and down in the other steaming pail. Hal put the dish pans on the ground close by.
Emma said to her, “We better keep at it in the kitchen.” The girl took Hal by the elbow and headed for the house. Once they were inside, she pointed to the table. “You have potatoes to peel.”
Hal gasped at the mountain of potatoes piled on the table beside a large kettle and a paring knife. “That many?”
“Jah, this is going to be a big wedding. We have a lot of people to feed,” Emma assured her. “Everyone has a job today. Some are cooking for today’s meal and some for tomorrow. Look, Roseanna Nisely is making doughnuts for the wedding.”
“Oh good! Roseanna, your doughnuts are the best,” Hal complimented.
Roseanna blushed as she put flour in a big mixing bowl. She wasn’t used to a compliment that caused her to be the center of attention.
“Three women have been assigned to bake cookies this afternoon for tomorrow. Margaret Yoder has already brought a large batch of oatmeal cookies for today,” Emma said.
“How about I help you peel potatoes?” Margaret offered softly in Hal’s ear. She adjusted her cap over her silver threaded dark hair as she looked in the utensil drawer for a paring knife.
“That would be great. As slow as I peel I could use the help,” Hal whispered behind her hand.
Serious Emma ignored their banter. “Edna Esch is bringing peanut butter cookies. Jane Bontrager is baking sugar cookies and –-.” She paused to wipe a wrinkle out of her apron. Then she said very quietly, “Stella Strutt has offered to bring molasses ones.”
Hal glanced around to see if anyone was listening. She said pointedly, “Stella Strutt’s coming to help?”
Emma nodded. “It wouldn’t be recht to not ask her. She is a member of this church district. If she wants to help, it would not be recht to leave her out, would it?”
“No, I guess not,” Hal agreed reluctantly.
Emma put her hand on Hal’s arm and said softly just for Hal’s ears, “You must act kindly toward her. That is our way.”
Hal smiled wryly. “I get it. I need to turn the other cheek.”
“Jah, sure enough” Emma agreed smiling back. “You have it recht now.”
Hal sat down and picked up the paring knife. Margaret gave her a warm smile that lit her hazel eyes as she scooted her chair close. She reached past Hal for a potato. “So have you got wedding day jitters yet?”
“I didn’t think so but my parents seem to think I have,” Hal related, nodding at her mother.
A low vibrating rumble came from her skirt pocket. Hal darted a sheepish glance around her. Thank goodness. With so much talking and kitchen noises, the other women didn’t hear the buzz. How could she have forgotten to turn the ringer off on her cell phone? To make matters worse, it was vibrating against Margaret’s thigh.
When she felt the vibration, the wrinkles fanned out at the corners of the older woman’s eyes as she tried to stifle a giggle and choked. “Is that a bee hive in your pocket by chance?” She patted her chest as she whispered.
Hal looked worried. “No, my phone. You aren’t going to tell on me, are you?”
Margaret glanced over her shoulder. “No need to if it keeps ringing. Let these women quiet down a minute, and they will hear for themselves,” she predicted.
“I’ll be right back.” Hal rushed from the kitchen, headed for the privacy of the clinic. In the living room, she tried to walk calmly past John’s sister, Amy, busy knocking cobwebs out of the corner with the broom. The woman, so intent on reaching as high as she could, didn’t hear Hal glide behind her.
After Hal closed the clinic door, she answered the phone in a whisper. “Hello.”
“It’s Barb Sloan. Why are you whispering?”
“I have a whole kitchen full of Amish women cooking and one in the living room doing broom combat with the spiders.”
“And you’re whispering because –-?”
Hal confided, “Because I’m not supposed to have a phone anymore. I don’t think. Now I’m alone in the clinic with the door closed so we can talk.”
Barb gave an audible gasp on the other end of the line. “You don’t know if you can have a phone? Why don’t you ask?”
“Oh sure! Calling attention to the phone is a sure fire way to get it taken away from me. I think I’ll just keep still thank you very much,” retorted Hal, mildly defensive.
Barb asked, “How’s everything going? You sound edgy. Did your parents get here all right?”
“They came in yesterday afternoon and are driving me up a wall already,” Hal admitted frankly.
Barb giggled. “Oh, it can’t be that bad.”
“Want to bet. They were afraid I’d wind up an old maid. Now they’re thrilled to be marrying me off and going overboard with this whole getting to know everyone thing.” Hal heard the uncontrolled laughter on the other end. She wanted to yell at her friend but she resisted. John’s sister might hear her and come after her with the broom. How would that look the day before the wedding if John’s family decided he was marrying a lunatic?
“What I called for was to ask if you needed help. I can come out and pitch in this morning,” Barb said.
“I’d love it. Maybe you can help me keep an eye on my parents so they don’t get me excommunicated before I get married,” Hal pleaded.
Barb choked on a giggle. “You’re not serious.”
Hal tried to keep the desperation out of her voice. “Seems Mom’s sister brainwashed my parents with all kinds of myths she found in a library book on the Amish. No telling what’s going to come out of my parents mouth thanks to Aunt Tootie.”
Barb smothered her laughter. “All right, I’m on my way.”
Quietly, Hal edged behind Amy and back into the kitchen. When she sat down, Margaret gave her a light poke with her elbow and whispered, “Get rid of the bees?”
“I hid the bees in the clinic, and it shall stay there,” Hal vowed.
Margaret leaned over to drop a potato in the kettle. With a dubious look, she said, “Gute.”