“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Psalm 56:3
“We’ve got to get on the road now; it’s getting dark,” Chloe’s father reminded.
“I still don’t see Joanna anywhere…she should have been back by now. I told her not to be long.” Chloe was beginning to worry.
“Ach, don’t fret,” Mary replied. “She probably just ran into one of the other kinner and lost track of time. I’ll go with you to find her.”
When Chloe and her mother skimmed the restroom, Joanna was nowhere to be seen. “Well, she’s not in there. Let’s keep looking, she couldn’t have gone far,” her mom decided, heading toward the nearly empty parking lot. “Look, there’s Philip King. Maybe he has seen her.”
“Hello, ladies. Getting ready to head back to Paradise soon?” Philip asked, congenial as always.
“Jah, hullo, Philip,” Mary Esh responded. “Have you seen Joanna Fisher recently? Chloe left her at the restroom about thirty minutes ago and now it’s starting to get dark. She’s supposed to ride home with us.” Most families didn’t like to travel on the main roads at night. There had been many buggy accidents among the People after dark. The lanterns on the buggies were not very bright, and some of the Amish didn’t use many reflectors.
“No, I haven’t seen her since earlier today when she was with your daughter. Let me put my purchases in my buggy, then I’ll help you look for her,” Philip promised with a tinge of concern on his face.
True to his word, Philip returned promptly with another Amish man and two Plain Mennonite friends to help with the search.
After an hour, Joanna was still nowhere to be found. The crowd had thinned out quite a bit and the situation did not look promising. The search team had looked everywhere with no sign of Joanna.
“Do you think we should contact the authorities?” one of Philip’s Mennonite friends suggested.
“Well, she may be at home as we speak...I will use the telephone to see if she went home with someone else.” Peter Esh pulled some coins from his pocket, and then proceeded to locate a pay phone. Unless absolutely necessary, the People did not like to involve the Englisch authorities in their affairs. Instead, they chose to trust God, however difficult that might be.
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Ring...ring...ring...ring...ring...the telephone sounded in the Fishers’ barn.
“Did you hear something, Esther?” Gideon Fisher asked as he sat reading his Bible.
“No, I didn’t hear anything. I have too much going on, tryin’ to make dinner and what not, to pay attention. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t hear anything,” Esther replied, smiling.
“Jah, you heard the telephone, Dat,” Isaac said, as he walked down the stairs from his room. “I was on the balcony and I heard it, but it stopped ringing already.”
“I wonder who would be calling the shop at this time of the day. Probably some Englischer who wants to order a table,” Gideon voiced his thoughts. “Well, I suppose if it is important they’ll call back later.”
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A few minutes later, Peter walked back to the group. “I called Gideon Fisher’s shop, but there was no answer. We will pray and trust God for Joanna’s safety. We’ve done all we can. It is time to go home now,” Chloe’s father stated, his voice resigned.
“Yes, we will trust God...He knows best,” Philip offered. Hoping in God was never a lost cause.
“We will stop by the Fishers’ place to see if she’s there,” Peter announced.
“Dear Gott,” Chloe prayed quietly, “please let Joanna be safe.”
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Dear Gott, please help me, Joanna begged silently, as she rode along in an ugly, beat-up, blue pick-up truck with the burly stranger. She really wanted to trust God, but she was scared.
“You don’t need worry your perty little head about a thing, darlin’. Just as long as you behave yourself and do as I say, everything will be fine – just fine,” the stranger warned, as he put his hand on her knee.
Joanna winced. She hated feeling his rough, calloused hand on her dress. Somehow, she knew he wasn’t telling the truth. An ugly feeling settled in the pit of her belly, heightening her sense of fear. She had to get away, and fast. What could she do? They were traveling down the highway so fast it made her stomach queasy. She’d only been in an Englischer car a few times. She much preferred the gentle trot of a horse and buggy, but now was not the time to think about that. “Dear Gott, please help me escape,” she silently pleaded once more.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” the stranger stated matter-of-factly. “We’re going to walk into Wal-Mart and head straight to the bathroom. And I mean straight – no looking around, no dawdling, no talking.” By his stern voice and piercing gaze, Joanna knew he meant business.
She nodded.
“As soon as you go into the little ladies’ room, you change into these.” He handed her a closed brown paper bag, then continued, “Leave your hair up, but take off that white thing on your head and replace it with this ball cap,” he said, pointing to her white prayer kapp, as it was called. The man handed her a scruffy-looking baseball cap, similar to the ones some boys wore in rumspringa. “I want you to put the clothes that you’re wearing back into that paper bag and throw it into the trash can. Got it?”
Joanna nodded silently, too frightened to speak. How can I throw away the first dress Mamm helped me make? She’ll be so disappointed.
Curiosity got the best of her and Joanna peered into the bag, spying a pair of denim blue jeans along with a green and brown plaid shirt. I’ll look like one of the boys in rumspringa with this on! Why does he want me to look like a boy? she wondered naively. This man is certainly ferhoodled.
“No peekin’ in the bag,” he grumbled, causing Joanna to startle.
As they pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Joanna became even more nervous. She did not want to put on the masculine clothing. How was she going to escape? This may be my only chance, she quivered at the thought, I have to do it right. They quickly walked into the store. Should I tell somebody that works here? What if they don’t believe me? This was getting scary.
“All right, you’ve got two minutes. You’d better make it quick…” the stranger cautioned.
“But I ne-ne-need to use the restroom, too,” she stuttered.
“Okay, three minutes, but no more. I’ll be waiting right over there.” He pointed to a rack of magazines. “And no funny business,” the man whispered, and then walked off.
Joanna had no idea what “funny business” meant, but she walked into the restroom all the same…