Ella: An Amish Retelling of Cinderella

It was Thursday evening, and Linda had just arrived home. From the moment she had walked in, she had been in a tizzy. After pacing the floor in the kitchen, she retreated outside, where she had paced some more. Fortunately, all of her walking back and forth must have tired her out, for now she was seated on the front porch with Drusilla and Anna. Both of her daughters leaned forward in their chairs, anticipating more information about whatever was troubling their mother.

Carrying a large tray that held a pitcher of fresh meadow tea and four glasses, Ella walked out the screen door. The sun lingered over the buildings on the other side of the street, and a fresh breeze blew through the air. It was a pleasant evening with hardly a cloud in the sky. And yet Linda’s mood was a dark storm that ruined what could have been a lovely ending to the day.

After setting the pitcher onto a small table, Ella handed everyone a glass and began to pour their tea. She wondered what she had missed in the conversation, for Linda looked beyond distressed and extremely unhappy.

Drusilla, however, did not mirror her mother’s sentiment. Instead, she leaned forward, her hands clutched together. Unlike Linda, Drusilla appeared excited as she asked, “What did the bishop say, Maem?” Eagerly, she peered into her mother’s face. “Exactly,” she stressed.

Ignoring her daughter’s question, Linda shook her head and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “It’s outrageous! Why, he’s just about making the charity auction into a competition!”

Now Ella’s curiosity was piqued. How could an auction be a competition?

Anna couldn’t keep herself from showing her curiosity. “Ja, Maem. What were his exact words?”

Linda cast a scowl in her direction. “Honestly, Anna. I already told you. Must I repeat everything because you never listen the first time?”

Anna looked completely unfazed by her mother’s reprimand.

Ella cleared her throat. “Have I missed something?”

Both Linda and Drusilla ignored her. Anna, however, leaned over and whispered, “The bishop told Maem that the deacon had an idea for the charity auction. They want a separate table for all of the baked goods donated by the congregation’s unmarried women.”

“What’s so terrible about that?” Ella asked. It sounded innocent enough to her. And knowing Deacon King, the rest of the church leaders had agreed to his idea.

Unfortunately, Ella’s question set off Linda once again. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with that! The deacon suggested that only the unmarried men can bid on those pies!” She scowled, her lips pressed together in a firm, straight line that emphasized the little wrinkles and deep lines around her mouth. “The young men who win the bids on those treats get to sit with the single women after the auction and eat some of the pie!”

Ella didn’t think that sounded as awful as her stepmother made it sound, but she knew better than to voice her opinion.

“Why, I’ve never heard of such a crazy notion!” Linda continued. “He’s practically auctioning off the young women! It’s just sinful!” She shook her head and clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “It’s a wonder that Miriam King is supporting her husband’s idea! I never took her to be such a liberal-minded person.”

Ignoring her mother’s tirade, Drusilla lit up, her face suddenly aglow. She clutched her hands together and pressed them against her chest. There was a dreamy, faraway expression on her face. “Ach! I wonder if that Henry Clemens will be there!”

At the mention of Henry Clemens, Anna scowled at her sister. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

Drusilla shot a dirty look at her sister. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Uh . . . Timothy Miller?” Anna’s eyes narrowed in a rare moment of standing up to her older sister. “Remember him? You know, ratta-tat-tat.” She mimicked the sound of pebbles against the window.

Drusilla kicked Anna’s shin. “Oh, hush, you!”

Linda’s eyebrows knit together, unquestionably unhappy with her daughter’s question. “Ja, Drusilla. Why would you care if that Clemens boy was at the auction?”

Drusilla gave her mother a blank stare.

Linda wasn’t about to drop the conversation. “Surely you aren’t interested in the likes of him.”

Ella caught her breath at the way Linda said that, as if Hannes were anything other than a right proper young man. She could hardly fathom what Hannes had done to Linda for her to have such a poor opinion of him. If anything, Hannes had the right to think poorly of her.

This time, it was Anna who spoke up. “What’s wrong with Henry Clemens?” she asked, her voice exposing her dismay at her mother’s comment.

“Really, Maem. What faults could you possibly find in him?” Drusilla added, a dreamy expression on her face. “Personally, I think he’s rather attractive.”

Linda, however, merely scoffed at her daughter’s remark. “I hardly think appearances matter, Drusilla. Not in business, anyway. What matters the most is whether or not his daed invests in our store. After meeting with that Henry, I doubt that will happen. On my part, anyway.” She gave a little shake of her head. “Frankly, I haven’t been impressed with his son, that’s for sure and certain.”

“Why not?” Ella managed to ask, hoping that she had properly masked her curiosity. After having talked with Hannes earlier, she was more than impressed with him and couldn’t help but wonder why Linda wasn’t. And she continued to speak poorly of the young man. Was her stepmother questioning his character? Or was she merely threatened by his business acumen? “He certainly made a good point about the location of the clocks you have for sale on consignment.” She couldn’t help but stress the word “consignment” and hoped that her stepmother didn’t pick up on it.

This time, Linda turned her attention to Ella. “What would you know about such things, Ella? But since you asked, I’ll tell you. If the father’s so interested in partnering with us, why would he send his son?” There was a sharpness to her voice, as if telling Ella that she should have known better than to ask. “I suspect the father must be a poor businessman, that’s for sure and certain! And his son?” She made a dismissive noise. “Instead of discussing the partnership arrangement, he hasn’t done more than walk around the store and talk about pricing and placement of the items on the shelves. Now, if that doesn’t show poor business skills, then I don’t know what else does!”

Ella wanted to point out that, just the other day, Linda had been complaining about declining sales and her unpaid tax bill. If Linda wanted to accuse someone of poor business skills, she only had to look in the mirror. Her own lack of business acumen was what had gotten her into such dire straits in the first place. But Ella knew better than to say something so cutting, so she held her tongue.

Besides, she didn’t think Hannes’s inquiring about pricing and product placement was such a bad idea. After all, any person considering a business venture with someone else needed to understand what they were getting into. Asking questions was the fastest way to learn about how another person operated. And he had learned an awful lot about Linda Troyer from just that one meeting, that was for sure and certain.

“Henry can’t be that poor, Maem,” Anna said, her face alight with excitement. “I just saw him the other day, and he drives a new courting buggy with a Dutch Harness horse!”

Her remark surprised Ella. Not because Anna was focusing on the material things that Hannes had—no, that was to be expected from her two stepsisters—but because Ella hadn’t been aware that Anna knew that much about Hannes. Or even cared, for that matter. While Drusilla had made her interest in the young man more than obvious, especially after the last worship service, clearly Anna, too, was pining for him, even if only in secret.

“Well, after our meeting this morning at the store, I suspect he’s driven that new buggy and fancy horse right out of town,” Linda said, waving her hand toward the road.

Ella’s heart felt as if it dropped to the bottom of her stomach. Had her stepmother truly run Hannes from Echo Creek? And, if so, why on earth would she sound so pleased? Clearly Linda did not understand the ramifications of what she had done. The Clemens’ interest in the store had been a miracle in and of itself. If Linda had truly chased away Hannes, what were the chances that another interested party might approach them?

Apparently Ella wasn’t the only one who realized that turning off Hannes was a mistake.

Drusilla’s face fell as her mouth opened. “Maem! Why would you do that?”

Quickly, Anna chimed in with her own commentary. “I thought you wanted to partner with them, especially after you were denied the bank loan.”

Ella’s eyes widened, and the color drained from her face. No one had told her that the loan request had been turned down! She turned toward Linda, who appeared completely unperturbed.

While it was clear that Linda truly had no concept of what dire straits the family was now in, Ella did. She stared at her stepmother, shocked at how calm the woman remained. “The bank rejected your loan application?”

“Oh, Ella!” Linda rolled her eyes, demonstrating her contempt for the bank. “It’s not a big deal. Who wants to pay such high interest to the bank anyway?”

Someone who wants to keep their business, Ella thought. “And now you’ve driven off a potential partner?” Ella felt her heart begin to race. Without the loan and without a partner, they were worse off than before. There was one, and only one, thing that could possibly happen, and Ella didn’t want to think about foreclosure.

“What will we do now?” she asked. “How will you pay those back taxes?”

“Why, Ella, must you always be so melodramatic?”

“But, Maem,” she started, “without the loan, how will you pay the tax bill?”

“I’ll just find another person interested in partnering with me.”

The solution sounded so simple, but Ella knew otherwise. Anyone from Echo Creek who knew Linda would not want to partner with her. They would be too aware of her poor business acumen and difficult personality. And the likelihood that another outsider would come to Echo Creek and be interested was highly unlikely.

“But you had someone interested in doing just that,” Ella said, struggling with keeping her voice calm. “What happened?”

“Well, Ella, not that it’s any of your concern, but I’ll tell you.” Linda wore an expression of superiority as she answered. “That Henry tried to negotiate with me. He wanted to own fifty-one percent of the business. I had to set him straight as to who runs the show! I’m not about to let someone tell me how to run my business.”

“That’s the whole idea behind a partnership.” Ella could tell that she was treading a fine line. However, she simply could not believe that Linda had chased Hannes away. Perhaps it was the fact that Hannes had left Echo Creek, or maybe it was the fact that Linda was a terrible businessperson, but Ella couldn’t sit there quietly for one more moment. “Sharing ideas and trying new things in order to improve the business. If what you were doing was working, you wouldn’t need a partner.”

And with that, the line was clearly crossed.

“Enough!” Linda’s voice boomed, her irritation more than clear. “I’ve heard enough from you, Ella. Isn’t it time for you to do your barn chores?”

Despite having already finished her chores in the barn, Ella took the opening to escape Linda’s increasingly foul mood. She hurried through the kitchen and out the back door, practically running toward the barn.

She sank into a pile of loose hay and covered her face in her arms while she allowed herself a rare moment to cry. If only Linda would let her help run the store, Ella knew things would improve. And as far as the money owed to the IRS, Ella also knew that needed to be paid. She was smart enough to have learned from her father about the importance of paying taxes. If the government put a lien on the store, how on earth would the Troyer family survive?

“Oh, Daed,” Ella cried. “Why did you get called to heaven so soon?”

She knew crying about her father wasn’t a strong testament to her faith. With each tear that fell, she felt shame. But try as she might, she simply could not stop sobbing. She missed him more than she let on, and she thought about him every day. It was hard not to. After all, her life had been one continuous descent into a dark abyss ever since he died.

Gone were kind smiles and kind words. They were replaced with harsh glares and even harsher criticism. Never mind the fact that her days were basically spent serving Linda and her two ungrateful daughters. Yes, she missed her father every single day. Today, however, she felt his absence especially sharply.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ella saw something move. She lifted her head and was surprised to see two little mice darting along the barn wall. As if they knew that they were being watched, they paused and turned in her direction. One of the mice, a silvery gray field mouse, twitched its nose and sat on its haunches, its little paws curled underneath its chest. The other mouse, a darker-colored one, took a step toward her, paused, and then licked a paw before swiping it over its ear.

Ella couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re so adorable,” she whispered and, on a whim, stretched out a hand in their direction, her fingers grazing the dirt floor.

To her surprise, the darker mouse slowly moved toward her hand. It sniffed at her fingertips, its whiskers brushing against her skin and causing her to giggle.

The mouse stopped and sat up once again. It looked toward the other mouse, and that was when Ella noticed the little white spot behind its left ear.

“Simply adorable,” she repeated, wishing that she could actually hold it.

But that was not meant to be.

Immediately, the mouse bounded away, the other one on its heels.

“Wait!” Ella cried out. “I won’t hurt you.”

The mice were gone.

Still, the amount of trust the mouse had shown in approaching her warmed her heart. If a tiny creature with so many predators seeking to destroy it could trust her, then shouldn’t she trust more in God? Everything happened for a reason. Wasn’t that what she had learned from her father? And who was she to question God’s plan? Perhaps she was in the middle of the story, and the ending would be far better than she could ever dream possible.

But in the meantime, she knew she must do more than just trust; she must also obey.