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“Gut morning, Katie. How are you?” Annie had edged closer and spoke to her with no smile on her pretty face.
“I’m good, thank you. I hope you’re good as well.” Katie said. She doubted Annie had suddenly decided she wanted to be friends, but she would play along.
“Gut. Busy with my quilting orders. You?”
“Busy as well. I’m nearly done with two juvenile quilts for an English customer.”
“English...how are they treating you?”
“The English? Gut, actually.”
“I was coming down the street one morning last week. I saw you coming out of the English fabric store with Libby King. You looked upset. Was everything okay?”
Katie flushed, not wanting to talk about it. She shrugged, trying to derail Annie’s interest. “Not much. It was just a stressful day.”
“Hmmm, really? I went into the store myself. I noticed that right before I entered, the manager and the customers were friendly and smiling, but when I walked in, everyone just went...well, cold is the best word to describe the atmosphere in the store. I couldn’t get anyone to smile. Getting any help with fabric was impossible, so I just went to that little Mennonite store at the north end of the community. Do you know that one?”
“Ja, that’s where I found the fabric for my juvenile quilts. I was going to go there last week, but I decided that I’d find more of what I needed at the English store.”
“Seems to have been a mistake. I wonder if that English person wanting us out of here has convinced the people in the store that they are right?”
The story hovered on the tip of Katie’s tongue, desperate to escape, but Katie couldn’t trust Annie’s sudden change of heart. “Uh, I don’t think we should be...”
“Nee, I know. I was just putting my opinion out there. The elders are about to start.” Annie looked ahead to where the elders stood, waiting for the beginning of the 3-hour service. As she waited, she thought. She really wanted to say something. More so than anyone else who’s been talking about this. I’ll just keep my eyes and ears on her for this next week.
Katie, seeing the direction of Annie’s gaze, faced forward herself. Her heart pounded hard.
“Oh, look who just walked in!” Annie pointed toward the front door.
Katie swung her head around and gasped as her eyes widened. Isn’t she the English mayor? What is she doing here? Katie would soon get her answer.
“Gut morning, everyone. Let’s get started.” The bishop started the long service. After all of the sermons had been spoken and the lessons taught, he moved to the front of the room again. “Before we move for lunch, the elders and I decided that it is necessary for us to give everyone an update about the messages from the mysterious English person telling us to get out of Big Valley.”
He unfolded two sheets of paper. “I want to make sure that I deliver every thought because we sat down together to work on this. We have been dealing for months with the possibility that some hate-filled English person wants us to leave Big Valley, where we have lived for generations, raising our families, growing our crops and building our furniture. Making our quilts and baking our goods as well. Whoever this person is, male or female, they are counting on the fear that he or she causes. In the end, it may come to nothing more than a ploy to gain publicity or attention.
“Regardless, it is up to us, as a community, to come together and rely even more strongly on each other and on Gott. Remember, we rely on each other and on our Gott for our strength. This person may intend no harm to come to us.” He stepped aside for Eppie.
“They...he or she...may not really want us to leave. Instead, it may be nothing more than a deep psychological need to gain attention, indirect though it may be. If this person isn’t English, but is, instead, Amish, I would urge him or her to consider the fraying of our relationships with the English of Big Valley. We have lived side-by-side for years, if not generations, working toward goals held in common. I—we—ask you, is it worth it to destroy that for a temporary fulfillment?” Eppie finished speaking and allowed his eyes to roam over the entire congregation. As he did, he was struck by Katie’s face. Or rather the expression she had. She looks...stunned. Now, it’s the difficult part. Reading our message was easy. The hard part will be to see if she reacts. And indeed, she is.
Hearing the message read by the bishop pulled every support out from beneath Katie. She held tightly to the bench, feeling like she was about to fall. They know! Of course, they knew. Drawing a difficult breath in, she forced herself to get calmer.
“Bishop? Do...are you saying it could be a lie that’s going around?” asked widow Kopp.
“Ja, Mrs. Kopp. Yet, I implore you, be careful. Until we know for sure and for certain, I don’t want anyone relaxing their guard. I asked Mayor Winters to be here. She told me she wants to say a few words. Mayor?”
Kerry Winters walked forward, wearing a subdued, spring-yellow suit with gray heels. Her shoes clicking on the wood floor as she walked to the front, she smiled slightly. “Thank you, Bishop Lapp. Good afternoon! I may ask one of you for a translated version of the sermons that were given today. It sounded beautiful. Your bishop and elders asked me to be here today, so I could tell you what we are doing to stop these horrible messages that you are getting. I saw the painted sign on that fence several weeks ago. A few days ago, your bishop came to my office with a letter that seemed to have been written by someone with a real beef about the Amish.
“That note said the writer wanted you to sell your farms and leave here. In fact, that letter set a two-month deadline. I asked the bishop if I could make a copy of that letter so members of my staff could write a letter to be delivered to the ‘English’ residents of Big Valley. They got that message Friday and yesterday. Now, I am here to give you the same message. I want you to be assured. We are beginning to get the feeling that there is no English person wanting you out of here. That this is nothing more than a cruel hoax. Bishop, if you would, hand these copies out, please.”
The mayor continued speaking as she handed a thick sheaf of pages to the bishop. “We—that is, my staff and I—have been spending many days and hours, speaking to everyone we could about these messages. I want to read you some of the responses that we have received: ‘I love having the Amish here! They are ideal neighbors, stewards of the land.’ Someone else said, ‘They live their creed. How can we hate that?’ A little girl I spoke to said, ‘I love their cakes and brownies! If they leave, I’d miss all that.’” A spattering of laughter went around the room at this. “One gentleman said, ‘Why would someone want to go to the trouble of creating such a fearful message? There’s so much more stuff going on that needs our attention. Sure, I’m angry about this, but two wrongs are just that: two wrongs.’ And finally, ‘I love going to the Amish shops. I’ve made several Amish friends, and my life would be absolutely empty without them.’
“Now, this is only a very small percentage of Big Valley. I would guess that a very small percentage of our residents don’t understand your culture and beliefs. But I doubt they would try to run you away from here. We are going to continue working to identify the culprit. Our law enforcement will continue monitoring every entrance into and out of this part of Big Valley, just to make sure you’re safe. That’s in the very small instance that there is someone out there who hates you. But honestly, seeing all of you, seeing friends I’ve made here, I doubt that.” The mayor’s voice quivered slightly as she struggled with sudden emotion. Stepping away, she took an empty seat on a bench near the front. Shaking hands with the young woman she sat next to, she smiled and nodded.
“Okay, that’s all for our lesson today. Please think about what the mayor and all of us here have said. If you know anything, please come to one of us. The sooner we settle this, the better.”
Katie sat, frozen. She only dimly heard the bishop’s exhortation. She doesn’t believe there’s an English person giving those messages! I need to do more to prove her wrong! Almost too late, she realized her mam and dat had heard the same message. Rearranging her features, so she looked calmer, she looked up and directly at her mam. Mary was looking straight at her.
Mary considered the possibility that Katie had been the one to start the hateful rumor. Katie had done such things before. She’d always told stories. But Katie was genuinely upset now. And someone had been following her. Mary doubted her daughter could feign such fear.
A sudden stab of memory overtook her. Katie had been terrified the second time Levi had taken her out to the fair as a child. One of the petting zoo animals, a llama, had tried to bite her. She’d had a bruise on her arm where the animal’s teeth had almost pierced her skin.
But she’d been scared before...
It was shortly after that she’d told them the story about the body in Levi’s cornfield. A young girl with Katie’s hair and eyes.
Mary blinked the memories away. Levi had forgiven them and even brought Katie a candied apple later on that week. Levi had always been so kind to them. Mary wondered if he still held feelings for her. It was wrong of her to wonder such things about a man other than her husband, but sometimes Mary couldn’t help herself.
And Katie...she’d learned her lesson from Goshen. It had been a hard one for all of them, but Mary and John had stayed strong, and now their daughter was on the right path. She had to be.
Nee. Katie had nothing to do with it. Still...I will keep an eye on her.
Nobody in the community was aware that the bishop would be making the long trip to Goshen, Indiana, beginning that afternoon. And he didn’t see any reason to tell them. He didn’t want word getting back to Katie if word of his plans fell into the wrong hands.
Lovina Lapp joined the mayor. “Mayor Winters, would you care to join us for lunch? It’s simple, but it will be gut.”
Smiling with pleasure at Lovina, Kerry Winters accepted graciously. “I would appreciate nothing more. How is it you handle the large crowds here?” She listened with interest as Lovina explained that the elderly would be fed first, then the men, then the children. “Finally, we get to eat.”
“Well, let me serve as well, please.”
“Ja, denki. Come with me, and I’ll introduce you to the other women.” Bringing Kerry into the kitchen, she introduced her to everyone.
Katie did everything she could to stay away from the mayor. Moving from one corner of the kitchen to the other, she grabbed platters and took them to the benches outside. All her efforts were wasted.
“Hello, Miss...?”
“Katie. Katie Miller. Denki for what you said inside. It has been horrible not knowing what would happen next.”
“I’m sure it has, Katie. But I can assure you, I don’t think there is anything to what has been said.”
“Why? How do you know?”
Kerry’s interest perked at that. Well, this is the first person who asked why I don’t believe this rumor. “Well, simply because the English residents of Big Valley are so welcoming. And you heard the reactions that I read to your neighbors. If you’d like, I can show you my phone, where my assistant sent them to me.” Kerry pulled her phone out.
Katie debated internally whether she should look at the messages. “Well, okay, but only for a few minutes. We still need to serve.”
“Take a look.” Kerry handed her phone to the young Amish woman. “I’ll scroll them up for you.”
Katie read silently. “Well, this doesn’t really mean much. There could still be someone who’s...who’s lying to you.”
“Yes, there could be. It might surprise you.”
The subtle message sailed right over Katie’s head. “Because I saw the painted message. I didn’t hear the person who said they just want us out of here. And that letter? I’m happy I didn’t see that!”
“Oh, I’m sure you are. When your bishop showed it to my staff and me, it chilled our blood. Whoever wrote that...has some problems.”
After Katie ate, she leaned back against her table, exhausted. Today, she was grateful she wouldn’t be going to the singing that night.
Over in the men’s section, Amos and Eli kept their eyes trained on Katie. Amos, seeing how worn out Katie was, felt sorry for her. “Eli, I never knew about that letter!”
“Ja, I heard tell that the deacon and his son saw it. That must be the one the mayor was talking about. I don’t know anything else, but if the mayor was talking about it, then I pray we will soon have an end to this nonsense.”
“Me, too.” Now, Amos was feeling highly conflicted. A part of him knew he’d made the right decision to break things off with Katie. Yet, another part of him was reaching out to her after seeing how lost she looked. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He had been thinking of courting with her for marriage, for heaven’s sake!
“Amos, I have an idea. You see how bad Katie looks?” At Amos’s reluctant nod, Eli continued. “Why don’t you get back together with her?”
Amos whipped his head around so fast, he cricked his neck. Massaging the painful muscle carefully, he frowned at Eli. “What are you talking about?”
Eli was looking at him, appearing quite sane and sober. “Nee, I am not. We forgive others. And, I think that if you get back together with her, you might learn something that we can take to the elders.”
Amos had been about to leave their table and sit elsewhere. Hearing Eli’s last sentence had him dropping back onto the bench. “Ja, I do want to see this ending. But Eli, I am afraid that if I do get back together with her, I will begin to believe her lies again.” And he didn’t want to court with her solely to bring her to justice. The worst of it was, he still loved her, in spite of everything.
“You won’t,” Eli said with far too much confidence. “You’re smarter than that. And the more you know about why this started, the better. I’m serious, brother.”
Caleb Yoder, hearing their discussion, sat next to Amos. “Amos, he has a right gut idea. We have to bring this to an end. I understand from my wife that she can’t even go into the English sewing shop anymore because the employees and English customers are just so upset about this. And soon, someone will tell us to skedaddle.”
Amos couldn’t disagree with this. And maybe, in spite of everything, he still held some small hope that there was goodness in Katie. Maybe he could find it. Sighing, he looked at Caleb. “So, you’re talking about doing this for the greater good of our community?”
“Exactly. If it is her, she is destroying us and our gut relationship with the English community. We don’t mingle with them on purpose, but it’s always gut to have easy friendliness with them.”
Amos sighed. He didn’t want to do this, but worse, another, hopeful part of him did. “I’m afraid she’ll notice something is off.”
“Just remember the gut times, brother. You loved her at one time.”
Amos couldn’t argue about that. They had loved. And maybe, he still did. It was also true that if they were to regain a good relationship with the English, he had to do something. “Does your dat support this, Caleb?”