THE NEXT MORNING ROSEMARY WANTED TO TELL EVE about Elias. It seemed the right thing to do despite Joseph’s insistence that he would speak to the boy. Eve should know that her son had been sneaking out. But she looked so peaceful curled up in the recliner writing on the recipe cards. Rosemary stared at her for a few moments, still unable to believe that she’d actually mistaken her own daughter for Minnie. She shook her head, struggling to clear the images.
As she ran a broom across the wooden floor in the living room, she fought the tremble in her right hand and the ache in her back. She paused, straightening for a moment as she put a hand across the small of her back.
“Mamm . . .”
Rosemary turned to Eve. “Ya?”
“Why don’t you take advantage of my being here and let me help with the housework?” Eve laid her pen across the card in her lap.
Rosemary shook her head. She was already taking advantage of Eve being here by having her write down the recipes. Eve didn’t know that Rosemary had referred to them several times already, sneaking a peek when no one was around.
“No . . .” She smiled as she waved a hand in Eve’s direction. “It’s important for you to write the recipes down, and . . .” She paused. “And mei hand trembles too much to do that.” It was easier to admit that than tell her daughter that she couldn’t remember how to make things she’d been cooking for over forty years. She wondered if Eve was going to mention yesterday’s episode. Surely she already suspected that her mother was losing her mind.
Eve twisted her mouth back and forth. “Well, you should at least let me get you something better than that old broom. They make nonelectric sweepers, Mamm, that are very light and easy to use.”
“No need.” Rosemary began pushing the broom across the floor again. “This is the way I’ve always done it.”
“Ya, I know.” Eve’s tongue was thick with sarcasm, and Rosemary’s eyes darted to the right just in time to see Eve rolling hers.
Rosemary held the broom out to her side like a pitchfork and put her other hand on her hip. “Did mei own dochder just roll her eyes at me?”
Eve put the recipe box, cards, and her pen on the end table next to her and leaned forward. “Mamm, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I can’t understand your unwillingness to change. Bishop Smucker allows us certain items that make our lives easier, like better appliances and a new sweeper. It just doesn’t make sense to me.” Eve lifted her hands and shrugged. “So maybe explain it to me.”
Rosemary’s blood was about to boil, but she reminded herself that Eve was of a new generation. Rosemary would have never spoken to her mother in such a way. And for good reason.
“Why is it that you feel the need to change everything about our ways?” Rosemary lifted the broom a few inches off the ground. “I’ve had this broom for years, and it’s cleaned every room in this house just fine without buying an Englisch sweeper. Besides, hard work is gut for the soul.”
“Mamm, God doesn’t distinguish your place in His kingdom based on whether or not you use a broom or a sweeper—which, by the way, isn’t an Englisch sweeper.”
“Well, the good Lord doesn’t want us veering from our simple ways either.” Rosemary put the broom down, turned, and ran it across the floor again. “And I reckon He doesn’t want us giving our kinner all the freedoms that they seem to have nowadays.”
Eve’s eyebrows drew into a frown. “All three of mei boys are in their rumschpringe, Mamm. You know there are certain freedoms that go along with that.” Then Eve mumbled under her breath, “Even though I didn’t have any.”
Rosemary thought about what Joseph had said, and she faced Eve, brushing back a piece of gray hair that had fallen forward. “Did you ever sneak out of our haus in the middle of the night?”
The color drained from Eve’s face. “Why do you ask?”
Well, there; Rosemary had her answer. But if Eve sneaked out because Rosemary and Joseph had not allowed her enough freedom, then why was Elias sneaking out? Those kinner surely had more than enough privileges. Her thoughts were quickly resolved—it was just never enough these days. There was never going to be a return to the times when a hard day’s work and simple pleasures were enough to keep a person satisfied. With each generation the birds wandered farther from the nest, which only set them up to be swallowed by the world around them.
She finally answered Eve. “I was just wondering. Your daed suggested that maybe we didn’t give you enough freedom during your rumschpringe, but if we didn’t, it was only to keep you close, to make sure that you chose correctly—to be baptized into the community.”
Eve smiled, not showing any teeth. “I chose correctly.”
“I hope that your boys will all make the right choices.” Rosemary slowly stooped to push the little bit of dirt she’d gathered into a dustpan.
“They are all gut boys, but they deserve to explore the world so that they know this is what they want. You’re lucky I didn’t . . .”
Rosemary looked up. “What? We’re lucky you didn’t what? End up in the Englisch world? It was surely our biggest fear when you were growing up.”
“I worry about that too, but you can’t criticize the way we raise our sohns.” Eve stood up. “At least they know they are loved.” She turned to go up the stairs. “I’m going to straighten their rooms.”
Know they are loved? Her daughter didn’t know she was loved? Rosemary’s head started buzzing again, and she started to call out, but instead she squeezed her eyes closed.
She put her face in her hands. Dear Lord, please don’t let me have another episode.
Deciding that maybe a nap would help the dizziness she was feeling, she opened her bedroom door, then grabbed her heart. It’s happening again. Another hallucination.
She didn’t move as she eyed the small alligator perched atop her bed. Slowly she backed up two steps and opened her mouth to call for Eve, but stopped herself.
This isn’t real.
She eyed the imaginary reptile for several moments.
Then she shrugged and crawled into bed beside it.
Eve knew she shouldn’t have spoken to her mother that way, but it was getting harder and harder to take the constant criticism about the way she and Benny raised their children and how she continued to move away from the simpler ways she’d been brought up with.
She walked into her mother’s sewing room, which was exactly as Eve remembered. The treadle sewing machine was against the left wall, and the shelves next to it were filled with quilting scraps, bolts of material, and other sewing supplies. On the opposite wall was the yellow-and-blue plaid couch that Mamm had picked up at a mud sale in Bird-in-Hand. She’d said the couch was much too fancy for the living room, but she’d bought it anyway since it folded out into a bed and had only cost her ten dollars.
Eve pulled up the green and white quilt that Leroy had tossed back this morning, then fluffed his pillows and positioned them against the back of the couch. She glanced around the room. Leroy’s dirty clothes were in a hamper Eve’s mother had put in the room, and his other clothes and personal items were neatly folded and displayed atop Mamm’s sewing table in the corner. Eve smiled. If Levi did choose to marry Lena Byler, the girl would be glad that Eve had trained up her son to be neat and tidy.
She closed the door behind her and went down the hall to the extra bedroom where the twins were staying. As she eyed the mess before her—mostly on Elias’s side of the room—Eve knew that the twins’ future fraas would have their work cut out for them. She picked up two dirty shirts off the floor. As she made Elias’s bed, she thought about the way he’d slipped out to meet Elizabeth. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it had certainly been worthy of punishment. She’d avoided letting her parents know about the incident, but maybe she should have told them. Maybe she should have made a point for her mother to see that she was quite capable of disciplining her children when they needed it.
She smoothed the wrinkles from the quilt on his bed before she went to the other bed, which was covered in a matching quilt. Once both the beds were made, she sniffed a few times, recognizing the smell of dirty socks. She bent to her knees, and sure enough . . . two dark black socks were underneath Elias’s bed. Picking them up with thumb and first finger, she held them at arm’s length as she looked around for any other dirty clothes. When she didn’t find any, she walked to the small hamper and tossed in the socks.
Unlike some of the rooms in the old farmhouse, this room had a closet. Eve had inspected the contents when she and the twins were deciding if it would be a good place to keep George. There were boxes stacked along the left side, and Eve knew that her old faceless dolls were in one of the crates, cards and letters that her mother had saved in another, and various keepsakes. Eve didn’t open the closet, hoping Amos was remembering to feed the reptile.
The boys had managed to sneak the lizard in with a blanket draped over the cage while Eve distracted her parents. She felt a little guilty for deceiving her folks about a Chinese water dragon, but it would have been just one more thing for her mother to fret about.
Eve hadn’t been happy when Amos came home with this unusual pet. Her son had saved his money and begged his parents for what he called a lizard, but the frightful-looking beast had grown much larger than any lizard Eve had ever seen. If it gave Eve the shivers, what would her mother think . . .
Elias bit down on his ham sandwich, his teeth chattering from the frigid temperatures. As he sat on the couch in his family’s living room, wind blew around the plastic sheeting and swirled throughout the damaged structure. Daadi was sitting next to Elias, eating his own lunch. His father and Leroy had eaten earlier and were outside toting lumber from the wagon to a designated pile on the north side of the house. Amos—as usual—had been sent to town for supplies, and was probably thumbing through magazines or books somewhere.
“Elias . . .” His grandfather sighed as he locked eyes with Elias, shaking his head. “I reckon when a fellow is grounded, he should respect his parents enough to follow the rules.” Daadi pushed his glasses up on his nose, frowning.
“Uh, ya. You’re right.” Elias wondered what his grandfather was getting at.
Daadi ran a shaky hand through his beard. “Your mammi caught you coming into the haus last night. She wanted to go straight to your mudder and tell your business, but I told her that I’d give you a friendly talkin’-to, and that I was sure you wouldn’t disobey your parents again.” He stuffed his lunch trash in his black lunch box and stood up from the couch.
Elias’s jaw dropped. “But I didn’t . . .” He scratched his head for a moment before he went on. “Are you sure it was last night?”
“Ya. It was last night.” Daadi pulled on his heavy gloves, then pushed his black felt hat firmly onto his head. “I won’t be able to help you next time.”
“But I . . .” Elias wondered if his grandfather was confused. Or more likely, his grandmother was. He stood up and watched the older man walk out the door to help his father and Leroy. Moments later Amos walked in.
“I’m starving!” His brother’s whole face spread into a goofy smile, and Elias walked closer to Amos, squinting.
“Where’ve you been?”
Amos’s teeth were chattering, but the grin wasn’t going away. “You know where I was. Running errands.”
Elias moved even closer to Amos and thumped him lightly on the arm. “That the only place? And what about last night, mei bruder?”
Amos’s mouth pulled into a sour grin. “Wha-wha-whatcha talkin’ about?”
“I just took the blame for you sneaking out of the haus last night. So you best start talking.”