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Brad spent the rest of that day, and a good part of that night, absorbing the long – and to him – depressing history of the Amish. They had been a minority religious sect in Europe, and had been tortured and murdered because of it. They came to the New World looking to escape religious persecution.
Brad pushed a pile of crumpled clothes off his bed. Then he stretched out on it in the dark and learned about the Amish by the blue light of his smart phone.
It was not the usual immigrant story.
The Amish settled mainly in the northeastern states, where they withdrew from the larger world because of their belief that it was “wicked” and that they were called by God to be “separate.”
Brad pulled a hand over his jaw ruefully. Great. He was a part of the world. So, to Jemima, he was starting out wicked. He was wicked by definition.
But, on the other hand, that could work to his advantage. Some girls had a thing for bad boys.
In fact, maybe he should encourage that perception. He took a pull at the bottle and read on:
Farming and close-knit communities were integral to the Amish faith and way of life, and as 19th-century society embraced technological changes, the Amish began to reject certain advances as disruptive to the way of life that they had chosen.
Essentially, if a new gadget or technology tended to pull people, and especially families, away from one another, it was rejected.
If an advance put their community in direct contact with the wicked outside world – it, too, was rejected.
They largely rejected telephones until the 20th century and in many communities, still only allow them in “phone shacks” out at the end of the road, rather than inside the house, because phones are considered disruptive to family life, and are a line to the outside world. Television is still verboten for the same reasons. Cars are disallowed, because they give families the mobility to travel great distances and present them with the temptation to abandon their extended families and neighborhoods.
Brad and shook his head.
But even in these circumstances, many Amish communities make concessions: owning a car is forbidden, but riding in one is not, if it belongs to someone else. Electric power is forbidden, because electric lines are a direct link to the outside world; but solar power is not, because solar panels are self-contained.
Change in Amish communities happens slowly, if at all. Amish families are strictly traditional, with the man the undisputed head of the household, and a high value placed on the qualities of submission and modesty, not just for the women and girls, but generally. Divorce is discouraged and rare.
Brad’s eye jumped to the section marked courtship. He raised his brows.
Teenagers of 16 and older enter a period called rumspringa, in which they are allowed to go out and experience the wider world before joining the church. Rumspringa is often a time of courtship. But this time of latitude is mainly offered as a way of giving the young a chance to make an informed choice about joining the church. Because, once a new member joins the Amish church, and takes their vows to God, serious and repeated infractions could result in shunning, and/or excommunication.
Brad ran a hand through his hair. So, if that was right, Jemima was, technically, on her rumspringa and eligible to be courted. From what he’d seen, that was already well under way. He’d seen her with one guy already, and a girl as beautiful as the Duchess was sure to have others.
But if what he’d seen was representative, she probably wasn’t committed to any of them. They were probably good little Mamma’s boys, and chicks never went for that.
He looked down at the article. According to its author, Jemima was also eligible to go out into the world and walk on the wild side. So to speak.
Brad grinned in the dark, thinking I can arrange that.
He might even be able to use it as leverage when it came time to really pitch for the photo. After all, he could say, you’re on your rumspringa. It’s now or never!
The now or never tactic got good results generally with girls. He’d have to remember this useful variant, for later.
He went back to the article.
The Amish believe the major tenets of traditional Christianity, but with emphasis on showing, rather than telling. They do not proselytize, at least not heavily, and place great emphasis on meekness, non-violence, submission to God, prayer, and hard work.
Brad flicked the phone off and tossed it onto his bedside table. He didn’t really need to hear all that religious stuff. He thought he had a pretty good picture now. Good enough for what he wanted, anyway.
He put his arms behind his head and stared up at his bedroom ceiling. In a way, he was going to have a hard time getting his head around this Amish thing. It was as far removed from his own life as one pole was from another.
He tried to imagine what it would be like to live that life: to get up and dress in pilgrim clothes, and work in the fields like 100 years ago, and not even to have electricity. Poor Jemima! He felt sorry for her. No normal life. No pretty clothes, like a beautiful girl should have, no schooling past the eighth grade. No future, except the drab existence of a farm wife, condemned to wash clothes by hand and have a baby every year.
Thank heaven, maybe the letter would change that for her. At least, he hoped so. Maybe when Jemima understood that she had choices now, she’d choose to move away and live like a normal human being.
Still, he had to admit that there were some parts of her life that were pretty. Or at least, seemed pretty: the beautiful countryside where they all lived, with those endless, rolling green fields full of corn, and the antique farmhouses, and the buggies.
Even the way her old man stood guard over her, like a giant Rottweiler.
He sputtered and reached for a cigarette. That part must be nice. He wouldn’t know, because his own old man had left when he was five, and his mother had drugged herself into a coma – and him into foster care – by the time he was nine.
He pulled his lips down. She was dead now, and he didn’t know if his old man was still alive or not. Not that he cared.
He allowed himself to wonder what it would be like having parents that actually did the fifties sitcom trip.
He laughed to himself and amended: No, the pioneer trip.
That part, he imagined, would be very nice. It would feel comforting and safe. And in the 21st century, that was a real luxury. Maybe it helped make up for the other things they were missing.
The religious part was a big minus, though – all that praying. They sang hymns that were hundreds of years old for hours. It was as if they were always repenting for something.
It made him angry, suddenly. A sweet, sheltered girl like Jemima – what did she have to repent for? But then, religion was only good for putting guilt trips on people who didn’t deserve them. The world would be a better place if everyone forgot all that stuff and became agnostic, like he was.
It’d be a happier place, anyway.
Brad finished the cigarette, crushed it out on the table, and yanked off his shirt. He turned over and flicked a few buttons on the phone, and music blared from the speaker until he drifted off to sleep.
But his thoughts continued into his dreams that night. He saw himself running through an Amish cornfield, chasing a beautiful redheaded girl whose tempting smile was always half-hidden, and just out of reach.
