Chapter 23
After the short, strained buggy ride to the farm, punctuated by the twins’ sniffles and Stevie’s curious questions, Leah dreaded the conversation that was going to be held at the kitchen table. Jeremiah and Jude had stewed the whole way home, keeping the details from the pool hall under their broad-brimmed hats while Stevie was present.
“Sweetie, why don’t you go play with the goats and check on Maisie and the calves,” Leah suggested as the rig approached the stable. “I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner.”
“But I wanna hear about—”
“Son, you’re going outside,” Jude said gruffly. “Do as your mamm has told you. And I want you girls to change into proper attire before coming to the kitchen to discuss what your uncle and I witnessed today.”
With a heavy sigh, Stevie hopped out of the rig and started toward the barns. Alice and Adeline hurried toward the house, and by the time Leah had reached the kitchen, she could hear them upstairs in their room. She filled the percolator and set it on the stove to boil, preparing for what might be a long afternoon.
“So how did it go?” she asked when Jude and his brother had settled at the table.
Jeremiah smiled half-heartedly. “In some ways it was like old times, being at that smoky, greasy hole in the wall—with the same guy who ran the place when we were kids,” he replied. “But thinking about Alice and Adeline being there—”
“With two fellows in their late twenties who were rude and drunk and trying to deny any involvement in shooting your cattle,” Jude put in tersely.
“—well, it was a situation I hope I never have to repeat,” Jeremiah finished. “Our plan to keep Phil and Dexter occupied at the pool table until the sheriff could find the gun worked as well as we’d hoped. I think Sheriff Banks will give those young men the what-for in ways we couldn’t accomplish ourselves. It was the right thing to do, calling him in to deal with English troublemakers.”
“Did you hear him talking as if Dexter and Phil were constantly on the wrong side of the law?” Jude asked in exasperation. “I only had to spend thirty seconds in the same room with those two to wonder what on God’s gut earth Alice and Adeline ever liked about them. And why would the girls claim to be nineteen?”
“And why didn’t Phil and Dexter figure out that they weren’t really that old?” Jeremiah pondered aloud.
Focusing on Alice and Adeline as they came back downstairs into the front room, Leah sighed. They had changed into the royal blue cape dresses they’d worn early this morning, and their hair was once again coiled beneath their kapps, but the circles beneath their eyes were dark with wet mascara. “I suspect the girls wanted to seem older because Phil and Dexter flirted with them—made them feel special,” she speculated. “And by the same token, those fellows willingly overlooked the truth about girls who were so eager to spend time with them, and who didn’t make any demands or question their behavior.”
Alice and Adeline entered the kitchen and slipped into their chairs at the table, appearing ready for a stern interrogation session. Leah’s heart went out to them, now that they were safe at home, but she knew to remain quiet while the men did the talking. She got out flour and the other ingredients to make biscuits for the midday meal, which would be served a lot later than usual.
Jude cleared his throat. “What do you girls have to say for yourselves?” he asked sternly. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you running across the pasture toward the pool hall, knowing Phil and Dexter had just killed Leah’s cattle. And on top of that, you didn’t admit to us that you knew they’d done it.”
The twins hung their heads, sniffling. “We—we were mad at them,” Alice began with a whimper.
“It was wrong to shoot her cows,” Adeline put in sadly, “and we wanted them to know we weren’t going to stand for it.”
“Soon as we got there and saw how—how drunk they were, we knew we’d been stupid to go there and confront them,” Alice admitted ruefully.
“We tried to fool them,” Adeline continued. “I said I had to use the restroom—so I could call you from the pay phone—and Alice tried to distract them by ordering a pitcher of beer.”
“But they figured us out.”
“The phone hadn’t rung but once before Dexter grabbed the receiver from me and slammed it down.”
Leah cringed, recalling the smelly, noisy pool hall and the type of restless, shiftless young men who spent time there. “Luckily, Stevie was in the phone shanty and when he answered the call, he heard enough loud music to figure out it was you at the pool hall,” she put in softly. “So we hitched up the rig and went there to be sure those boys didn’t leave with you.”
“Jeremiah and I had already called Sheriff Banks, and we were on our way, too,” Jude continued. He sounded less irate now, but still stern. “We were counting on distracting Phil and Dexter with a game of pool they believed they couldn’t possibly lose until the sheriff had time to search their truck for the gun.”
“Thank the Lord it all worked out the way we’d planned,” Jeremiah said, holding the twins’ gazes. “But I was appalled to hear that you’d told those fellows you were nineteen. And having heard about the revealing blouses you’ve worn—and seeing you there with beer mugs, and your hair down, wearing so much makeup, I had a hard time believing you were the sweet, obedient nieces I know you to be. You looked like Jezebels. Harlots.”
Leah cringed, but she understood why the bishop was telling the girls just how disappointed he was with their behavior. Alice and Adeline hung their heads, and it took them several moments to speak again.
“We’re sorry, and we promise never to wear those clothes or go anywhere near Phil and Dexter again,” Alice said with a sob.
“We had no idea they’d done so many bad things that the sheriff had arrested them before,” Adeline put in.
Jude exhaled loudly. “I hope they told the truth when they said they haven’t . . . violated you,” he said. His voice was thick with worry. Silence hung like storm clouds as he awaited his daughters’ response.
“We’ve always found ways to sidetrack them,” Alice mumbled. “But today, if you hadn’t shown up . . .”
“They were really drunk, and determined to take us to some motel down the road,” Adeline finished in a tight voice. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“We were so glad to see you come in with Uncle Jeremiah, Dat,” Alice admitted in a quavery voice. “You and Leah were right about them all along, and we were too stupid to see it. We—we didn’t know it was illegal for us to be at the pool hall.”
“Jah, we thought we were just being grown up, drinking beer like everybody else who was there,” Adeline said.
“We don’t even like beer,” Alice whispered, grimacing.
Leah kept stirring biscuit batter to keep from crying. She didn’t want to think about how the morning might have gone had Jude and Jeremiah not arrived with the sheriff in time.
“Well, part of that was Rick’s negligence for not asking to see proof of your age. Some things never change,” Jude said with a disgusted shake of his head. “But some of the blame is mine. When we found out you’d been going to the pool hall, I should’ve told you straight out that underage drinking is against the law—and I should’ve read the riot act to Rick about it, too.”
Adeline sighed, resting her head in her hands. “You and Leah did tell us we shouldn’t go there—”
“But we didn’t want to listen,” Alice said glumly. “We thought being in rumspringa meant we could try anything. We never dreamed that Phil and Dexter would turn so mean.”
“Jah, they said they killed the cows to get our attention because we weren’t answering the cell phone,” Adeline recounted shrilly.
“They figured we’d come to the pool hall, and we were stupid enough to play right into their plan,” Alice said with a loud sigh. “I—I’m sorry we’ve caused you so much trouble, Dat. Denki for saving our hides today.”
“Jah, can you believe us—trust us—when we say we’ve learned our lesson?” Adeline asked plaintively. “If you want us to confess at church, Uncle Jeremiah, we’ll be on our knees.”
“We need all the forgiveness we can get,” Alice agreed. “From you two, and Leah as well.”
After several moments of silence, Leah looked up from rolling and cutting biscuits. She believed the twins were sincere—and the torn expression on Jude’s face told her he was near tears, relieved to hear what his daughters were saying after dealing with their misbehavior these past few months.
Jeremiah clasped his hands on the table and leaned toward the girls. “I believe God has already heard your confession,” he said softly. “This might be a gut time for all of us to offer Him our thanks for His presence and guidance this morning.”
Leah laid aside her biscuit cutter and stood at the counter with her floured hands clasped and her head bowed. We owe You so much, dear Lord, she prayed. Help the girls go forward from this difficult morning to live their lives with Your purpose in their hearts and Your wisdom in their minds. Guide us as we parent them, too.
When Jude released the breath he’d been holding, Leah felt the tension in the kitchen dissipate. The gurgling of the percolator reminded her that normal life could go on, now that Alice and Adeline realized what serious mistakes they’d made.
“I’m pleased—and relieved—to hear you talking this way, girls,” Jude finally said to them. “I feel as though my real daughters have been restored to me.”
Adeline and Alice nodded, thumbing away tears. It was a solemn moment, after confession and forgiveness had cleared the air and wiped the slate clean. But now that the serious talk had taken place, Leah had something to add.
She went up behind the girls and wrapped her arms around their slender shoulders, resting her head between theirs. “We’ve had our ups and downs, girls,” she began in a voice thick with emotion, “but I want you to know how grateful I am that you took a stand for my cattle—for me—this morning. It’s real progress that you got angry for me instead of at me, and I—I love you for it.”
Alice and Adeline clasped her arms. Leah nearly fainted when they kissed her cheeks.
“Well, there’s a picture,” Jude said softly.
The girls chuckled nervously as they released Leah. “Guess we should help you fix dinner,” Adeline said. “After all this excitement, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
Alice smiled wryly as she rose from her chair. “What I want to know,” she said, “is how Dat and Uncle Jeremiah could play such an awesome game of pool! Dex and Phil didn’t stand a chance.”
Leah smiled and went to pour coffee before finishing her biscuits. Jude and Jeremiah were chuckling as they formulated an answer to the question.
“When we were growing up in this house, there was a pool table in the basement,” Jeremiah began. “Our dat bought us a used table when we hit our rumspringa, on the condition that neither of us would learn to drive a car, or buy one and park it somewhere else so he and Mamm wouldn’t know about it.”
“It wasn’t a common thing for an Amish family to own a pool table,” Jude pointed out, “but our dat reasoned that learning how to make accurate shots would keep us boys at home, out of trouble, and it would improve our concentration.”
“And because we weren’t betting any money,” Jeremiah continued, “we considered it a family game the same as Monopoly or Scrabble would be. Truth be told, your Mammi Margaret got to be a pretty gut shot—although she never talked about that with her lady friends.”
Leah’s eyes widened. The image of Margaret Shetler bending over a pool table with a cue stick in her hand was almost more than she could imagine.
“It’s only fair that we confess to visiting the pool hall now and again, because it got sort of boring just playing members of the family,” Jude admitted.
“And—as you girls saw today,” Jeremiah said with a smile, “English fellows can’t believe that we Amish would know the first thing about shooting pool, so we used that to our advantage now and again. Hustling wasn’t an honorable way to win a little spending money—”
“But we were playing by the rules,” Jude insisted, “and as long as we let some time go by between our pool hall visits, nobody called us out. English fellows didn’t want to admit they’d been snookered by a couple of Amish boys. As long as we bought an occasional beer, Rick turned a blind eye.”
Jeremiah nodded as he recalled those days. “We eventually grew up and sold the table, but I’m glad our pool shooting skills bought the sheriff sometime this morning.”
“And I was glad Rick didn’t realize who we were until Sheriff Banks made the arrest,” Jude admitted. “It all worked out. And it’ll be fine with me if I never enter that smelly old grease pit again.”