Amish Country Arson (15 page)

The women, girls and smaller children ate
after the last of the men and boys went back to work. Hal sat down
with her plate beside Redbird and Beth so she could help the girls
when they needed it. Not that she'd admit it out loud, but it felt
good to get off her feet.

She noticed Wanda in a conversation with
Stella Strutt at the end of the next table. They looked her
direction a second. Stella went back to waving her hands around as
she talk. Hal had an uneasy feeling she was right about Stella
causing trouble between the newest members and her.

Women around Hal talked about setting dates
for quilting bees. Those gatherings always brought women together
to do the painstaking work of stitching a quilt while offering a
venue to visit and share news.

Others discussed an applesauce frolic to cook
the later apple crop and can applesauce for winter.

Hal heard Stella Strutt's loud voice say, “I
will have a quilting bee a week from today. A week from today that
is. For those in my neighborhood that are interested. Interested
indeed. It will be a gute way for Sister Wanda Bruner here by me to
get acquainted with us. Acquainted with us she needs to be.”

As Stella's neighbor women agreed, Wanda
said, “I would be glad to come. Quilting frolics are fun.”

Rudy Briskey's wife, Martha, said, “Perhaps,
your sister will be well enough to join us so we can meet her.”

“Perhaps, but I cannot say for sure,” Wanda
agreed halfheartedly. “Gladys did not feel well enough to come
today.”

Martha suggested, “Maybe you should have
Nurse Hal check out your sister. She might be able to help.”

Wanda glanced at Stella's stern face before
she answered. “We will keep that in mind.”

Margaret sat down by Hal. “Should you be here
today? Levi just told me what happened to you.”

“I'm all recht as long as I sit down when I'm
tired. I wouldn't want to miss this day for anything in the world,”
Hal said gleefully.

“You have helped out all morning. I have not
seen you sit down once to rest during that time until now,”
Margaret corrected sternly.

“I'm fine so don't worry,” Hal replied.

Jane Bontrager laid her fork down. She patted
Hal's arm and spoke to the other women. “Each of the fires seems to
be more dangerous than the others. Hal, you were attacked which
could have turned out much worse. The party in Bender Timber would
have been a real tragedy for our teenagers if they had not been
warned in time.”

“We must pray this person is caught soon
before something really tragic happens,” Mary Mast said in her
quiet voice. “Do take care of yourself, Nurse Hal. We need you to
be well.”

“We've practically had to sit on her to keep
her down for a few days like the doctor ordered,” Aunt Tootie
complained.

“For awhile we thought we might have to fetch
Emma to help us keep Hal in bed,” Nora said, winking at Emma.

“I would have made sure she minded, but I
think you two did well enough. Hallie seems to be feeling better,”
Emma said, studying her step mother. “You really should rest this
afternoon though, Hallie. If you feel the need to go home, just let
me know. I will take you. This might be too long a day for
you.”

“Denki, dear. I'll keep that in mind,” Hal
told her.

As Emma ate, she studied the teenage boys
that had sit across the road in the field all morning. They watched
the barn go up as though it was just a show for their amusement.
They crossed the road long enough to eat with the men but didn't
stay to work. Now they had taken their places in the field again
and lit their cigarettes. If they had thought they could get away
with it, they would be sipping cans of beer. That would have gotten
they sent home, and they knew it.

They were the next rumspringa generation, and
a hard looking bunch they were. She was so glad Noah and Daniel
hadn't wanted to join that group. She was proud they were among the
men working hard to put up the barn.

Albert Jostle, the oldest boy from the
Hosteler compound lined up on the ground with his brothers, Sam and
Will. It didn't seem to bother them their father, Jake, was working
on the barn and their mother, Ada, helped with the luncheon.

Joining them were some of Emma's former
pupils, Mark Bender, Rueban Rogies and Matthew Stoll. She hoped
Mark and Rueban would come to their senses eventually and join the
church. They were good boys.

Matthew worried her the most. He had always
been a trouble maker. Emma knew he had a soft spot where she was
concerned, but he was a dare devil. He found it so easy to go along
with the wrong crowd. He reminded her so much of Eli Yutzy. At the
sudden thought of Eli, Emma bowed her head. She said a quick prayer
that Eli was safe and happier in the English world than he'd been
in her world. She knew his family still missed him and set a plate
at the table for every meal, hoping for Eli's return home.

Emma tapped her chin with a finger. “I think
I should give those lazy boys in the field a piece of mind for not
helping.”

“
Emma, you be careful. You might make
the wrong boy mad at you. No telling what he'd do out of spite,”
Hal warned.

Emma narrowed her eyes at Hal. “Was ist
letz?”

“
I suppose I should have said something
sooner. Bishop Bontrager asked Noah and Daniel to go to that
drinking party in Bender timber. They listened to see if any of the
boys bragged about starting the fires,” Hal related. “Your brothers
told us Albert bragged about not being afraid of the arsonist. He
poured a small bottle of orange juice in his vodka so we know he
had access to the bottles.

When Noah and Daniel got tired of standing
around, they left. No sooner were they out of the clearing when
they heard Albert yell the timber was on fire. He came out of the
underbrush. The boys thought he might have set the fire for the
excitement of watching the other kids scramble to leave.”

“
Sounds like something he would do,”
Emma snapped.

Hal squeezed her hand. “You must go easy with
this. Remember what a hard time everyone gave the Jostles when they
moved here. We don't want to start any rumors to accuse one of
their family falsely.”

Emma couldn't help herself. “Just the same,
me telling them they need to help build the barn would not hurt.
Someone should do it.” She left the table and marched across the
road.

Albert looked her up and down as she came
toward them. He elbowed Matthew Stoll next to him to get his
attention.

Ellen halted in front of the lazy boys. With
her arms crossed over her chest, she tilted her head to one side,
giving each of them a hard look.

Albert focused on the front of her blouse,
flicked his tongue out over his lips and gave her a wicked grin.
“What is your problem, Teacher?”

The way that boy looked at her made Emma's
skin crawl.

“Teacher, you are standing right in our way.
We can not see what is happening,” Albert's brother, Will,
complained.

“You would have a much better view if you
lent a hand. Pick up a hammer and help get this barn built,” Emma
insisted.

“Ach nah, with all those men over there, does
it look like to you they need our help?” Matthew Stoll asked. He
ducked his head when she narrowed her eyes at him.

“There is more than enough workers. We would
just be in the way,” Mark Bender agreed.

“That is just an excuse, and you know it.
Many hands make light work. Everyone of you would be appreciated by
the men if you helped out,” Emma lectured.

“Besides, we just came to watch the frolic,”
Rueban Rogies added honestly. “We had no notion to work.”

“Praise God that not everyone in this
community thinks the way you boys do. Jonah Stolfus would not have
a barn to milk his cows in if they did.” Emma looked at Albert and
thought about what her brothers said about him. “Perhaps, it is
because of one or more of you that Jonah lost his barn.”

She turned to leave and heard one of the boys
grumble, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Emma stalked across the road, wondering why
she'd bothered to talk to them. With her head down, she didn't see
Bishop Bontrager until she bumped into him. He put his hands out
and grabbed her shoulders. “Ach, I am so sorry, Elton. I need to
watch where I am going for sure,” Emma apologized.

“I reckoned you were deep in troubled thought
from that frown I saw on your face. I take it you did not have any
luck recruiting the boys in the field to help,” Elton said, nodding
their direction.

“Nah, they would not budge, but they sure
moved fast enough when we hollered it was time to eat,” fumed
Emma.

“You meant well. Denki for trying. Just leave
those young men to me. I will work their laziness into my sermon
for the next worship service. Maybe pointing their faults out will
shame them,” he said wistfully.

The teenage girls washed the dishes, and the
women did the table clean up. Hal scraped bits of food off into
plastic ice cream buckets and stacked the plates. Wanda came for a
stack of dirty plates. Hal smiled at her. “This is a busy day,
Sister Wanda, but a great way to get to know all the people in the
community and then some, ain't so?”

“Jah,” Wanda said curtly. She carried the
stack of plates to the dishwashers table.

Hal grimaced as she roughly scraped a plate
with a knife.
I just knew Stella got to her.

Jane placed more dirty plates on the end of
the table to be scraped. “Easy on the plate, Sister Hal. What has
ruffled your feathers?”

Hal twisted to look around them and
explained softly, “Wanda Bruner has been cool toward me ever since
she talked to Stella Strutt. I'm just sure she is unfriendly
because of something Stella Strutt said.”

“
Don't worry.” Jane
chuckled. “It seems like I am always saying not to worry to you
lately. You're becoming worse than a setting hen clucking over her
chicks. I will visit with Wanda and straighten out whatever Stella
told her.”

Hal sighed. “Denki, that makes me feel
better.”

Margaret Yoder brought a stack of plates to
Hal. She admired the barn framework and took a deep breath. “Smell
fresh cut wood in the air. Sure enough, it is gute to see new wood
going up for the Stolfus barn.”

“
Jah, it is,” Hal said,
taking her own deep breath. She needed the intake of air more to
stay on her feet than out of appreciation for the barn rising
up.

The frolic ended around six that evening.
Chicken Plucker Jonah said he believed enough work had been done
for one day. They all needed to go home and rest up to work another
day after they finished their own chores.

Families headed home, richer in the knowledge
their brethren’s barn would soon be completed. Their role as
tradition bearers would be fulfilled.

The Stolfus barn was under a tinned roof the
next day, workers painted the walls red and others put the
finishing touches inside the barn such as stalls. After that,
t
he nine thousand square-foot barn was back in
business.

Thirty eight dairy cows, with patchy coats,
munched hay on the first floor. Horses would be moved back later
that week from the Nisely farm. In the next week, wagon loads of
donated hay fill the second story.

In the middle of the night while so many work
weary Amish slept like a log from their last, long, hard day, a
lone rider rode into the school house yard. The darkness was thick
with a foggy mist. The damp coolness helped to cool the rider's
body now heated by fever and lent the rider strength to ride. The
waves of dense fog gave the rider confidence. No one would see the
school until the deed was well over with. At least, the hope was
that this act would be more successful than the other fires that
were found too soon.

The students were given time off from school
to help build the barn for Jonah Stolfus. They needed to be taught
a lesson. Plain children should determine wisely not to help
certain people that do not deserve it. Certainly not Jonah Stolfus,
a woman killer.

Besides, why did Amish children need a school
anyway? Children should be taught all they needed to know at home.
It is easier on children that are different if they do not have to
be picked on by bullies. I want to stop them from being picked on
like I was.

The rider brought a juice bottle from one
pocket of the jacket and a few matches from the other.

No need for me to get off the horse for this.
It will be too hard to mount again out here in the open with this
sore leg. I'll pour the kerosene on the door and around the frame
just like I did the corn shocks. That should be enough to start the
fire.

Once the juice bottle was empty, the rider
slung it against the door. The bottle slid down the door and
stopped. A struck match thrown in the spill was just enough to
explode. Whoosh! The scared horse shied and bucked. In a weakened
condition, it took much of the rider's strength to hang on.

Once the horse had taken off for the road,
the rider gave him his head. “All recht, go home, Jack.”

The horse headed back west down the country
road to Bender timber in the ever thickening fog. Travel was easy
enough if a body didn't want to get caught. The trees' shifting
shadows were made for hiding in the bad visibility. The rider
leaned against the draft horse's neck and held on tight. No need to
worry. Jack knew his way back to the barn.

Friday morning, school could be in session
since the children didn't need to work on the barn. That morning,
Emma drove her buggy into the school driveway and halted the horse.
At first, she couldn't fathom why she wasn't seeing the school
building. All that was in front of her were smoldering ashes and
eye stinging smoke wisps.