Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (12 page)

“
Sorry,” Jim's hushed voice
answered.

John climbed into bed and put his hands behind his
head. “Hal, have you paid any attention to Peter Rogies
lately?”

Hal slipped her nightgown over her head before she
answered. “Nah, is something wrong with him?”

“
His mind is failing fast. This afternoon,
Peter walked along the driveway talking to himself. Cooner Jonah
says it is his dead horse and dead dog he is talking to. He does it
all the time. Peter thinks he is taking his horse to pasture, and
the dog is walking along with him. The strange way he acts must
come and go. Peter was walking with Aendi Tootie, and he seemed
fine. At least, Aendi Tootie was smiling,” John said.

“
I wonder how that happened. My Aunt Tootie
went for a walk with Peter. Really?”

“
That's what I said. Just thought you being a
nurse, you might be able to help him,” John said. “I think the
Rogies family might be a little bashful about asking since it
embarrasses them when Peter says the wrong things in a
gathering.”

“
I know how they feel. I feel the same way with
Aunt Tootie.”

“
Hal, Aunt Tootie is not so bad,” John
defended.

“
I guess. Now I understand why Anna didn't want
a big gathering at Peter's birthday party.” Hal hung her dress on a
wall peg.

“
Cooner Jonah said large gatherings like the
Sunday services make Peter verhuddelt,” John relayed.

“
If Peter is confused that is not a gute sign.
When we go to the birthday party, I'll see how he acts.” Hal blew
out the lamp. She got in bed, pulled the covers up over her and
turned on her side toward her husband. “I noticed Peter is not the
only one who is verhuddelt. The boys have trouble remembering the
dog's name. Is there a reason for that?”

“
Might be,” John said. “You want to know the
truth or not?”

“
You can tell me. I'm a big girl now,” Hal
said, grinning.

“
The boys remember the dog's name with no
trouble. They have trouble referring to their coon dog by the name
Biscuit.”

“
Oh, I see.” Hal giggled.

“
What is so funny?” John asked.

“
I thought that might be what's wrong,” Hal
said. “They thought they had to give me the privilege of naming
their dog so I'd let them keep him.”

“
Jah.”

“
It serves them right for letting me pick the
name to bribe me into letting them have a puppy,” Hal
said.

John's eyes widened. “You gave the dog the name
Biscuit for that reason. That was mean.”

“
If you remember I was feeling mean that day
anyway.”

John chuckled. “Real out of sorts as I recall. So how
long are you going to keep the boys on the hook about the dog's
name.”

“
I haven't decided yet,” Hal said with a soft
laugh. “Besides, they seemed to have found a way around their
problem.”

“
They have. Your father helped with that,” John
shared.

“
I might have known,” Hal said
drowsily.

It was the middle of the night when a piercing scream
broke the silence. John and Hal bolted upright in bed.

Hal said, “What was that?”

“
You have two choices – a Sneak Upon or your
Aendi Tootie,” John grumbled.

“
If it was Aunt Tootie she must have dozed back
off. I don't hear anything now so I'm not getting out of bed to go
downstairs to see about her.” Hal turned on her side to get
comfortable again.

About an hour later, loud moans and groans came from
downstairs. Hal rubbed her eyes and stared at the dark bedroom
door. Down the hall she heard her mother grumble, “You and your
monster stories. See what I told you. When are you going to learn
not to tell scary tales around my sister?”

Disturbing sounds carried up the stairs for a minute
then quiet reigned again. Hal listened for footsteps. Sure enough
she heard the patter of bare feet downstairs. As much to herself as
John, she said, “I better go see about her.”

Hal met Daniel coming out of his room. “What are you
doing up?”

Daniel sounded concerned. “I thought Aendi Tootie
might need me. I understand what she is going through.”

“
Gute thinking,” Hal said. “You can get the
glass of water she said wakes her up.”

“
You want me to come with you, Hal,” Nora's
sleepy voice called.

Hal answered, “It's all right, Mom. Stay in bed. I'll
go take care of Aunt Tootie.”

Hal and Daniel eased the clinic door open and peeked
in. Tootie was pacing back and forth, mumbling and groaning. Hal
eased over to the elderly woman and took her by the arm. She
directed Tootie toward the bed.

Daniel came with the water. “Come on, Aendi Tootie.
Get back in bed and warm up. I brought you some water.

Tootie laid down, and Hal pulled the covers over her.
Daniel started to give her a drink but brought the glass back in a
hurry to keep the elderly woman from spilling it. Tootie tossed and
turned in a dreaming fit as she fought to kick the covers off. “Get
away from this bed, Sneak Upon. Get out of this room.”

“
She's still asleep,” Daniel said.

“
She thinks you're the monster. We better wake
her up, or she's going to be the only one that gets any sleep for
the rest of the night,” Hal said. “Keep the glass close so we can
get water in her.” She patted Tootie's arm. “Wake up. Wake up
now.”

The elderly woman sat up in bed. “Wh – What is going
on?”

“
You're having a bad dream,” Hal said. “We
didn't want to disturb you, but we thought it would be better for
you to wake up and go back to sleep.”

Tootie patted Hal's hand. “You're so thoughtful,
Dear.”

“
Here is a glass of water to drink. It will
help,” Daniel said.

Tootie patted his hand on the glass. “You're
thoughtful too, Dear.” She took the glass from him and drank half a
glass.

“
You go back to sleep, Aendi Tootie. You are
all right now,” Daniel said to comfort her.

“
I know I am with a brave boy like you in the
house to take care of me,” Tootie said. “Good night.”

By the time Hal and Daniel made it to the door,
Tootie filled the room with snuffling snores.

Hal softly shut the door. “Maybe that will muffle her
snores so we can sleep.”

Chapter 8

The next morning was wash day. Hal carried buckets of
water to the washing machine while Emma fixed breakfast. Once Hal
had the clothes sorted in piles in the mudroom, she threw in a load
of shirts, started the machine and listened to the swish swish of
the agitator a minute before she added the soap.

“
Good morning, Hal,” Nora said. Tootie was
behind her sister, shuffling in her fuzzy pink slippers.

“
Morning, Mom. Morning, Aunt Tootie,” Hal
greeted.

They all found something to do to get breakfast
ready. After a silent prayer, Jim announced, “I'm going for a buggy
ride this morning to Wickenburg and back. Anyone care to go with
me?”

Nora and Tootie chased their eggs and sausages on
their plate instead of answering Jim. Daniel looked around the
table. No one else offered. “I would like to go. Is that all recht,
Daed?”

“
All recht with me,” John agreed. He was glad
someone wanted to ride along. He didn't like the idea of Jim on the
road by himself.

Hal said, “I have some things you can get me at the
grocery store while you're in town.”

“
I could use a bottle of hand lotion,” Tootie
said, giving a disgruntled sniff. “My hands are drying out from
washing so many dishes.”

“
I need a bottle of no scented bath soap as
long as you're going,” Nora added. “Mine's about gone.”

“
Better write that stuff all down, or I'll
forget half of it,” Jim told them.

After breakfast, Tootie started for the tea kettle.
Hal stopped her. “This morning, Emma's going to wash dishes, Aunt
Tootie. You and I are going to hang out the basket of clothes I
washed. That will give your poor, dry hands a rest.”

“
I don't know if I can,” Tootie groaned. “My
knees are bothering me this morning.”

Nora said, “Tootie, you might find your knees won't
hurt as bad if you exercise them. Standing at the sink in one place
won't do the trick.”

“
All right,” Tootie said. “Let me get my shoes
on.”

When they came back to wring out a load of dresses,
Hal asked Tootie and Nora to bring their dirty clothes. After she
threw in a load of their clothes, she said, “Let's go hang up the
dresses, Aunt Tootie.”

Hal pointed to a wren hiding in the new leaves on the
maple tree. “Listen to that wren. He loves to sing to us. Follows
me around the place all the time.”

“
Cute little bird,” Tootie said approvingly as
she reached into the basket. She shook out a dress and pinned it to
the line. Her mind kept going back to her Sunday walk with Peter
Rogies. She smiled pleasantly as she picked up another crumpled
dress.

They had just about emptied the last basket when an
open buggy came down the road and turned into the driveway.

Tootie nodded behind Hal. “You have company
coming.”

Hal twisted to look. “It's Peter Rogies. Wonder what
he wants this morning?” Tootie edged along behind Hal and waited
for the elderly man to stop.

Hal greeted him. “Morning, Peter. Get down and come
in.”

“
No time for that,” Peter said curtly as he
looked around. He focused on Tootie. “Morning.”

“
Morning, Peter,” Tootie responded
brightly.

Peter pulled his attention back to Hal, “I came to
talk to John Lapp.”

“
He's in the field. He won't be back until
dinner time.”

“
I will come back,” Peter replied flatly. He
flicked the lines over his horse's back.

Disappointed, Tootie watched as Peter drove away. He
should have been nicer. She couldn't help some tongue clicking. “He
wasn't very friendly, was he?”

Hal was wondering what Peter's visit was about. “Nah,
he wasn't. We should go in and help Emma and Mom now.”

Daniel and Jim were on their way to Wickenburg
when Peter Rogies's buggy passed them on his way to the Lapp farm.
Daniel waved, but the elderly man stared straight ahead.

They passed a barefoot child by the side of the
road, watching the family dog jump through the ditch weeds. Daniel
waved at him.

“
Know that fellow?” Jim
asked.

“
Jah, I go to school with Andy
Stoll.”

They crossed the bridge over Bender Creek.
Child like laughter echoed under the bridge. Daniel straightened
up. Boys his age were wading along the edge of the creek.
Wistfully, he thought that looked like fun.

When they reached the city limits, Jim blew out
a sigh of relief. Mike had trotted the whole way without paying any
attention to the traffic. “I believe we have Mike cured of his
highway fright.”

“
Jah, he did gute,” Daniel
agreed.

“
Where do we go to find hand lotion
and no scented bath soap?” Jim wondered.

“
The Walmart is close by,” Daniel
said.

Jim stopped at the Walmart hitch rack. He
climbed down and tied the lead rope in a double slip knot. “Okay,
now let's see if we find what we came for.”

“
Will we have time to look around a
little for ourselves?” Daniel asked.

“
I don't see why not. Half the fun
of shopping is the looking,” Jim said.

An hour later, they came out of the store. Each
was carrying a sack. “I sure hope I bought the right stuff,” Jim
worried. “Women are particular about their personal stuff you
know.”

Daniel replied, “Nah, I do not know. I am not
particular, Dawdi. I like very much the candy in my
sack.”

“
I thought you might,” Jim said,
winking at him.

An enclosed buggy had parked next to their
space. They walked around it. Their parking space was
empty.

“
Where's my horse and buggy?” Jim
exclaimed.

Daniel glanced around the parking lot. “I do
not see them anywhere.”

“
Someone stole my rig!” Jim
declared.

“
I would not think that happened,”
Daniel said.

“
We better call the sheriff's
office and report this anyway. Come on back to the store with
me.”

Jim wasn't sure where he could find a phone.
Along the side of the store were shops, but one heading said
Exchanges and Returns. “Think we could ask the woman behind that
counter if we can use her phone to call for help?”

“
Jah, but if she can not help us,
ask her where we can find a phone,” Daniel said
uncertainly.

Jim went to the counter. “Good
Morning.”

The middle aged woman asked, “You want exchange
or return?”

Daniel spoke up. “We want return. My dawdi's
buggy is missing.”

The woman peered down her nose at him. “That's
too bad. Now how can I help you.”

Jim said, “I want to report my buggy stolen to
the sheriff department. I need to find a phone.”