Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (4 page)

“My goodness, I haven't seen a wood cookstove
in use since we were small children, Nora,” Tootie declared then
she covered a yawn. “You people get up awful early around
here.”

When everyone was assembled, the family bowed
their heads for a silent prayer. When John took a deep breath that
was the sign that prayer time was over. He slid eggs and sausage
onto his plate and passed the platters so he could take the biscuit
plate from Hal.

After kitchen clean up was done, they all met
in the living room. After John read two chapters from his German
bible, he said to Jim and the boys, “Best get at the chores if we
are going to the salebarn this morning.”

Chapter 3

That Wednesday morning, chores were done a
little quicker with Jim's help. John stuck his head in the mudroom
door. “Hal, we are leaving for the salebarn. We will eat dinner
there. Be gone most of the day.”

“That's gute. Have fun,” Hal called after
him.

Around the house to the front came the two
men and two boys. They climbed into the enclosed buggy and drove
away.

“
What are we going to do this morning
now that the dishes are washed?” Tootie asked.

“
What do you want to do?” Nora
countered, expecting her sister had something in mind not to
do.

“
Not the cooking that's for sure,”
Tootie said. “I'm not very good at cooking.”

“
Aendi Tootie, I am going to work in
the garden this morning. Come with me, and I will show you our
garden,” Emma said.

Tootie gave a half shrug of indifference. “I
never had a garden so don't know anything about one.”

“
I started my own tomato and pepper
plants from seed in February in the house,” Emma continued to
explain. “Want to see how big they are now since I set them
out?”

“
Ah, I suppose if you've seen one
tomato or pepper plant, you've seen them all,” Tootie said
lamely.

“
Oh, pittle, Tootie. Just go look at
Emma's garden. You might learn something,” Nora ordered. “Emma, if
you have an extra hoe, give it to Tootie. Let her help
you.”

“
Nora, you know I don't know a weed
from a vegetable,” Tootie barked.

“
That's what Emma's going to show you,”
Nora replied.

“
My back is bad. Doubt I'd last but a
few minutes trying to hold onto a heavy hoe,” Tootie whined,
rubbing the small of her back.

Emma said, “It does me gute to hoe in the
garden when I am thinking about things that are a worry. Weeding
helps settle the soul, Aendi Tootie. I'll show you how it feels to
work in my garden.”

“
I didn't know anything was really
worrying me,” grumbled Tootie.

“
See you after while, Aunt Tootie,” Hal
said, trying hard not to smile as the elderly woman reluctantly
followed behind Emma. She worried to Nora, “It really won't be too
much for Aunt Tootie if she hoes will it?”

Nora smiled. “No! About time she did a little
something, but knowing my sister, she'll figure out a way to get
rid of the hoe and be back in the house shortly.”

Meanwhile, Jim anticipated this trip to the
salebarn with John and the boys. “Listen, what's that I hear?” He
leaned forward to look out the windshield at the sky. A wild geese
flock, on their return trip north in a gigantic V, honked with a
clatter. The geese flew over the road in front of the buggy. Jim
and John watched until the honks grew distant.

Other scenes came along to catch Jim's
attention. A child worked in a garden with his mother, ankle deep
in soft, moist topsoil. He hoed long trenches under tautly
stretched string. His mother followed, dropping her spring seed
crop; radishes, lettuce and spinach. Already in the garden were
rows of milk jugs with the bottoms cut out to cover tender
plants.

Jim pointed to the boy. “You boys help Emma
and Hallie in the garden like that?”

“Jah,” Noah and Daniel said in unison,
peering out the back window.

“That's good. Nothing better than fresh food
from the garden,” Jim said over his shoulder.

“As soon as Emma gets around to cutting the
potato eyes, we will help her plant them,” Noah said.

“It will be time to plant the pumpkin, squash
and sweet corn soon,” Daniel added.

By the time they reached the salebarn,
buggies, semi trucks and pickups were lined up to unload stock and
find a parking place for the sale. John stopped at the end of the
line. “Looks like a crowd today.”

“Probably not much else to do until the
farmers get into the field full time,” Jim surmised. He chuckled as
he pointed out the buggy in front of them with a hand painted sign
on the back. It read Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and
grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust. “Pretty cute.”

John parked in the row of buggies at the back
of the parking lot. They wove their way through the trucks and
stock trailers to cross the street.

John had been right about the equipment sale.
Jim glanced around in awe. “Where do they find all the different
carriages? Look over there at that red stagecoach. It looks like
it's right out of a western movie. Now who would want to buy
that?”

“Can not say, but if no one bids, the buyer
takes it home and brings it back to another sale,” John
explained.

They started between the two first rows. The
boys quickly grew impatient. They had seen equipment like this many
times before. Noah asked, “Daed, can Daniel and me go check out the
small animal sale room to see who all is there?”

“Jah. See you later,” John said.

Jim watched the boys run to search for some
of their friends. He shook his head. “Them two boys sure have an
abundance of energy. Look at them scatter like quail.”

“They do indeed. Them days are long gone for
me,” John declared, grinning.

“Me, too,” Jim agreed.

John pointed as they approached the end of
the first rows. “See that glass coach. Ain't that a sight?”

“Why, it reminds me of the one in the
Cinderella story Hal used to read as a kid,” Jim exclaimed. “I
can't imagine who would want to spend money for that.”

A man opened up the right side door to look
in. John said from behind him. “Figure on buying this fancy coach,
Bud?”

The blond haired man, in his thirties, turned
around. “By golly, how are you, John Lapp?”

“Been a while since we met up,” John said,
shaking hands with the farmer. “Bud Carter, meet my father-in-law,
Jim Lindstrom. He is visiting us.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lindstrom,” Bud said
politely as they shook hands.

“Call me Jim.”

“Where you from?” Bud asked.

“Titonka, a small town in northern Iowa,” Jim
explained.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your visit,” Bud
said.

John's curiosity made him repeat, “Are you
figuring on buying this glass coach?”

“Yeah, I am,” Bud said, with a foolish
grin.

“What use can you have for this?” Jim asked,
amazed.

Bud gave them a sheepish grin. “The legion
hall's having a Memorial Day dance. I figure on asking a woman to
go with me. I'm going to show up at her place in this coach to
impress her.”

“That ought to do the trick,” Jim said.
“Women go for stuff like that.”

“Anyone I know?” John asked.

“She's a newcomer in town. She's living in my
old home place,” Bud explained.

“That right. I thought the city man who owns
the place only comes in the summer.”

“He does, but Elizabeth Morris has lived
there for a few months. As much as I hate to hear it, she claims
she's leaving at the end of the month,” Bud supplied.

“Looks like you've figured out a way to make
her change her mind. Good luck,” Jim told him.

John reminded Jim, “We better keep moving, or
we will not be done looking at the equipment before the livestock
sale starts.”

They strolled between small and large
enclosed buggies that had seen plenty of wear. A surrey, with four
seats, looked like the ones used to give English people tours of
Amish country. From the worn look of the surrey, it was time to
sell it and buy a new one since tourist trade brought in money to
the area.

In the next line were the open buggies. Jim
halted fast in front of one. “Will you look at that beauty?”

“It is called a courting buggy,” John
said.

“That bright red seat sure sticks out like a
sore thumb,” Jim exclaimed.

“It does at that.” John studied the buggy.
“Seems to me I have seen this buggy somewhere before. I can not
think where.”

“Suppose the horse hooked to it goes with the
buggy?” Jim wondered as he studied the dozing sorrel horse,
standing with one back leg cocked up.

“It does,” came a voice behind them.

John turned. “Enos Yutzy, is this your
rig?”

Enos looked rather sheepish as he admitted,
“Jah.”

That's when it came to John where he'd seen
the buggy. “This was Eli's buggy, ain't so?”

“Jah, he will not ever be back to use it so I
might as well get rid of it and the horse,” Enos said sadly.

“That is not the horse that Eli always used
if I remember recht,” John said.

“Nah, I sold his black horse at the last
horse sale before I decided to get rid of the buggy,” Enos
replied.

Jim's eyes sparkled as he circled the buggy.
“Sure is a nice looking outfit.”

“We better keep moving if we are going to
finish looking before the livestock sale begins.” John waved at
Enos. “See you at the next Sunday meeting.”

When they were out of earshot from Enos, Jim
stopped short. “I want to buy that courting buggy.”

John's mouth flew open. Finally, he got one
word out. “Why?”

“I can use it to get around in here. With the
high price gas is these days, it will save me money. Can't you see
my neighbors eyeballs pop out when I drive by at home.” Jim laughed
as he pictured it.”

“You have a car,” John said bluntly.

“Sure I do. If we want to go any distance
from home, I'll be glad to drive us, but that buggy looks like fun
to ride to the Sunday meetings in. Nora and I could take it. That
way your buggy wouldn't be so crowded.”

“That is not a problem. We have the open
carriage. The older children use it,” John insisted.

Jim frowned. “Are you trying to talk me out
of buying that buggy?”

John worried, “It just seems like something
that could get both of us in trouble when you come home with that
buggy. What is Nora going to say?”

“Don't know and don't care.” John raised an
eyebrow. “All right, I do care. Once I have the buggy bought and
back to your place, I'll worry about getting Nora talked into
liking it,” Jim insisted.

“All recht. It is your money. We better go
back and take another look at that horse. I know the buggy is
practically new. The boy who owned it used to date Emma,” John
informed him.

“I noticed that man seemed upset at the
mention of his son's name. Did the boy die?”

“Might as well have as far as the Yutzy
family and the Plain community is concerned. Eli Yutzy left the
Plain faith and is shunned by all of us. He will never be coming
back,” John shared.

“That's too bad. Well, I don't know much
about carriage horses so you might be able to help me out,” Jim
agreed.

Enos Yutzy was talking to a very tall, thin
man. When John and Jim approached, the man looked down his nose at
Jim disdainfully and walked away

John said, “Enos, we want to know more about
the courting buggy and horse.”

Enos nodded at the tall man that stopped a
few yards away. He had his back to them, but he was close enough to
hear the conversation. “You should know, Laverne Rapp, is going to
bid on the buggy for his boy, Jake.”

“Denki for telling us,” John said.

Jim eyed the man that was now watching them.
“That man sure is tree tall.”

“You will find that his bark is as rough as
hickory. The man can be a bear if he does not get what he wants,”
John replied softly as he ran his hand along the spine to the back
end of the horse. He moved his hand from the rump down the back leg
and picked up the horse's hoof. After he felt of the hock, he
placed the hoof gently on the ground and moved to the front leg and
hoof. He opened the horse's mouth and checked the teeth. “How old
is the horse?” He asked Enos.

“He is a strong five years old gelding.”

John checked the other two legs and tapped
the horse's rib cage, listening to the sound of the thumps. He
turned to Enos again. “ Is this horse a pacer or a trotter?”

“This one is a trotter.”

“What's his name?” Jim asked, knowing that
wasn't a very important question, but he wanted to ask
something.

“Mike,” Enos said.

“Jim, me and you should talk about this some
more.” John took him by the arm.

“The sale has started,” Jim said anxiously.
“See the auctioneer on the other end of the row coming this
way.”

John pulled Jim along until they were out of
Enos's hearing. “We need to discuss this.”

“What did you think of the horse?” Jim asked
anxiously.

“He seemed sound enough, and he is young.
Would last a gute long while,” John surmised.

“What's the difference between a trotter and
a pacer?” Jim quizzed.

“The gait.
Pacers sway from side to
side as they go down the road. Trotters hold their heads up high
and put one foot in front of the other in a prance. If you ever
noticed, my horses are trotters,” John explained. “Are you really
serious about bidding on that buggy?”

“
I am,” declared Jim.

“
You have to get a number from the
office. We better hurry inside so we can get back here in time to
bid.”