Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (5 page)

When John and Jim returned, they had a few
minutes to wait for the auctioneer to get to the courting buggy.
Laverne Beiler stopped other farmers to talk to them as they
followed behind the auctioneer. Laverne's gray whiskered austere
face looked stern as he spoke to the farmers. From the grave looks
on their faces, Jim figured they didn't think much of the pushy
man. He nodded toward the auctioneer, and they edged closer.
Laverne Beiler continue to talk in Pennsylvania Dutch to the Amish
men as he waved his hand toward the courting buggy. Jim asked John
what the man was saying.

John listened. “He is telling other
prospective buyers not to bid on the buggy. He says he will run the
bid up on them if they do so they might as well not bid.”

Jim said crossly, “He has his nerve doing
that.”

“
The man has been that way his whole
life when he wants something at one of these sales. He can afford
to be.”

“
He hasn't said anything to me about
not buying the buggy. Wonder why not?” Jim asked.

John hesitated before he said, “Laverne would
not imagine you buying an Amish buggy. Probably he has not spoken
to you because you are English. Laverne Beiler does not speak to
English people if he can help it.”

“
Well, doesn't matter what he wants
this time. I'm buying that buggy,” Jim vowed.

Soon the auctioneer was to the courting
buggy. Jim went on the alert. The auctioneer called the starting
price. Jim shook his finger in the air. The auctioneer said he had
a bid and looked around the crowd. Laverne Beiler held up his hand.
The auctioneer looked at Jim. He shook his finger again. The
auctioneer looked at the others in the crowd as he waited for
Laverne Beiler to bid. Beiler bid, glaring at Jim to scare him off.
When the auctioneer had that bid, he looked at Jim. Jim upped his
bid. The auctioneer tried to get a higher bid from the crowd, but
the buyers avoided his eyes. They weren't interested if Laverne
Beiler wanted the buggy. Beiler bid. Jim bid. The bidding war went
on for several more bids.

John whispered out of the side of his mouth,
“You should stop. You are paying too much.”

“
I'm buying that courting buggy. No
matter how much it costs me I'm not letting that guy have it,” Jim
said through clenched jaws and upped the bid.

“
What are you going to tell Nora when
she asks what you paid?”

“
Maybe she won't ask,” Jim said as he
watched Beiler struggled to make a decision.

“
Good luck with that idea. She will
ask,” John hissed to deaf ears.

The auctioneer waited on Beiler. Finally, he
shook his head no. The auctioneer said, “Sold to the guy in the
straw hat next to John Lapp.”

Excited as a kid with his first jalopy, Jim
held up his number card for the auctioneer. When the crowd moved
out of the way, he grabbed the lead rope and led his horse and
buggy over to the hitch rack.

John tied the horse. “Almost time to watch
the livestock sale.” They went into the salebarn through the small
auction so John could check on his boys.

Geese honked, ducks quacked, lambs and baby
goats cried for their mothers. The babies didn't like to be
contained in small pens. In front of them were cages filled with
rabbits, cackling chickens and small turkeys. A rooster crowed as
they passed his cage.

On a table, cartons of bright red eggs, small
boxes of freshly hatched chicks, guineas, ducklings, and goslings
shared the area with rhubarb and apple pies, packages of oatmeal
cookies and saran wrapped bread loaves.

Noah and Daniel sat in chairs behind the
partition. They were by an English boy holding some sort of flat
square box with a screen on it. Noah and Daniel watched him with
interest as the boy poked buttons below the screen. The boy gloated
to them, “Don't you wish you had one of these games?”

Noah shook his head. “Nah, we play kick the
can. That game is more fun then sitting in one place poking
buttons.”

John smiled, pleased with his son's
response.

Daniel waved when he saw them.

The boy looked John over. “Do all Amish wear
beards?”

Daniel replied, “Nah, the women do not.”

Jim cackled as he elbowed John.

John told the boys they were going to the
other arena. The boys should come find them when it was time to
eat.

In the large sale area, tiers of wooden seats
built in a half circle around the sale ring were filled with
English and Amish men waiting for the sale to start. The Amish
voices rose and fell in the heavy accented German dialect which
intermingled with English words. All the conversations had the same
theme about farming and weather.

John and Jim watched the sheep and goats
sell. In the afternoon, there would be the cattle auction. Jim
admired the long, silky brown beard on a young farmer near them. He
leaned over to John and nodded toward the man. “I grew a beard like
his for the town centennial contest. After the contest, I couldn't
stand to look at myself in the mirror. I looked so terrible I
shaved it off.”

John grinned. “I used to have a smooth face.
When I saw how terrible I looked I grew a beard to hide my
face.”

Jim laughed.

When Noah and Daniel sat down by them, John
said, “You ready to eat?”

“
I'm starved,” Daniel
chirped.

John snorted. “What else is new?”

The diner filled up fast as the farmers
hurried to eat so they could go back for the cattle auction. Behind
the long counter, the young Amish women hustled from one end to the
other, racing to keep up with the orders.

John pointed out to Jim the menu board on the
wall. They gave the waitress their orders and sat down in one of
the red leather booths to waited for their food and drinks. John
nodded at English men and some of the Amish farmers while they ate.
When they exited the diner, John bumped into Ben Krayman, an older
Amish widower. He introduced Jim to Ben. They shook hands.

“
How you and Susie getting along these
days?” John asked.

“
Since my wife passed away, she has
been the next best thing to keep me gute company,” Ben said with
sparkling eyes.

As Jim noted the sparkle, Ben continued,
“Susie lives with me but in another part of the house. She does not
come over to my side when company comes to visit. Kind of shy that
way.”

John added, “She's much younger than
Ben.”

“
Jah, and real gute looking,” Ben
boasted.

Jim couldn't fathom how an Amish widower got
away with talking blatantly about living with a single woman. He
couldn't imagine anything like that being stood for in the Amish
community.

John said, “It is my understanding if a
person really wanted to meet Susie you would be glad to oblige,
Ben.”

“
Jah, I would introduce her to anyone
that wants to get to know her. She has never minded that. Jim, you
want to meet my Susie?” Ben asked.

“
Guess that would be all right if we
was to drop in on you sometime.”

“
She is with my buggy in the parking
lot recht now if you want to meet her. She does not let me come to
town without her. Goes everywhere I do,” Ben said. “Follow
me.”

Jim looked at John.

John nodded. “Sure, we might as well go with Ben so
he can introduce you to Susie before she decides to head home and
hide out again.”

John, Jim and the boys walked along with the
elderly man. Ben stopped near the front of his buggy and patted his
red horse on the rump. Jim eyed the enclosed buggy, trying to see
movement inside. He didn't. His thought was,
Susie must be taking a nap in the back.

Ben cleared his throat. “Jim, meet my girl, Susie.”
He walked along the horse, extended his hand toward the mare and
rubbed her face.

Jim did a double take at John, the horse and Ben.
“All that time, you were talking about a horse?”

The men broke out laughing and Jim right along with
them. He had fell for that joke hook, line and sinker.

Later that afternoon when the sale ended, they made
their way through the traffic to the line of parked buggies. John
and the boys stopped at their buggy. Jim marched on.

“
Where is Dawdi Jim going?” Daniel
asked.

“
Oh, I forgot to tell you. He bought his own
buggy,” John said.

“
Why?” Noah asked.

John parroted Jim's reasoning. “He wants to drive
around in it while he is here, and after he goes home just like we
do.”

Daniel was confused.“But he has a car.”

“
I pointed that out to him, but I could not
talk him out of it,” John said.

Jim untied the horse, backed the courting buggy up
and walked the horse toward them.

Noah blew out a breath. “That is what he bought?”

“
Afraid so,” John said.

“
That is a courting buggy!” Daniel voice filled
with wonder.

“
Eli Yutzy's courting buggy to be exact,” John
informed them.

“
That ain't Eli's horse,” Noah
remarked.

“
Nah, Enos sold the black horse already so he
hooked this one to the buggy,” John explained.

Daniel said softly, “Mammi Nora is going to have a
cow.”

Noah nodded solemnly.

John looked at his son. “What did you say,
Daniel?”

“
Mammi is going to have a cow.”

Noah explained, “That wondered us, too, at first when
Dawdi Jim said it. That is how he says she is going to be mad at
him.”

John chuckled. “Jah, I am afraid it might be more
like two cows this time. What worries me is your Mama Hal is
probably going to have a cow, too, because I didn't stop your dawdi
from buying that buggy. One of you want to offer to ride with him
just in case he gets into trouble. Buggy driving is new to
him.”

“
I can do that,” Noah offered.

Jim stopped the horse beside them.

John said, “Looks like you have everything under
control.”

“
I think so. You lead the way so I don't get
lost,” Jim suggested, grinning at John.

“
Jah, I will do that.”

Noah stepped forward. “Dawdi, this is a really nice
buggy. Can I ride with you and try it out once?”

“
Sure can. Meet my horse, Mike,” Jim said with
pride and climbed up to perch in the flashy red seat.

Chapter 4

John looked behind him in the rearview mirror often
to see if Jim was keeping up. As they made their way to the edge of
town, the pace was slow in the traffic. Jim's horse stopped several
times when he didn't need to. Maybe Jim was pulling the lines too
tight, sending mixed signals to his horse.

Once they were on the highway, the traffic was light
that time of afternoon. Jim flicked the lines so his horse would
trot. A car whizzed by, and Jim's horse stopped. John was a quarter
of a mile down the highway when he looked back and saw Jim flicking
the lines over the halted horse. Another car went by. The horse
didn't budge.

“
Look, Daed, Noah had to get out and tug on the
horse to get him started.” Daniel watched in his rearview mirror
and continued the play by play, “The horse started again. Dawdi is
going slow so Noah can grab hold and hop in. Noah is in the buggy
now.”

John was forced to slow down to keep an eye out
behind him. “I do not like seeing Noah run along side the buggy and
jump in. That is not safe.”

A pickup came by them. When the pickup passed the
courting buggy, Jim's horse stopped. John pulled over and turned
his buggy around. “We better see what is wrong with that
horse.”

Noah was out of the buggy, talking to the horse. John
drove across the highway, parked and walked to the front of the
buggy. He looked from the horse to Jim. “You seem to be having
trouble.”

“
I can't figure out why this horse stops and
starts on his own so much. We'll never get home by chore time at
this rate,” complained Jim.

Noah observed, “The horse stops when a car or truck
goes passed us. Suppose he is afraid of traffic?”

“
Might be that is it,” John said.

“
What can we do about getting him to change?”
Jim asked.

John thought a minute. “Usually tying a horse to a
fence next to the road helps. Gets them familiar with traffic by
doing that.”

“
Blinders might help. He does not have any on,”
Noah added.

“
I'll buy some first chance I get,” Jim
said.

“
No need. We have blinders in the tack room.
You can use a set to see if that works once,” John offered as he
looked at the sun sliding down the western sky.

Jim read his mind. “You go on. Noah and I will be all
right.”

“
Daniel and me should get home and start
milking.”

Jim said. “I know. Sorry about this. I didn't know
I'd be holding you up.”

John said, “Can not be helped. We did not know how
the horse would be in traffic until we tried him once.”

John stopped the buggy by the barn. “Daniel, you put
the buggy and horse away. As bad as I hate to have to do this,
before I milk, I should smooth the way for Dawdi so it is not such
a shock to the women when he drives in.”

In the living room, Tootie watched Emma sew a dress
for Beth on the treadle sewing machine. Hal and Nora played with
Redbird and Beth. When the girls saw their father, they squirmed to
be placed on the floor and crawled to him. John picked them up and
kissed their cheeks as they gave him a welcome hug.