In Plain View (11 page)

Rufus dipped his brush in the paint and stroked a muted seafoam shade onto the trim around an interior door.

“Did anybody talk to Elijah Capp?”

The sonorous voice of the bishop rose above the hum of people working to get the house ready for the Stutzmans to inhabit. Rufus glanced around the dining room, where three young Amish men were painting walls. They did not interrupt their rhythms. Rufus leaned around a ladder to see Bishop Troyer standing in the living room with his sleeves rolled up and his thumbs hooked in his suspenders.

“Elijah is coming this afternoon,” someone finally said. “He doesn’t think it will take very long to do the conversions. Not more than two days.”

The bishop nodded. Rufus dipped his brush again. With a crew of a dozen Amish men, the painting progressed swiftly. Rufus had set aside his own work for the day, as had all the others. This sacrifice meant the Stutzmans would be in their own home soon and not living among a deluge of paint cans, ladders, and spackle tools.

Rufus glanced around. Where was Joel? he wondered. Joel was supposed to come down as soon as he and Jacob looked after the animals.

And what about Mark and Luke? This was to be their home, but they were nowhere in sight.

Neither Eli nor Ike had said anything about their missing sons, but Rufus could not help watching the pair of fathers closely for signs that they noticed the absence of the boys as the morning wore on. The women would come with lunch soon.

“I hear Elijah is eager to take up with the
English
on their project to make a park.”

On the surface, Old Ezra’s words were a simple remark, but Rufus heard their meaning.

“The project has merit.” Eli Beiler wiped paint off the side of his hand.

“Bah!” Ike had his mind made up. “Ezra is right. It is an
English
project.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Rufus smiled slightly at his father’s persistence. Eli could be every bit as stubborn as Ike.

Gideon and Joshua stopped their brushes and turned toward the conversation. From across the room, Samuel and Levi did the same. Opinions rushed through the discussion.

“We should mind our own business.”

“They invited us to help. We will offend if we don’t.”

“They do not yet understand what it means that we live apart and have nothing to do with the
English
ways.”

“We’ll be using the land. Why should we not help care for it?”

“We use it only if we choose to. We can choose not to.”

“I still say we should mind our own business. That is our way.”

“That land is right between several Amish farms. Of course they want our cooperation.”

“No need to be uncharitable.”

“Who is in charge, anyway?”

“So far, it is just talk. No one is named as leader.”

Rufus dipped his brush yet again and continued working on the trim.

“The word in town is that Karl Kramer wants to have a hand in it,” Old Ezra said.

“Karl Kramer! He hasn’t had a kind word to say about any of us since we got here. I cannot believe he wants us to share in the work.”

“All the more reason to mind our own business. I don’t trust Karl Kramer.”

“I’ve never even met the man.”

“Don’t think he wants to meet us. Don’t forget what he did to our Rufus last year.”

Rufus stiffened.

Ike moved toward Rufus. “What is this business about?”

“It’s nothing,” Rufus said.

“He tried to kill you,” Old Ezra said.

Ike raised his eyebrows.

Rufus dabbed at the wall. “He is just uncertain about us because he does not know us.”

“And if we live apart as we should, we don’t have to know him.”

“Rufus,” the bishop said, “I’d like to hear what you think about this.”

Rufus set his paintbrush down and turned toward the center of the room. Every eye was on him.

“I think,” he said, “that undoubtedly we will use the land. Our young people, in particular, look for recreation—a picnic, a hike, a safe place for outings or courting. Even if a new park were not situated between several of our farms, we would use it. Many of the people in town are happy to have us here. Almost everyone in this room hires Tom Reynolds for taxiing and hauling, and he is one of the people who would like to see a new park. Since they have invited us, I see no harm in responding to the gesture of friendship.”

For a few minutes, the room was still and silent. Then a few boots shuffled. The bishop cleared his throat but did not speak.

“If Rufus were in charge, I would do it,” Gideon said.

Around the room, murmurs of agreement buzzed. Rufus stifled a sigh. He had no intention of leading anything.

“There’s an enormous boulder smack in the middle of that land,” Samuel observed. “Are they planning to move it?”

“It’s too big to yank out with a tractor.”

“There’s always dynamite.”

“Or leave it alone.”

“It’s a mistake to get involved.” Ike crossed his arms.

Rufus dipped his brush and reached for the trim above the door.

Old Ezra gripped a ladder and moved it to a new spot. “Where is that younger boy of yours, Eli? He’s tall enough that he could be of some help around here.”

Annie spun on her heel and left the kitchen. No point standing there staring at the key. She had not driven her Prius in six months. The only reason she still owned it was to placate her mother’s hope that her lifestyle change was temporary.

The house was empty. Even the cat was nowhere in sight. Her mother’s committee meeting would consume the afternoon. Her father seldom was home from work before six. Penny would gab the afternoon away with her childhood best friend.

For the last three days, Annie had used electricity freely. When she walked into a room, she flipped the light switch without thinking about where the power came from. When the dishwasher was full, she turned it on. When the telephone rang and she was nearest to it, she answered. She stayed up late and watched two movies with Penny, complete with microwave popcorn. When her mother’s computer froze, Annie knew just what to do to get it going again. Her hair hung freely around her face and shoulders, and she was glad for the furnace that fired up when the overnight temperatures dipped below forty. She did not think twice about the photos her mother snapped constantly. Annie wore comfortable jeans—except for the red dress—and not once did she have to stumble over choosing the right German word or get hopelessly lost in a dinner conversation.

It was surprisingly easy to be at home. Comfortable. Automatic. And in this situation, being
English
was the most peaceful option.

Annie could find something to read and pass a quiet afternoon until her family returned.

Or she could do what She most wanted to do. See Ruth Beiler. At least she could try.

Annie pulled a finger across the spines of books on the third shelf in the family room. She turned off lights where no one was sitting and straightened the pillows on the sofa, which she and Penny had left in disarray during their morning sister talk. But Annie was simply passing through the family room, and she knew it. Her cell phone, with Ruth’s number in it, was in the canvas bag she packed when she left Westcliffe. Now she went to the closet, opened the bag, and removed the phone.

Then she sat on the bed. As automatic as so many things felt in the last few days, this was different. She lived the
English
life for the sake of peaceful hours with her family, not expecting them to adjust their lives to her choices.

But this. This was a different sort of choice. She knew Ruth Beiler now used a cell phone daily—even texting.

Ruth might not answer, though. She might be at work or in a class or studying in the library with her phone silenced.

And if she did answer—and had some free time—Annie would be making her next choice simply by turning on her phone now.

She would take the Prius’s key off the hook, get in the car, and drive to Ruth’s dorm across from the main university campus.

Annie sat for ten minutes with the phone in her hand, still turned off, and her lips pressed together. This was not an emergency by any stretch of the imagination. But she’d had no warning she was going to come home, so she could not arrange a visit by mail. Ruth was so close, yet so far.

Finally, Annie flipped the phone open and composed a short text. A
M IN TOWN
. F
REE THIS AFT?

She pushed Send then held the phone in her hand, unsure whether she wanted it to vibrate.

It did. Y
ES
! W
OULD LOVE TO SEE YOU
. H
OW?

B
E RIGHT THERE
.
S
END
. Turn the phone off. Flip it closed.

Annie jammed the phone in a back pocket just in case she had a true emergency in the course of the afternoon. She stuck her driver’s license and some cash in another pocket and moved swiftly toward the kitchen. If she slowed down, she might feel the guilt.

The car key fit into her hand in a familiar mold.

Eleven

I
’m a failure at being Amish!” Annie flopped onto Ruth Beiler’s dorm bed, landing on her back with her arms splayed over her head. “I sent you a text when it was not an emergency, just because I wanted to see you. And I drove over here in a car I still own.” She did not want to admit aloud to wearing the red dress or the number of movies she had seen in the last three days. Or her reaction to Randy Sawyer.

Ruth nudged Annie’s feet over to make space to sit on the end of the bed. “I ran out on my own baptism. I win the Rotten Amish contest.”

Annie laughed and sat up. “Maybe I’m not meant to be Amish. I love my simpler life—most of the time—but three days at home with my parents and look what I’ve done. Is that all it takes to break my resolve?”

“Your family is
English
, Annalise. You are not baptized Amish. You have done nothing wrong.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Good. Because I’m not. How can I expect my family to honor my choices if I can’t honor them myself?”

“We all choose every day.” Ruth leaned her shoulder against Annie’s. “I made a huge choice when I left home. Outwardly, leaving meant I was choosing not to be Amish. On the inside, though, I have to choose every day to stay here and stay in school. Even after two years I have trouble belonging in this world.”

“I think you’ve done very well.” Annie raised her hands to tick off her points.” You’re a good student, you use a computer, you have a job, you found a church, you’re getting along with your mother.”

Ruth got up and began to tidy the university-supplied desk next to her bed. “And I dress like a nerd, I still braid my hair, I don’t see the point of reality TV, and other students don’t know what to make of me other than helping them in a study group.”

“I assure you, reality TV is no great loss.” Annie leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.

“It would be something to talk about, that’s all.” Ruth snapped closed the rings of an open binder. “When are you going back to Westcliffe?”

“I’m ready to go now, but I have to get a ride.” Annie put both hands up. “I drove here, so I have to drive back to my parents’ house, but after that I’m hanging up my keys again. I repent!”

Ruth smiled and laughed softly.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re beating yourself up about driving, and I’m learning to drive.”

“What!” Annie sat up straight.

Ruth nodded. “I’ve had a permit for a long time. I have to carry some kind of ID that
English
will accept. A couple of friends have given me a few lessons.”

“See! You do have friends. Someone who will teach you to drive and still speak to you afterward is the truest friend of all.”

“The first one moved away.” Ruth laughed. “Maybe that was her way of saying the lessons were not working out.”

Annie swatted Ruth’s shoulder.

“The second one is from a military family and is a woman on a mission.”

“I like her already.”

“Mostly I’ve steered away from any busy streets and have only driven in broad daylight, but Lauren let me drive her car home from downtown at night.”

“Lauren?”

“My new suitemate. She wears army clothes all the time, but she looks at me like I’m a regular person.”

“You
are
a regular person.”

“I don’t understand half the stuff she says. Body armor and assault weapons and explosives. Apparently in her family, that’s dinner table conversation.”

“I’d like to meet her.”

“I wish she were here now. Another time.”

“Let’s go driving.” Annie jangled the key to her Prius. “We’ll go out on the interstate.”

Ruth shook her head. “I’m too nervous. I’m used to the speed of a horse.”

“Just picture a
lot
of horses. Galloping. We’ll stay in the slow lane, I promise.”

Annie met Ruth’s eyes and saw the gleam of desire. With a grin, Ruth clutched the key in her hand and slung her purse over her shoulder.