Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (7 page)

Nora shrieked as they drove out from under the
branches.

“
Relax before you scare the horse. That was
just a hoot owl,” Jim growled.

“
I know a hoot owl when I hear one, but I've
never had one right on top of me. He sounded like he wanted to make
me his next meal,” Nora snipped. “How soon are we getting on the
road that goes back to the Lapp farm?”

“
Soon.” Jim uttered softly, “I
hope.”

“
You don't know where we are, do you? I might
have known. Fine thing. You get lost in the car and a buggy all in
a couple of days. That's a new record for you, Jim Lindstrom,” Nora
chided.

Suddenly, the black shape of a stop sign appeared.
They had a cross roads in front of them. Jim sounded relieved. “We
made it back to the main road. Guess I'll turn this way.”

“
You're guessing? You're turned around. Heaven
help us. We may be out in this wilderness all night,” Nora
grumbled.

“
Ah, I think John would come looking for us
before morning,” Jim said to reassure her.

“
I'm not so sure. He doesn't know you as well
as I do,” Nora grouched.

As Jim listened to Molly's hooves on the packed
gravel road, Nora heard cre-e-eak, cre-e-eak, cre-e-eak off to the
side. “What is that?” Nora asked in a hushed voice as she stared
into the darkness.

“
Really? You don't know?”

“
Sounds like a giant tree frog,” Nora said
nervously. “Mercy, I didn't know Hal moved to such a wild
jungle.”

“
All you're hearing is a farmer's windmill.
There's just enough breeze to get the blades to turn slowly so they
squeak,” Jim told her.

“
Oh, well, how was I supposed to know that. I
haven't heard a windmill since I was a kid,” Nora excused
sheepishly.

“
Listen once in awhile to the Lapp windmill. It
sounds the same way,” Jim stated.

They traveled by large black shapes, cattle or
horses, snuffling as the animals nosed the tender grass they
grazed. Jim said hopefully, “That looks like the cattle and horses
we rode by earlier.”

“
Cattle and horses all look alike in the
daylight. For the life of me, I don't know how you can tell it's
the same ones when it's pitch black out here.” Ahead of them, Nora
saw house lights. “There's a house. I pray it's Hal's house so I
can get out of this contraption. Tootie and Hal must be worried
sick about us.”

Meanwhile some time ago, John and the boys finished
the chores. They waited in the living room. The women had supper
ready. The kettles were on the back of the cookstove, staying warm
until Jim and Nora came back.

Hal paced from the living room to the kitchen and
back. Emma fed Redbird and Beth so they could stick to their
schedule. It would soon be their bedtime. Tootie stared out the
living room window on watch.

Hal fretted, “John, Dad said they would be back
before dark. Something must have happened.”

“
I told you Jim gets lost easy,” Tootie
declared. “No telling where they ended up, and my poor sister's out
there in the dark. They might be all the way back to Wickenburg by
now. Poor Nora is going to be beside herself. That brother-in-law
of mine is crazy.”

Hal stopped pacing to give her aunt a cautionary
look.

“
Sorry, Dear. I know he's your father,” Tootie
relented.

“
You want us to go look for them?” John asked
Hal.

“
Jah, I do,” Hal said.

“
Yes, she does,” Tootie added her
opinion.

“
Boys, get the lantern and hitch Ben to the
open buggy so we can go look.” John and the boys were on the porch
when they heard clopping and saw the buggy's dark shape turn in.
John said through the door screen, “They are home.”

“
Thank goodness!” Hal exclaimed.

Tootie and Hal rushed to join John and the boys to
meet the buggy as Jim parked.

John observed, “It was dark out there to be driving
without the head light on.”

“
It doesn't work. Must be the battery is dead,”
Jim said softly to John as he hopped down.

Nora demanded, “Get me out of this buggy, Jim
Lindstrom.”

Jim held his arms up to his wife to help her
down.

“
Have any trouble other than the dead battery?”
John asked.

“
No, the horse did just fine” Jim
said.

“
He got us lost,” groused Nora.

“
The horse got you lost,” Hal
echoed.

“
No, your father did,” Nora
complained.

“
How lost could we have been. We're back to
John and Hal's, aren't we?” Jim defended.

Tootie whispered in Hal's ear, “I told you Jim was
lost. Never fails.” The next sound was her clucking tongue.

“
Dawdi Jim, did you stick to this road or turn
off?” Noah asked.

“
I turned off and went through a bunch of
timber,” Jim said. “It was a winding dirt road, and your grandma
got a little nervous.”

“
A little! This country is like living in a
zoo. I didn't realize so many wild creatures ran around out here at
night,” Nora complained as she went to the house with Hal and
Tootie. “Hallie, you must be more careful when you're out at night
alone.”

“
Hallie rides in a enclosed buggy, Sister.
That's safer than Jim's open buggy,” Tootie surmised.

“
Denki, for the observation, Aunt Tootie,” Hal
said.

The men trailed along behind. “Don't know which made
Nora more nervous. All the wild animals she heard, or me mentioning
my buggy is a courting buggy.”

John chuckled. “Sounds like you might have been in
the right place with that line of thinking. If you were on Bender
Creek Road, it is the local lover's lane.”

“
Didn't know that, but I tried my best anyway.
Nora wasn't in the mood,” Jim replied with a grin.

“
I heard that, Jim Lindstrom. You aren't
funny,” Nora snapped as she stomped up the porch steps.

As he followed Nora into the house, Jim retorted,
“Fine! Next time I'll take Tootie for a ride.”

Tootie declared, patting her chest. “Holy Buckets! I
don't think so.”

Noah and Daniel giggled.

Nora snapped, “Watch your mouth, Tootie. Children are
listening.”

“
Sorry about that, Nora, but I'm not going
anywhere with that husband of yours. At least, I wouldn't consider
it until he knows the roads better and how to get home before
dark,” Tootie groused. She turned to Jim. “For sure, I wouldn't let
you take me for a ride on lover's lane in the dark or daylight.
Forget that kind of nonsense, Jim Lindstrom.”

Chapter 5

That evening, John said the supper prayer out loud.
“I come before you in the name of Jesus Christ our king. Bless this
family and keep us peaceful and thoughtful of each other. Bless me
so that I can do your will in the coming days. Amen.”

As they focused on eating rather than talking, Hal
was glad that supper seemed to please everyone. Of course, the
silence might have been because supper was later than usual so they
were hungry. Hal feared it was more likely due to the fact that
Nora was unhappy with Jim. Everyone thought they should keep quiet
until she calmed down.

Finally, Daniel broke the ice. “Aendi Tootie, please
pass me the butter.”

“
Sure, Dear,” Tootie said as she handed the
round glass dish full of homemade butter across the
table.

Daniel made a face as he took it and set it beside
his plate. He grumbled to Noah, “I would rather have had seconds
from the green bean bowl. They sure were gute.”

Tootie gave him a vexed stare. “Why on earth didn't
you say that in the first place if you wanted green beans?”

“
Mama Hal said while you are here I am to watch
my manners and say please pass the butter,” Daniel
complained.

Jim and John burst out laughing. Emma put her hand
over her mouth to keep from giggling. Hal looked upset at all of
them for finding Daniel amusing. Nora and Tootie looked
confused.

Jim said to Daniel, “Don't stand on good manners with
us. We're family. If you want the green bean bowl, I can help you
out there.” He handed the bowl to Noah to pass to Daniel.

When everyone finished eating, Tootie hustled to the
stove for the tea kettle, ready to make up her dish water. The
other women settled into the routines that were left.

Hal left for the barn with the scrap pail. While she
was gone, Tootie finished the last stainless steel kettle and
tossed her cloth into the dish pan. “Emma, it's your turn to wash
the counters and table off tonight,” she ordered.

Tootie focused on the window while she wiped her
hands on her apron. Yanking on the ties, she removed the apron,
tossed it over a chair and hurried from the kitchen.

“
Looks like I've done all I can,” Nora said and
followed her sister.

When Hal came back, Tootie and Nora were gone. Hal
put the slop pail in the pan and fished around in the murky water
for the dish cloth.

Emma whispered, “I think Aendi Tootie was trying to
keep from washing the pail. She washed the dishes as fast as she
could to get out of here before you came back from the barn.”

“
Did she now? Well, I'll just have to hurry
faster to get ahead of her next time,” Hal hissed.

The next afternoon, Noah and Daniel hooked up the
manure spreader. Daniel stopped cleaning the sheep pens in the barn
long enough to hitch up Ben and drive the enclosed buggy over by
the house for the women to take to the Yoder farm.

The boy was on his way back to the barn when the
women walked to the buggy. Suddenly, a loud clatter, horse screams
behind the barn and stampeding hooves caused everyone to look that
direction. The team bolted around the barn with the empty spreader
careening from side to side behind them.

Startled by the sight, Daniel froze as the frightened
horses and spreader came at him. Hal ran toward Daniel as the boy
took his first step backward. She grabbed his arm. “Move,” she
screamed. Daniel leaped with her, and they just barely made it out
of the horses' path. A fearful dread welled up in Hal at what a
close call that had been as she hugged Daniel.

Emma asked frantically, “Where is Noah?”

Daniel gulped. “I do not know. He was with the horses
and spreader while I hitched the buggy up.”

Hal, Emma and Daniel took off. Noah came to meet them
from behind the barn with a staggering gait. They all turned their
attention to the sounds in the pasture lane. The swerving spreader
hooked onto the fence. Posts snapped, livestock panels clattered to
the ground and strands of wire caught on the spreader and flying
harnesses. The horses finally halted in a tangle of wire and fence
posts.

Noah said to Daniel, “We have to get the horses
unhitched quick before they get hurt.”

Hal grabbed his arm. “Are you hurt, Noah?”

“
Nah, I just twisted my ankle some.”

“
I want to look at that ankle,” Hal
insisted.

“
You can look at it later, Mama Hal. We have to
get those horses unhitched before they get hurt if we are not too
late all ready.” Noah limped after Daniel to free the
horses.

The boys unhitched the horses and led them to the
barn. When they came back, Hal said, “Noah, sit down on a porch
step. I'll get an ace wrap from the clinic to bind that ankle so
it's easier to walk on.”

She was back in a few seconds. Noah had his shoe and
sock off and his trouser leg rolled up. She felt the swollen ankle.
Noah sucked in air when pain seared through his leg from her
poking. “I don't think the ankle is broken. You're putting some
weight on it.”

“
Jah, it is just sprained,” Noah assured her
through clenched teeth.

When Hal finished winding the ace wrap around Noah's
ankle, she said, “We can soak that ankle in Epsom salts tonight
after supper. That will help the swelling go down. As soon as you
can, you need to get off your feet. Put the ankle up so it won't
throb as bad. If we don't see an improvement in a couple of days,
you may need an x-ray to see if the ankle bone is cracked. Did the
horses step on you?”

“
Nah, I twisted my ankle in rutted tracks the
spreader wheels made,” Noah said.

“
What happened behind the barn?” Emma
asked.

Noah explained, “I tied the horses to a fence post
while I worked on the spreader. A bolt was missing I had to
replace. I heard a loud buzzing. Yellow jackets were flying around
the horses' heads. There must have been a nest in the fence post.
The horses panicked and started backing up to get away from the
wasps. I just barely got out of the way before they broke loose and
took off.”

“
Thank God, you aren't badly hurt, Noah,” Nora
said, giving him a hug.

“
That was too scary for words,” Tootie
declared.

“
Is there anything I can do to help you before
we leave?” Emma asked.

“
Nah, you go on,” Noah said. “The horses are
calming down already. They only have a few scratches we need to put
some liniment on.” He looked down the lane at the tangled panels
and wire laying in the grass. “We will be patching up the fence the
rest of the afternoon to keep the cattle and sheep in the
pasture.”

Hal did the driving to the Yoder farm with Nora in
the front seat beside her. Tootie and Emma sat in back and held the
toddlers.