risk its welfare out in the yard while she hung wet shirts.
Inside, David’s eyes were wide with pleasure and gratitude. He rotated the birdhouse a quarter turn to admire a fresh angle. Lindy and Rachel seemed to have put aside their nascent quarrel.
“I’ll take it upstairs for now,” David said, “until I decide where to hang it.”
“Please take your boots off before walking through the house,” Rachel said. “I’ve just cleaned the floors.”
David sat down and began to unlace one boot.
“I brought in a letter for
Daed.
” Ella handed the envelope to Rachel.
“From the school board,” Rachel said. Though it was addressed to her husband, she tore off one end of the envelope and scanned the contents.
“What is it?” Lindy leaned forward, elbows on the table. “More information on the bus route?”
“This is ridiculous,” Rachel said. “They can’t do this to us.”
“What is it?” Lindy repeated.
Ella had never seen Rachel’s face so pale, her jaw so set.
Rachel returned the letter to the envelope. “They want children to stay in school until they are sixteen. They claim it is state law.”
Ella’s eyes went to David, who yanked off his boot and then froze his motion.
“I’ll be going to high school,” he said.
Wonder shimmered in his voice.
“You most certainly will not,” Rachel said. “You’re turning fifteen next week. You finished the eighth grade a year ago. Do they expect you to become a child again?”
“It’s state law,” Lindy said. “It’s happening everywhere. The schools in town are good, solid schools.”
“What possible reason would I have for sending my able-bodied son back to school?” Rachel glared at no one in particular. “Even when he was ten or eleven, the teacher said he was working well above other students his age. Besides, Jed has already come to depend on David’s help around the farm. He does the work of a man.”
David slowly unlaced his second boot, his eyes down. “I’d like to go to the high school.”
Ella stiffened and Rachel spun.
“You’re a child,” Rachel said. “You’ll do as you’re told.”
“You just said I was a man.” David lifted his eyes now.
Ella’s head suddenly felt as if it were clamped in a vise. Slowly the pressure squeezed, one notch at a time.
“I’m sure you can talk about this,” Lindy said, moving to put one hand on David’s shoulder.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Rachel snapped.
“It would only be for a year.” Lindy’s voice was hardly above a murmur.
“Jed will have something to say about this,” Rachel said. “I cannot imagine he will see the need for a fifteen-year-old to go to school.”
Ella slipped out the back door for the second time that morning. Rachel and Lindy. Rachel and David. Lindy and David. Jed and Rachel. Jed and David. It was not Ella’s place to interfere in any of these relationships that had deluged the quiet Hilty house when her father and Rachel married. Even if it were up to her, she had no advice. Soon—she hoped—Gideon’s children would be her focus.
At the laundry basket, Ella lifted a damp shirt and snapped it through the air before pinning it to the line. In a few months she would be hanging Gideon’s shirts.
CHAPTER 7
M argaret carried her neatly typed report along Main Street toward the superintendent’s office. With Seabury Consolidated Grade School and Seabury High School on adjacent lots, Mr. Brownley might easily have his office in one of the two modern buildings rather than farther down Main Street. Without doubt, the handful of remaining one-room schools in the rural county around Seabury would soon be closed and students integrated into the schools in town, so he could administer from one of the main buildings.
She had done what she could with the Amish, answering more questions than they knew to ask, inviting them for a tour, and making sure they had the information needed for sending the children to school on the first
Inside, David’s eyes were wide with pleasure and gratitude. He rotated the birdhouse a quarter turn to admire a fresh angle. Lindy and Rachel seemed to have put aside their nascent quarrel.
“I’ll take it upstairs for now,” David said, “until I decide where to hang it.”
“Please take your boots off before walking through the house,” Rachel said. “I’ve just cleaned the floors.”
David sat down and began to unlace one boot.
“I brought in a letter for
Daed.
” Ella handed the envelope to Rachel.
“From the school board,” Rachel said. Though it was addressed to her husband, she tore off one end of the envelope and scanned the contents.
“What is it?” Lindy leaned forward, elbows on the table. “More information on the bus route?”
“This is ridiculous,” Rachel said. “They can’t do this to us.”
“What is it?” Lindy repeated.
Ella had never seen Rachel’s face so pale, her jaw so set.
Rachel returned the letter to the envelope. “They want children to stay in school until they are sixteen. They claim it is state law.”
Ella’s eyes went to David, who yanked off his boot and then froze his motion.
“I’ll be going to high school,” he said.
Wonder shimmered in his voice.
“You most certainly will not,” Rachel said. “You’re turning fifteen next week. You finished the eighth grade a year ago. Do they expect you to become a child again?”
“It’s state law,” Lindy said. “It’s happening everywhere. The schools in town are good, solid schools.”
“What possible reason would I have for sending my able-bodied son back to school?” Rachel glared at no one in particular. “Even when he was ten or eleven, the teacher said he was working well above other students his age. Besides, Jed has already come to depend on David’s help around the farm. He does the work of a man.”
David slowly unlaced his second boot, his eyes down. “I’d like to go to the high school.”
Ella stiffened and Rachel spun.
“You’re a child,” Rachel said. “You’ll do as you’re told.”
“You just said I was a man.” David lifted his eyes now.
Ella’s head suddenly felt as if it were clamped in a vise. Slowly the pressure squeezed, one notch at a time.
“I’m sure you can talk about this,” Lindy said, moving to put one hand on David’s shoulder.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Rachel snapped.
“It would only be for a year.” Lindy’s voice was hardly above a murmur.
“Jed will have something to say about this,” Rachel said. “I cannot imagine he will see the need for a fifteen-year-old to go to school.”
Ella slipped out the back door for the second time that morning. Rachel and Lindy. Rachel and David. Lindy and David. Jed and Rachel. Jed and David. It was not Ella’s place to interfere in any of these relationships that had deluged the quiet Hilty house when her father and Rachel married. Even if it were up to her, she had no advice. Soon—she hoped—Gideon’s children would be her focus.
At the laundry basket, Ella lifted a damp shirt and snapped it through the air before pinning it to the line. In a few months she would be hanging Gideon’s shirts.
CHAPTER 7
M argaret carried her neatly typed report along Main Street toward the superintendent’s office. With Seabury Consolidated Grade School and Seabury High School on adjacent lots, Mr. Brownley might easily have his office in one of the two modern buildings rather than farther down Main Street. Without doubt, the handful of remaining one-room schools in the rural county around Seabury would soon be closed and students integrated into the schools in town, so he could administer from one of the main buildings.
She had done what she could with the Amish, answering more questions than they knew to ask, inviting them for a tour, and making sure they had the information needed for sending the children to school on the first
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