Double Take by Melody Carlson Page B

all wrong .
    Madison held up her hands hopelessly, admitting that she knew it was wrong but couldn’t help it.
    Rachel studied Madison with a creased brow, then asked in German, “What happened to Anna? Did she get taken away, replaced with another girl?”
    At least that’s what Madison thought she said, but she wasn’t sure because this dialect was so different from what she’d learned in school and what she’d spoken in Germany last summer. Anyway, it seemed obvious that Rachel had figured her out. She appeared to know that Madison was an imposter. What now?
    Madison just shrugged, ready to quit this crazy game. She felt slightly sick to her stomach, not to mention tired.
    Rachel put a hand on Madison’s forehead as if to see if she had a fever. That’s when Madison remembered her “get out of jail free” line. Perhaps it was worth a try. She would do her best for Anna’s sake. Using her best German mixed with English, and showing a sad expression, Madison told Rachel a whopper, saying she’d suffered a concussion that had damaged her memory and language skills. Not unlike a device employed in a poorly written soap opera. Would Rachel buy this story, or would she see right through her and throw her from her house?
    Rachel looked concerned, asking when this fall had happened.
    Madison thought fast and then continued her pathetic little story in broken German and English, saying how she’d slipped on the ice last winter, falling and hitting her head on a rock and lying there unconscious for some time. Rachel nodded as if she understood how this might happen. Madison pointed to her mouth, saying her words got jumbled at times, and it was very odd, but she now understood English better than German.
    Again Rachel nodded. Finally Madison pointed to her head, saying her thoughts were jumbled too and that she forgot many ordinary household things like how to wash dishes. Rachel put an arm around Madison’s shoulders and squeezed her. “Poor Anna. I know something is unnerschittlich —I mean you are different .”
    Madison begged Rachel not to tell her mother about this. “Mamm will worry,” she said, going on to say how her mother had been anxious about letting Anna come to help, but that she’d assured her mother she would be all right. Most of all, Madison wanted to ensure that Rachel didn’t report this tangled tale back to Anna’s mother.
    “ Ja . I know what we will do.” Rachel gave her a firm nod. “I will help you. And you will help me. Together we will work this out.”
    “Together?” Madison asked hopefully.
    “ Ja , ja .” Rachel pressed a forefinger to her lips. “It is our secret.”
    Rachel helped Madison to finish up the kitchen work in the proper way. She showed her “simple” tasks like how to store perishable foods in the icebox. She reminded her of the right way to dry the dishes and where the dishes went. How to save the food scraps into the right containers—blue bucket was for compost, black bucket was for pigs and chickens. Rachel was basically treating Madison as if she were learning impaired. Maybe she was.
    After that they worked together to put the boys to bed, all the while Rachel instructing Anna step-by-step how to do this and that, which pegs to hang which clothes, where to place the dirty clothes, where the boys were to set their boots, how to help Jeremiah wash his face with a rough cloth, how to listen to their prayers, and to be sure not to leave the kerosene lantern behind since Jeremiah nearly set the curtains on fire recently. Finally they stood in the hallway next to the door to the bedroom that Madison was to share with Elizabeth.
    “ Denki , Anna.” Rachel clasped her hand. “Good Nacht .”
    Madison told Rachel good night and thanked her too. With a kerosene lantern in hand, she tiptoed into the room where Elizabeth was already tucked into her small wooden bed. Madison paused to listen to the even breathing of the baby, and not for the first time, she felt