Tracey J. Lyons - A Love For Lizzie

And then she gasped in surprise at the sight that greeted her.

From across the field that separated the property from the road, Lizzie could see a row of buggies parked in front of the barn.

“Oh, my, Paul! Look at all of this!”

He tilted his head toward her and smiled, nodding toward the house. “I told you, as soon as they heard about your vader , everyone came to help.”

As the taxi pulled into the driveway, Lizzie pressed her forehead against the passenger-side window to get a better view of the yard. She saw her best friend, Sadie Fischer, rushing toward them. Immediately Lizzie’s heart swelled with emotion. She didn’t know what she would do without her friend. Waiting for the cab to stop, Lizzie tore off her seat belt and opened the door, stepping straight into her friend’s outstretched arms.

“Lizzie, I’m so sorry to hear about your vader .”

“Danke,” Lizzie mumbled against Sadie’s shoulder.

After releasing her hold, Lizzie looked around, taking stock of the busy yard. Behind her she heard Paul paying the cab driver. She noted the crunch of the gravel as the car drove off. Paul came to stand near them.

“Is it true that your vader had a heart attack?” Sadie asked, her gaze darting from Paul to Lizzie.

“ Ja. We think he’s going to be fine, though,” she answered, crossing her arms over her stomach as the full impact of her vader ’s condition hit her.

With her sister, Mary, living in her husband’s community in Montgomery County, a few hours from here, it was up to Lizzie to keep things running on the farm until her mamm or vader returned home.

Sadie quickly picked up on her unease. Her friend patted her on the arm, saying, “All will be well in time. Already we are all praying for his speedy recovery.” Pointing toward the side yard, Sadie added, “See there? Those people are your friends and they care a great deal about your vader .”

Lizzie looked past Sadie and saw a group of her neighbors and other community members standing in a circle, their heads bowed. The hems on the women’s blue dresses flapped against their legs as a warm summer breeze blew across the yard. Some of the men had left their jobs to come and offer support. Even though she knew it was the way of the Amish to come and lend a helping hand to a neighbor in need, she still felt uneasy about having all these people at her home. It appeared, though, that Sadie and Paul were both correct: everyone was doing something to help.

Her lower lip trembled as she fought back her tears. “ Vader sent me back. He said there was a lot that needed to be tended to. And it looks like he was right.” Lizzie swiped a hand across her cheeks, starting to walk toward the house.

Paul fell into step beside them. “I see my bruders , Ben and Abram are here.”

He nodded in the direction of the barn, where Lizzie could see fourteen-year-old Abram walking out of the barn with a wheelbarrow full of horse manure. Ben came out behind him, yelling that Abram had left a mess behind.

“So, three Burkholders have set aside their own chores for my family,” Lizzie mumbled, nodding at them. They gave her a wave, and then she dipped her head to one side. “That was very kind of them to come by.”

A monarch butterfly flitted in front of her face. Lizzie raised her hand, swishing it away, not in the mood to ponder the creature.

“I need to get to the kitchen. I understand there are men out in the field, working to bring in the rest of the hay that Vader was harvesting this morning. And then there are the cows to milk and feed. I’ll need to cook something to feed everyone.” She twisted her mouth into a thin line, making a mental list of the food they had on hand.

She knew there would be enough chicken for a stew, and there were several loaves of bread in the pantry, along with beans and potatoes. There were some zucchini squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce in the garden that could be picked.

Paul caught her gaze and smiled. “Listen to me. You have plenty of help everywhere, even in the kitchen. I suspect my mamm is here, too.”

“What? I can’t have your whole family at our house.”

“Trust me, I have plenty of family to go around.” He let out a chuckle. “With my five siblings, the lot of them would easily fill up your kitchen.”

She managed to muster a smile.

He gently walked her and Sadie down the drive, up the porch steps and into the house, where a beehive of activity was going on. Excusing herself, Sadie rushed into the kitchen, making her way over to the long counter. Lizzie watched her laying out rows of sliced white bread. To her right another young woman was adding slices of cheese and turkey to one side of the sandwich. Paul had left her to go say hello to his mamm , who was dumping boiled potatoes from a large pot into a colander in the sink.

Lizzie realized she’d been standing in the doorway. Looking down at her apron, the same light blue color as her dress, Lizzie frowned. Despite her fatigue, with her mamm absent it was her duty to help run things in the kitchen. Pulling the apron she’d been wearing over her shoulders, she shrugged out of it. She hung it on one of the wall pegs near the front door. Her hand brushed against a boy’s straw hat. The felt band looked brand-new. But Lizzie knew it was exactly ten years old.

Some days she wished her mamm would put the hat away. Seeing that hat reminded everyone of David. She put her house apron on and tied the sash around her waist. Having the hat here or not, Lizzie would never forget her bruder . Unlike in the homes of their Englisch neighbors, here there were no family photos, so they were left with only the memory of the images of their lives.

Lizzie closed her eyes, seeing David’s face in her mind’s eye. The eyes that matched hers in color, the dark hair that no matter how hard Mamm tried to brush it in place, always stuck out from beneath this hat. She imagined the dimples that appeared when he smiled. She heard his laughter. She shook her head to clear out those thoughts. Blinking away the emotions that seemed to come every time she thought of her bruder , Lizzie realized Sadie had stopped making sandwiches and was watching her with concern.

Crossing the room, she came over to her. “How about you let me get you a nice glass of the fresh lemonade that Mrs. Yoder brought over.”

“That would be nice,” Lizzie said as she took another apron from a peg and put it on. Tying the sash off, she followed Sadie into the kitchen.

Lizzie took the glass from her friend’s hand, not realizing until this moment how thirsty she was. She took a gulp from the drink, letting the coolness slide down her parched throat. She set the half-empty glass on the counter, wondering where to begin. At the back of the kitchen, a door stood ajar. If not for her vader ’s health, the laundry room would have been bustling with activity today.

Not only were the long summer days good for bringing in the hay, but they were also good for drying the wash. All through their community, backyard clotheslines would be filled with dark pants, white shirts and dresses. Monday was wash day. And the cars would come through in slow, long lines as the tourists tried to capture the image of their laundry on their fancy cameras or cell phones. Lizzie wanted to laugh because if they knew how much work was involved in getting a single load of wash done, maybe they’d see those images in a different way.

The dark pants, blue shirts, dresses and aprons would have to wait until tomorrow for their washing because right now there was a group of men waiting to be fed. Lizzie began helping the women carry out the bowls of potato salad and fruit salad, along with the platter of sandwiches and cutlery to a makeshift plywood-and-sawhorse table that had been set up underneath the shade of a large maple tree out in the backyard.