Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish Read Free

frowned. On
top of everything else, both boys needed to remember to use manners
around her parents and aunt. “Daniel, instead of reaching across
the table for the butter, the polite thing to do is say please pass
me the butter.”
    Daniel bowed his head. “Sorry, Mama Hal.”
    “It's all right this time. It's just that I
want us to put our best manners on while we have company with us,”
Hal explained.
    The next few days passed by in a fast
whirlwind of activity as Hal and Emma rushed to clean the house and
air out the spare room for Hal's parents.
    When the boys came in one afternoon, Emma
sent them to the basement to sweep and clean down the cobwebs.
    “We are sure going to a lot of work for
company,” Noah complained.
    Daniel grumped, “You would think Aendi Tootie
and Mammi Nora do not ever see a speck of dust.”
    “They do not from the way Mama Hal is
acting,” Noah replied as he swiped the ceiling cobwebs with the
broom straws.
    When the boys appeared back upstairs, Emma
cornered them again. “Make up the fly bags and put them around the
doors and windows. We do not want a lot of flies in here.”
    Noah asked, “Mama Hal, you have enough
pennies to put in the water?”
    Hal rifled in her purse and gave the boys
what pennies she had. Emma went to the pantry and found a box of
quart baggies she laid on the kitchen table.
    The boys put six pennies in each bag and
filled them half full of water. Once they had the amount they
needed, they tacked the fly bags on the outside of the house.
    Finally one morning after much thought, Hal
announced as she wiped dishes, “Aunt Tootie is going to sleep in
the clinic bed.”
    “Are you sure?” Emma asked. “The clinic is so
far away from the rest of the family at night.”
    “There's nothing wrong with that. For
goodness sakes! It's not like I'm sending her to the barn to sleep.
The clinic is attached to the house after all,” Hal declared out of
sorts.
    “I know, but what if you need that bed for a
birthing?” Emma considered.
    “We will deal with that when and if it
happens. Maybe we'll be lucky and not have a birth while our
company is here. I can't think of anyone that's due this soon.”
    “Just the same we should treat your aunt like
company. Besides, she is a lot older than me. She can have my bed.
I can sleep in the clinic. That way if we have a birthing I will be
the one without a bed which I will not need if I am assisting you,”
Emma declared logically .
    Hal gave in. “All right, if that's the way
you want it.”
    Emma fixed the mop bucket and mopped the
kitchen's black and white checkered linoleum. She tossed the dirty
water out the back door. As she hung the mop pail on a nail and the
rag mop beside it, Noah and Daniel charged into the mud room. Emma
eyed the squirming puppy warily in Daniel's arms as she snapped,
“Watch your step! I just mopped that kitchen floor. It is
slick.”
    “We will,” Daniel said.
    The boys tiptoed into the kitchen. Hal smiled
at them as she dried her hands on her apron. “How is the puppy
doing?”
    “He is growing fast, ain't so?” Noah said to
Daniel.
    “Jah,” Daniel agreed. “Want to see him come
to you, Mama Hal.” He put the puppy on the floor. “Now call
him.”
    Hal slapped the side of her leg. “Come to me,
Biscuit. Come here.”
    The puppy slipped and sprawled out several
times on the damp floor before he finally slid to a stop in front
of Hal. She leaned over and patted his head. “You are so cute.”
    The nervous puppy licked her hand repeatedly,
suddenly squatted and relieved himself. The amber puddle spread out
around his hind paws, ran under his front paws and flowed toward
Hal. She stepped back to keep the pool from running under her bare
feet. The puppy yipped as he pattered around her, leaving his wet
tracks on the clean squares.
    With her hands on her hips, Emma's disgust
couldn't be missed.
    With a glance at his sister, Noah said
quietly, “Grab Biscuit, Daniel.”
    As Emma's heavy