Davey's Daughter Read Free

drawers, pulled out an old beige, doubleknit tablecloth made with her own hands, and spread it quickly across the kitchen table. Then she thumped six Corelle plates and six clear plastic tumblers, her vottags glessa (everyday glasses), onto the table.
    She set a jar of homemade ketchup, a dish of butter, one of homemade strawberry jelly, salt and pepper, the honey bear, and Levi’s vitamins in the middle of the table.
    She turned to slice bread for toast when Levi’s voice cut through the comforting sounds of breakfast preparations.
    “Malinda!”
    So it was Malinda this morning, not Mam. She caught Priscilla’s eye, and they lifted the corners of their mouths in unison.
    “ Du mochst an hesslichy racket (You make a big racket)!”
    “Come on, Levi! Time to get up.”
    Levi’s bedroom was on the main floor in the enclosed porch facing the driveway and barn. The many low windows were filled with tin cans containing colorful geraniums, Mam’s pride and joy.
    His hospital bed, a nightstand, dresser, recliner, and a few bright, woven rugs made up his pleasant bedroom. It was his area of comfort and belonging in the old stone house that had been remodeled over the years to accommodate a family of ten children.
    Three married sons and two married daughters completed the David Beiler family. Anna Mae and Ruthie were each just a few years older than Sarah and already had babies and homes of their own that were filled with the aura of completion and contentment that seems to permeate young Amish homes.
    They had a fit about Sarah and her senseless yearning. Although they usually kept their thoughts to themselves, occasionally a snippet of their indignant views would slip out, allowing Mam to glimpse the discordant note between her married and single daughters.
    Well, Anna Mae and Ruthie had better watch out, she would think, setting her jaw firmly as she drove Fred home from sisters day. Those two had had pretty uncomplicated courtships.
    “Malinda!”
    “Levi, what is wrong now?”
    “ Ich hopp ken hussa (I have no trousers)!”
    “ Yoh (Yes).”
    “ Nay (No).”
    Priscilla got up from her misery to help Levi find a pair of trousers, which were not in the usual drawer but folded neatly and stacked on top of his dresser, where she had put them the day before.
    “You have to look, Levi.”
    “That is not where I look for my trousers, and you know it. You just didn’t want to open the drawer and put them in. I know how you are. Always in a hurry.”
    Priscilla managed to laugh and tweaked his ear. He lifted a large hand to slap it away, but he was smiling, the crinkles beside his deep brown eyes spreading outward.
    Breakfast was subdued but not without encouragement, as they heaped their plates with the crispy, golden slabs of cornmeal mush, fried eggs, stewed crackers, and chipped beef gravy. The plastic tumblers were filled with the orange juice made from frozen concentrate that Mam bought by the case from Aldi.
    Levi’s weight was a constant challenge. Some meals could turn into a battle of wills, but the first meal of the day was normally not restricted, so he was a cheerful person at breakfast, happily dabbing homemade ketchup over his stewed crackers and spreading great quantities of strawberry jelly on thick slices of toast.
    Priscilla ate very little, and Sarah noted with concern the look of suffering in her eyes as she watched the snow swirling against the kitchen window.
    Mam poured mugs of fragrant coffee and brought a fresh shoofly pie from its rack in the pantry. Sarah cut a fairly large wedge for herself and one for Levi, smiling at him as he thanked her over and over.
    Dat said he’d have to ask Ben Zook to use his skid loader to bury Dutch. Then they had to explain to Levi what had occurred that morning, and he listened with great interest.
    Wisely, he shook his great head. “Well, I didn’t make it up then. A car drove in here. I was up during the night and walked to the bathroom. I saw it. I bet