Davey's Daughter Read Free Page A

there was someone in the barn.”
    Dat slowly set down his mug of coffee, the color leaving his face. Mam turned, her mouth open in disbelief, her eyes wide, alarm clearly visible.
    But it was Priscilla who began to shake uncontrollably.

D at questioned Levi extensively, and he answered with calculated precision.
    No, it wasn’t snowing then.
    Yes, it was a white car.
    White shines in the dark. It’s a lot lighter than the darkness. The lights were round, down low, just like the time the barn burned.
    Clearly, there was only one choice. The police had to be notified. The story made it into the Intelligencer Journal the next day. It was just a short strip with no picture, which was Dat’s wish.
    The police had urged the Amish people to invest in dogs. Big dogs trained to attack, but Dat was slow to be convinced, saying if they did get an attack dog, was it really worth the injury to another person? What if an intruder was accidentally killed?
    As they discussed the article and the issue of the dogs, Sarah suggested allowing Suzie to get her Lassie dog, and Mam’s face softened as she looked at her youngest daughter with so much affection that Sarah could hardly watch. Then Sarah caught Priscilla’s eye and smiled, encouraging her to smile back.
    Priscilla had been brave the day before, Sarah thought. Very brave. In fact, so courageous, it had broken her heart to watch her sister standing in the snow, a black figure, her head bent, her shoulders slumped, her eyes downcast.
    Priscilla had been braver than she had been herself. For one thing, why did they have to send that Lee Glick with the skid loader? Dat could have driven Fred over to Ben Zook’s and left him in the barn while he came home with the piece of equipment to bury Dutch himself.
    Furthermore, wasn’t it about time that Lee finished up his stay at Ben Zook’s? Sarah thought he would have returned home months ago, but now he had a job and everything. Had he decided his home was now here in this community?
    The thing was, Lee always unsettled Sarah — not really unsettled, but he left her feeling as if she wasn’t quite getting it or didn’t understand something he understood.
    Or was she just remembering the night of Reuby Kauffman’s barn fire, when she…. Sarah lifted cold hands to cheeks that turned warm at the thought. Oh, he was just being kind, she told herself. He would help anyone. But would he help anyone in such a…thoughtful way?
    At any rate, who showed up driving that skid loader but Lee Glick with his blond hair covered by a gray beanie? His gloved hands quickly dug a hole, drug out the sad black and white carcass with the skid loader, and rolled the great horse into the yawning, cavernous hole before covering it neatly and packing it down by running over it repeatedly.
    Sarah could have stayed inside, she supposed, but Priscilla needed her support, so she stood beside her, watching the snow drift across the landscape creating a vast whiteness interrupted only by jutting buildings and trees and telephone poles, drooping wires hanging between them.
    When the skid loader stopped and Lee hopped off, Dat reached into his pocket for his wallet, but Lee waved it away and stood talking to Dat for the longest time.
    Lee was taller than Dat, something Sarah hadn’t realized. As they turned, Priscilla waited, her eyes never leaving Lee’s face. She was mesmerized, Sarah could tell, and was surprised to find herself suddenly irritable, cold, her feet wet inside the soft lining of her snow boots.
    When the men reached the girls, Lee looked only at Priscilla, and she lifted her eyes to thank him.
    “Hey, no problem. Glad I could help. Must have been hard, losing another horse.”
    “It was.”
    “I feel really sorry for you. I sure hope the police can help.”
    “We talked to them this morning already.”
    “Really?”
    Priscilla nodded.
    Dat gave Lee more details, and he whistled low, then shook his head. And he continued to ignore Sarah as if