Love Still Stands Read Free Page B

neighbors.
     “Not a cult. Amish. I’m Luke Shirack. This is Silas Christner and his brother Elijah.”
     He nodded toward the kitchen, left in shambles that matched the living room. “I’m
     sorry I can’t ask the women to give you some tea or lemonade. We just drove up the
     road.”
    “You got proof of ownership then?”
    “I have paperwork for the property if you need to see it.”
    Sheriff McCormack surveyed the scene and sucked on a toothpick perched between his
     front teeth. Finally, he removed the toothpick and stuck it his pocket. “That’s what
     I figured. Too bad you didn’t stop by to talk to me and some of the other folks in
     town before you decided to buy up the countryside here.”
    “Why is that?”
    “The good folks of New Hope don’t care much for strangers. Or religious zealots, for
     that matter.” Without looking down, he stepped on a bag of barbecued potato chips.
     They crunched under his heel. “We like to keep to ourselves. We’ve got no interest
     in the kind of Amish tourist trade they do up there at Jamesport. We don’t need it.
     Most of our folks are farmers who make a decent enough living. We don’t want a bunch
     of city slickers traipsing around trying to get pictures of you guys in your suspenders
     and straw hats and buggies that block traffic on the highway and cause accidents.
     Just so you know. Not to be unfriendly or anything.”
    Elijah made a move as if to break in. Silas shook his head.
    “We like to keep to ourselves too. We don’t invite tourists to gawk at us. We’d rather
     they didn’t. We simply do nothing to stop them.” Luke smiled in what he hoped was
     a friendly way. He didn’t feel so friendly. Thanks to some of the good folks of New
     Hope they had a big cleanup ahead of them before he could put his kinner to sleep
     in their own beds. Forgive them, Lord, and forgive me for being so surly today . “We don’t plan to be any trouble at all to the good folks of New Hope.”
    If the sheriff saw any irony in the repetition of description of the residents of
     his town, he gave no indication. “I’m just saying, we got plenty of campers coming
     through to go to the Ozarks and then we got the tourists headed to Branson. Our stores
     are doing fine. We don’t need no more business. Not to be unfriendly or anything.”
    “I understand.”
    The sheriff looked as if he expected Luke to offer to pack up and head back to Kansas.
     When he didn’t, the other man pursed his lips, the sun lines around them deepening.
     “You got a bunch of kids who’ll be going to our schools? They’re pretty full already.”
    “We build our own schools and teach our own children.” Their kinner wouldn’t go to
     school with children who did things like build fires in houses that didn’t belong
     to them. “No need to concern yourself about that.”
    “I heard something like that. Be sure you get that school built right quick. Wouldn’t
     want to send a truancy officer your way so soon after your arrival. Separate schools
     are for the best. With those outfits, your boys will be eaten alive by our boys.”
    “We’ll homeschool them until the building is ready.” He didn’t plan to have a discussion
     with this man about the court case that gave Plain folks the right to educate their
     children as they thought fitting. “We want what’s best for them.”
    “The winters can be harsh here.”
    “As they often are in Kansas.”
    “True enough.” Sheriff McCormack poked at an empty brown beer bottle with the toe
     of his boot. It rolled across the floor and clanked against a green one. “Someone
     really did a number on your new place.”
    “It seems so.” Luke forced himself to respond in the same even tone. “Our neighbors
     are on their way. We’ll get it cleaned up and repaired in no time.”
    “You don’t want to file a report then?” The sheriff touched a blackened wall and his
     finger came away dark with soot. “You’ll need a police