Love’s Journey Home Read Free Page A

son is drunk. He’s being arrested.
     For drinking and driving.”
    Drunk. Drinking and driving. An Englisch act. Plain folks didn’t imbibe. Not those
     who followed the Ordnung. Gabriel had hoped for a strong, faithful community where
     he could raise the children and guide them with the help of that community. Instead
     this. The packing, the leaving of everything and everyone familiar. The endless drive
     across the Midwest. All of it had been for nothing.
    “That can’t be.” Helen brushed past Gabriel and stood toe-to-toe with the officer.
     “Edmond wouldn’t do that.”
    “We caught him, ma’am.” The officer made a hmmph sound that was halfway between a cough and snort. “He was out there with a bunch
     of kids from the high school, out behind the Pizza Parlor where the trash bins are.
     When we pulled up, Edmond had the bottle in one hand and a red plastic cup in the
     other. Red plastic cup, ma’am. You know what that means.”
    Helen’s face turned from white to red again. “You arrested him for having a red cup?”
    “They use them at keggers and the like. You see a red cup, you’re seeing alcohol,
     ma’am.”
    A kegger. The officer spoke a language Gabriel recognized from having worked in the
     Englisch world, but it was obvious Helen didn’t comprehend. She glanced sideways at
     Gabriel, her round cheeks flaming. “Did you see him drink from the cup?”
    “He threw it down. The bottle too. Then they scattered in all directions. Your son
     took off running to the buggy. We yelled for him to stop. He didn’t.”
    “Likely you scared him,” Thomas said. “We don’t deal much with law enforcement, as
     you know.”
    “Helen.” Emma touched her friend’s arm. “You must go to him.”
    A look passed between Emma and Thomas. Thomas doffed his hat at Gabriel and without
     another word, motioned for Helen to follow him.
    Gabriel shook his head. “I thought Dahlburg’s community had fallen into sinful ways,
     but I don’t know of any of the young men in that community being charged with something
     like this.”
    Emma didn’t answer. Her gaze followed her husband’s back until he disappeared into
     the crowd. She seemed thoughtful.
    “What’s going on?” Gabriel asked, curious at the mix of emotions on her face. “Has
     this happened before?”
    “Not with Edmond. He’s a good boy who’s a little out of hand.” Emma turned to him.
     “Has Thomas not told you of my brother Josiah’s misadventures during his rumspringa?”
    Not likely. Thomas didn’t do much storytelling, unless it was for the children’s pleasure.
     “Nee.”
    Emma glanced at the children sprawled on the quilt. They were already getting to know
     the flock brought by Emma’s brother and sister-in-law, Leah, a dour-looking woman
     who frowned at them and continued to berate her children for something. Gabriel had
     missed what they’d done.
    “The parade’s started. Finally.” Emma sank into a plastic folding lawn chair next
     to the quilt—a concession to the fact that she could no longer sit on the ground,
     given her girth—and motioned for him to do the same in the chair next to her. He sat
     while Caleb clamored into what remained of his mudder’s lap.
    “Josiah ran away to Wichita, got drunk, asked a New Order Mennonite girl to marry
     him, and then jumped off or fell off—we’re not sure which—a second-story balcony when
     she said no.” Emma’s expression and tone didn’t change. Gabriel realized she didn’t
     want the child on her lap to know of the seriousness of her words. “We almost lost
     him only a few months after my parents passed.”
    Gabriel had met Josiah the previous day. A broad-shouldered, burly man. Married—by
     the looks of him happily so—and a father of one child with another on the way. He
     was a hardworking blacksmith with big callused hands and an almost constant grin.
    “How long has Edmond’s father been gone?”
    “You mean how long has Helen been a