When Strawberries Bloom Read Free Page B

Stephen really thought about her. In fact, Lizzie had begun to think that if it wasn’t for Amos, she would have genuine fun with lots of other guys every weekend. But because she was never quite certain whether Amos liked her or Ruthie, she could think of nothing else.
    On the surface, Lizzie remained good friends with Ruthie. No one but Mandy knew about the cold, hard jealousy that so often consumed Lizzie. She wondered how long God would have patience with her awful feelings of jealousy. Every Sunday night when she came home, she asked Jesus to forgive her and wipe away her sins and make her as clean and brand new as tablet paper with no marks on it.
    Sometimes the whole sinning and forgiving thing was hard to figure out. How could Jesus keep forgiving her if he knew she’d just get jealous again the next weekend? Maybe he recognized that she was still young. She was pretty sure about one thing, though. After she became a member of the Amish church and gave her life to God really seriously, she either had to be dating Amos or quit going to Allen County on the weekend if she wanted to have any peace at all.
    On Sunday night she was so positive that Amos would ask her for a date that her heart beat so rapidly and loudly she was sure he could hear it. After the singing and while she waited on her driver, he sat in the yard beside her, just sat there, talking about lots of different subjects. His teeth shone white in the dark, his head outlined against the starlight, and Lizzie was so nervous, just waiting to hear him ask her for a real date the following weekend. But he didn’t. Lizzie was mad all week just thinking about it.
    Finally, Mam had had quite enough of Lizzie’s crabbiness, her pouting and short answers, her eyebrows raised in anxiety, her obviously being in the center of a great personal crisis of some sort.
    “Lizzie, I do wish you wouldn’t be so grouchy all the time. The twins are almost afraid of you,” she said after Lizzie had shouted at the two girls to leave her alone. The twins stood against the sofa, tears in their eyes.
    Lizzie didn’t say anything. She just gazed miserably out the kitchen window. Mam sighed and went to the kitchen to make some lunch.
    “Oh, dear,” she said.
    “What?” Lizzie asked.
    “I’m out of butter.”
    “Do you want Mandy and me to drive Billy to Bittle’s?”
    “It’s late!”
    “Not that late. We can.”
    So Lizzie found Mandy, and together they led Billy from his stall and hitched him to the cart. It felt good to brush his coat and his oatmeal-colored mane and tail and to throw the harness across his round, sturdy little back.
    As they rounded the corner and headed out the lane in the buggy, Lizzie held tight to the reins so the buggy wheels wouldn’t slide. Billy always wanted to run, and to run fast, every time they hitched him to the cart, although he was much easier to control now than when he was a very young pony.
    Mandy sat beside Lizzie, happy and talkative, content to let Lizzie drive as she talked about one subject after another, without too much comment from Lizzie. But as they turned onto the main road, Mandy glanced over at Lizzie.
    “What a crab you are this week!” she suddenly said.
    “Oh, be quiet. Can’t I be a crab all by myself without you noticing every little thing about me?”
    “It’s Amos, isn’t it?”
    “No!”
    “Mm-hmm. Oh, yes, it is, Lizzie. You know it is. What happened now?”
    “Nothing!”
    Mandy just shook her head. Billy trotted rapidly down the road, and the sisters waved at a lady mowing her lawn. It was one of those perfect summer evenings, not too hot or humid, not too windy, just perfect to be driving down the road with Billy. Lizzie wished she could tell Mandy the whole miserable story, but so far, she was too proud to admit even to herself that Amos was her problem. So they silently drove on through the little village situated on the side of a long, winding hill, with Billy lunging into his collar