Paradise Valley (32 page)
Doubtful stares.
“Ahhhhhhh,” she said, drawing a great big A on the blackboard, then waited a beat and explained, “Letters make sounds. First we will learn the letters, and what sounds they make.”
She made a game of it, asking them for words they knew that began with “Ah.”
Sammy and Paul looked at each other and then over their shoulders at Rachel. Miriam’s Spanish had already lost them.
Rachel knelt behind them and translated. “Words that begin with an
Ah
sound,” she whispered.
“
Apfel!
” Sammy blurted. The Mexican kids all leaned forward frowning at him, confused; then one of the little girls raised her hand and said bashfully, “
Agua?
”
Miriam was stumped for a second, but then she just went with the flow. Turning to the blackboard she picked up the chalk and wrote.
Apfel.
Agua.
“German or Spanish,” she said, “it doesn’t matter. The letter makes the same sound.”
Juan pointed a thumb at Sammy and asked, “Do they not speak Spanish?”
“Not yet,” Miriam said, smiling. “You are going to teach them.”
Paul’s face lit up, suddenly seeing what was required. Placing a hand on Juan’s shoulder he beamed up at Miriam and belted out, “Amigo!”
“See?” Miriam said. “They are learning already.” She added
Amigo
to the list.
Domingo never left the room. Rachel thought at first he was being very kind to volunteer his services as classroom disciplinarian, but then she noticed he was paying very close attention to everything Miriam said. When the kids belted out words and Miriam added them to the list his lips moved with them. Then he began to add words of his own. Focused and intense, he whispered, “
Aquí, adiós, año, arena, azul
. . .”
They only worked until noon that first day, but by the end of the session all of the children had made a connection between letters and sounds, formed a few crude letters with their pencils, and learned to count to five. The two Amish boys had even picked up a few words of Spanish. Leah and Barbara, who already knew their letters, had been a great help.
At the end of the class Miriam pulled a little black New Testament from the pocket of her dress, opened it to the ribbon bookmark and read aloud, “ ‘
Porque tanto amó Dios al mundo, que
dio a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo el que cree en él no se pierda,
sino que tenga vida eterna.
’ ”
The children listened in silence and then bowed their heads while she said a brief prayer.
Miriam explained to them that she couldn’t let them take the paper home because they would need to use it again next time, but that they should help each other remember their letters, practice writing them in the dirt with a stick and come back on Friday ready to learn more letters.
Miriam’s first day as a teacher had flown past. Mamm was in the kitchen putting lunch on the table for the men, so the benches had to go back right away.
“
That
,” Rachel said, lifting one of the benches to take it back to the kitchen, “was amazing. All this time I thought you were just a brickmaker. Now I find out you’re a teacher. Miriam, you were wonderful with those kids. Did you see how they listened to you?”
“I saw,” Miriam said, wiping the board clean with a rag. “And I’m as surprised as you are. It all seemed so natural, so easy. Even that little troublemaker Juan, after he settled down, turned out to be my best student.”
Coming back for the other bench, Rachel stopped in the doorway and said, “No, I don’t think so. Not even close.”
“No? Who then?”
“Domingo. Didn’t you see him? He hung on every word.”
“Oh my . . .” Miriam spun around, her eyes widening and her fingers covering her lips. “He was
listening
? You think he was trying – ”
“Miriam, I can’t believe you didn’t notice. While the children were making letters on the paper he was leaning over them watching, and the fingers of his right hand were imitating what they were doing.”
Miriam sat down heavily in her mother’s hickory rocker, stunned. “Oh my. Of
course
he wants to learn to read. Why did it never occur to me? Well, we’ll just have to include him in the school.”
“You’ll have to be careful about that. I think he may be too proud to sit on the little bench with the kinder,” Rachel said.
Miriam nodded. “Oh jah, we’ll have to figure out a way that’s not so obvious. I know what we’ll do – we’ll make him an assistant. Next time we’ll move the small table from the kitchen and put it in the back of the room. You and Domingo can sit there in real chairs and I’ll put the supplies on the table. That way you can help him and it’ll look like he’s just there to watch the kids. You know, Rachel, you were great with the children, too. When the others get here you may end up teaching a class of your own.”
Rachel scowled and shook her head. Glancing at the kitchen where Mamm was flitting back and forth from stove to table, she glided across the room to Miriam and whispered, “I don’t think I’ll be here that long.”
Miriam’s lips mimed
What?
Rising, she grabbed Rachel’s arm and dragged her out into the yard, closing the door behind her.
“What do you mean, you won’t be here? Where are you going?”
“Back home,” Rachel said, lowering her face. “I miss Jake, and if he’s not coming here, then I’ll go there. I can go right back home and live with Lizzie and Andy in the same house, like I never left.”
“You can’t do that, Rachel. Think of your family. What would Mamm do without you, or
me
, for that matter? Will you leave me to make bricks all by myself? And don’t forget you promised you would be midwife for Mary when she has her baby.”
Rachel shrugged. “Mary’s baby will come anytime now, and I’ll wait until after. But I’m going home, Miriam. I won’t stay here if Jake’s not coming.”
Miriam’s eyes narrowed. “I see. So, if there’s no one here for you, you can’t stay, is that it? Because there are no prospects in Mexico? You would use this excuse with
me
? You were the one who told me everything would be all right. Now you’re
leaving
?”
Despite her best efforts, Rachel clouded up and started to cry.
Miriam wrapped her arms around Rachel’s shoulders and drew her in. “Oh, it’s all right. You were right, you know – what you told me about how everything would turn out okay in the end. It will, you’ll see, but you can’t leave your family. Not now. Not when we all need each other so badly. Rachel, nothing on this earth is so important as family, especially now, here in a strange land with so much work ahead of us. What would we do without you?”
Rachel sniffed, wiping at her eyes with her fingertips. “It’s just . . .
Jake
. I miss him so. I want to hear his voice, feel his arms around me.”
“I know, I know. But, Rachel, you can’t leave your family. Family is
everything
. You must be patient. Trust Gott and see what happens. No matter what, you must never,
ever
leave your family.” She gripped Rachel’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length, trying to look her in the eye. “Okay?”
Rachel nodded meekly, still refusing to look up. “Okay.”
It was Mamm who brought up Thanksgiving one night while they were gathered around the table for dinner.
“I was wondering if we should invite Herr Schulman and his wife,” she said.
“And let’s not forget our Mexican friends,” Miriam added. “Domingo and the other farmhands, at the very least.”
“What about your school kids?” Rachel asked. The excitement had spread through Caleb’s daughters like a virus.
Mamm frowned. “Oh, I don’t know. How many students do you have?”
“Twelve,” Miriam answered. Her class had grown over the last couple of weeks.
“Hold on now,” Caleb said, his hands up, palms out. “Thanksgiving is an American holiday, and we live in Mexico now. Why, I bet these people never even heard of Thanksgiving. Even Schulman has never lived in America.”
Mamm was on the verge of sulking. “That’s why I want to do it,” she said. “I’m American, and I miss it.”
“She’s right,” Emma chimed in. “It would be like home again, and I’m thinking we’re all a little bit homesick just now.”
“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “I’m not sure we have the stores to make it through the winter as it is. A big feast like that . . . I don’t know.”
Emma reached across and laid her hand on his. “We need this, Dat,” she said softly. “It will lift everyone’s spirits, and besides, how can we not set aside a day to thank Gott for all our good fortune in this new land?”
“But it’s an
American
holiday.”
“No, Dat, it’s a
Gott
holiday. We should thank Him for coming with us to Mexico.”
Caleb smiled then. He could never resist his Emma. “Schulman has turkeys,” he said, and the planning began.
It would be a memorable feast. Dat traded Schulman a shoat for two large turkeys, and when he invited them to the feast, Schulman’s wife insisted on bringing pies. By some miracle Emma found a big sackful of dates in the hacienda mercado for date pudding, but there were no cranberries to be found anywhere.
Mamm and her daughters stormed the kitchen early on Thursday morning, and when the weather turned out to be fine the men nailed up long rows of tables in the front yard.
Domingo was among the first to arrive, his oxcart loaded with the four boys he always brought to school. He also brought with him a young Mexican woman with dark eyes, long silky hair as black as a crow and a demure but captivating smile. Miriam was carrying a stack of plates out to the tables when he pulled up near the barn, and she stopped in her tracks to watch as Domingo helped the young woman down from the wagon.
Rachel was right behind Miriam, and nearly bumped into her when she stopped to stare.
“Who is that?” Miriam asked.
Rachel followed her gaze. The young woman wore a colorful Aztec sarape over a dark print peasant skirt and blouse. She was stunningly beautiful. Domingo was very careful of her, deferential, and there was a proud smile in his eyes. Rachel glanced at her older sister’s face and saw a faint but unmistakable trace of jealousy.
“Oh, Miriam, please tell me that look in your eye is not what I think it is.
Domingo?
”
Their eyes met. Miriam turned away without answering, confirming Rachel’s suspicion.
“Well,” Rachel said to her back, “I hope for your sake she’s his
wife
. It would save you from a great deal of trouble.”
There was nothing Miriam could say at this point. She marched toward the tables without looking back.
Ten minutes later the sisters were carrying food from the house when Domingo rounded the corner and called out to them.
“Miriam! Rachel! There you are. I was looking for you.”
They stopped in the yard, each of them holding a bowl of potatoes, and waited while Domingo and his dark-eyed beauty caught up with them.
Domingo’s eyes went straight to Miriam.
“This is Kyra,” he said proudly. “She is the mother of two of your students.”
“Sí, Benito and Juan are mine,” Kyra said, pressing Miriam’s hand between her own. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you are teaching them to read. I only hope they do not worry you too much. That Juan, he is full of the devil.” She grinned at Domingo then, and added, “Just like his uncle.”
Miriam’s eyes widened in surprise – and, Rachel couldn’t help noticing, a fair dollop of relief. “So, Juan and Benito are your
nephews
, Domingo?”
“Sí. Why do you think they are so afraid of me?” he said, smiling.
Rachel could only shake her head in amusement at how quickly Miriam’s attitude toward Kyra changed. Kyra offered to help set the tables, and within minutes she and Miriam were laughing and chatting like old friends.
Later
, she thought,
we will have to have a talk, my sister
and me
.
Miriam had already invited all her students before she learned that they assumed the invitation included their families. By noon there were over fifty people in the front yard – a truly international gathering of Mexicans, Germans, and American Amish.
