The Bridge of Peace (18 page)

The schoolhouse looked like a photo—a one-room, white clapboard building surrounded by huge oaks with the leaves changing color, a playground with swings to one side, a turnaround driveway on the other, and a rolling pasture behind it. Had it been almost fifteen years since he’d graduated from that school?

He stopped on the far side of the lean-to, leaving room for the parents to pick up their children when school let out. He and Elsie got out and rounded the side of the outbuilding and walked toward the schoolhouse. A man’s voice sounded angry, and Grey hurried closer, listening.

“I’m not doing it, and you can’t make me. You’re just too stupid to accept it.”

Grey bounded up the steps and jerked the screen door open. Peter stood in the center of the classroom, inches from Lennie.

“What is going on here?” Grey strode into the room. “You!” He pointed at Peter. “Sit down.” Grey stood there, daring Peter to do otherwise.

When Peter balked for a moment before taking his seat, Grey’s blood pounded harder against his temples. “This behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Is that clear?”

“Ya,” Peter mumbled.

“Excuse me? I had no problem hearing you earlier.”

“Ya,” Peter said clearly.

All eyes were on Grey, and he tried to gain control of himself, but this kid did not begin to understand the boundaries he’d crossed. “Elsie, would you take the other children outside for a few minutes? Lena and I need to talk with Peter. Then I want to talk to everyone.”

Elsie motioned, and the children exited quietly and quickly.

Grey paced the room before feeling calm enough to grab two folding chairs. He set them next to Peter. “If you don’t want to be at school, I can arrange for that.”

Lennie took a seat. “I want you here, Peter. I really do think you’re more capable of learning than a lot of boys your age. We just haven’t figured out
how
you learn best yet.”

Grey blinked, trying to accept what Lennie had just said. Was she serious? “Before we do anything else, you give Lena an apology, a sincere one.”

Peter looked at Lennie like she disgusted him.

Grey smacked the boy’s desk. “You apologize now.”

Peter folded his arms and stared at his desk.

Grey wanted to drag him out of the school and refuse him the right to return, but clearly Lennie felt differently. “We’ll sit here until you can humble yourself enough to apologize.”

Peter slumped in his desk, and Grey used the passing minutes to gain control of himself. Lennie sat there so poised, appearing ready to forgive and start with Peter again. As he considered her belief in others, he found it easier to calm down. Hadn’t she had the same determined belief in her own brother?

Grey had been ready to give up on Allen during his wild days, but Lennie had never faltered. She never let him off the hook, always holding him responsible for his behavior, but at the same time she never quit believing he could become even more than she could imagine. And Allen became a good man. It wasn’t who Peter was today that made her want to teach him. It was her belief in who he could become if he only wanted to.

Children’s voices chanted and laughed from the playground. Lennie rose and went to the window.

She gasped. “Dear Father, no!” She spun around. “Grey! Go. Go.” She pointed at the door, and they both ran.

He made it outside first and searched for what had her so upset but saw nothing.

Lennie passed him, pointing. “The pasture. The bull.”

One glance and his body halted. His wife stood in the field some two hundred feet out, facing the bull while waving her arms. Two young boys were even farther out in the field.

“Get to the fence!” Elsie screamed at the boys while trying to distract the animal. The bull headed for his wife, and the boys ran for the closest fence, but they had hundreds of feet to cross before they’d get there.

Grey took off running and scaled the barbed-wire barrier with no effort.

Staying outside the fence, Lennie dashed to the area where the boys were heading. “Here!” she screamed while running, motioning for them. “Elsie, run a zigzag … a zigzag!”

“And head for the tree!” Grey clapped his hands. “Hey! Hey! Over here!” he screamed with all his might, trying to get the bull’s attention.

The bull remained focused on Elsie, chasing her farther and farther from Grey.

“Elsie! Cut left! Go behind the tree!”

The bull picked up speed. All of Grey’s motions seemed awkward and slow. As he continued running toward her, he watched the bull plow full force into his wife’s back. Her body was lifted into the air, and then landed with a thud. The bull lowered his head and stomped her.

“No!” Grey rammed his shoulder into the bull’s side, trying to get its attention. It didn’t seem to even notice what he’d done. He kicked the bull’s underbelly, and finally it turned. Grey cut right, hoping the bull would follow but not stomp on Elsie in the process. His idea worked. Sprinting toward the tree, he shifted right, then left, slowing the bull’s ability to catch up to him. The bull snorted, slinging its head as it ran. Once behind the tree, he shifted one way and then the other, able to keep the bull from getting to him.

A quick glimpse of his wife made him want to scream out in pain. He’d made the bull follow him, but he couldn’t help his wife. She lay sprawled on the ground, and Grey wanted to kill the stupid beast that separated the two of them. Lennie bolted for Elsie. While Lennie hurried across the field, Elsie slowly eased to her hands and knees, trying to get up.

The bull stomped and snorted, kicking up dust as it dodged one way and then the other, trying to get to him. He longed to get a good look at his wife, but every time he tried to see her, the bull came at him. Still he caught glimpses of her.

Elsie only looked addled and weak, but what had the two-thousand-pound, thick-skulled beast done to her insides? By the time Lennie arrived, Elsie had staggered to her feet. She wrapped her arm over Lennie’s shoulder, and they made their way toward the fence.

His heart pounded like mad as he kept moving and screaming at the bull to keep its attention. It seemed to take Lennie and Elsie a week to get to the fence. Finally arriving, Elsie got on the ground and rolled under it.

The bull moved one way and then another, clearly wanting to get past the tree between them. Grey had to find a way to get to his wife. She needed medical help. He considered trying to outrun the bull, but the distance from here to the closest fence was too great. A clanging sound echoed again and again, and he realized he’d been hearing that noise since entering the pasture. From the backside of the field, near the broken fence, Grey saw the silhouette of a man coming toward him. The sun’s rays hindered his view, but the man hollered and clanged metal objects together as he ran. When he drew close, the bull turned to the new distraction. Concern for whether the man could outrun the bull caused Grey to stay put.

“Go,” the voice hollered while banging the objects together. “Get to safety, and take care of my sister.”

Aaron
.

The moment his brother-in-law had the creature’s full attention, Grey ran for his wife.

“Jacob.” Lena crawled out of the field on her hands and knees. “Get Grey’s horse. Unfasten it from the carriage, and remove everything but the bridle. Bring it here right away.”

Elsie swayed, and Lena helped her ease to the ground, wishing Dry Lake didn’t sit so far from a hospital. Dozens of thoughts competed for her attention as she tried to prioritize what needed to be done. No blood on Elsie’s body. No bones protruding through the skin. Elsie quaked. Her lips had no color. Her eyes seemed unable to focus. Someone had to get to a phone and quick. “Mandy, you and Rachel take the children into the schoolhouse. Someone get me the blankets we use for sitting on during story time.”

Mandy and Rachel began doing as they’d been told.

Jacob’s voice broke through the commotion. “Get off the horse, Peter! She sent me.”

Mounted on Grey’s horse, Peter brought the animal to a stop about ten feet from her and Elsie. “I’ll get to a phone and call for help. I’m faster on a horse,” Peter said.

Torn between distrust and something unknown tugging at her, Lena shook her head. Mandy had taken a good bit of time to get to Ephraim’s the other day, but she’d done the job as told. Jacob would too. Should she go herself? As horsemen went, she could outride all her siblings. She rose to her feet and took the horse by one rein.

Peter jerked at the reins, and the horse backed up. “I can do this.” His voice cracked. “Please, let me do this.”

For a brief moment Lena saw a repentant child who couldn’t undo what his actions had set in motion. But did that make him trustworthy? She’d seen him ride bareback, and he could handle a horse better and go faster than she could. “Go. The closest phone is at Ephraim’s shop, and tell him we need the parents to come get their children.”

Grey leaped over the fence and knelt beside his wife. “Elsie.” He drew deep breaths, too winded to speak.

Lena choked back her emotions. “I’ve sent … one of the boys to call for an ambulance. He’s bareback on your horse.”

Grey stroked his wife’s face. “Can you tell me what hurts the most?”

Elsie tapped the center of her chest. “My heart.” Tears rolled down the sides of her head. She licked her lips, giving color to her mouth. “All my married years of scrubbing and cleaning. All trying to make others see how perfect I was.” She tugged at Grey’s suspender. “In a week no one will ever be able to tell.” She licked her lips again. “Except the one who’s carried my imperfection with silence and honor.”

“I’ll scrub and clean every day,” Grey murmured. “The cabinets and the walls and anything else while you recuperate.”

Was that blood on her mouth? Rachel brought several blankets and held them out.

Lena took them. “Denki. Go on back now, and help the younger ones.”

Rachel left. Lena knelt on the other side of Elsie and covered her with the blankets. She ran her finger over Elsie’s wet lips. Blood. Hoping Elsie had only split the inside of her mouth when she hit the ground, Lena turned Elsie’s head slightly, looking at her ear. Blood. She wiped the fluid from her earlobe and studied it, wishing.…

Lena’s eyes met Grey’s. “No. Do you hear me? I said no.”

His desperation broke her heart, and Lena’s tears fell onto Elsie’s grubby dress. Grey couldn’t admit it, but they both knew Elsie was bleeding internally.

And there was nothing they could do but wait, hoping the ambulance would arrive in time.

Elsie shook as if she were in icy water. She closed her eyes, and Lena slapped the back of her hands. “She can’t go to sleep. We’ve got to keep her awake.” But Elsie didn’t respond.

Grey sat on the ground, cradling her in his arms. “Elsie,” he whispered, and she opened her eyes. “Don’t you dare leave me now, not after …”

Elsie whispered something. Lena stood and slipped away unnoticed, praying help would arrive soon.

Cold sweat covered Grey. His body shook, and his mind raged against what was happening. “You’ll be okay, Elsie. Help’s coming. Just … just stay with me. Please.”

She closed her eyes.

“No. Stay awake. Listen to me … please.” He tucked the blankets around her, feeling desperation like never before. His heart railed at him, despised him for not doing more for their marriage sooner.

Dear God, please. Don’t let this happen to us. We’ve been such idiots. Forgive me
.

Pleadings screamed inside him, but nothing changed his reality. He wiped a trickle of blood from the side of her mouth.

Please, God
.

“Elsie,” he called to her loudly, and she opened her eyes. “I need … us. Can’t you feel that? Hang on. Just hang on.”

She looped her hand through one suspender and tugged on it. “Tell … me … about the day … we … met.”

Grey choked back tears, praying the ambulance would arrive soon. She wanted to talk about the past? He’d just begun having hope for their future. She had to survive this. She had to. “It was on a church Sunday, on a beautiful fall day like today. The windows at my house were open. Mamm and Daed had already gathered all my siblings and were in the buggy waiting for me, but I couldn’t find my Sunday pants … or any others that would fit. I went to the window and hollered down at Mamm, ‘I can’t find my Sunday britches.’