When Strawberries Bloom (15 page)

The change in Lizzie’s enthusiasm was almost unbelievable. Every day she sensed the pupils brought equal eagerness to arriving at school, playing baseball at recess, raising averages during class, and bending their heads studiously as they all tried to receive good grades.

The weather was beautiful with soft breezes beckoning them all outside at recess. Often she allowed them 15 minutes extra playtime, mostly because the baseball games were extremely competitive, which Lizzie enjoyed more than anything. There were still minor discipline problems, but she no longer went home with a sinking feeling of failure, of not knowing which way to turn.

A few weeks later there was a knock on the schoolhouse door. Lizzie opened it to find the porch filled with the school board members and their wives. Her knees felt as if every bone and muscle had turned to gelatin. “Come in,” she said, trying to smile calmly and naturally, although her mouth had instantly turned into the texture of a cotton ball.

She put out folding chairs and directed a few of the school board members to empty seats on a bench along the back wall while her heart hammered in her ears. Please, please let my pupils behave, she thought.

After everyone was seated comfortably, Lizzie resumed teaching her German classes. Good, she thought, I’m glad we’re having German. Most of her upper-grade pupils were good readers in the German language, which Lizzie knew impressed their parents, and especially school board members.

As usual, Melvin read clearly and properly, followed by Rachel who did just as well. She stole a cautious glance at the men and was gratified to see them raising their eyebrows at each other.

That is a good sign, she thought. Hopefully, things will be all right. Next she reviewed flashcards with the fourth-graders, who loudly pronounced each German letter.

After the lessons were completed, the children all filed to the front of the room to sing for their visitors. The pupils minded their manners, walking quietly without whispering or punching each other. Oh, bless them, Lizzie thought. She chose songs that normally went well, and as the music rose in volume, swirling around the classroom with its warm melody and touching words, she was very grateful to her pupils for putting their hearts and souls into the singing.

She couldn’t praise them with the school board there, but she rolled her eyes and hissed, “Thanks!” to the older girls, which brought a smile to their faces.

After the children were dismissed for recess, she talked with the visitors, answering questions and thanking them for the fresh gravel that had been put down in the driveway.

“Well, it looks as if you needed it,” one of the women answered.

“Oh, we did. I even had the nerve to ask for it,” Lizzie said, laughing.

Before the school board members left, they all mentioned that they hoped she would consider teaching at least another term.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lizzie said, flustered. “Does this mean you’re asking me seriously or …?”

“Oh, no, we’ll come around to ask you,” Jonas Beiler said. “This is just to warn you.”

Lizzie was left with a warm feeling of accomplishment after the school board members left. There was something satisfying about winning their approval that made her want to become an even better teacher, to exercise all of her ideas and plans because she was doing some good for the community.

Teaching school was like that. It continually held Lizzie’s interest and fascination. It was like being at the helm of a little boat filled with children on an unpredictable body of water. You never knew what would happen from one day to the next, and you couldn’t always depend on smooth sailing. But in spite of it all, every day was filled with love from the children. They were, indeed, such unique little individuals, each having their own separate needs. Each one teaches me something, Lizzie thought wryly.

She sat down on the front porch steps, her chin in her hands as she reflected on the past year. It certainly had not been without its ups and downs, its trials and challenges, but through it all, she wanted to continue teaching more than ever.

What else would I do, she thought. Grade eggs until I’m gray-haired and bent over from old age? School gives me the blues sometimes, but not always. Not nearly always. Actually, only a small fraction of the time.

Now that she was 18 years old, she felt every inch a young woman, capable of handling her job, looking forward to another year of teaching, achieving goals, and finding fulfillment doing something she loved.

Lizzie watched the creek that ran beside the school, babbling over the rocks, winding its way to the river, meandering through the green, sleepy pasture. Yes, she decided, she was happy. Genuinely happy being a teacher. But deep down, she knew she did not want to be a teacher forever, or rather, until she died. She wanted to have a home of her own, a husband and children, just like every ordinary Amish girl. Just like Emma.

She shook her head, thinking about Mandy and John. Boy, if they weren’t off to a running start. She accepted the idea of Mandy dating, no longer struggling with jealousy, thanks to John’s farm and his cows, but still … sometimes she longed to have a special friend of her own. Not always. Boys can be so … immature sometimes, acting so childish. ’Course, I better watch it. Mandy says I act the same way at times.

She was just ready to get up and go inside when she heard the distinct rattle of wheels, along with the steady clip-clop of a horse-drawn buggy approaching. She watched as the black horse slowed and turned in, coming to a stop in front of the porch. The door of the buggy was pushed open from inside, and Rebecca stuck her head out the door.

“Hi!” she said, her blue eyes sparkling from beneath her heavy, black lashes.

“Hi, yourself!” Lizzie grinned, genuinely glad to see her friend. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, I had to help Sarah for the day and finished early, so I came to talk to you for awhile.”

“Good! Tie your horse to the fence and come see my classroom,” Lizzie said happily.

“I can’t. I have to get going. We’re planting the garden tonight.”

“Really? Already?”

“It’s late this year.”

“I guess.”

“What are you doing this weekend?” Rebecca asked.

“I don’t know. Why? Come over.”

“Elmer Riehls have the supper for us on Sunday,” Rebecca said, swatting at a fly that tried to enter the buggy.

“Good!”

“Did you know Stephen’s coming home?” she asked.

Lizzie’s attention was suddenly riveted on the horse’s ears. For some strange reason, she could not meet Rebecca’s gaze at that moment. She straightened her black apron belt, running her hand quickly across it to eliminate some imaginary dust. Wiping a hand across her forehead, she finally turned to face Rebecca.

“Is he? When?” she asked.

“Saturday. He’s going to stay home, he thinks. I hope he does. I miss him too much when he lives so far away.”

“I bet,” Lizzie said absentmindedly.

“Well, see you, Lizzie. I really do have to go.”

Before Lizzie could answer, Rebecca was off down the hill, rounding the turn at a dangerous speed before racing down the road on her way to plant the garden.

Stephen is coming home to stay. Oh, my word. Now what? How am I supposed to feel? She sat back down on the concrete steps of the schoolhouse and held perfectly still, lifting her face upwards to trace the pattern of two swallows who were dipping and weaving their way across the blue sky.

Quite unexpectedly, she felt the soft strains of music in her heart. The tune grew louder and louder, like an iridescent bubble beginning to form. It grew in volume until she thought of the mound of bubbles running over the side of the sink when she washed dishes as a little girl.

She wondered if God spoke to a person in bubbles. Or feelings like bubbles. She breathed deeply, sighing happily as all the imaginary bubbles floated toward the sky, joining the soaring swallows with music on their wings.

L
IZZIE STOOD IN FRONT
of her open closet doors, flipping through the sleeves of her dresses, trying to decide what color she should choose. None of her dresses fit her mood. She should have made a new one for this evening.

She considered the light aqua blue dress. No. Too pale. Just wore it a week ago. Navy blue. Don’t think so. Too dark for Saturday evening. Burgundy. Deep, dark red. Hate those sleeves. Too short. And on and on, until she was almost through her row of dresses.

“I have nothing to wear!” she wailed out loud, hoping Mandy would hear her and come to her rescue. She didn’t like to admit it, but Mandy’s choices were sometimes better than her own. That, or it boosted Lizzie’s self-confidence to have Mandy say she looked nice in a certain color.

As nervous and edgy as she felt this evening, nothing, not one color, looked right to her.

Mandy’s face appeared at the doorway, laughing. “Red. Deep, dark burgundy would look nice on you tonight with your tanned face.”

She disappeared, swiping furiously at her wet hair with a fluffy blue towel.

Lizzie pulled at the sleeve of her burgundy dress, liking the feel of the soft satiny material, thinking that Mandy was probably right as usual.

She pulled on the dress, gazing at herself in the mirror, nervously biting down on her lower lip. She whistled under her breath as she combed her hair, wondering what the evening would bring. Her heart thudded, almost stopped, then went racing on every single time she thought of Stephen.

As soon as Lizzie and Mandy arrived at Jacob Beilers, Rebecca and Mary Ann raced out of the house, hopped into the buggy, and rode with them into the barn. Laughing and talking, the friends remained in the buggy, catching up on all the latest news, admiring each other’s dresses, and laughing at Rebecca’s antics as she imitated her failure at combing her hair into a bob earlier that evening.

Lizzie laughed along with the rest of them, although her laugh felt a bit forced and strained as she kept glancing furtively over her shoulder, wondering where Stephen was at that moment. Maybe he hadn’t even come home this week, she thought. She didn’t have the nerve to ask Rebecca, although her curiosity almost overwhelmed her common sense. Better to be quiet, she knew.

“And then,” Mary Ann concluded, “she told me I have to chop my onions even
more
! Can you imagine? The tears were already running down my face!”

“Oh, I envy you! I wish my mom would let me work in the kitchen of a restaurant!” Lizzie burst out.

“It’s okay. I enjoy it. But it’s harder work than you think, Lizzie.”

Lizzie smiled back at Mary Ann, thinking how fortunate she was to work in a restaurant. Mam was so strict. She always told them a restaurant was no place for her girls—too many men, too many temptations, which Lizzie thought was just ridiculous. What was the difference? She had dealt with temptation in the egg-grading room when that English truck driver, Don Albert, had flirted with her. She enjoyed teaching school, but a part of her longed to work as a waitress in a real-life restaurant. But Mam would never agree.

There was just something so glamorous about lifting a tray of glasses or dishes of steaming food in one hand while walking swiftly to serve a table of waiting patrons, she thought. When she was a little girl she had often practiced that maneuver, playing restaurant for countless hours, holding a small tablet, asking her “customers” what they would like.

“The volleyball net is set up,” John called to the girls. “Let’s play.”

They clambered down from the buggy and headed across the neatly mowed lawn to the playing field where the volleyball net was stretched between two heavy poles. A few of the boys tightened the pegs holding the poles.

The girls called hello to the young men as the game quickly began in earnest. Lizzie didn’t see Stephen anywhere. He wasn’t here. Well, all right, he probably never came home. After all, Rebecca hadn’t mentioned a thing.

As the evening wore on, the volleyball game became more intense. Competition was fierce, and Lizzie forgot about Stephen as she was swept up in the heat of the game.

“Time out!” one of the boys yelled.

“Game over!” John shouted.

Lizzie laughed and shook her head. Her breath was coming in short gasps from the exertion, the constant movement of the game, and all of the shouting. Her side had lost in spite of her efforts. The group drifted away from the volleyball net. The girls laid out the food while the boys carried out a cooler filled to capacity with ice and sodas. Lizzie bent over to choose a drink when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Straightening, she looked directly into Stephen’s face.

Quickly she took a step back, her mouth open in disbelief. “Stephen!” was all she could say.

“Hello, Lizzie. How are you?” Stephen said, his face thinner and somehow, much older.

“I’m, I’m doing okay. How about you? It’s been months since I’ve seen you.”

“Yeah.”

That was all he said. Lizzie glanced up nervously, not knowing exactly what to say to that. Did he mean it seemed like a long year and he was glad to see her again, or did he mean it was almost a year, but so what? Lizzie couldn’t tell. She looked at him again but he said nothing, just stood there with his hands in his pockets watching her face.