I’ll be working here two days a week.”
“You’re going to be working here?”
“It’s nice to meet you, Annie. Perhaps we can continue this conversation tomorrow. Your mamm has invited me to stay for dinner.”
She crossed her arms and scowled at him as he turned and made his way down the porch steps.
Levi gave her a backward wave, but he didn’t look back.
He wanted to. Annie Kauffmann made a pretty picture standing on the front porch with fall leaves pooled at her feet and a cat rubbing against her legs. He didn’t allow himself a last glance, though. He knew all about naysayers, people who said it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done. He’d been stopped by them long enough.
This time, he had a plan.
If things went well, he’d be in Texas by spring.
Annie managed to avoid Levi on Wednesday when he came to help her father in the fields. They owned a mere eighty acres, but her dat used every bit of it. He adamantly believed in varying the crops, which increased the amount of work but also improved the harvest. The hay wouldn’t be ready to cut for another two months. The sorghum would need to be harvested by the end of October, soybeans after that, and winter wheat had to be planted as well.
There was always work to be done on a farm.
It wasn’t unusual for their bishop to arrange for young Amish men from out of town to find some work, and it was true that her father needed help, but she wasn’t sure Levi Lapp was the kind of help he needed. Like the first day he’d spent time with Levi, her dat spent Wednesday evening asking enthusiastic questions about Texas over dinner.
“Big ranches there?”
“Some are. The King Ranch is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.”
“You don’t say.”
“Many are smaller family places, though. Like we would have.”
Annie and her mamm shared a look, but her mother merely shook her head. They’d been through this before. It was best to let the dream run its course. If this went the way of her dat’s other ideas, he’d move on to something else before the end of the week. So she endured dinner with Levi and tried to simply nod and appear polite. Had he swallowed an entire encyclopedia of Texas trivia? She couldn’t resist commenting when he laughingly told them about the Texas state mammal.
“They have three, actually. The longhorn is the large state mammal. The Mexican free-tailed bat is the flying state mammal. And the nine-banded armadillo is the small state mammal. Those are quite a sight to see. They can run up to thirty miles an hour...”
“Why would they need to run for an hour?”
Levi seemed to consider the question seriously, and Annie was suddenly sorry she’d asked it.
“I suppose they wouldn’t. My point is they’re fast, and they can jump straight up too. I’ve seen them jump...” he held a hand level with the table. “At least that high. It’s something else.”
Now she was irritated. In truth, she’d been irritated since he’d sat down and started spouting facts and figures. “Aren’t they just large rats with shells?”
“More like an anteater or a sloth.”
“Who would choose that for their state mammal?”
“Texans would. In fact, they did in 1927.” He said all of this slowly, as if she were a child and couldn’t grasp the concept.
Her mother jumped in and started talking about the possibility of rain, and Annie soon lost track of the conversation. Thinking back over what she’d said as she washed the dishes, she was rather proud of herself. At least she hadn’t laughed at him. She hadn’t openly mocked him, but what was his deal? Why did he act as if Texas were the promised land?
She’d simply have to pray for extra strength to curb her tongue when she was around him.
Friday that wasn’t so easy.
On Friday, Levi managed to tax her patience to the limit.
It didn’t help that she had a wedding the next day, the florist had ordered roses instead of mums and she’d spent ten hours in the kitchen cooking and shredding chicken. When Levi and her father trotted inside, leaving muddy prints across the floor she’d just cleaned, Annie thought she might flip like pancakes on a griddle. Things went downhill from there.
She placed a dish of chicken potpie in the middle of the table. Beside it was a loaf of fresh bread, butter and a large salad. Her mamm came in asking about the field work, and they all sat down to eat—including Levi. The serving bowls had barely been passed when her dat started in on the Texas trivia points for the day.
“Levi was telling me about Texas longhorns.”
Levi held his hands up to his head and then spread them as far apart as possible. “Big longhorns.”
“Horns curve outward and can measure up to eight feet in length,” her father said. “Sharp on the end, but apparently they’re gentle animals.”
“Most are.” Levi reached for an extra piece of bread. “Best to check with the owner before approaching one.”
Annie dropped her fork onto her helping of chicken potpie and gave Levi her most critical look. It always worked when she substituted at their local school, but Levi simply shoveled in another forkful of chicken pie and grinned at her.
“Great dinner,” he said after he’d swallowed.
She learned about the rivers that often ran dry, the terribly hot summer temperatures—her father laughed at that as if such a thing would be eons better than their pleasant summers—and even about their wildflowers.
Finally, she said, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to load up my trailer.”
“I can help with that,” Levi said.
“Nein—”
“How kind of you, Levi.” Her mamm stood and began picking up dishes. “Accept his help, Annie, and your dat and I can clean up this kitchen.”
Annie couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her father help with the dishes. This was plainly a trick to throw her and Levi together, and she couldn’t imagine what her mother was thinking. Unless...maybe she was hoping that she would set Levi straight. She could certainly do that.
“Okay then. Danki, Levi. If you’ll pick up those boxes of cooked chicken, I’ll bring the loaves of bread.” The bread tray was clumsier but lighter. The chicken would have taken her at least two trips, but Levi picked up both large boxes and looked around as if he were wondering what else he could carry.
They
