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  School’s Out! © 2007 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Back to School © 2007 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Out of Control © 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  New Beginnings © 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Print ISBN 978-1-61626-256-3

  eBook Editions:

  Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-437-6

  Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-438-3

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

  All Pennsylvania Dutch words are taken from the Revised Pennsylvania German Dictionary found in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

  Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Cover and chapter art illustrations by Richard Hoit.

  For more information about Wanda E. Brunstetter, please access the author’s website at the following Internet address:

  www.wandabrunstetter.com.

  Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

  Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Dickinson Press, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49512; D10002808

  Table of Contents

  School’s Out

  Glossary

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: The Unforgettable Picnic

  Chapter 2: Afraid of the Dark

  Chapter 3: A Wunderbaar Surprise

  Chapter 4: Egg Yolks and Hopping Frogs

  Chapter 5: Where Is Summer?

  Chapter 6: Fireflies and Secrets

  Chapter 7: Birthday Surprises

  Chapter 8: Skateboard Troubles

  Chapter 9: Dunner and Wedderleech

  Chapter 10: Barn Raising

  Chapter 11: Out to Pasture

  Chapter 12: A New Friend

  Back to School

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: First-Day Troubles

  Chapter 2: Lunchbox Surprise

  Chapter 3: Dinky

  Chapter 4: A Hard Lesson

  Chapter 5: Hurry-Up Cake

  Chapter 6: Surprise Mondaag [Monday]

  Chapter 7: More Surprises

  Chapter 8: Misadventures

  Chapter 9: Wooly Worm

  Chapter 10: Substitute Teacher

  Chapter 11: Unexpected News

  Chapter 12: A Little Secret

  Out of Control

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: Sledding Troubles

  Chapter 2: A Troublesome Day

  Chapter 3: True or False

  Chapter 4: Buddy

  Chapter 5: More Troubles

  Chapter 6: Lots of Snow

  Chapter 7: Grandpa’s Secret

  Chapter 8: Always in a Hurry

  Chapter 9: A Dappich [Clumsy] Day

  Chapter 10: Chicken Pox and Chicken Soup

  Chapter 11: Worst Day Ever

  Chapter 12: Self-Control

  New Beginnings

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: Saying Good-bye

  Chapter 2: Verhuddelt

  Chapter 3: Raining Sideways

  Chapter 4: Unexpected Company

  Chapter 5: A Shocking Discovery

  Chapter 6: Another Rotten Day

  Chapter 7: Chain of Events

  Chapter 8: Wishing Fishing

  Chapter 9: Bubbles and Troubles

  Chapter 10: In the Doghouse

  Chapter 11: Skateboard Mishap

  Chapter 12: Change of Heart

  School’s Out!

  Dedication

  To my son, Richard Jr., who had his share of fun with lightning bugs when he was a boy.

  And to my grandchildren: Richelle, Philip, and Ric, who, like Rachel Yoder, enjoy doing many fun things on their mini-farm.

  Glossary

  ach—oh

  aldi—girlfriend

  baremlich—terrible

  bensel—silly child

  bletsching—spanking

  blicking—shelling

  boppli—baby

  bruder—brother

  bussli—kitten

  busslin—kittens

  butzemann—scarecrow

  daadihaus—grandfather’s house

  daed—dad

  danki—thank you

  dumm—dumb

  dunner—thunder

  fleh—fleas

  galgedieb—scoundrel

  gretzich—crabby

  gut—good

  jah—yes

  kapp—cap

  kinner—children

  kischblich—silla

  kotze—vomit

  lecherlich—ridiculous

  mamm—mom

  maus—mouse

  naerfich—nervous

  rutschich—squirming

  schnell—quickly

  schweschder—sister

  verhuddelt—confused

  wedderleech—lightning

  wunderbaar—wonderful

  “Das Lob Lied” “The Hymn of Praise”

  Der Herr sie gedankt. Thank the Lord.

  Em Tom sei hutschle bin ich leedich. I’m tired of Tom’s neighing.

  Gebscht uff? Do you give up?

  Guder mariye. Good morning.

  Immer druwwle eiyets. Always trouble somewhere.

  Kens devun hot’s duh kenne. Neither one could do it.

  Introduction

  The Amish are a group of people who, due to their religious beliefs, live a plain life without the use of many modern tools. Early Amish people lived in Europe, but many came to America in the 1700s so they could worship freely. More than 150,000 Amish now live in the United States and Canada.

  The Old Order Amish wear plain clothes, much like the American pioneers used to wear. Because they believe electricity is too modern, they use kerosene, propane gas, coal, diesel fuel, and wood for heating their homes, cooking, and running their machinery and appliances. Telephones are not allowed inside their houses, but some Amish have phones in their shops, barns, or sheds outside the home. Most Amish use a horse and buggy for transportation, but they ride in cars with hired drivers to take longer trips and go places where they can’t drive their buggies.

  At one time, most Amish men farmed for a living, but now many work as blacksmiths, harness makers, carpenters, painters, and in other trades. Some Amish women earn money by selling eggs, fruits and vegetables, or handmade items such as dolls and quilts. Others work in gift shops, bakeries, or restaurants.

  Many Amish children attend a one-room schoolhouse from grades one to eight. Once they leave school, they spend time learning a trade so they can get a job and earn money to support themselves and their families.

  Most Amish do not hold their worship services in a church building. They have church every other week, and it’s held in the home, shop, or barn of different church members. In order to keep their religious beliefs, the Amish have chosen to live separate, plain lives.

  Chapter 1

  The Unforgettable Picnic

  Boom!

  Rachel Yoder shivered when the thunder clapped. She didn’t like storms, and she especially didn’t want one this evening. She was te
mpted to bite off the end of a fingernail like she often did when she felt nervous, but she caught herself in time. Nail biting could make you sick if your hands were dirty, and it was a bad habit she needed to break. Her mom often said so.

  Rachel poked her head through the flap at the back of her family’s dark gray Amish buggy and was glad to see that it wasn’t raining. Maybe the storm would pass them and be on its way. Today was Friday, and this evening’s picnic was her family’s way to celebrate the last day of the school year. She didn’t want anything to spoil their fun.

  A horn honked from behind, and Pap guided their horse to the side of the road. Rachel peeked out the flap again, this time sticking her head out so she could get a good look at the fancy cars going by. Woosh! A gust of wind came up as she leaned out to wave at a shiny blue convertible. Zip! Rachel gasped as the white kapp [cap] she wore on her head sailed into the air and landed near the edge of the road. “Ach! [Oh!] My kapp—it’s gonna get run over!” she hollered.

  “Rachel Yoder, you know better than to lean out the buggy like that,” Pap scolded. “What if you had fallen?”

  “Can I get my kapp?” she asked tearfully.

  “No!” Mom shook her head. “You might get hit by a car.”

  As the blue convertible started to pass, Rachel saw surprise on the face of the blond woman riding in the passenger’s seat. The car pulled over behind their buggy, and the woman got out. She picked up Rachel’s kapp and brought it over to the stopped buggy. “I believe this blew out of your buggy,” she said, handing the limp-looking kapp to Rachel’s father.

  “Thank you,” Pap said. “It belongs to my daughter.”

  “Thank you,” Rachel echoed as Pap handed the kapp to her.

  Rachel’s cheeks heated with embarrassment as she put the kapp on her head.

  “Stay in your seat now, Rachel,” Pap said. He waited until the car had passed; then he pulled back into traffic.

  Jacob, who was eleven, two years older than Rachel, sat up and yawned. He had been asleep in the seat beside her. “Are we there? I’m hungry.”

  “No, Pap stopped to let some cars go by.” Rachel was careful not to mention that her kapp had blown off when she’d leaned out of the buggy. She knew Jacob would have teased her about it.

  Jacob wrinkled his forehead, and the skin around his blue eyes crinkled. “Noisy cars sometimes scare our horse as they whiz by.”

  Rachel had seen horses do all kinds of strange things when they got spooked. She felt sorry for the horses. Still, she thought it would be fun to ride in a fast car. She leaned close to Jacob and whispered, “I saw a shiny blue convertible.”

  He shrugged. “So?”

  “I’d like to ride in a car like that one someday,” Rachel said. It was a secret she’d told no one else.

  Jacob looked at Rachel as if she didn’t have a lick of sense. Of course, she knew her brother thought most things she said and did were kind of strange.

  “Don’t you ever get tired of riding in this closed-in buggy?” she asked.

  “‘Course not. I like our buggy just fine,” he said.

  “If I ever get the chance to ride in a convertible and see how fast it goes, I’m gonna take it,” she mumbled.

  Jacob nudged Rachel’s arm. “You’d best not let anyone hear you speak such foolishness. It’s one thing to ride in a car when we need to hire a driver for a reason, like to go to the big city. But just riding in one so you can see how fast it goes would be seen as a prideful, selfish wish.”

  Rachel crossed her arms and turned her back to her brother. She decided to drop the subject, but she turned around again and glared at Jacob when their parents weren’t looking. He didn’t understand the way she felt. He hardly ever did, and neither did their older brother, Henry. But at least Henry didn’t act like something was wrong with her, the way Jacob did.

  Boom! Rachel shuddered again. “It better not rain and spoil our picnic,” she said, hoping Jacob wouldn’t notice her hands shaking.

  He elbowed her in the ribs. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of a little dunner [thunder]?”

  “It’s not the thunder that makes me naerfich [nervous],” she said, elbowing him right back. “It’s those horrible bolts of wedderleech [lightning] I’m worried about.”

  “We’ll be okay. It’s not even raining, so the storm will probably pass over us.” Jacob leaned his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes again.

  Maybe if I think about something else I won’t feel so nervous. Rachel glanced toward the front of the buggy, where her parents and older sister, Esther, sat chatting in the Pennsylvania Dutch language that Amish people often spoke.

  “Em Tom sei hutschle bin ich leedich [I’m tired of Tom’s neighing],” her father said.

  Rachel clutched the folds in her dress. It worried her to hear Pap complaining about their horse Tom. Pap had just said, “I’m tired of Tom’s neighing,” and she wondered if he was planning to get rid of their old horse. Rachel couldn’t bear the thought. Tom was a nice animal and had been their main buggy horse for many years. What was wrong with a little neighing? People talked whenever they wanted to say something. Shouldn’t a horse be able to neigh whenever he felt like it?

  Mom responded to Pap’s comment, but another car whizzed past and drowned out her words. Rachel felt left out. She thought she should know if they planned to get rid of Tom.

  “Kens devun hot’s duh kenne [Neither one could do it],” Esther said.

  Who was her sister talking about, and what couldn’t they do? Rachel was about to ask, but Pap pulled onto the dirt road leading to the pond, and she craned her neck to see the water.

  “Yea! We’re here, and the storm’s passed by, so we can have our picnic!” Jacob jumped out of the buggy and ran toward the pond.

  Esther stepped down next. The small white kapp perched on the back of her brown hair was always neatly in place. Not like Rachel’s head covering, which often came loose during playtime.

  Rachel climbed out of the buggy and reached up to touch her own kapp, to be sure it was still there. Mom often scolded her for not remembering to put it on when they went out in public.

  Esther smiled. “It’s a wunderbaar gut [wonderful good] evening for a picnic.”

  “Jah [Yes],” Mom said. “It is a wonderful good evening for a picnic. Too bad Henry didn’t want to join us.”

  “He’d rather be with his aldi [girlfriend].” Jacob rolled his eyes so they looked like they were crossed, and he coughed a couple of times as though he were gagging.

  “Any sixteen-year-old boy who has a girlfriend wants to be with her. Henry thinks he’s in love. That’s what some nineteen-year-old girls think, too.” Pap gave his brown beard a tug as he winked at Esther.

  Esther’s cheeks turned pink. Even though it hadn’t been officially announced yet, Esther’s family knew that she planned to marry Rudy King in the fall.

  Rachel leaned into the buggy and grabbed a patchwork quilt from under the backseat. She didn’t want to hear all this mushy love talk or think about getting married. She felt the best part of life was playing in the creek near their home, climbing a tree, or lying in the grass, dreaming about the interesting things she saw whenever they visited one of the nearby towns in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

  Esther followed Rachel to a spot near the pond, and the two of them spread the quilt on the grass. Jacob ran along the water’s edge, throwing flat rocks and hollering every time he made a perfect ripple. Pap unhitched Tom and tied him to a tree. Then he took their ice chest from the back of the buggy. Mom carried the picnic basket, and the two of them headed toward the quilt.

  “I’m never getting married,” Rachel told her sister.

  Esther smoothed the edges of the quilt. “You’ll change your mind someday.”

  “Rachel’s probably right. She’ll never get married ‘cause she’s too much of a boppli [baby],” Jacob said, as he joined them by the quilt.

  “I am not a baby!”

  �
��Are so.”

  Rachel couldn’t let her brother have the last word, so she jerked the straw hat off his sandy-blond head and flung it into the air. “Am not!”

  “Hey!” Jacob raced after his hat and grabbed it when it landed near the edge of the pond.

  “Settle down, you two.” Pap placed the ice chest on the grass. “We came to celebrate school being out, not to see who can shout the loudest or stir up the most trouble.”

  “That’s right,” Mom agreed as she opened the wicker basket and removed plates, cups, napkins, and silverware. “Let’s put our energy into eating this good food that Esther and I prepared.”

  Rachel flopped onto the quilt with a groan. “What about me? I did the blicking [shelling] of the peas for the salad.”

  “Do you want me to tell Mom how many you wasted by seeing if you could hit the goose’s beak?” Jacob murmured quietly so their parents couldn’t hear.

  Rachel glared at him. She didn’t think anyone had seen her. But the goose was always so mean to her, she couldn’t resist the urge to boing a few peas at it.

  Pap removed his hat and scooted over beside Rachel. “Shelling peas is important business.”

  Rachel smiled. At least someone appreciated her efforts. Her stomach rumbled as Esther opened the ice chest and set out the picnic food. Scents of golden brown fried chicken, tossed green salad with fresh peas, pickled beets, muffins with apple butter, and homemade root beer filled the air.

  “It’s surprising we had any root beer to bring on our picnic,” Jacob said, nudging Rachel with his elbow. “If you’d dropped a few more jars the day Pap made the root beer, we wouldn’t have any to drink.”

  Rachel frowned. She couldn’t help it if she’d accidentally dropped two jars of root beer when she’d carried them to the cellar. They’d been slippery and didn’t want to stay in her hands. Then she’d had a sticky mess to clean up.

  “Clumsy butterfingers,” Jacob taunted. “You’re always making a mess.”

  “Am not.”

  “Are so.”

  “That’s enough, you two,” Mom said with a shake of her head.

  Rachel settled back on the quilt. She couldn’t wait to grab a drumstick and start eating. But first, all heads bowed for silent prayer. Thank You, Lord, for this food and for the hands that prepared it, she prayed. Bless it to the needs of my body. Amen.