Look Out, Lancaster County Read online

  Rachel headed down the path that led to the creek. Howard Miller’s waterwheel squeaked as it turned, making the water ripple and gurgle. Rachel knew the wheel was important because it created some of the power used on the Millers’ farm. Because electricity was considered worldly, the Amish in her area used other methods of energy that weren’t so modern.

  While Rachel tossed rocks into the creek, a gust of wind rustled the treetops, and a few drops of rain splashed to the ground. She shivered at first, worried she might be caught in a storm. Then she smiled. If it rained hard enough, there might be some mud puddles she could tromp through. Meanwhile, she would go play in the barn. She was only halfway to the barn when she saw Katie’s cat, Missy, run out the open barn door, followed by four little gray and white kittens. They must have been in there the whole time and we missed them, she thought.

  Rachel called to Missy, but the cat ignored her and kept running. Thunder boomed, and all five cats raced down the steps and through the open doorway of the underground root cellar. The wind blew so hard Rachel had to hold on to her kapp in order to keep it from blowing off her head.

  She hurried after the cats. As she stumbled down the stairs and into the small, cold room, she shivered. Even with the door open, it was dark inside, and she didn’t see any sign of Missy or her kittens.

  Rachel blinked a couple of times. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed wooden shelves fastened to the wall. They held glass jars filled with home-canned fruits and vegetables. Empty boxes sat on the concrete floor, waiting for the crops of potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables the Millers would harvest later.

  “Here, kitty, kitty,” Rachel called. Neither Missy nor any of her kittens responded. Rachel only heard the howling wind and steady raindrops splattering on the steps outside the cellar door.

  More thunder rumbled, followed by another gust of wind.

  Bam! The cellar door slammed shut, and Rachel screamed as the darkness swallowed her.

  Rachel wasn’t afraid of much, but two things really frightened her—dark places and thunderstorms. She had taken a risk by coming into the dark cellar. Now she had to be brave and deal with both of the things that scared her most.

  Rachel drew in a shaky breath, then inched her way forward. When her fingers touched the doorknob, she turned it and pushed the door. Nothing happened. Leaning her weight against the heavy wooden door, Rachel pushed and pushed until she had no strength left in her arms. Her heart pounded like a woodpecker tapping on a tree. “I’m trapped! I’m afraid … and nobody knows I’m down here.”

  Rachel pressed her cheek to the door. “Someone, please help me!”

  Plinkety plink. Plinkety plink. No answer except the rain hitting the door.

  She stuck her finger in her mouth and gnawed off a fingernail. She tried to pray, but her words came out all jumbled. “Wh–what if they—” Sniff. “N–never find me?” Sniff. Sniff. “H–help me, Lord.”

  Rachel remembered hearing a minister at church once say that heaven has no dark places. That was a comforting thought, but it didn’t help the situation she faced right now.

  Something soft and furry rubbed against Rachel’s ankle, and she knew it was one of Missy’s kittens. She bent to pick it up, and the soft ball of fur purred when she lifted it to her face. Then it licked Rachel’s nose with its rough, wet tongue.

  Rachel dropped to her knees, and as she touched each lump of fur climbing into her lap, she realized that all four kittens and Missy were there.

  She felt a little better knowing she wasn’t alone, but she was still afraid. There must be an oil lamp down here, she thought. I just need to find it.

  Rachel gently pushed the cats aside and stood shakily. She felt her way around the room until her hand touched something cold and hard. “It’s a lantern!” she exclaimed. Her fingers moved up and down, back and forth along the shelf that held the lantern until she touched a book of matches. With a sigh of relief, she picked it up, struck a match, and lit the lantern. A warm glow spread throughout the tiny room, showing the shelves full of canning jars.

  Rachel spotted a jar of pickled beets, and her stomach rumbled. It must be near suppertime. Would Mom go home without her? After all, she’d told Rachel to stay out of trouble, and here Rachel was now, in the middle of disaster.

  “Maybe I should have a little snack—just in case,” she murmured. “Anna probably won’t miss a few beets from one jar, and I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to starve to death.”

  Rachel picked up the old-fashioned glass jar, pulled the heavy wire off the top, and popped off the lid. She loved beets, especially when they were pickled with vinegar, sugar, and cinnamon. “Mmm … they smell so good.” She poked two fingers inside, withdrew one spicy red beet, and popped it into her mouth. “Yum.”

  As Rachel started back across the room, a kitten darted in front of her, and she stumbled. The jar crashed to the floor, breaking the glass and splattering beets and sticky red juice everywhere. The juice even dotted the kittens’ fur and Rachel’s dress. “Ach, what have I done?” she moaned.

  She knew beet juice stained clothes. Her mother wouldn’t be happy about trying to get the red splotches out of Rachel’s dress. She hoped the Millers wouldn’t be upset about having a stained floor.

  Suddenly, the room went dark again. Rachel had noticed that the oil was low in the lamp, but she didn’t expect it to go out this soon. Rachel held very still, remembering that she wasn’t wearing any shoes and that glass covered the floor.

  Unsure of what else to do, Rachel carefully touched the floor to make sure no glass was in her way as she dropped to her knees. She prayed, “Dear God, You know I’m afraid of the dark, so would You please help me not cry?”

  Just like before, the kittens and the mother cat hopped into Rachel’s lap, which made her feel less afraid. She closed her eyes, leaned her head against the cellar door, and was soon fast asleep.

  Chapter 3

  A Wunderbaar Surprise

  Rachel was dreaming about pickled beets, kittens, and shiny blue cars, when the cellar door jerked open, and she fell backward. She sat up, feeling dazed, and looked over her shoulder. She saw Howard Miller and his sons Jake and Martin, each holding a lantern.

  “The little bensel got herself locked in the cellar.” Jake chuckled and slapped his knee.

  Rachel didn’t see what was so funny, and she didn’t like being called a silly child any more now than when Jacob had called her that. “What time is it?” she asked with a yawn. “How long have I been down here?”

  “It’s half past six,” Howard answered. “Your mamm has been frantic with worry. She said she’d planned to head for home by five o’clock, but when she couldn’t find you, she sent me and the boys out looking.”

  “I followed Missy and her busslin into the cellar. Then the wind blew the door shut, and I couldn’t open it again.” Rachel bit her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. “I—I didn’t know if anyone would ever find me.”

  “Aw, sure they would,” Martin said with a snicker. “Come winter, when Mom needed some of her canned food, she would have headed straight to the cellar. What a surprise she would have found in here, too!”

  Rachel knew Martin was only teasing, but she wasn’t amused.

  Jake sent a beam of light from his lantern all around the room and made a sweeping gesture with his other hand. “What’s all this mess with the broken glass and the beet juice?”

  “I—I was hungry, and I—” Rachel’s voice broke, and she drew in a deep breath to get control of her emotions. “I know I shouldn’t have taken the beets without asking, and I’m sorry about the mess. If you’ll leave one of your lanterns here so I can see, I’ll clean it up.”

  “Never mind, Rachel. I’ll see that everything is taken care of later on.” Howard patted Rachel’s head. “I’m glad you’ve been found. Now we’d best get you back to the house so your mamm can quit worrying.”

  Rachel pointed to the kittens that lay curled in a ball n
ext to their mother. “What about them? We can’t leave Missy and her little busslin alone in the cellar.”

  “The door’s open now, so they can leave whenever they want.” Howard nodded at his sons. “Hurry to the house and tell Rachel’s mother that we found her.”

  Jake and Martin took off on a run, and Howard scooped Rachel into his strong arms. She felt safe and secure and so relieved that she had been found. She was glad he’d been so nice about the mess she’d made.

  Later that evening, after Rachel had bathed and changed into clean clothes, she sat with her family around the supper table, telling them how she had been trapped in the cellar. “And I only had the company of Missy and her four little busslin,” she said at the end of the story.

  Mom handed Rachel a glass of cold milk, and Pap passed her a basket of warm bread. “You had quite an ordeal today,” he said. “Did you learn anything from it?”

  Rachel nodded. “I’ll never go into another root cellar without telling someone where I’m going.” She didn’t mention how scared she had been.

  “God was watching over you today,” Mom said, as she helped herself to some meatloaf and handed the platter to Esther.

  “He was?” Rachel asked as she bit into a piece of bread.

  “Sure,” Mom replied. “God sent Missy and her busslin to be with you in the cellar.”

  “Was it dark in the cellar?” Esther asked as she passed the platter to Rachel.

  “Most of the time it was.” Rachel drank some of her milk. “I was worried that the kittens would be afraid of the dark, so I found an oil lamp and a book of matches. The cellar was well lit until the lamp ran out of oil.”

  “Like those furry critters needed any light,” her oldest brother, Henry, put in.

  Jacob snickered. “I’ll bet Rachel was the real scaredy-cat.”

  Rachel wasn’t about to tell her brothers how frightened she had been, but before she could say anything more, Pap gave Jacob a stern look. Rachel figured she would get one of those looks if she said anything unkind to her brother, so she crossed her eyes and wrinkled her nose at him when her parents weren’t looking.

  Jacob crossed his eyes and wrinkled his nose right back at her. Then he grabbed a hunk of meatloaf and popped a piece into his mouth.

  “Did you get everything done at the Millers’ today?” Esther asked, looking at Mom.

  “We finished the cleaning,” Mom said. “But when the rain started, I decided that Rachel and I should go home, so Anna and I never did any baking.” She glanced over at Rachel. “When the wind started howling like crazy, I thought you would hurry back to the house.”

  Rachel said nothing. She just stared at the blob of spinach Pap had put on her plate. Then she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes, added a scoop to her plate, and stirred the ugly, green, slimy-looking blob in with the potatoes. Spinach was her least favorite vegetable, and she hoped if she mixed it with the potatoes, the yucky stuff might go down a little easier.

  “When the dunner and wedderleech started and you still didn’t return to the house, I began to worry.” Mom reached past Esther and patted Rachel’s hand as Rachel was about to take a bite of her mashed potatoes. The spoon flipped out of her hand, and the gooey glob flew across the table and landed on Jacob’s plate, spattering the blob of slimy spinach and potatoes all over the front of his shirt.

  “Ugh!” Jacob scowled at Rachel. “You did that on purpose, Rachel-the-scaredy-cat, who’s afraid of thunder and lightning.”

  “Did not.”

  “Did so.”

  “Did not.”

  “Did—”

  “That’s enough!” Pap clapped his hands, and Rachel and Jacob stopped arguing.

  Rachel knew better than to act like this at the table, but Jacob made her so angry she could hardly control her temper. I know God loves everyone, she thought, but I’m guessing Jacob tries the Lord’s patience as much as he does mine.

  Mom pointed to the sink. “Jacob, you had better get that mess cleaned off your shirt before it leaves a stain. I’ve had enough dirty clothes to deal with for one day.”

  Rachel knew her mother was talking about the dress stained with beet juice that she had worn to the Millers’. She figured no matter how much Mom scrubbed that dress, the ugly red stains would probably never come out.

  Jacob glared at Rachel and pushed away from the table with a groan. He marched across the room, opened the cupboard door under the sink, and dumped Rachel’s potato-spinach mess into the garbage can. Then he wet a dishrag and started rubbing the front of his shirt real hard.

  Mom passed the bowl of spinach to Esther, who handed it to Rachel.

  Rachel knew she would be in trouble if she didn’t take some, so she dipped the spoon in and plucked out a tiny piece, placing it on the edge of her plate.

  Mom clicked her tongue, and Pap raised his dark, bushy eyebrows. Rachel added a little larger piece and felt relieved when Pap nodded and said, “Jah, okay.”

  “How did the Millers know where to look for you?” Henry asked, as Rachel held her nose, popped the spinach into her mouth, and washed it down with a gulp of milk.

  “Howard sent two of his boys to look down by the creek,” Mom said before Rachel could reply. “Two of his sons went to their neighbor’s place to see if Rachel had gone there, while Jake, Martin, and Howard searched their own farm. When they had looked in all the obvious places, Howard decided to try the root cellar. I’m glad they found you before we got the whole neighborhood in an uproar.”

  Rachel sighed, remembering how scared she had been during most of the ordeal. “I’m glad he thought to look there. I wondered if I would ever get out of that terrible place.”

  Just as Jacob was about to sit down again, someone knocked on the back door. “I’ll get it!” Jacob raced across the room and flung the door open.

  Esther’s boyfriend, Rudy, entered the kitchen. He carried a wicker basket draped with a piece of green cloth. “Sorry to disturb your supper,” he said, glancing at the table.

  “That’s all right. Would you like to join us?” Mom asked.

  “No, thanks. I stopped at the Millers’ place this evening to drop off benches for our church service on Sunday. Howard asked me to deliver this special surprise to Rachel.” He smiled and stepped toward the table, holding the basket in front of him.

  Pap nodded at Rachel. “Why don’t you see what it is?”

  Rachel didn’t have to be asked twice. She loved surprises.

  Rudy handed her the basket, and when she lifted the cloth, she gasped. “Oh, it’s one of Missy’s busslin!” She stroked the kitten’s head. “I’m going to call you Cuddles.”

  Esther’s eyebrows rose. “Cuddles?”

  Rachel nodded. “All of the busslin were so cuddly when they kept me company in the cold, dark cellar.”

  “Howard told me about your ordeal. He said you seemed worried about the kittens,” Rudy said. “He wanted you to have one of them, and this is the bussli he chose for you.”

  The gray and white kitten, with a speck of red beet juice still on one paw, nestled against Rachel’s arm and purred. Rachel leaned over and nuzzled its wet nose. “Can I keep her?” she asked, looking at Mom and then at Pap.

  Mom smiled. “If it’s all right with your daed, it’s fine by me.”

  Pap tugged on the end of his beard. “I suppose it’ll be okay, but you must promise to take care of it.”

  “And the bussli will sleep in the barn with all the other animals,” Mom quickly added.

  Rachel placed the kitten on the floor and ran to the table to give Mom and Pap a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “This is such a wunderbaar surprise! I promise I’ll take good care of Cuddles.”

  Jacob groaned and shook his head. “What a dumb name for a cat.”

  Rachel hurried back to the kitten and lifted it into her arms. “It’s not dumb. You’re just saying that because you’re jealous.”

  “Am not. You should name it Trouble since that’s all you ever get into.�
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  Rachel didn’t feel like arguing with Jacob anymore. And she didn’t want to think of the trouble she’d caused that day for her mother and the Millers. She felt happy to be holding one of the sweet little bundles of fur that had snuggled in her lap and kept her company while she was trapped in the cellar.

  Chapter 4

  Egg Yolks and Hopping Frogs

  Rachel carefully opened her eyes. She squinted at the ray of sunlight streaming through a tiny hole in the dark shade covering her bedroom window. It was time to get up and do her morning chores. Then she and her family would go to the three-hour church service at Howard and Anna Miller’s house.

  Rachel yawned and sat up. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stood and hurried to the other side of the room. The dress and apron she usually wore to do her chores hung on a wall peg near her dressing table. She took them down and quickly dressed.

  When Rachel entered the kitchen, she saw her mother standing at the counter, cutting a shoofly pie into equal pieces. “Hurry and do your chores,” Mom said. “We don’t want to be late for church.” She handed Rachel a wicker basket. “Be sure to go out to the chicken coop first. I’m scrambling eggs for breakfast and need a few more.”

  Rachel grabbed the basket and rushed out of the house. She paused at the barn door, tempted to play with Cuddles, who had been made to sleep in the barn because that’s where Mom thought animals belonged. Rachel peeked in and saw Cuddles sleeping on a bale of hay, so she hurried on to the chicken coop, knowing she could play with the kitten later.

  Inside the chicken coop, Rachel found four empty nests and six more with hens sitting in them. She hoped there were eggs under those hens, because she didn’t want to return to the house empty-handed.

  Rachel placed the basket on the floor and picked up the first chicken. Bawk! Bawk! The red hen fussed, but Rachel didn’t give in. She had a job to do, and she planned to get it done.

  Three eggs were in that nest, so Rachel leaned down and placed them inside the basket.