A Path Made Plain by Lynette Sowell Read Free Book Online

market on the way in. Is it new?”
    “A few years old, and so convenient for me.” She picked up a plate. “Here, time to eat. There’s a singing tonight in a bit, if you want to go. At Birky Square.”
    “ Danke , but no, Mammi .” He inhaled the scent of steamed vegetables, lightly buttered, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The fish, too, smelled as delicious as anything he’d eaten prepared in a chef’s kitchen. He carried his plate to the table. Mammi poured them some drinks. Milk.
    “I would have made some pie, if I’d known you were coming,” she said as she sat down across from him.
    He switched to English. “It’s okay. I’ll make a pie for you sometime.”
    “I heard about your baking.” She paused, taking a bite of her vegetables.
    “Ah, so you did.” He followed her example and ate some of his fish. Lightly breaded, lemon and pepper seasoning. Flaky, perfectly cooked. “The fish is good.”
    “Rochelle Keim’s nephew Steven caught some and gave me a few. He’s quite the young fisherman. Good Mennonite boy. Quite liberal, though.”
    “How old is he now? About nineteen or so?”
    Mammi shook her head. “Just turned twenty-three and has his own fishing charter business already. We Plain people keep him busy.”
    “Twenty-three?” Yes, time had passed all right, and if he took a moment to do the math, he’d have realized it was a good twelve or thirteen years since he’d visited Pinecraft.
    “Right. You won’t get me out on a boat like it, but Chelle goes with him if she’s not working and he has space on the boat.” She fell silent again, studying his tattooed arm.
    “Sounds fun to me. Maybe I’ll see if he has space for me, too, sometime.”
    “Why ever did you do it?”
    “Do what?” He guessed he knew what she meant, but didn’t want to presume.
    “Mark your arm up.” She squinted across the table at him, taking in every detail of the ink.
    “Well, I liked the design. It’s interesting, not obnoxious like some tattoos.”
    “I still don’t understand why someone would adorn themselves and carve into themselves.” Her tone held more disbelief than rudeness.
    He couldn’t explain it himself, other than the reason he’d just given her. He liked it. He liked the free expression, and appreciated the artwork of one of the most skilled tattoo artists in the Midwest.
    They finished the meal in relative silence, with Mammi occasionally filling him in on the status of one branch of the family or another, his cousins, and his other relatives he’d once been so close to. The thought of winter coming made him pause.
    “ Mammi , do you know yet who’s coming for winter vacation?”
    “Not sure. Your parents, perhaps, and your brothers and sisters if they’re able to afford the trip here, not to mention time off from their jobs.” Mammi shrugged. “They’ll mostly stay here, and Edna Bontrager said she has some apartments coming open for rent during the season.”
    “I see.” Well, maybe he’d be gone by December, or January, but probably for sure by February when Pinecraft would brim with snowbirds from parts in the north.
    “Have you spoken to them recently?”
    “Not since last spring, when I stopped by their haus .” He paused. “I’m sorry about Daadi . I miss him. I, uh, came to the funeral.” They’d buried his daadi , his daed’s daed , in the spring after the ground thawed in Ohio, the last time he’d spoken to his father.
    “ Ach , well, he lived a good, long life, and his time on this earth was over. I do miss him, every day.” She set down her fork. “I don’t remember seeing you at the funeral. I know I would have remembered.”
    “I sort of stayed back, near the road.” He recalled parking his motorcycle and watching from around the corner of a buggy. He didn’t want anyone to see him, didn’t want to be a distraction or reminder to his family of the pain he’d caused them all.
    “I see.”
    After the meal, Mammi cleared the table and