Anna's Crossing: An Amish Beginnings Novel by Suzanne Woods Fisher Read Free Book Online

brood and go over there. You’ll be cozy as a yolk in an egg.” Her eyes swept the area until she found what she was looking for: a corner berth, the roomiest area for trunks and packages to be stored.
    “And here is where Christian and I will sleep,” she continued. “Anna, you and Dorothea and Felix should use pallets and sleep over there.” She pointed to the gun deck, where a cannon was pointed through a square hole. “The air will be good for Felix. Growing boys need fresh air. Yes, you’ll be most comfortable there.”
    “Of course, Maria,” Anna said. I sincerely doubt it, Maria, she thought. As she placed her basket on the ground, she peered out the small opening at the open sea. How wet and cold could this area get when a storm blew in?
    Catrina stood in front of Anna with her hands on her hips, though at the age of ten she had no hips to speak of. “Where did Felix go to?” She pursed her thin lips together. “Being a boy, and a most bothersome one at that, he’ll need to be watched every moment so that he doesn’t go straight into the sea and end up as food for the fishes.” That was Catrina all over: huffy and prone to hysterics, always first with the alarm whether it was valid or not.
    Dorothea and Anna exchanged a glance. Never far from Dorothea’s mind was the fear that Felix could fall overboard. Any number of disasters could befall a boy on a boat. Especially a boy who does not think.
    “Catrina, thank you for your concern,” Anna said, “but you don’t need to trouble yourself over Felix’s whereabouts. His mother and I keep a careful eye on him at all times.”
    “I try to set a good example for the children.” Catrina drew herself up importantly and sniffed. “Somebody has to.”
    “But . . . where is Felix, Anna?” Dorothea looked around the lower deck anxiously.
    Oh no. Where did that boy go? Then Anna spotted a shock of red hair over by a cannon portal, examining the cannon balls, stacked in a pyramid. She pointed him out to Dorothea and watched her visibly relax.
    As soon as Anna spread out their pallets and laid quilts down, Dorothea sat and held her quilt and rocked back and forth, staring out the small portal opening of the cannon, a forlorn figure. Anna hoped she would improve in spirits by the time they reached Port Philadelphia, or Jacob Bauer would be in for a shock to see the condition of his wife. It was just like last time, after Dorothea received the news that her oldest son Hans had passed. In her grief, she had become a hollow ghost of a person.
    Anna still wasn’t convinced of the wisdom of including Dorothea in this journey; she was still so fragile in her sorrowing over Johann, but Christian made the decision to bring her. “Jacob is expecting to see Felix and Dorothea,” he said. “He’s been there for a year now, purchasing land for each of us. It would be worse to have the family remain separated.”
    But he did agree that Dorothea needed minding, not to mention Felix who minded no one—and those caretaking chores were assigned to Anna.
    Anna thought about the last conversation she had with her grandfather. “I’ll be back,” she told him.
    “Girl, there’s no turning back in life. But don’t you worry. The Lord is watching over us.”
    Her grandmother told her it was bad luck to look back, that if you looked back it meant you’d never return. So as Anna walked down the muddy path to meet Christian andthe others, she didn’t look back. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t look back. She was going to return.
    Anna checked on Felix, who was hanging over the rails of the pig stall trying to pat the pig. The poor pig. It looked as bewildered and lost as everyone else, but at least Felix had found something to amuse himself. She thought there might be a little extra space near the pig and chickens to try to hold English classes for Felix and the Müller girls and anyone else who might be interested. She had brought a few books with her