Katie's Journey to Love by Jerry S. Eicher Read Free Book Online Page B

as if the place were as offensive as a dirty dish.
    Katie didn’t reply.
    â€œI would love to work at Byler’s,” Carolyn said, ignoring her sister’s barb. “ Daett takes us there once in awhile to shop. It’s a nice place.”
    â€œThank you.” Katie smiled. “Maybe I can take you sometime.”
    Carolyn shrugged. “I have school. And I’m only twelve, soon to be thirteen, so I couldn’t help you work.”
    Katie laughed. “You could watch for awhile, though I guess all day would be a bit much.”
    â€œI would say so.” Mabel grimaced. “I think places like Byler’s are horrible and worldly and not fit for young people to work at.”
    â€œMabel.” Mamm spoke up for the first time. “You shouldn’t speak about where Katie works like that.”
    Mabel looked undeterred, sinking the barb in deeper. “Katie’s already running around with the Mennonite young people, isn’t she?”
    Mamm said nothing but her face paled.
    Mabel looked pleased. “It’s absolutely awful,” Mabel continued, “when our own young people can’t keep their heads on straight. We have been given so much that others don’t have, and then some of them go and throw it away as if it didn’t amount to anything at all.As for myself, I’m going to marry an Amish boy and settle down on a farm. We’ll raise our children close to the soil, like Da Hah meant things to be. We’ll grow our own things and stay away from places like Byler’s. Well, as much as we can, of course. Everyone has to go out into the world from time to time. But not every day.”
    â€œI saw Mabel speaking with a boy on Sunday out in the barn,” Carolyn said, a big smile spreading across her face.
    Katie waited for Mabel to snap at her sister. Mabel didn’t and she even continued to look pleased. Obviously Mabel thought her early conquest of a boy was something of a crowning touch.
    â€œDon’t you think you’re a little young for boys?” Mamm asked.
    Mabel lifted her head high. “I’ve been running the household since Mamm died. And I’m much older than my sixteen years—soon to be seventeen—as Carolyn says it. Daett always thought he was placing too much of a burden on me, but he learned to trust me. And I can make my own clothes already and run the house like a grown woman. Ruth Troyer even taught Carolyn and me how to make pecan pies.”
    Mamm ’s face grew paler at the mention of Ruth and her pies.
    â€œI think you ought to forget about Ruth,” Katie said, speaking in her mamm ’s defense. “Anyone can make pecan pies.”
    â€œCan you?” Mabel asked, turning with a smirk on her face to look at Katie.
    â€œI never have,” Katie admitted. “Although it can’t be that hard.”
    â€œHas your mamm ever made them?” Mabel asked, not looking at Mamm .
    Katie searched her memory for pecan pies. Surely there had been some? Mamm knew how to cook great meals. And all the Amish around here were known for their pecan pies. But Mabel was making it sound as if pecan pies were the sum total of success in the kitchen.
    â€œDid you ever make a pecan pie?” Mabel asked, now looking at Mamm .
    â€œYears ago,” Mamm said. “But I don’t think I’ve made one since Ezra passed. That was back when Katie was small.”
    Mabel didn’t say anything, but her face said volumes. There! Didn’t I know it. You are both incompetent women who are in way over your heads in this household .
    â€œTeacher Ruth makes great pecan pies, and Daett loves them,” Carolyn said, obviously trying to help but only making matters worse.
    What a great ending to the evening, Katie thought. Mamm is close to tears, and Mabel is gloating again.
    They finished the dishes in silence, and Mamm fled back to the living room at the first chance.
    â€œYou’re a