Little Amish Matchmaker by Linda Byler Read Free Book Online

using too much, and Michael’s face got red and he told Calvin he didn’t know everything. That was when Isaac decided to work on the pond. It looked safer.
    They leaned over the Ping-Pong table in the middle of the classroom, construction paper scattered everywhere, the tension crackling between them since Michael said that. As soon as Michael got up to get another bottle of glue, Calvin raised his eyebrows, Isaac pointed to the white construction paper and Calvin nodded. He glued the rectangular sheets of construction paper, then whispered to Calvin about the shape of the pond.
    “Whatever you think, Professor,” Calvin whispered back.
    Yes!
    Isaac knew he could do the shape of the pond very well, making it look realistic. After all the construction paper was in place, they’d draw in bushes and trees, stars and a moon, skaters, horses tied and blanketed and a bonfire. It would be a grand poster, one the parents would talk about all Christmas season.
    The girls were making bells with cardboard egg boxes. They cut out the little cups that contained the eggs and punched a hole in the top. They covered them with crinkly squares of aluminum foil, strung red and green yarn through them and hung their “bells” from the roller shades by the windows. They were Christmasy looking, Isaac thought, especially with those brilliant red, green and white candy canes in the background.
    The white construction paper was designed, cut and attached by Isaac, and then the three boys stood back and admired their efforts.
    Teacher Catherine came over and said it was very well done, and that the trees would look great done with black and brown Magic Markers.
    “What about snow?” Isaac asked.
    Teacher Catherine put one finger to her mouth, tilted her head to the side and considered this.
    “There’s no snow on the pond,” Calvin volunteered.
    “Good thinking, Calvin. The snow may have blown off the branches,” she said.
    Isaac thought snow on the branches was an essential, mostly because the pine trees in the background would look so much better with snow on them, but figured he’d stay quiet. Dat often told him how important it was to give up your own opinion for a better one. It was more influential in the long run to keep your opinion to yourself, if it meant working together in peace and harmony as the end result.
    Take barn raisings. Someone had to be the fore gaya , the one who ran the whole business. If each worker recognized this, contributed his share of talent, giving and taking, it worked.
    One Sunday morning Dat explained the Scripture about the lion laying with the lamb, and he said it meant each of us must lay down our own nature to get along with others. Isaac had mulled that one over for days, and he still didn’t get it, really, but figured he didn’t have to until he was older.
    Teacher Catherine was very pretty today, he thought. Her face shone with a soft light. Her red dress made her look like Christmas, her black apron just slightly lopsided from moving around, bending over desks, always trying to be at two places at one time. Well, the way these lower graders raised their hands was ridiculous. How could she be expected to get anything of her own accomplished?
    Then Sarah started crying, rubbing her eyes, mewling like a lost kitten, her lips pouting, as she haltingly told Teacher Catherine that her puppy was supposed to be gray and it looked brown and wasn’t nice.
    What a brutz-bupp ! (Crybaby)
    Sarah should have used a gray color instead of a brown one. She was in third grade and old enough to know better. Isaac thought Teacher Catherine should straighten her out, but no, her ever-loving kindness and patience was unfurled like a pure white flag, an example for the impatient ones like Isaac. Putting a hand on Sarah’s shoulder, she bent low, assuring Sarah that if she didn’t like the color of her puppy, she could start over with a new copy. Sarah wiped her eyes, sniffed, then marched proudly to the