The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall Read Free Book Online

guys. Stop goofing off and help the woman.”
    One of the guys stood and took a long drink of beer before belching. “I’ll get him.” He went to a door and pounded on it. “Aaron! Somebody’s here to see ya.”
    The group returned to their lounging around as if Lena weren’t standing there. Aaron came out, rubbing his eyes like he’d been asleep. She couldn’t imagine sleeping with all this noise. He staggered a few times, but he made his way to her. “Lena, hi. What’s up?”
    “Lena?” a man’s voice boomed. “As in Kauffman?” Disbelief and sarcasm marked his voice as he stood up so he could see her better. When he rose, something small and metallic fell from his lap and onto the floor, but he didn’t notice. “It is you. Has to be.” He wiped his cheek several times as if trying to remove her birthmark from his face. “You fit the description.”
    Unsure who he was but quite confident he was drunk, Lena ignored the man. “Aaron, we talked about this before, but we still have a problem.”
    “What?” The drunk scowled at her. “Making my brother miserable during school ain’t enough? Now you’re gonna come here and pick on my friend Aaron?”
    The drunk had to be Peter’s brother. She knew all her other scholars’ families. She stayed focused on Aaron. “The bull was in the field next to the schoolhouse.”
    “So?” the drunk barked.

    Lena didn’t answer him. “Aaron, surely you know how dangerous that is. The Nicols owned this farm for generations and always kept bulls and steers out of the pasture closest to the school.” She held the cake out to him. “Please.”
    Aaron stared at the box.
    “It’s a cake.”
    He smelled of stale beer as he took it from her. “Ya, ya, you’re right. I’m sure a fence needs mending. I’ll see to it that it doesn’t happen again.”
    “What?” Peter’s brother took a step, sending the object he’d dropped earlier skidding across the linoleum floor. Lena looked down when it bumped her shoe.
    A pocket watch?
    He came toward the doorway. “You are kidding me. There’s a fence there, right?”
    “Of course,” Aaron said, “but sometimes the boys hit their baseballs or volleyballs into that field during recess.”
    “Yeah?” the drunk scoffed. “If she knew how to control a class, inside or outside the schoolhouse, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
    “I’m Lena Kauffman.” She held out her hand. “And you are?”
    “Not interested.” He walked off.
    “Sorry, Lena,” Aaron mumbled. “Dwayne’s had a case too many.”
    Lena reached for the watch and noticed it looked like the one her Daed had lost. But it couldn’t be. It’d been missing for months. She’d never really thought her Daed lost it. For a while she wondered if Cara entered their unlocked home and took it, along with a huge roll of tens. She’d been suspected of a few burglaries when she’d first arrived in Dry Lake, but she had proven the accusations were false.
    Lena picked up the watch, opened it, and read the inscription: To Israel with love .
    She held it out toward Dwayne. “This is my Daed’s watch.”
    “What?” Dwayne gawked at her.
    “My Daed lost his watch last spring. It was the last gift my mother gave him before she died.”

    “Well, that’s a real sad story and all, but I found it along the shoulder of a road when walking, and it’s mine now.” He reached for it, but Lena clutched it tightly and put her hand behind her back.
    “I’m glad you found it, and I’ll give you a reasonable reward, but it’s my Daed’s watch.”
    Dwayne hovered over her, swaying back and forth. What was it with these Bender men, Peter and Dwayne, that they liked to stand so close while peering down at her? Aaron set the cake on an end table. “Clearly it’s her Daed’s. Just let her have it.”
    “Oh, I’ll be more than glad to let her have it.”
    His words were as immature and threatening as Peter’s, but she wasn’t giving up the watch. It meant too much