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by Sarah Taylor (Sarah's bio)
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Jennifer Renee Caldwell was frustrated. As soon as breakfast was over, her 11-year-old brother, Kyle, had run outside to play ball with some boys down the street. Not fifteen minutes later, Jenni's sister, Amber, was on her way upstairs with her friend Carla. Jenni knew she wouldn't be able to count on any of THEM for amusement for the rest of the day.
Why did Bethie have to move away? she thought drearily. I might as well just become a hermit; there's no one in our town to hang around with anyway.
It had only been two months, but for Jenni it seemed that her closest friend in the whole world had been gone for half of her lifetime. When Bethany's father lost the job he'd held for fifteen years, he had hunted for weeks for another position. Finally, he realized that he would have to go back to school and train for something else. In order to have the money for Mr. Rheinhardt to go to college, he had sold their home and moved the whole family to his father's ranch in Colorado, halfway across the continent from central Indiana.
Claudia, Jenni's Persian cat, brushed against her leg, creating another memory. Claudia's mother was Bethie's cat, Harriet, and Jenni thought of all they'd had with the kittens. Who was Jenni going to have fun with now?
The front door swung open with such force that the doorknob almost banged the wall. Jenni jumped, and snatched Claudia up her arms. "Kyle! You'd better be glad Mom didn't see you shove the door like that! You just about broke the glass, not to mention giving me a heart attack," she exclaimed.
Kyle raced across the kitchen and into the dining room, where Jenni sat moping and stroking Claudia. "Jenn! The people who bought the house next door are moving in--and they're Amish!"
"I don't care if they're circus clowns, they're not the Rheinhardts," Jenni said unhappily. Even so, she stood up and walked to the window with Claudia in her arms.
There seemed to be twenty children or more standing in the yard, but Kyle counted them, and exclaimed, "Those people have thirteen kids, and eight of them are boys! Wow! We're going to have a GREAT baseball team now!"
"Kyle, you don't know if they even LIKE baseball. Maybe they aren't allowed to play it."
"Jenni, there are two girls that look about your age. I'm going over to say 'hi.' Why don't you come along, and welcome them to the community?"
"No, that's OK, I'm going out to the treehouse to read. You can go make friends with the Amish if you want to." Jenni answered, as she looked around for her book. Still clutching Claudia, she picked up the book and headed out the back door, as Kyle hurled himself out the front.
As the days went by, Kyle spent more and more time with the boys next door. Although Jenni pretended not to be interested, she did listen closely as Kyle described their new neighbors at the supper table each night. The Yoder family really were Amish, although they were not as strict as were some of the Amish with whom the Caldwell family were acquainted. Four of the Yoder boys could often be seen in the field across the road, playing ball with Kyle and his friends. Jenni had occasionally seen the girls, but made no effort to get to know them. They could never take the place of Bethie.
One Saturday morning, Jenni's mom asked her to help clean out the garage. For hours they trudged back and forth between the garage and the Dumpster with boxes of things they'd decided to discard. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Jenni asked her mother, "Mom, it's so HOT! Could I go make some Kool-Aid and bring it out here?" Her mother agreed, and Jenni ran for the house.
In no time at all, she was returning to the garage with the iced drink and two tall glasses. Because her hands were full, she could not close the door behind her, but she thought, I'll be right back; it'll be all right. As soon as she sat down her load, she ran to close the door, because she did not want Claudia outside. The cat had been declawed, and had no way to protect herself outdoors.
When Jenni reached the back door, however, she heard a low growl, and turned in the direction of the Yoder's back yard. She was shocked to see Benedict, a large, mean pit bull belonging to the Atkinsons. Somehow he had escaped from his pen, and was now glaring menacingly up into the Yoder's maple tree. Jenni squinted to find what it was that had Benedict so riled, and was horrified to see Claudia sitting on a low branch! The cat must have seen Benedict coming, and jumped onto the tree branch just in time.
What could Jenni do? Benedict had a reputation as the most vicious dog in the county!
"Oh, Lord Jesus," Jenni prayed desperately, "please protect Claudia, and make Benedict go away!"
While Jenni stood on her back step frozen with fear, a girl in a blue dress and black bonnet rushed around the side of the Yoder's home, clutching in her hands a slingshot. Without hesitating, she came as close to Benedict as she dared, then quickly shot several well-aimed rocks at the pit bull's backside. Benedict never even turned toward the girl; he ran for home as fast as his legs could carry him, yelping all the way.
Jenni ran to the Yoder's yard, reached up to where her cat sat trembling on the branch, and lifted her down. Then she turned to the brave Amish girl who had rescued Claudia.
"That was a wonderful thing you did," Jenni blurted. "Benedict has been known to EAT cats! Thank you so much for saving her!"
"It was no problem," the Amish girl answered. "My brothers and I often use our slingshots to scare crows away from the garden, so I've become a fair shot with it," she added with a smile.
Jenni noticed that the Amish girl had deep dimples. She smiled back. "I was just praying that Jesus would help my cat, and he used you to do it. I'm Jenni. What's your name?"
"My name is Hannah," the girl answered. "Is Kyle your brother?"
"Unfortunately," Jenni answered with a grin.
"Maybe next time Kyle comes to play, you will come over too? I can show you a quilt I am making."
"I'd love to see it. Maybe when my mom and I finish cleaning the garage, I can run back over."
"That would be nice," Hannah answered with a smile.
"Thanks for saving Claudia," Jenni said again, as she turned to go back to her own yard. "And I'm glad you moved next door. I have a feeling we are going to have lots of fun together!"
As Jenni returned home, she sent up a quick prayer to thank Jesus for saving Claudia.... and for Hannah, the Amish girl next door.
Copyright 2001, Sarah Taylor. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
| About Sarah Taylor: In a white house with a wide front porch, sitting at the edge of a tiny town in Indiana, lives a Papa, a Mama, and five little (and not-so-little) people. The Mama is Sarah Taylor, and she likes to write. She’s enjoyed writing, in fact, ever since eighth grade. Her stories are not always about her own kids’ adventures, but sometimes they are! |
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