“And—as you girls saw today,” Jeremiah said with a smile, “English fellows can’t believe that we Amish would know the first thing about shooting pool, so we used that to our advantage now and again. Hustling wasn’t an honorable way to win a little spending money—”
“But we were playing by the rules,” Jude insisted, “and as long as we let some time go by between our pool hall visits, nobody called us out. English fellows didn’t want to admit they’d been snookered by a couple of Amish boys. As long as we bought an occasional beer, Rick turned a blind eye.”
Jeremiah nodded as he recalled those days. “We eventually grew up and sold the table, but I’m glad our pool shooting skills bought the sheriff sometime this morning.”
“And I was glad Rick didn’t realize who we were until Sheriff Banks made the arrest,” Jude admitted. “It all worked out. And it’ll be fine with me if I never enter that smelly old grease pit again.”
Chapter 24
The next morning Leah was glad when Jude offered to drive her to Abner Gingerich’s meat market and assist with butchering the rest of the cattle she’d lost. She felt tired and emotionally wrung out after their ordeal with the twins—mere days after Betsy had been taken away—and even though everything had turned out for the best, the idea of butchering all those carcasses alone overwhelmed her.
“Awfully nice of Abner to come fetch those cows yesterday,” Jude remarked as the rig rolled toward Cedar Creek.
“I couldn’t think of any other way to get all that meat refrigerated, once the twins took off for the pool hall, so I called him,” Leah explained. “He’s always been such a gut neighbor—so helpful to Mama and me after Dat passed.”
Ordinarily the clip-clop, clip-clop of hooves upon the pavement soothed Leah, but she felt a headache coming on. She tried to dismiss it, because with all the cutting, processing, and packaging they had to do, there was no time for feeling puny. When they arrived at the butcher shop, Jude helped her down from the rig and she allowed herself the luxury of lingering for a few extra moments in his embrace.
“You all right, Leah?” he asked softly. “You don’t seem to be your perky, spunky self this morning.”
Leah sighed, resting her head on his sturdy shoulder. “I suspect my perk and spunk all went toward getting the twins back home safely and then rejoicing when they let me hug them,” she replied. “It was a roller-coaster ride of a day.”
“Jah, it sure was,” Jude agreed. “I’m glad I don’t have an auction to call today, because I suspect I’d be running out of energy by noon. I’d rather spend the day helping you, anyway.”
When he kissed her lightly, Leah felt better. She took her butchering knives from the buggy, and as they entered Abner’s butcher shop, a bell tinkled above the door. Leah heard two voices coming from the room behind the refrigerated glass cases that displayed whole chickens and cuts of beef, pork, and lamb.
Abner peered out at them, wiping his hands on a towel. “Gut morning, folks! Hope you don’t mind that Uncle Vernon and I got a head start on your cows,” he called out cheerfully. “I’ve got white coats for you to wear so you won’t get your clothes dirty—and to keep you warmer.”
Leah hadn’t expected Bishop Vernon to be working with them, but another set of hands would make their butchering go faster. As she and Jude went down a short hallway and entered the refrigerated butchering room, she shivered. “Oh my, it’s chilly in here!” she said as Abner helped her into her coat. “Denki for fetching the cows and keeping them cold for me. This way, we’re certain the meat will be fresh, without any spoilage.”
Bishop Vernon looked up from the large hindquarter he was working on. “I was mighty sorry to hear about the trouble you folks had yesterday,” he said with a shake of his head. “I trust your chicks are back in the nest, hopefully sadder but wiser? Jeremiah called to share the highlights of your encounter at the pool hall, you see.”
Leah smiled to herself. If the bishops of Morning Star and Cedar Creek had discussed yesterday’s ordeal, it wouldn’t be long before most of the folks in both districts got wind of their run-in with Dexter and Phil.
“I’m pleased to say that Alice and Adeline have turned over a new leaf,” Jude replied as he donned his white coat. “They were so repentant, they even offered to come with us today to help with the butchering, seeing’s how they felt partly to blame for the way Leah’s cattle got slaughtered.”
“I was amazed at their offer,” Leah put in, “because the twins despise anything to do with animal waste or blood. I suggested that they and Stevie could help us by planting more of the garden instead.”
When the bishop nodded, his snow-white beard drifted like a cloud over his chest. “That’s a step in the right direction. Any indication that they’ve seen the error of socializing with those English fellows? Jeremiah made it sound as though those two were on a first-name basis with the sheriff.”
“Jah, they’re a couple of bad apples,” Jude said with a sigh. “I was appalled that my girls found them the least bit attractive—but that’s behind them now.”
“They’ve folded all of their English clothes, and we boxed them up to take to the Goodwill store—along with their jewelry,” Leah added as she sharpened her knives. “I—I was amazed that Adeline and Alice allowed me to hug them, and that they no longer seem to consider me that impossibly stinky, stupid woman their dat hitched up with last December.”
Vernon’s laughter echoed in the cold concrete room. “I’m pleased to hear that,” the white-haired bishop said. “The girls’ attitudes were
