“What kind of bird will it be?”
“A chickadee. Mamm had a bird feeder outside the kitchen window in Wisconsin and loved to watch the chickadees that came to the feeder all winter long. Another present for her will be a new bird feeder, since we left the old one behind.”
“Will you paint the bird? Or leave the wood plain?”
“I like to use an oil-based stain on the birds I carve. It gives the feathers color without covering up the beauty of the wood grain.” Matthias took a bite of his sandwich.
“How do you make the feathers?” Ada asked.
“I’ll show you.”
Matthias pulled out a small knife from his pocket and took the bird from her. He used the narrow blade to cut fine lines into the head, working while Ada finished her sandwich. Then he handed it back to her. He had given the bird a beak, with tiny feathers surrounding it. The feathers continued down the bird’s neck and toward the hint of a shoulder emerging from the wood.
“This is going to be beautiful. Your Mamm will love it.”
“I hope she does.” He finished his sandwich and reached in his lunch box for an orange. “Do you like birds?”
Ada felt her face heat up. No boy had ever asked her what she liked.
“Jah, I do. We have a bird feeder outside our kitchen window, too. My favorites are the cardinals.” She held her apple in her hand, forgotten. “Did you know that cardinal pairs stay together for life? I just learned that yesterday.”
“I didn’t know that. How did you find out?”
Ada hesitated. Would he laugh if she told him about the Wilsons?
“There was an older couple in the store yesterday. They bought a clock to celebrate their anniversary. They have been married fifty-five years.”
Matthias sat back in his chair, his face thoughtful. “Fifty-five years is a long time. I hope my marriage lasts as long.”
A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Ada’s stomach. “You’re getting married?”
He turned bright red and started clearing away his lunch with jerky motions. “I mean, when I do get married. I don’t have any—” He glanced at her and looked away. “I mean, there isn’t anybody.” He threw his wrappings in the trash. “I mean, I haven’t met—” Matthias stopped himself with a sigh. “Nee. I’m not getting married. But I want to. Someday.”
Ada watched him as he sat down again and drummed his fingers on the table. Most boys she knew didn’t talk about getting married. Some of them acted as if dating was a game and you only got married if you lost.
“Why?” She felt her face heat again. “I know why I’d like to get married someday, but you’re a man. Why do you want to?”
“It’s good to marry and raise a family.” He looked at her. “We have a godly heritage. All Christians do, but especially we Amish. We need to teach our faith and heritage to the next generation. It’s the most important thing we can do with our lives.”
Ada stared at him. He had spoken her own thoughts out loud. If only Amos—
“Ada!” Rose’s voice echoed down the hall from the store. “I need your help!”
She stood and tossed her napkin in the trash, folding her paper bag to reuse another time. “I have to go back to work.”
Matthias got up from his chair, too. “So do I.”
“I enjoyed our lunch together.”
He smiled at her, his face growing red again. “I did, too. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
Ada went back to the store and her customers. If only Amos were more like Matthias.
Matthias arrived at work early on Monday morning, eager to start his day. By the time Amos and Vernon arrived, he had already started sanding the table legs, taking short, quick strokes with the coarsest sandpaper. Leroy had a power sander he could use, but Matthias preferred to feel the wood under his fingers. Dat had taught him that quality furniture shouldn’t be rushed.
After his co-workers arrived, they sat at the lunch table, waiting for eight o’clock and the official start to the workday. Vernon’s laughter echoed in the big room. Matthias drained the mug of coffee he had brought with him from home, then headed to the coffee urn Leroy kept in the break area.
“I wasn’t really sick,” Amos was saying as Matthias passed the table. “Susie wanted to visit her sister’s family in Centreville, Michigan, for the week, so I drove her up there.” He leaned over the table. “But Leroy doesn’t need to know I took the day off for that. I have five sick days left, and I plan to use them before the end of the year.”
Matthias stopped by the table as he stirred creamer into his coffee. It had been hard to make friends with Amos and Vernon, but chatting for a few minutes might help him get to know them better. “Who is Susie?”
Amos glanced at him. “She’s a girl I know.”
Vernon laughed again, his voice cackling. “I’d say you know her.” He winked at Matthias. “She’s trying to get him to marry her.”
“She’s trying to trick me into it, you mean.” Amos frowned. “But if I marry anyone, it might as well be Susie.”
“She must be a girl from your G’may,” Matthias said. “The only Susie around here is old enough to be my grandmother.”
“Amos has dated girls from all over,” Vernon said. His voice was colored with a mixture of pride and envy. “I wish I had half the girlfriends he does. He had four girls at once one time.”
Amos shrugged. “You just need to know how to handle them, and don’t let them have any idea that the others exist.”
“You mean, each girl thought she was the only one you liked?”
“It would have been a disaster if they had found out. I would never have gotten a date again.”
Matthias stared at the other man. He would never think of living the way Amos talked about, lying to his boss and
