“Too bad you don’t have a dishwasher, Anna.” I knew this was a lame statement but reached for levity.
“We do.” Anna sent me a crooked smile. “You’re looking at her. But I’d rather do this chore than leave the house tonight.”
Naomi handed me a flashlight. “Here, you’ll need this.”
Nancy grabbed another one off the counter. Isaac extracted a flashlight from his jacket pocket, tested it, and found it working. I noticed Nancy and I were wearing matching coats and bonnets. At the back door, we slid into matching tall rubber boots. Isaac grabbed a shovel.
Moments later, I grasped the railing as I descended the back steps. Icy particles of snow bit into my cheeks. I covered my face up to my eyes with the scarf, but gusts of wind blasted, making me squint. Ahead loomed the quilt shop, which looked more like a metal-walled quadruple-garage.
Snow slammed against the structure, accumulating up to three or four feet in places. I was curious to get inside and see what the business was all about. Isaac immediately started clearing the snow with his shovel so the door could swing open. He leaned the shovel against the building, tried the knob, and found it unlocked. He said something, but I couldn’t hear him above the moaning wind.
Nancy scurried inside through the narrow opening, and I followed. Isaac stepped in after us and immediately halted. “Wait, I smell cigarette smoke.”
“Ach, I smell it, too.” Turning on a propane gas light, Nancy scanned the vast interior.
I sniffed the air. “So do I.” Proof positive we were not alone.
Isaac told Nancy and me to stay by the door while he looked around.
“Be careful.” Nancy took hold of his elbow. Clearly, she was afraid for his safety. Or was that just an excuse to be near him?
“No,” I said. “I think we should all stick together.” I noticed a six-foot metal flagpole and grabbed it to use as a weapon of defense.
Nancy and I crept along behind Isaac. Shining the flashlight for guidance, I inched past a cash register on a counter with a telephone sitting next to it. I canvassed the room. Never had I seen such beautiful quilts and quilted items, such as potholders and purses. This shop really was something to behold.
The smell of smoke grew in volume. No doubt about it, we were not alone.
A grubby boy in his late teens wearing a knit cap sprang to his feet and nearly fell back to the floor as he attempted to maintain his balance. “Get—away from me!” His words were slurred.
“Bart? Are you drunk?” Isaac asked.
“Or stoned?” Nancy stepped closer. “What are you doing here?”
“My parents kicked me out again. I have nowhere to go.” The young man looked as if he hadn’t bathed or changed his jeans or jacket in days. His greasy dark hair, cut in that funky Amish style the same as Isaac’s and Silas’s, clung to his forehead.
“Now what?” I turned to Isaac. “Call the police?”
“Nee, I haven’t broken any laws. The door wasn’t locked.” The guy balanced himself against a post. “And I know you wouldn’t throw me out in the cold. I’ve slept in the Millers’ barn many times.”
“But this is my parents’ business.” Nancy’s voice came out with unexpected force. The young man sprang up, stumbled forward, and knocked her to the floor.
“Hey, cut it out.” Isaac came to her side and helped her to her feet, but did not push Bart in retaliation.
I looked to Isaac with questioning eyes.
“We must always turn the other cheek,” he told me.
“But shouldn’t we call the police?”
“Please don’t. My parents wouldn’t like it.” Nancy straightened her bonnet.
“Then you’d better get Silas to handle this,” I told Isaac.
A moment later, Silas opened the door. I’d never been more happy to see someone. “I thought I’d check to see what was taking you so long.” I assumed he’d seize the guy by the scruff of the neck and toss him out, but instead Silas said, “Hello, Bart. Out you go to the barn, if you like. You know where the sleeping bag is. And no smoking, ya hear?”
“But it’s too cold out there. I’ll freeze to death.”
“I wish I could let you spend the night in here, but I dare not take the chance.” He stroked his bushy beard. “I tell you what, since it’s such a gruesome night, I’ll let you sleep in our basement.”
“In the basement?” Bart’s pale face twisted. “Where my parents used to make me sleep when I was a bad boy?” He looked like he might cry. “Or they locked me in the closet.”
“Now, now, I won’t lock the door to the outside.” Silas’s voice grew gentle. “You can leave if you want to.”
“Please let me stay in here.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I won’t take anything.”
“Why did you come in here?” Nancy asked.
“When the snow started up, it seemed like the best place,” Bart whimpered. “I promise not to steal anything.”
I didn’t believe him for a minute. What was there to stop him?
“Come on.” Silas wrapped an arm around Bart’s shoulder. “I’ll take you in the house and feed you before we decide what to do.”
“Denki. I haven’t eaten a decent meal in days.”
“We have leftovers in the refrigerator. But you’d better be on your best behavior or my Naomi won’t want you in the house at all.”
“Yes, I will be. I promise.”
I was floored. Bart had to be lying, but Silas didn’t seem to care. He spoke to all of us. “Let’s get back to the house. Nancy, make sure the door is locked, okay?”
“You want me to stick around?” Isaac asked Silas.
“Yes. Please walk the girls back to the house. Denki.” He and Bart strode out the door at a fast clip.
Isaac, Nancy, and I followed them out into the blizzard, the snow blasting. Nancy locked and bolted the door, then dropped the keys in her coat pocket. Isaac walked on Nancy’s side, his arm draped across her shoulder
