“Good point. Still, Otto has given me the same impression. Can you tell me why?”
“School is hard for him. Our last teacher never wanted to help him, so I do. He’s smart. He’s not stupid and people shouldn’t say that he is.”
“I would never call someone stupid. I’m sorry that your brother has been hurt by careless people. I will do everything I can to make Otto feel he is a valuable member of my class. At your last school did the children have their eyes checked?”
“Sure. And they checked our hearing, too. Why?”
“I haven’t received those records, so I wanted to make sure the tests had been done.” That was one reason she could eliminate for Otto’s problem. “Has Otto always had trouble in school?”
“I think so. Mamm used to spend a lot of time helping him with his reading. Daed used to say he was just being lazy. Can I go now?”
“Of course.”
He hopped up and jogged toward home. Eva remained on the steps. Mrs. Kenworthy had confirmed what Eva had thought. It seemed Otto would need additional help from her.
Harley stepped out the door of the Gingrich house and cupped his hand around his mouth. “Send Maddie home for supper.”
“She’s not with me,” Eva shouted back. The playground was empty and the child hadn’t been with them in the school.
Harley waved and went back inside. Eva rose and walked the short distance to her house. She turned on the oven and pulled a turkey potpie from the freezer. She heard footsteps on her porch and looked at the screen door.
Willis pulled the door open and came inside. “Have you seen Maddie today?”
She tensed at the concern in his voice. “Not since this morning. She was on the swing set and said she was sad because Bubble had gone home to see her mother.”
“We can’t find her.”
“Perhaps she’s gone to play with some other friends. Where might she be?”
“She doesn’t know many of the children her age yet.”
Eva turned off her oven. “We should ask the neighbors if they have seen her.”
“I don’t mean to scare you. It’s just not like her to wander off.”
“I’m not scared, Willis. Concerned, yes, but Maddie is with God wherever she goes. He is her protection. Let me make sure she isn’t here in the house.”
“I will double-check the school.” He went out.
Eva made a quick room-by-room search of her house and came up empty. She stepped outside and saw Otto and Harley near the trees. Harley had something black in his hands. They both came running up to Willis. Harley handed him a small black kapp. “I found it snagged on a tree branch a few yards into the woods. We yelled for her but she didn’t answer.”
Willis wadded the fabric into a tight ball in his hands. “She isn’t supposed to go into the woods. She knows that.”
Eva pressed a hand to her lips. “I asked her if she wanted to go with me when I went looking for Otto. She said no but she might have changed her mind after I was gone. I thought I heard someone calling my name once, but it wasn’t repeated so I went on. What if she was trying to follow me?”
It was growing late. Eva’s heart started racing. Maddie could have followed her into the woods. Why had she invited the child to go with her? “She wouldn’t leave the path, would she?”
“She could easily lose her way,” Harley said. “There is a second path that cuts across it and leads down to the river where some people go fishing.”
Eva remembered the spot. “I almost went that way myself. What should we do?”
Willis handed the kapp to Eva and faced his brothers. “Harley, you and Otto take the path to the farm and keep calling for her but remember to stop and listen, too. Take it slow. Eva, you and I will drive over to the farm and see if she is there and check with our neighbors along the way to find out if anyone has seen her. I’ll hitch up your cart.”
“I have two flashlights in my kitchen. The batteries are brand-new. The boys should take them. It will be dark before long.”
“Get them. I’ll get your horse.” Willis ran back to his property.
Eva fetched the flashlights and handed one to each of the boys. Their eyes were wide with fear. She tried to reassure them. “I’m sure she is fine. Stick together. If you get off the path in the dark stay where you are. We will find you.”
They took off and she hurried down to Willis’s barn. He was backing Dodger between the shafts of the cart. Eva went around the horse and quickly attached her side of the harness. She climbed up to the seat.
Willis handed her the lines. “If she is there we will wait for the boys.”
“If she isn’t?”
“I will follow the path to the river while you bring the boys home. I pray one of us finds her along the way and she will spin us a story about how Bubble led her into the woods.” He tried to smile.
Eva saw the effort it took and her heart ached for him. “Have faith.”
“I’m trying.” He climbed up beside her, lifted the reins and urged Dodger to a quick trot out onto the roadway.
Willis was grateful for Eva’s calm presence beside him. He should have kept a better eye on his sister. He had no one to blame but himself. Maddie was too little to run wild the way he had allowed the boys to. Something would have to change.
When he reached the first house along the road, Eva hopped down and hurried to the door. She spoke to the man who answered her knock and then hurried back to the cart.
“They haven’t seen her. They are going to call the warden service to get a search
