Chapter 1.
“Ephraim, what are you doing running around with a woman like that?”
His mudder’s shrill, voice rang through Ephraim Zook’s ears before he entered the kitchen. He had been working hard all day and the last thing he wanted to hear was more of his mother’s complaints. Besides, he was not ‘running around’ with anyone. He did not want to even think what his mudder was concerned about this time.
The only thing Ephraim knew for sure and for certain was that he could never do anything right in his mudder’s eyes. It was usually, ‘Why can’t you be more like your older bruders?’ or, ‘Your daed would have never done it like that.’ At other times she would complain that he was eating too much or not eating enough. Ephraim knew that his mamm meant well and wanted the best for him, but he also knew that she was dominating.
He finished taking off his dirty work boots and headed to the kitchen to speak to his mamm. “A woman like what, mamm?” He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he should have said, I’m not running around with any woman.
Ephraim’s mother, Mary Zook, tended to the shoofly pies that she had just taken out of the oven. She wiped some flour off her full, ruddy cheeks with the back of her hand. “You know very well who I am talking about.” His mother fired a steely gaze up at him, from her piercing, blue eyes. “Liz Kuhns, that’s who.”
Ephraim dreaded what he knew was going to be an uncomfortable conversation. Yes, he liked Liz and would be only too happy if she returned his affection. However, he knew that Liz Kuhns would not be the ideal choice for any Amish mudder to have as a dochder-in-law. Liz had been brought up Amish, but left to live the Englisch lifestyle as soon as she became old enough.
“Mamm, I’m a grown man just gone thirty one; I’m quite capable of making my own decisions regarding women.” Ephraim broke off a piece of pie before his mother hit him over the knuckles with a spatula.
“She’s not like us and you’ve got sisters who look up to you. Do you want them to start dressing all la–de–da, Englisch like Liz, with paint all over their faces?”
Ephraim gave his mamm an exaggerated, quizzical look. He knew what she meant, but he wasn’t going to let his mamm off lightly, not if she was talking ill of the woman he had grown very fond of.
Liz was a flamboyant dresser and wore a lot of makeup, but Ephraim knew that Liz was a very gut person. Ephraim crossed his arms in front of his well-muscled chest, leaned against the wall and steeled himself for a barrage of complaints from his mother.
Mary Zook stood with her feet planted squarely on the ground and her hands firmly planted on her wide, square hips. “You know very well what I mean. Look how she dresses - she’s not even Amish.”
Ephraim had always done as his mother suggested and had never gone against her wishes, but this time things were different – he was different.
“Mudder, that is two complaints in the one sentence. I will take them one by one. Number one, she dresses to suit herself – I imagine. Number two, she was born Amish, so she might come back.”
Ephraim’s mother picked up the nearest kitchen implement, which was a wooden spoon, and shook it at him with one hand, while her other hand was still firmly planted on her hip. “Ephraim Zook, you may be bigger than me, but I’m still your mudder. Don’t take that sassy, Englisch attitude with me!” She lowered her voice and said, “She dresses trashy.”
Ephraim knew that his mother had lowered her voice to avoid being overheard by his sisters.
“Trashy?” Ephraim repeated his mamm’s word.
His mother threw down the wooden spoon and dusted her hands off on her apron. “There’s no other word for it.”
Ephraim knew there was no use arguing with her when she was in one of these moods. He shook his head and walked out of the kitchen, giving her temper time to cool down. Frustration drew him back to try and defuse the situation, as he feared that his mudder might never let the subject of Liz Kuhns alone.
“I’m not interested in Liz in that way, okay? She’s just helping me set up the new computer in the barn. She’s coming here tomorrow to show me how to use it.” It occurred to Ephraim that it was very bad timing for Liz to be coming there the very next day after this awkward conversation. “Please be nice to her?”
“Ach, you want me to be nice to her? She’s just a friend, is she?” His mother raised her eyebrows, avoided eye contact with Ephraim and poked at her pies.
Ephraim raised his voice. “Mamm, did you hear me?”
“Jah, jah. I heard you. You want me to be nice to her.”
Ephraim’s frustration with his mother was growing. He placed his hands on his hips, stood in front of her and looked down at her. “You will be nice to her then?”
“If she’s nice to me, I might be nice to her.” She broke off a little piece of pie and popped it in her mouth. “We’ll see.”
Ephraim gave up trying to get the answer he wanted from his mudder. He let out a loud sigh of frustration, shrugged his shoulders, turned and did the only thing he could do - walk away.
“Funny that she knows how to use computers,” his mother muttered in a low voice.
Ephraim caught her words as he walked away and turned on his heel. “What do you mean by that, mamm?”
“Well, it’s just funny isn’t it, that she knows about computers?”
“That’s her job, she works with computers.”
“Ahhh, see! That’s my point Ephraim. She’s not like us. If she were Amish she’d likely be married by now with kinner. Instead she’s doing modern, Englisch things and dressing like a … well not dressing Amish that’s for sure.”
Ephraim walked back over to his mamm and put his hands on her shoulders and spoke quietly. “Now look, mamm. I’m not interested in Liz. I need this computer for my horse-trading business. You do want me to be successful, don’t you?”
“Jah, you’re already successful.” She reached up and touched one of Ephraim’s hands, which was on her shoulder, and gave him a smile.
Ephraim raised his eyebrows at his mamm’s clumsy attempt at praise. “Denke. Now can we please have no more talk of Liz?”
Ephraim loved his mamm and always tried to obey her wishes, but at times found her a little trying on his patience. His mamm smiled and remained silent. Ephraim suddenly realized his mamm was alone in the kitchen, which was most unusual as his three sisters were usually helping prepare dinner by this time. “Where are the girls; why aren’t they helping you with dinner?”
“Dinner is all done; I’m keeping it warm. I’ve just sent the girls out to make sure there are no weeds in the garden while the sun’s still up. They are getting caught up on the morning chores. Now go and talk to your daed.”
“Okay mamm.” Ephraim was pleased that the difficult conversation was over, for now. He felt a little frustrated that his mamm wanted to make all his decisions for him including finding a fraa. At his age, most menner in the community were married with kinner including his three older brothers. That made Ephraim and his daed the only menner left in the haus.
Ephraim sat next to his daed who had finished his work for the day a little earlier than Ephraim. He was proud of the fact that his daed, even in his mid sixties, could still work just as hard and as long as a young man could.
Ephraim’s daed looked up from his paper. “Don’t mind your mamm. You know she means well.” His daed handed him a section of the paper to read.
“Denke. You heard?”
“Hard not to hear your mamm when she gets her head set on something.”
Ephraim was pleased to rest a little while before dinner and scanned the section of The Bulletin. He was always keen to keep up with the latest news in the community. “Jah, I know.”
“She’s got it in her head that you and Liz are running around.”
Ephraim shook his head. “Well, we aren’t and I don’t know why she even thinks that. Liz and I have known each other since before she left the community. We were pretty close with her familye once weren’t we?”
“Jah, but the Kuhns keep very much to themselves now. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten over their only dochder leaving the community. It really hurt them when she came back to stay at the Miller’s haus for a year rather than stay with them.”
Ephraim nodded. “All I’m saying is, I know Liz fairly well and I’ve always been friends with her so I’m not going to stop now.”
His daed turned his attention back to his paper. “You’re a grown mann. You do what you see fit. I’m not going to tell you what you should be doing.”
Ephraim could not deny that he’d always liked Liz, even though she was quite a bit younger than he. Now that they were both older, the seven years between them did not seem quite so large a gap.
