Courting Buggy: Nurse Hal Among The Amish (15 page)

The next morning while the women fixed breakfast,
Emma said, “I am going to clean the school for the free will supper
and air it today. Anyone want to come along?”

Tootie said, “Not me. I can't breathe when I'm in
musky places. Just remember to get all the spider webs down before
Mr. Yoder has a chance to see how the school looks. Otherwise, you
will be the object of his next church sermon.”

That tickled Emma. “Gute idea, Aendi Tootie. I will
do that.”

“
I'd love to go with you, Emma,” Nora said.
“I'd like to see where you teach school, and I'll help
clean.”

“
Gute,” Hal said. “You two go do that. Aunt
Tootie can go shopping with me this afternoon and help me cook
supper. We need to go to the grocery store.”

At breakfast, John asked, “How did the coon hunt go
last night?”

“
Not bad for Dog – uh – uh – the dog's first
time,” Noah stammered.

“
He was ready to quit and come home after he
tangled with a coon and got scratched up in the gooseberry bushes,”
Daniel said before he put the bite of forked sausage in his mouth.
He garbled, “Mama Hal.” Daniel chewed and swallowed the food in his
mouth with Hal frowning at him “Our dog might need some nursing
this morning. Could you look at him?”

Hal frown turned to displeasure. “You took that
little dog out hunting and let him get hurt first thing. What kind
of nursing?”

“
Just some scratches on his face from the
briers and maybe the coon's claws,” Noah told her. “They did not
look real bad, but we do not want the scratches to get
infected.”

“
I'll look at Biscuit as soon as we have the
kitchen work done,” Hal said.

Daniel kept wiggling as he ate his breakfast and
continually rubbed a spot under his left arm pit. He took the last
bite of his eggs, chewed and swallowed as he rubbed the area again.
“Mama Hal, I have a sore I would like you to look at. I can not see
it gute.”

“
All right. If you are done with breakfast how
about you and I go look at it,” Hal said. She led the way through
the living room to the clinic. “Unbutton your shirt.” Daniel did as
she directed and raised his arm. “Oh my.”

“
What is it?” Daniel asked in alarm.

“
You picked up a tick in the timber when you
were coon hunting. It's infected. The tick's head is still in the
bite. You must have broken the body off when you kept rubbing the
sore. Sit at the table. I need to get a pair of tweezers and some
disinfectant.”

Daniel sat down in a chair while Hal gathered what
she needed. “Now lift your arm and hold still.”

“
This is going to hurt, ain't so?” Daniel
worried.

“
Not much worse then that sore is hurting you
now. That tick head has to come out of there, or the sore will
become much worse,” Hal told him.

She used an alcohol pad on the red area and dug in
with tweezers. Daniel puckered his lips and made a sucking sound.
“Hold still. Got it.” She showed the head to the boy. “Now I'll put
some iodine on the sore.” She used a Q-tip to swab the area. The
boy let out a hissing sound when the cold iodine smarted on the raw
spot. “You remind me to look at this at bedtime and tomorrow
morning. I'll need to treat it with iodine for a while. From now on
if you're going to be spending time in the timber, you and Noah
look each other over really well when you get home. Catch the ticks
before they make a sore like this. Ticks can make you very sick. If
you start feeling bad you let me know right away. Dr. Burns will
have to prescribe you some medicine to take.

“
All recht,” Daniel agreed half
heartedly.

“
I'm serious, Daniel. You don't want to be sick
from a tick bite. Besides, I'd prefer you didn't let them get loose
in the house with Redbird and Beth crawling on the floor.” She put
a bandaid over the area. “Now you are gute to go. See you at
dinner.”

The men went to do chores, and Tootie washed dishes.
When Hal came back from doctoring Daniel, she started scraping
plates as fast as she could. Tootie smiled smugly. She was sure she
wouldn't have any trouble beating Hal this time since taking care
of Daniel delayed her.

Emma watched the two of them compete as she wiped.
She hated to see Hal fret over Aunt Tootie washing the slop pail.
It just didn't seem fair that Aunt Tootie would get out of doing it
time after time.

Emma came up with a plan. She scrutinized the dishes
and silverware as she dried them. She declared to Tootie a plate
wasn't clean and a glass. She put them back in the water for Tootie
to redo.

A spoon Emma tossed into the water clattered noisily
against the side of the pan. Tootie's lips tightened as she
flinched. Emma kept slowing her down, but she didn't want to object
and hurt Emma's feelings. After all, she didn't get a good enough
look at the dishes and silverware to dispute the girl's claims.

Emma relaxed when she saw Hal rush across the
driveway. The back door banged shut. She struggled to keep from
giggling when she saw the surprise look on Hal's face. She had
beaten Tootie for once.

Hal noted the satisfied expression on Emma's face,
but she couldn't figure out what happened to slow Tootie down. It
didn't matter at the moment. She marched over to the counter and
set the slop pail beside the dish pan. Tootie retained her grumpy
silence without one word of objection as she washed the nasty
pail.

Chapter 10

“
Are we taking the car to go shopping?” Tootie
asked hopefully.

“
Nah, the buggy works nicely to go to
Wickenburg, and using the car is against the Ordnung except in a
medical emergency,” Hal explained.

“
Can't you bend the rules once in awhile?”
Tootie asked.

Hal paused, remembering back to the Lapp family
outing to The Old Thrasher Reunion in Mt. Pleasant. “Nah, I tried
that once and got into trouble. The bishop won't let me get away
with it again.

Help me cook dinner first. We will have plenty of
time this afternoon to go to Wickenburg. This morning we need to
make bread, and my two little girls can stand a bath.”

“
Oh dear. I'm not sure I'd know where to start
giving a baby a bath. I've never had one you know,” Tootie
said.

Hal grinned. “A bath?”

“
That isn't funny, Hallie! You know I meant a
baby,” Tootie snapped.

“
I'm sorry for teasing you. Giving a bath to a
baby isn't that hard if you can keep them in the bath pan, but I'll
give you a choice. Do you want to make bread or give baths?” Hal
asked.

“
I'll make the bread. It's been years since the
last time I did it, but I think I'll be all right with that,”
Tootie said without much confidence.

“
The ingredients are in the pantry. The bread
bowl is in the cabinet next to the sink, and the yeast container is
in the refrigerator. You will have to get a cereal bowl to measure
the yeast into. Put a little warm water in with the yeast to get it
started working since it's cold.” Hal placed one of the bath pans
on the table and poured in warm water. She had brought towels and
wash cloths to the kitchen earlier.

Beth was crawling close by. Hal scooped her up. “Come
here, you. You can be first. Nothing to it, Aunt Tootie. I undress
Beth, get her wet all over and suds her down. Then rinse her
off.”

“
Sounds a little like doing dishes,” Tootie
said as she counted out scoops of flour into the bowl she'd set on
the table across from Hal.

Beth splattered Tootie a few times when she slapped
the water. Tootie flinched, and Beth giggled. Finally, Tootie moved
down to the far end of the table to finish mixing the dough. Hal
dried Beth off and dressed her. She put the little girl on the
quilt on the living room floor and threw the bath water out the
back door.

Once she'd poured clean water in the pan, she said,
“I'm coming for you, Redbird.” Soon Hal had Redbird bathed and back
on the quilt beside her sister. The girls jabbered to each other as
Hal went back to the kitchen.

“
How are you coming with the bread dough?” Hal
asked.

“
I already put the bowl on the warming oven.
What are we fixing for lunch?”

“
I'm thinking we can make a light dinner with
soup and cheese sandwiches. Cheese should go good with the fresh
bread. We'll do more cooking for supper when everyone is here,” Hal
said. “How about potato soup and toasted cheese
sandwiches?”

“
Sounds good to me.”

Tootie peeled and diced the potatoes while Hal
chopped up an onion. Hal made sure to watch the clock. “I think
it's time to punch down the bread dough and put it in two loaf
pans. You do that, and I'll put the potatoes and onion in a kettle
to cook.”

While Hal was busy starting the soup, Tootie kneaded
the dough. She greased two loaf pans, divided the dough between
them and put the loaves back on the warming oven and covered them
with a dish towel.

“
Aunt Tootie, how about a cup of tea or coffee
while we take a break?” Hal asked.

“
Tea would be nice,” Tootie decided, sitting
down.

They listened to the soup simmer. After a while,
Tootie lifted the lid and stuck a potato cube with the fork. “The
potatoes are cooked enough to add the milk, salt and butter
now.”

After the soup simmered a little longer, Hal got out
two spoons. She handed one to Tootie. “Taste the soup and see if it
needs anything.”

Tootie tasted and smacked her lips. “Put in more
salt.” She stared in the kettle as Hal measured the salt and dumped
it in. Tootie tasted again. “The soup tastes sort of bland. Maybe
we should add something to it.”

“
How about sausage? We have patties canned in
the basement,” Hal suggested.

“
That sounds good,” Tootie agreed.

“
I'll go get the jar while you put the bread in
the oven to bake. That way the loaves should be done just before
the men come,” Hal said.

Tootie watched the bread closely and took the
loaf pans out to cool while Hal set the table. When they heard the
men's voices, Hal said, “Aunt Tootie, bring me the cheese and
butter from the refrigerator.” She dumped one of the loaves on a
plate. It was only half the size of Emma's and so was the other
one.
Aunt Tootie must not have put enough
flour in,
was Hal's thought.

Hal sawed through the crust with a serrated knife.
The bread was dense, but she kept going. Something was wrong. She
didn't know what, but she didn't have time to figure it out. The
men were washing their hands. She had to get dinner on the table.
Hal spread the butter on the slices, laid on cheese, and put on
another slice. She placed the sandwiches in two buttered iron
skillets to brown.

As the men sat down, Hal placed the soup kettle in
the middle of the table and the platter of sandwiches beside John.
He said the prayer. “I come before you in the name of Jesus Christ
our king. Bless this family and the cooks that prepared our food,
and bless me so that I can do your will. Amen.”

John filled his bowl and pushed his spoon around in
the soup, inspecting what whirled to the surface.

Jim wandered why. The boys ate from their bowls as if
they hadn't eaten breakfast, but he decided maybe he should do the
same thing John did. He leaned over and whispered, “What are we
looking for?”

John whispered back, “If you did not find anything
that should not be in potato soup it should be all right to eat.”
John bit into his sandwich. It seemed stale, but maybe Hal had over
toasted it. He ate without comment.

After the men left for the field, Tootie and Hal
rushed through cleanup so they could leave for town. Hal scraped
the dishes and pans and set them beside the dish pan. She reached
for a small bowl on the counter to empty it. It was full of a murky
brown substance. Hal stared into the bowl. “Fudge! Aunt Tootie, you
forgot to put the yeast in the bread dough.”

“
I did? I wondered why the loaves didn't double
in size,” Tootie said. “Well, it's all your fault.”

“
Why is that?”

“
You had to give me all that unnecessary
information about how to bathe the girls all the time I was trying
to mix the bread. It's a wonder I didn't forget to put in more than
yeast,” Tootie scolded.

Hal opened her mouth to complain but decided it
wasn't worth it. After all, this was Aunt Tootie. She set the slop
pail back in the mudroom and dried the dishes. She'd add to the
pail after supper and empty it.

Tootie stepped out on the front porch and
watched for Hal. An open buggy slowed down and turned in. Peter was
coming back again.
I hope he isn't going to
invite me to take a drive in Lover's Lane again.
Anywhere else would be good when I have time but
not today when I'm going shopping with Hallie.

Peter parked by the house. He slowly stepped
down and trudged toward her with a shuffling gait.
He doesn't look happy.
Maybe I shouldn't tempt him.
I'll go
inside out of sight until Hallie comes with the buggy
.
Tootie placed her hand on the screen door handle.

Peter said, his voice raised and irritated, “You come
here, Dolly. Come down here and stand before me. I want to ask you
a question.”

Tootie froze in her tracks. Her eyes widened as
he stalked toward her. I
s he mad at me
because I turned down the ride? He must not be used to taking no
for an answer.