Off the Grid (Amish Safe House, Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter
6
.

After thinking over the events of the past
forty-eight hours, Kate put her head on the pillow and tried for a
while to calm her breathing, yet she was unable to sleep. Kate had
not done any undercover work before, and to make matters worse, she
was already missing the internet and TV.

She lit the small kerosene lamp that rested
on the homemade nightstand next to her bed, and reached for a
newspaper. Sadly, the newspaper, entitled
Hiwwe wie Driwwe
,
appeared to be in Pennsylvania Dutch or German. Kate had no way of
telling the difference, but one thing was for sure; it wasn’t in
English and that meant she couldn’t read it. It was a while before
she lay back down and finally drifted to sleep.

In the morning, there was a knock on her
door, and Kate woke to find she had left the lamp on, the flame
sputtering on the soaked wick and most of the kerosene gone. She
killed the flame and then went to answer the door.

“I let you sleep in this morning,” the
kindly Martha said, “but you will need to be up on time from now
on.”

Kate stole a glance out the window. The
position of the sun, newly rising, told her it must be around six
thirty or so. Sleeping in? What time did these Amish get up?

“My husband, the bishop, has told everyone
that you’ve newly arrived from a New Order community in Ohio, that
you had an accident, and need some help remembering many things,”
Martha said. “We’ve had to tell them that you don’t even remember
your own language, and can speak only
Englisch
.”

Kate nodded.

“We don’t have pockets, but I’ve sewn a
pocket for your phone into your dresses.” Martha nodded to the
dresses hanging on pegs.

Kate looked down; she was wearing a
nightgown with a hem that slid across the floor when she walked.
She couldn’t wait to get out of it, but she knew the dresses
hanging on the pegs weren’t going to be much of a step up.

“Thank you,” Kate said.

Martha helped her into her dress and then
tied her hair into a simple knot before affixing a white cap over
her head. “This is called a
prayer kapp
; you must wear it at
all times.”

“All the time?”

Martha shrugged. “You will be staying in a
small
grossmammi haus
behind the
haus
of the Kauffman
familye
. I’ll drive you over there now, as soon as I show
you how to dress, and fasten your
kapp
and bonnet. My
husband thought that living in your own
haus
was the best
thing to do, as then you won’t be around people all the time.”

Kate nodded, thinking that it was a wise
decision.

“My husband’s told the community that they
are not to ask you many questions, but they’ll be curious, as we
don’t get people from other communities here as a rule. Remember to
act demure and not too forthright. The young
menner
will be
pleased to see a pretty young lady, so be careful not to lead them
on.”

Kate made to protest, but Martha cut her
off. “Sorry, that came out wrong. If a
mann
asks you on a
buggy ride, refuse, as a buggy ride means you will be dating.”

“You’re kidding!” Kate was at once sorry for
her outburst. “Oh, Martha, I’m so worried. I’m sure I’ll do
something wrong. Your customs are so different from ours.” She bit
her lip.

“
Nee
, you’ll be fine,” Martha said,
waving one hand in dismissal. “Just refuse any offers from
menner
to go anywhere with them. Now the best advice I can
give you is to watch people and do as they do. Some women don’t
wear
prayer kapps
in their own homes when no one is
visiting, but it’s best to be on the safe side, so I suggest you
keep it on unless you’re sleeping. At least your hair is long.
That’s good, as we don’t cut our hair.”

Kate bit her lip. “What’s a
grossmammi
haus
? I figure
haus
means
house
, but what’s a
grossmammi
?”

Martha smiled. “That means
grandmother
. Don’t worry, Katie, you’ll get used to
Pennsylvania Dutch words.”

“You speak Dutch all the time?”

Martha chuckled and sat on the edge of the
bed. “
Nee
, it’s actually a dialect of German, and the word
is
Deutsch
. Many years ago, when
Englischers
heard
the word
Deutsch
, they thought it meant ‘Dutch,’ but in fact
it meant ‘German.’”

Kate’s head was spinning. This was all so
confusing and too much to take in all at one time. “How on earth
will I ever remember all those words?”

Martha patted her knee. “
Jah
means
yes
, and
nee
means
no
. Just remember those two
words, and just blame anything on the amnesia. Oh, and
denki
means
thank you
. That’s all you’ll have to know, to start
with. You’ll pick the rest up fairly quickly, I’m sure,
Gott
be willing.”

Kate wasn’t so sure she would. She figured
that
Gott
was
God
, so she repeated to herself
silently,
jah, nee, denki, Gott
-
jah, nee, denki,
Gott
, over and over again. She fought the crazy urge to run out
of the house.

Psalm 12: 5
.

“
Because the poor are plundered, because
the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place
him in the safety for which he longs.”

Chapter
7
.

“I heard that a car hit your buggy,” Beth
Kauffman said, and Kate couldn’t help but note the hint of scandal
in her voice. She wondered if gossip was as prevalent in an Amish
community as it was any other. Clearly Beth had not gotten the memo
about not asking her too many questions.

“Yes,” she said, and then wondered if she
should have said, “
Jah
,” so quickly added, “That’s what the
doctor said. I don't know; I don’t remember. I don’t remember
anything much really.”

Beth peered into her face. “How come you
came here? Don’t you have
familye
where you're from? Or
neighbors to look out for you?”

“My doctor thought it would be better to
come to a bigger community and have a change of scenery. I’ve
forgotten so much.”

Beth patted Kate’s arm, and they stood there
for a moment. “We can help you,” she said.

Kate liked the woman, and while Beth was
many years younger than her neighbor, Helen, she nevertheless
reminded her of the kindness of the elderly lady.

“I can take you around today, show you a few
things,” Beth said.

“That would be great,” Kate said.
“
Denki
,” she added, quite pleased with herself for
remembering the Amish word.

But first came breakfast, and Beth led Kate
to her dining room. Beth introduced Kate to her husband, Isaac, and
her daughter, Rose; Kate guessed Rose was in her early twenties.
Kate said
Hello
to them all, and they sat down.

Breakfast was lavish; there was something
called
scrapple
which Kate thought tasted like a mixture of
cornmeal and meat, as well as fried eggs and sausages, a huge pile
of mashed potato, and plenty of fresh coffee.

Before they ate, everyone at the table
closed their eyes and bowed their heads. Kate did the same, but
peeked out of one eye. She assumed they were offering up a silent
prayer of thanks for the meal. And then it was time to eat, and
Kate dug in. She could get used to the food, if it was all going to
be like that.

After breakfast, Rose volunteered herself
and Kate to clean up, and the rest of her family left. Isaac went
out to do some work on a shed he was in the process of building and
Beth left to drive the buggy into town. Rose had Kate bring in the
plates and dishes while she got a sink full of water ready.

“Oh, you have running water,” Kate
exclaimed.

Rose swung around. “Why yes, didn’t you, in
your community?”

Now I’ve put my big foot in it
, Kate
thought. “Oh yes, but my community – as far as I remember – was a
different kind of New Order, and we did things that many other
communities didn’t do.”

Rose didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
“
Jah
, running water is common in our district, has been for
years. I do think, though, that in my
grossdawdi’s
time,
water had to be conserved as it came from wells and not a municipal
water supply, but most houses had some faucets and basins
underneath.”

After the dishes were washed, dried, and put
up, Rose decided to show Kate to her new little
haus
before
they got to work with their daily chores.

The two women walked outside together, and
Kate took a deep breath. The air was cool and crisp, and it smelled
like a farm, but it was altogether pleasant, somehow. There wasn’t
a loud hustle and bustle, such as one came across in a sleepy
Midwest suburb. There were no engines, no honking. No garage doors
rolling up and down. The only thing they could hear at that moment
was Isaac banging a hammer on his shed. As they walked away from
the house, Kate turned and could see Isaac smiling as he worked
along side two helping hands.

“Here’s your
haus
,” Rose said,
stopping in front of a cabin made of wood. There was a barn behind
it that seemed to dwarf the cabin, and in a fenced-in pen outside,
a few cows chewed their cud.

“It’s beautiful,” Kate said truthfully.

“It’s a good, solid
haus
,” Rose
replied, and they walked in.

The first room was the living room, and
Kate’s immediate impression was one of cleanliness. The floors were
of polished timber, and the walls were timber also. Someone had
gone to the trouble to light the wood fire, and the room was
already toasty warm.

Kate was at once overwhelmed by the kindness
that these people had shown to a complete stranger.

There was an old sofa covered by a beautiful
quilt with a star pattern of teal and purple on a black background.
In front of it was what appeared to be a handmade coffee table, and
on top of it was a huge, leather-bound book entitled,
The
Martyr’s Mirror
.

Rose saw her looking at the book.
“
Mamm
put the
Englisch
edition of
Der blutige
Schauplatz oder Märtyrerspiegel
in here for you, ‘cause she
said you have trouble with words after your accident, but if you
want the German edition instead, I can go get it for you.”

“Oh no, no, the English one is just fine,
thank you,” Kate hurried to say, looking at the thick book.
At
least I’ll have something to read
, she thought.

“And there’s the kitchen,” Rose said. “It’s
only tiny.”

The kitchen was indeed tiny, and was simply
up one end of the living room, but had everything Kate needed,
including a gas refrigerator and stove.

“And here’s your bedroom,” Rose continued,
opening the door to a little room. The room was plain and had a
single bed, which had another gorgeous quilt on it. There were pegs
on the walls, but this room had an old, oak dresser.

Kate walked into the room and looked around.
The bathroom opened off the bedroom, and Kate opened the door to
look inside.

“A bath,” she exclaimed with delight. “I
didn’t expect a bath.” Again, Kate wondered if she’d said the wrong
thing, as Rose looked at her strangely. Kate thought quickly. “This
grossmammi
house is so lovely, but I didn’t know
grossmammi
houses had baths,” she said, wondering if she’d
pronounced
grossmammi
correctly.

To her relief, Rose nodded. “My
mudder
thinks that baths are
gut
for people; baths
with herbs and salt in them are
gut
after a long day. You
can soak away all the aches and pains and be ready for another long
day of hard work.”

“
Err
, yes,” Kate said, scrunching up
her brow. Just how hard did these people work? Still, the bath was
a major plus, as, before she arrived here, she didn’t even know
whether or not these Amish had indoor plumbing. She was certainly
relieved that they did.

“You’ll have all your meals with us,” Rose
said, “but we’ll give you milk from the cow each day, and I’m sure
you’ll want to have hot meadow tea. There are mason jars of sugar
and dried peppermint over there for the tea.” She nodded in the
direction of the kitchen. “And
Mamm
made you some whoopie
pies. They’re over there, too.”

“Thank you.”

Rose looked at Kate for a moment. “Will we
have some tea and whoopie pies now?” Without waiting for Kate to
answer, Rose hurried over to the kitchen. Kate followed close
behind, determined to watch what Rose did, so she could copy
her.

Soon the two women were sitting at the tiny,
handcrafted wooden table, sipping hot meadow tea. “How old are you,
Katie?’

“I’m almost thirty.”

Rose’s hand flew to her throat. “
Nee
!
And you don’t have a
mann
?”

Kate didn’t know how to respond, so simply
asked, “How old are you?”

“Twenty one,” Rose said, and then sighed. “I
don’t have a
mann
either. No one wants me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Kate said,
looking at Rose’s pretty, round face, her clear, bright skin, and
the blonde hair poking out from under her
kapp
. “Aren’t
there any young men your age in the community?”

Rose sipped her tea before answering.
“
Jah
, but I only like one, but he doesn’t like me.”

Kate was familiar with sorting out such
problems. That was one thing most people didn’t know about U.S
Marshals who worked in witness security: they not only had to act
as guards, but also as marriage counselor, employment agent, best
friend, mother, father, sounding board.