Huckleberry Hearts by Jennifer Beckstrand
“Hopefully Charlotte’s Web will put him in a better mood.”
Cassie handed him one of the thick canvas aprons she had hanging over her arm. “Are you sure you want to do this? Butchering a pig isn’t the most pleasant job in the world.”
He didn’t really want to spend his morning butchering a pig, but he did want to learn how to butcher a pig, because it was one of the many things Amish men knew how to do that he did not, and he wanted to show Cassie that he was up for anything. It was a stupid thing to do just to impress a girl, but he was desperate and she wasn’t just any girl.
“I dissected plenty of stuff in college. I think I’ll be pretty good at it. Besides, I have to prove my manhood to Norman and Luke.”
She giggled. “I don’t think your manhood was ever in question.”
“I made the mistake of wearing that pink shirt. Your brothers will need proof before they give me their respect.”
“You’re almost half Amish already with all the stuff you’ve learned.”
He smiled. She’d noticed how good he was at Amish stuff. Maybe he’d made an impression.
Since the haystack supper, he’d been to Huckleberry Hill six times to change the bandage on Anna’s foot. He usually came in the evenings after he finished up at the hospital or in the mornings before he did an afternoon shift, and they usually fed him some mouthwatering Amish dish before he left.
Cassie had taught him how to milk a cow. It left his hands almost too stiff to go to work the next morning, but he saw the advantage of it. Milking made his fingers stronger for surgery and eased Felty’s burden at the same time.
“The real test will be a barn raising,” Zach said. “That’s when I’ll know I’ve really assimilated into the culture.”
Her eyes danced. “Luckily, you have several weeks to prepare for that. We don’t usually raise a barn in the dead of winter.”
“But you butcher hogs.”
“The carcass has to cool before we section and cure it. Cold days are the best.”
“Let’s get to it, then.”
“Here,” she said, handing him a coat she held with the other apron. “I brought this for you too. It gets messy.”
He took off his ski jacket and draped it and his scarf over the porch railing. Then he put on the old coat and buttoned it up. It smelled like manure. He looped the apron strap over his head and tied the strings around his waist. Cassie did the same with her apron. She looked adorable, like an old-time farmer’s wife.
“We’ve got matching aprons,” he said.
She looked down at her apron as if seeing it for the first time and grinned. “These are two of Mammi’s old ones. She stitched the little hearts at the top years ago. Norman and Luke already commandeered the manly ones.”
“Your brothers are going to give me a hard time about the hearts.”
She nodded. “I might have to give Norman the evil eye.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can.” The way she looked at him stole his breath. “But I’ve got plenty of Kleenex just in case he makes you cry.” She pulled a wad of tissue from her coat pocket.
“You might want to hold on to it in case I make him cry.”
Laughter tripped from her lips. “Norman should be shaking in his boots.”
“Yes, he should.”
They cut across the front yard through the snow and trekked behind the barn where Norman and Luke had set up the butchering operation. The pig, who had no idea what was about to befall him, lounged in a temporary pen near the toolshed. A hot fire danced in a fire pit made of cinder blocks and large stones. A sturdy metal grate rested atop the cinder blocks, and a large vat of water, big enough to hold a pig, sat on top of the metal grate. The water inside was already steaming.
Two sturdy beams were anchored into the ground and angled to meet together at the top like two poles of a teepee. One end of a long, thick board rested on the V where the poles met. The other end of the board had been wedged between the meeting point of two branches of an oak tree. Ropes connected to two pulleys dangled from the board.
They had positioned the fire pit alongside the poles and ropes. Almost directly below the ropes sat a makeshift table made from a long plywood plank and two old doors.
Neither of Cassie’s brothers glanced up when Zach and Cassie came around to the back. Levi tended to the fire. Norman sharpened a deadly looking knife. They were all business.
Zach’s heart fell like a skydiver without a parachute when he saw Cassie’s mother standing near the fire, bouncing a baby in her arms. Once she caught sight of Zach, it didn’t take her long to fasten a sneer onto her face. At least she was predictable.
Another woman lumbered toward the fire with a load of firewood in her arms while two small children made circles around her like a Maypole. She was young, maybe a few years older than Cassie, with mousy brown hair and a slight limp when she walked.
Zach rushed to her side and took the surprisingly heavy load from her arms. Amish women were probably as sturdy as the men.
“Thank you,” she said, brushing off her hands and giving him a smile. The kindness in her eyes and good sense in her face overshadowed the thin, severe lines of her mouth. “You must be the doctor I’ve been hearing so much about.”
“What have you heard?”
Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “Only good things, to be sure. Norman says you have a very strong will.” She leaned closer to him and whispered, “That’s not exactly how Norman described you, but I drew my own conclusions.”
Zach cocked an eyebrow. “That’s very kind of you.”
She kept her voice low. “It doesn’t hurt Norman to be put in his place now and then. Keeps him humble.”
“Are you his sister?”
“His wife. And mind you, I love him to death.”
Zach laid the wood on the already tall pile. He never had learned if it was culturally acceptable to shake an Amish woman’s hand, but he offered it anyway. “Call me Zach.”
She had a firm handshake. “I’m Linda Coblenz. Nice to meet you. This is my daughter Priscilla and my son Jacob.” She managed to catch both of her squirmy children so that Zach could shake their hands.
Both children stared at Zach as if he were a frightening beast. To a child whose head barely reached the top of his kneecap, he must have looked very tall. He knelt down in the slushy snow and shook both their hands. “Hello,” he said. “How old are you?”
Their mother said something to them in Deitsch. Jacob squeezed his lips together as if no one would ever get a word out of him. Priscilla held up four fingers.
“They don’t speak English real good yet,” Linda said. “Priscilla is four and Jacob is three, and Mammi Esther is holding Paul. He is thirteen months.”
Zach turned and waved to Cassie’s mamm, flashing his friendliest smile, hoping maybe she’d come to like him if she saw enough of his teeth. She didn’t smile, but she flipped her wrist in his direction in a token wave. That was something, wasn’t it? Or maybe she was trying to flick him away like a pesky fly.
Norman didn’t look up from his whetstone. “It’s about time you got here. We were afraid you’d chicken out yet.”
“He’s a doctor,” Luke said, reaching across the fire to shake Zach’s hand. “He’s not afraid of blood.”
“He made a very skillful incision in Mammi’s foot,” Cassie said.
Norman examined the edge of his knife. “Elmer Lee would have come, but he had to fix his sister’s leaky roof.” He glanced at Zach. “Do you know how to fix a roof, Dr. Reynolds?”
How had Norman managed to tick him off in a few short seconds? “Not a clue.”
Cassie immediately went to work stoking the fire.
“Cassie, haven’t you even got time to sew patches over those knee holes?” her mamm asked.
Zach clenched his teeth so hard he thought they might crack. Did Cassie’s mother do anything but find fault with her?
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“They look old and ratty. A Plain dress with long stockings would have been warmer.”
Zach was amazed at Cassie’s forbearance. She smiled at her mother. “I’ll be warm enough.”
Cassie’s cousin Titus loped around the corner of the barn with a straw hat sitting crookedly on his head, a black apron already secured around his waist, and a toothpick perched between his lips. “Did I miss it?” he said.
He slowed his pace significantly when Norman looked up and frowned at him. “While you slept in, it took us an hour to fill the water barrel yet.”
Slept in. Only in Amish country would sleeping past six o’clock be considered sleeping in.
Titus’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he pressed his lips together. “I’m real sorry I’m late, Norman. I had to milk.”
Norman didn’t seem to be all that impressed at Titus’s excuse. “Did you bring your scraper?”
Titus’s lips stuttered into a doubtful smile as he pulled a strange tool from his apron pocket. It looked like a short-handled metal toilet plunger. “Jah, and Mamm’s wire brush.”
Zach didn’t want to broadcast his ignorance, but he did want to know what that tool was. He mentally smacked himself for not doing a little research on the Internet last night. “What is that?”
Kneeling next to the fire, Cassie smiled at him. Was she amused or embarrassed by his ignorance? “It’s a bell scraper. We use it to scrape the bristles off the hog once it’s scalded.”
When he saw the way Cassie’s skin glowed from the heat of the fire and the reflection of the flames dancing in her eyes, he found himself wishing that every day were hog-butchering day.
Titus set his bristle scraper on the makeshift table and immediately found little Jacob. Jacob lifted his hands and let Titus swing him around with his legs flying in a circle.
Norman wiped the blade of the knife on his trousers and peered at Zach. “We want you to kill it.”
Zach’s gaze darted from Cassie to Norman. “You want me to kill the pig?”
“Jah,” Norman said. “Have you got the stomach for it?”
“I wouldn’t want to mess up.” He frowned and studied Cassie’s expression. Elmer Lee would certainly know how to do it right. Cassie probably watched Elmer Lee butcher hogs all the time.
“Luke will stun it with a rifle, then you stick the knife into its throat and slice the main blood vessel. Then we bleed it.”
Zach gritted his teeth. Much as it galled him, he’d have to ask Norman for help, which was probably exactly what Norman counted on.
“Show me where to cut,” Zach said. “I don’t want to do it wrong.”
Norman smiled or, rather, gloated. Elmer Lee looked like better boyfriend material all the time. “Come on, Luke. Let’s show him.”
They walked together to the pen to take a look at the pig. A nice pink porker, probably two hundred and fifty pounds of meat. “You’ve got hearts on your apron,” Norman said.
“They’re nice, aren’t they?” Zach said. Did Norman really want to tease him about hearts right now?
Luke followed behind with a hunting rifle. That surprised Zach a little. He didn’t think the Amish used guns.
“Luke is going to shoot the pig in the head. That won’t kill it, but it will stun it enough so it won’t feel a thing. Then we’ll roll it onto its back, and I’ll show you where to stick the knife so you get it right the first time.”
Didn’t sound too bad, at least in theory.
Zach nodded. “Okay. I’m ready.”
Luke checked his rifle. “Ach. I don’t have a bullet.”
“Luke,” Norman growled, “you’re as empty-headed as Titus.”
Cassie threw two more logs into the fire. “Norman, quit picking on Titus. He’s a wonderful-gute boy to come and help us butcher the hog.”
Luke went inside the barn. Norman set the sharp knife on the table and checked the loop in one of the ropes. Zach couldn’t resist getting closer to Cassie, just for a minute while they waited for Luke. He squatted beside her next to the fire pit and warmed his hands. Her smile was encouraging.
“It’s not too late to back out,” she said. “I won’t think any less of your manhood.”
The thrill of being close to her warmed him to the bone. “I’ll stick it out so your brothers have no reason to make fun of me.”
“Except the pink shirt,” she said.
“Except the pink shirt.”
“And the hearts.”
Titus chased Jacob and Priscilla around the lumpy patch of ground that probably served as a vegetable garden in the summer. The children giggled with glee as Titus pretended to be a snarling bear. Without looking where she stepped, Priscilla darted away from Titus’s claws and tripped over a mound of dirt. Her momentum sent her sprawling onto the grate over the fire.
She screamed in agony as her bare hands met with the white-hot metal.
“Titus, you dumkoff,” Norman yelled.
Norman, Linda, Esther, and Cassie all converged to Priscilla at once. Zach bolted to his feet and reached her first. Hooking his elbow around her waist, he snatched her off the grate and pulled her away from the fire pit. He nearly dropped her when he saw the flames crawling up the hem of her dress.
Linda screamed.
“Scilla!” Norman shouted.
If Zach swatted at the flames, Priscilla’s legs would have been badly burned. He quickly set Priscilla on her feet and grabbed the burning hem in both his fists. He hissed as a searing pain almost compelled him to let go, but he kept his fists closed until he was sure he’d smothered the flames.
Linda and Cassie both knelt beside Priscilla, who screamed her lungs out. Linda studied one of Priscilla’s burned hands while Cassie spoke words of comfort, even though her voice was tinged with panic. Zach’s hands felt as if they were on fire, but he nudged Linda aside. “I need to look,” he said.
Linda nodded and pulled her hand away.
Four long, thin blisters were already beginning to form where Priscilla’s tender skin had made contact with the hot grate, but thank the Lord, they didn’t look to be worse than second-degree burns and the grate hadn’t touched her face.
Norman suddenly stood over Zach, taking stock of Priscilla’s hands. “Stick them in the snow.”
“No,” Zach said, more forcefully than he meant to. “It’s too cold for a burn.”
“Too cold for a burn?” Norman said. “It’s the best thing for a burn.”
Zach didn’t have time to argue. Without another word, he gathered the wailing Priscilla into his arms and ran for the house. They both needed cool running water. Cassie and Linda followed, but he soon outpaced them. It was hard to outrun a soccer player, even with a child in his arms.
“Norman, watch Jacob,” Linda yelled over her shoulder as she ran.
Priscilla wasn’t about to stop crying, not while her hands hurt so badly and a big Englisch stranger seemed to be kidnapping her. “We’re going to get some nice, cool water on these hands,” he said, in his most comforting doctor voice. She might not have been able to understand the words, but hopefully his tone would have a calming effect.
She eyed him as if he were Frankenstein’s monster and bawled even harder.
“It’s okay, Priscilla,” he heard Cassie call behind him.
Linda said something to her in Deitsch. It didn’t help.
Zach burst into Anna and Felty’s house as if he belonged there. Felty sat on the sofa under the light of a propane lantern reading a book.
Zach set Priscilla on the counter next to the sink. She tried to struggle away from him. “Miss Coblenz, can you help?”
Cassie came around to his side of the counter and placed a hand on Priscilla’s thigh. Linda reached across the counter and held Priscilla’s shoulders. They both started speaking Deitsch at the same time, no doubt trying to persuade Priscilla to sit still.
She’d cooperate i
“What happened?” Felty asked.
“She burned herself on the fire pit,” Linda said. “It is a blessed day that the doctor was so quick.”
Cassie’s smile glowed like a campfire on a frosty evening. “Thank you a million times, Doctor.”
Zach fixed his eyes on Priscilla’s hands. “I’m glad I was nearby.”
Felty closed his book. “I always say that no good can come out of the you-know-what.”
Priscilla’s crying soon subsided to a whimper as the water washed over her burns. Zach still held her hands in his, so he hadn’t gotten a good look at his own burns, but they felt better under the water. With any luck, he’d still be able to wield a scalpel. Or a stethoscope.
He turned to Cassie. “Will you check her legs for burns?”
Cassie lifted Priscilla’s dress to reveal a hole in Priscilla’s stocking where she had scraped her knee. “No burns,” Cassie said. “Just a little scrape.”
“I’ll get a Band-Aid,” Linda said. She marched down the hall to the bathroom.
“And some gauze pads,” Zach called.
“And some gauze,” Linda repeated.
Felty followed Linda down the hall. “I’ll go get your mammi up so she can be part of all the goings-on.”
In spite of the pain, Zach couldn’t help but smile at Cassie. The bandanna had fallen off her head somewhere between the fire pit and the house, leaving her curls free to frolic like so many golden sunbeams on her head. What he wouldn’t give to walk his fingers through those curls.
She eyed Priscilla with deep concern.
“Will you ask her if it’s feeling better?” he said.
She said the words to Priscilla in Deitsch. Priscilla nodded. She pulled her hands from Zach’s grasp and held them up for Cassie to see.