Read Online Going Home by Wanda E. Brunstetter - Free Book Online

was quick to say. “And just because his boss chooses to listen to country music, that doesn’t make him a bad person.”
    Noah smiled. He couldn’t have said it better himself.
    Pop set his cup down so hard on the table that some of the coffee spilled out. “Jah, well, just don’t let anything Hank says or does that’s worldly rub off on you, Noah.”
    “Like I would,” Noah mumbled as he turned away. Why was it that Pop always looked for the negative in things—especially when it came to Noah?

Chapter 7
    I n the days that followed, Faith and Melinda settled into a routine. Faith got up early every morning to help with breakfast, milk the cows, and feed the chickens. She labored from sunup to sunset, taking time out only for meals and to help Melinda learn the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch language of the Amish.
    The child had also been assigned several chores to do, and even though she seemed all right with the idea of wearing her aunt Susie’s Plain clothes, she wasn’t used to having so many responsibilities placed on her shoulders. Nor was she accustomed to being taught a foreign language. Amish children grew up speaking their native tongue and learning English when they entered school in the first grade. Since Melinda would be starting school in the fall and already spoke English, her task was to learn Pennsylvania Dutch.
    “I don’t like it here, Mama,” Melinda said one morning asshe handed Faith a freshly laundered towel to be hung on the clothesline next to the house. “When can we go home?”
    Faith flinched. Home? They really had no home. Hotels and motels in whatever city Faith was performing in—those were the only homes Melinda had ever known.
    She clipped the towel in place and patted the top of her daughter’s head. “This is your home now, sweet girl.”
    “You mean, our home, don’t you, Mama?”
    “Oh, yes,” Faith said quickly. “And soon you’ll get used to the way things are.”
    Melinda lifted her chin and frowned. “Grandma Stutzman makes me work hard.”
    Faith wasn’t used to manual labor either, and every muscle in her body ached. In the past few weeks, she had pulled so many weeds from the garden that her fingers felt stiff and unyielding. Heaps of clothes had been washed and ironed, and she’d helped with the cooking and cleaning and done numerous other chores she was no longer accustomed to doing. It wasn’t the hard work that bothered Faith, though. It was the suffocating feeling that she couldn’t be herself. She desperately wanted to sit on the porch in the evenings and yodel to her heart’s content. She would enjoy telling some jokes or humorous stories and have her family appreciate them, but that was impossible.
    “Mama, are you thinking about what I said?”
    Melinda’s question caught Faith’s attention. “Everyone in the family has a job to do,” she said patiently. “In time you’ll get used to it.”
    Faith could see by the child’s scowl that she wasn’t happy.
    “How would you like to eat lunch down by the pond today?” Faith asked, hoping to cheer up Melinda.
    Melinda’s blue eyes seemed to light right up. “Can Aunt Susie come, too?”
    “If Grandma says it’s all right.”
    “Can we bring our dolls along?”
    “If you want to.”
    As Melinda handed Faith a pair of Grandpa Stutzman’s trousers to hang on the line, she asked, “How come only the men wear pants here?”
    “Grandpa and Grandma belong to the Amish faith, and the church believes only men and boys should wear pants.”
    Melinda’s forehead wrinkled. “Does that mean I ain’t never gonna wear jeans again?”
    “I’m not ever,” Faith corrected.
    Melinda nodded soberly. “You and me ain’t never gonna wear jeans.”
    Faith bit back a chuckle as she knelt on the grass and touched the hem of Melinda’s plain blue cotton dress. “I thought you liked wearing dresses.”
    “I do, but I also like to wear jeans.”
    “You’ll get used to wearing only dresses.”