Read Online Little Amish Matchmaker by Linda Byler - Free Book Online Page A

Setter of her own named Shelby. That was sort of cool. Shelby. It had a nice ring to it.
    He also liked the way her freckles were spattered across her nose, sort of like God put sprinkles on the icing of a cupcake. If he had to pick any girl as his wife, it would have to be Ruthie. He didn’t know when he’d heard her sniff last. Or blow her nose.
    The next day at first recess, Isaac approached her, after talking to Calvin and Michael.
    “How would you like to be helped with your problem of stammering?” he blurted.
    “You mean stuttering?” Ruthie asked. Her eyes were watchful.
    “Yeah.”
    “Who would help me? Who would even know how?”
    “Me. Me and Calvin and Michael and Hannah and Dora.”
    “You would?” She sounded surprised and a little pleased.
    “Sure.”
    “When?”
    “Every lunch hour, ’til the program.”
    “Give up sledding?” She asked, considering.
    “Mm-hm.”
    “Ar-aright.” Ruthie’s eyes shone.
    So that was how it started. They called themselves the SOS group. Support Our Stutterer.
    Ruthie giggled, twisting her apron. Isaac began by having her read long sentences from a book, anything, as long as she spoke. She could speak perfectly as long as she read from a book, but when she was placed on the stage in front of the blackboard, she could not face anyone and speak a word without stumbling horribly.
    When she felt the constriction in her throat begin, they asked her to stop. At first, she was close to tears. She grabbed a corner of her black apron and twisted it, then released it, clearing her throat, blinking her eyes, doing anything she possibly could to avoid eye contact or holding still.
    Isaac took charge. Barking instructions, pacing, his voice carrying well, he asked her to look at him. If she wasn’t comfortable looking at him, she could look at Hannah.
    She shook her head.
    So Isaac met her eyes, told her to watch his face, and repeat this sentence.
    She got nowhere, her mouth twisting, her throat swelling with the effort of making just one coherent sound. After that, they stopped.
    “Okay, Ruthie, let’s start by saying sentences while you are sitting with us.”
    Patiently, they started over. If she read from a book, she was fine, but when she faced anyone, the words stayed in her throat as if someone had closed a gate.
    It was time for the bell.
    Isaac’s shoulders slumped. Michael walked wearily to his desk, Calvin rolled his eyes in Isaac’s direction and even Hannah lost a bit of her swagger. They could not accomplish this in nine days. It was hopeless.
    Isaac hung around the schoolyard until the last pupils had pushed their way home on their scooters, then returned and entered the classroom.
    Catherine was surprised to see him.
    “Yes, Isaac?”
    “Sorry to bother you, but is there nothing we can do for Ruthie? Do you know of anyone who has overcome this problem? Any books we can read?”
    Catherine said nothing, just looked at Isaac without seeing him. Finally she sighed.
    “Isaac, can I trust you to keep this bit of information to yourself?”
    He nodded.
    “Ruthie has a sad life now that her mother is … well, she’s in the hospital for … help. She has problems with her thinking. They just found out a few weeks ago that she may have either a tumor on her brain or Alzheimer’s.”
    “What’s that?”
    “It’s when your brain is diseased, in a way, and you no longer function normally.”
    “Oh.”
    “I think Ruthie is very afraid. She’s trying to go about her life as if nothing is wrong, hoping none of her classmates find out. She carries a deep sense of shame. Her mother has always been … an excitable woman, to put it mildly, and those children have suffered seriously, in ways you can’t imagine. So … perhaps, Isaac, you could reach her? Maybe if she found out ….”
    Catherine’s voice drifted off.
    “You mean if I told her that I know about her mother and tell her it’s all right, stuff like that happens to people all the time,