Read Online The Letters by Suzanne Woods Fisher - Free Book Online
Authors: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Tags: Fiction, General, Christian, Amish & Mennonite, FIC053000, Amish—Fiction, Mennonites—Fiction, Bed and breakfast accommodations—Fiction, FIC042040FIC027020
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arithmetic workbook. Sammy was sensitive about his rather sizable ears. He took it upon himself to correct Luke with a sound punch as soon as they were out to recess and away from the teacher’s eyes. Mim said that the boys were rolling together across the playground, each trying to get in a good punch.
Teacher M.K. had little patience with such boy nonsense. They were kept after school and sent home with a note, explaining their crimes. Rose knew she was a fine teacher and needed to keep discipline in the schoolhouse, but she had to smile when she pictured them tumbling around the playground. Rascals to the end.
As she finished folding the last sheet, Rose felt her heart set to right. She was ready to face the evening. Thank you, Lord, for bringing a little sunshine into a winter day.
5
L ately, Miriam Schrock had set her mind to finding solutions. A few nights ago, she had gone down to the kitchen, late at night, and had seen her mother at the kitchen table, answering letters from investors. She had sneaked a peek at the letters one time and found a similar theme in all of them: “Greetings in the Name of Jesus! I had $2,452.95 (or $3,497.34 or $1,496.75) . . .”—mostly amounts under $5,000. It was impressive to Mim that each letter-writer knew the figure down to the penny—“in Schrock Investments with Dean Schrock and I would like you to know I need that money very badly.” The writer would describe his or her current ailment or financial need and conclude with: “I hope and pray you can send me my money back. Thank you kindly.”
That night, Mim could see the anxiety in her mother’s face as she tucked a $10 or $20 bill in the letters. She knew what her mother was doing. Rose Schrock would pay back every cent, no matter how long it would take her. She was advised by the SEC man to not do anything until the claims had been settled. But her mother didn’t pay any attention to the advice of that SEC man. So Mim insisted that her mother keep trackof what she was paying people and created a color-coded accounting book for her. It included pages for income from the new inn, pages for outgo, pages to pay bills, and pages to keep track of payments to former investors.
Her mother was pleased and said Mim was a first-rate problem solver. That made Mim feel very happy, because she knew her mother was facing a mountain of problems. Frankly, Mim didn’t know how some of the problems created by her father’s investment company would ever get solved, but it made her feel good to help where she could.
Bethany’s suggestion was to ask the letter writers to forgive the loans. Her mother refused. She said it was a matter of honor. Those people offered the money in good faith, and in good faith, her mother would return it to them.
“Dad was the one who lost those people’s money, not you,” Bethany would respond. Her sister was angry with their father, for many reasons, mostly because of his puzzling and untimely passing. “Are you going to spend the rest of your life paying for his sins?”
Her mother always had the same answer to give. “Bethany, your father didn’t set out to hurt people. He got in way over his head and didn’t know how to find a way out of it. He got desperate. That’s why he made the decisions he made.”
That answer didn’t make any sense to Mim. Instead, she refused to think about her father. At least not about his passing. Everything about his death was complicated and illogical, and Mim liked logical and uncomplicated problems.
Besides, she had another pressing problem on her mind.
Mim had fallen in love. She did not fall in love quickly. She had been in love only 1.5 times. One time with an Irish boy named Patrick who had carrot red hair and worked atthe library near Mim’s old house. She thought that any boy who would work at a library must be a wonderful boy, even though Patrick had never noticed her. The .5 time was when she first laid eyes on Jimmy Fisher, whom Bethany
Teacher M.K. had little patience with such boy nonsense. They were kept after school and sent home with a note, explaining their crimes. Rose knew she was a fine teacher and needed to keep discipline in the schoolhouse, but she had to smile when she pictured them tumbling around the playground. Rascals to the end.
As she finished folding the last sheet, Rose felt her heart set to right. She was ready to face the evening. Thank you, Lord, for bringing a little sunshine into a winter day.
5
L ately, Miriam Schrock had set her mind to finding solutions. A few nights ago, she had gone down to the kitchen, late at night, and had seen her mother at the kitchen table, answering letters from investors. She had sneaked a peek at the letters one time and found a similar theme in all of them: “Greetings in the Name of Jesus! I had $2,452.95 (or $3,497.34 or $1,496.75) . . .”—mostly amounts under $5,000. It was impressive to Mim that each letter-writer knew the figure down to the penny—“in Schrock Investments with Dean Schrock and I would like you to know I need that money very badly.” The writer would describe his or her current ailment or financial need and conclude with: “I hope and pray you can send me my money back. Thank you kindly.”
That night, Mim could see the anxiety in her mother’s face as she tucked a $10 or $20 bill in the letters. She knew what her mother was doing. Rose Schrock would pay back every cent, no matter how long it would take her. She was advised by the SEC man to not do anything until the claims had been settled. But her mother didn’t pay any attention to the advice of that SEC man. So Mim insisted that her mother keep trackof what she was paying people and created a color-coded accounting book for her. It included pages for income from the new inn, pages for outgo, pages to pay bills, and pages to keep track of payments to former investors.
Her mother was pleased and said Mim was a first-rate problem solver. That made Mim feel very happy, because she knew her mother was facing a mountain of problems. Frankly, Mim didn’t know how some of the problems created by her father’s investment company would ever get solved, but it made her feel good to help where she could.
Bethany’s suggestion was to ask the letter writers to forgive the loans. Her mother refused. She said it was a matter of honor. Those people offered the money in good faith, and in good faith, her mother would return it to them.
“Dad was the one who lost those people’s money, not you,” Bethany would respond. Her sister was angry with their father, for many reasons, mostly because of his puzzling and untimely passing. “Are you going to spend the rest of your life paying for his sins?”
Her mother always had the same answer to give. “Bethany, your father didn’t set out to hurt people. He got in way over his head and didn’t know how to find a way out of it. He got desperate. That’s why he made the decisions he made.”
That answer didn’t make any sense to Mim. Instead, she refused to think about her father. At least not about his passing. Everything about his death was complicated and illogical, and Mim liked logical and uncomplicated problems.
Besides, she had another pressing problem on her mind.
Mim had fallen in love. She did not fall in love quickly. She had been in love only 1.5 times. One time with an Irish boy named Patrick who had carrot red hair and worked atthe library near Mim’s old house. She thought that any boy who would work at a library must be a wonderful boy, even though Patrick had never noticed her. The .5 time was when she first laid eyes on Jimmy Fisher, whom Bethany
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