Sandra Hill - Jinx 02 by Pearl Jinx

Author:Pearl Jinx [Jinx, Pearl]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The homecoming from hell . . .

“Take this church spread wit ya, Caleb. It alveese was yer favorite.”

Caleb stared at the plastic container his mother shoved in his hands as he prepared to leave. “Ah, Mam!” It was sad beyond belief that she didn’t know the Caleb he was now. He would no more eat that concoction of syrup, marshmallow, and peanut butter on a piece of no-fiber white bread than he would shoot up with sugar.

Still, he took the container from her and leaned down to give her a kiss on the top of her head. “Denki, ”

he said.

“You’re welcome.”

Everyone had left within the past fifteen minutes. All the family had gone in their buggies, including Dat, Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

who was off to Bishop Lapp’s home; Jonas, with Lizzie, in his truck back to his business; and the Jinx folk back to the B & B. He was about to follow.

Claire had wanted to stay behind, but he wouldn’t let her. Clearly fuming over his shunning, she’d probably be giving Dat and Mam lectures on Indian family practices and how the Amish could learn a thing or two from them. Or else she’d have a slug fest with his father, despite her claims of being a pacifist.

Not one of his brothers and sisters, his nieces and nephews, had dared break the Bann today. It was ridiculous the way they’d had to communicate with hand signals for “Pass the bread” and “More lemonade?” and then “Your turn” at the outhouse. Aaron, his second oldest brother at forty-one, who’d always been a pole-up-the-ass jerk even when he was younger, probably broke a few Ordnung rules when he’d mouthed at Caleb, “Traitor,” but that was okay, because Caleb had mouthed back at him,

“Asshole!,” causing Aaron’s eyes to about pop out of his sanctimonious head.

“What will happen next, Mam? Is this a one-day reprieve, and will we go back to the way things were?

Will Jonas and I still be shunned?”

His mother took his hand and walked toward the Jeep with him. Her silence was answer enough.

Son of a bitch! Son of a fucking bitch! he railed inside, but he remained silent, too, just watching this older woman who was his mother, yet was not.

Had she shrunk? He didn’t recall her being this short or frail-looking. She was sixty-five, but sixty-five wasn’t that old today in the regular world. Yeah, he’d expected the gray hair, which had been mostly blonde the last time he’d seen her, but her back was slightly bowed from all those years of bending . . .

over washtubs, gardens, quilting, and endless canning. And Dat . . . oh, how he had aged! Pure white hair and beard down to his belly, spindly legs and arms, eyes a bit rheumy, possibly with cataracts from the way he squinted sometimes. They’d all changed so much.

“You look so different now, son,” she said, as if reading his mind.

“Better or worse?”

“Different.”

That was a nonanswer if he ever heard one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.