Tobias of the Amish: a True Story of Tangled Strands in Faith, Family, and Community by Ervin R. Stutzman

Author:Ervin R. Stutzman [Stutzman, Ervin R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8361-9170-7
Publisher: MennoMedia
Published: 2001-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

12

Setbacks

Ervin stroked the edge of the workbench as he told Tobe the story, “Last night Clarence went to the singing for the first time. Mom told him to come home right afterward. Well, you know how dumb those young simmies can be sometimes.”

Tobe had been busy hammering nails into a truck bed. Straightening up to give Ervin his full attention when he heard the word simmies, Tobe remembered what it was like to be young and foolish.

“The singing was at Felt Headings. After the singing, Amos Nisly had a date with Mary Yoder. It was a double date with Mary’s sister Bertha and Elvin Helmuth. Your Emma’s brother Raymond has his eyes on Mary so he was jealous and decided to make trouble. He convinced Clarence and a couple other boys to go with him. The couples were at Dan Yoder’s place. The boys sneaked into the house and shone their flashlights around the kitchen. The two couples had gone upstairs, but Raymond discovered a half-filled container of ice cream in the freezer. After finding spoons in the cupboard, the guys ate the ice cream right out of the container.”

Tobe shifted impatiently on his feet. “So what happened to Clarence?”

“They decided to go upstairs to find the two couples. They crawled out a window onto the roof and around to the outside of the bedroom window where they thought Amos and Mary and Bertha and Elvin were hiding. Raymond’s buddy Melvin lost his grip on the eaves and fell down on the roof. I guess the frost made it slippery. He grabbed for a hold and got Clarence’s legs. Then Clarence lost his grip. They both rolled off the edge. Melvin knew where the steps were so he kinda rolled to one side and dropped beside them. Clarence fell right on the steps. His ankle started to swell almost right away.”

Tobe whistled. “Oh, es iss hesslich! Whew!”

Ervin continued, “Mary’s dad heard the noise and came out to investigate. They decided Clarence should see a doctor, so they drove a buggy over to the Headings place where Fred Nisly was having a date with Mary Headings. They knew he had access to a truck. Fred took Clarence home to pick up Dad, and they went to the hospital. The doctor said the ankle was broken, but it was so swollen they couldn’t set it last night. They hope to do it today.”

“That’s what happens to simmies,” Tobe said with exasperation. “They’re just lucky Dan didn’t get mad at them. It reminds me of what happened out at Benedict Yoder’s place.” Ervin shook his head, “I didn’t hear about it. What happened there?”

“Well, you know that Benedict Yoders have a couple good-looking daughters, and they’ve been having lots of dates. Benedict was tired of always having these young guys show up to make trouble so he started getting out of bed and asking them to leave. Finally, he got so tired of the carousing that he decided to do something about it.

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