Clouds without Rain by P. L. Gaus

Author:P. L. Gaus
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-10-20T22:00:00+00:00

18

Friday, August 11

9:20 P.M.

AS TROYER and Branden turned into the gravel drive at the Yoder farm, a floodlight out near the road illuminated stubby brown stalks of corn in the dry field that skirted the lane. Beside the lane, there was a small red building about the size of a one-seater outhouse, and a telephone line came into it from a pole out on the road. The temperature lingered near ninety degrees, despite the fact that the sun had slipped below the horizon. The last soft light of evening suffused a cloudless summer sky.

At the house, they stepped out of Cal’s air-conditioned truck, and the dry heat assailed them. On the front steps, there was a teenager in Dutch costume, sitting alone with his ear bent low to a battery-powered radio. Cal spoke to him in dialect, and the boy vigorously shook his head, replied briefly, popped up, and darted around the corner of the house.

As they mounted the steps, Branden asked, “What was that all about?”

Cal said, “I asked him if he liked rock and roll.”

“And?”

“He said he was just listening for the weather,” Cal said, and laughed softly.

A young man with a wild look in his eyes burst through the screen door and grabbed Troyer’s hand, pumping it rapidly up and down, shouting “Vie Gehts! Vie Gehts! Vie Gehts!” He switched to Branden, grabbed his hand and forearm, and pumped it too. “Vie Gehts! Vie Gehts! Vie Gehts!”

Hannah Yoder came out in a rush and took hold of the man, wrapping her arms around him, pinning his hands to his side. “OK, Benny. That’s enough, already.” She seemed to bring him under control with her voice, and by rubbing softly on the top of his head, and then her husband came out and took Benny inside.

Hannah shrugged sadly and let them in. “Benny has a screw loose,” she said, and led them into a large kitchen. “We have refreshments.”

A single kerosene lamp sat glowing on a kitchen counter. In the center of the room stood a square cherry table with chairs for twelve. On the table, there was a cherry lazy Susan, almost half as wide as the table itself. The polished lazy Susan held a pitcher of water, two glasses, a bowl of chipped ice, slices of a fruit-nut bread, and apple butter in a canning jar. Two places were set with plain china, and the Senior Yoder curtly invited Branden and Troyer to “take seats, and help yourself.” Then he walked into an adjoining pantry and tuned to a weather station on a little radio there.

Hannah Yoder, obviously embarrassed, followed her husband into the pantry, and the two began talking.

Cal shrugged, took a slice of the bread and laid on a thick covering of apple butter from the lazy Susan. Realizing that the conversation in the pantry concerned them, he whispered a translation for Branden.

“Dadscht du’s laube, Crist?”

Will you permit it, Crist?

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.