A Simple Hope: A Lancaster Crossroads Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

a good Amish home. So … next time the Englishers visit will be the last time. It’s wrong to have so many dealings with outsiders.”
    “But the orchard has dealings with outsiders. We work with the Englisher stores. We sell our fruit to thousands of Englishers.”
    “That’s different. Englishers can enjoy Gott’s bounty as well asPlain folk. But here’s the difference: Selling fruit doesn’t bring the outsiders into our homes. Into our lives.” Jimmy’s brow was stern as he rose and moved toward the door. “Samuel’s here.”
    Stewing in misery, James watched his father greet the head of their congregation and make small talk about the weather. James didn’t know what his dat had told the bishop, but he sensed that they were coming at him with a shared purpose. This was not going to be a good talk.
    Magnified by his glasses, Samuel’s eyes were round as an owl’s. He listened as James answered his questions about the orchard, telling about the spraying and fertilizing that had to be done in April.
    When the bishop got down to business, it soon became clear that he was here to convince James to give up all hope.
    “It’s been a few months since the accident, and from what Jimmy tells me, you seem to be in a rut.” Samuel’s tone was gentle, but his words cut like a hunting knife. “It’s time to accept the truth. You will probably not walk again.”
    James felt his nostrils flare in defiance, but he held his tongue. No one argued with the bishop, and a young baptized member like himself did not dare say that their community leader was wrong … that Englishers had predicted otherwise.
    “It’s a tough thing to say.” Dat frowned. “But Gott tells us how it’s going to be, and we must accept His ways. Contentment is not getting what we want, but being satisfied with what we have.”
    “Gott’s will is hard to understand and accept, but we must. ‘Thy will be done.’ That’s the Lord’s Prayer, ya?”
    James felt his heart harden as the bishop’s words crackled in the room.
    “Now, how does that apply to you?” Samuel went on. “For whatever reason—we can never understand why—Gott’s plan for you has put you in that wheelchair. It’s time to stop mooning over what used to be and accept what is. It’s not the end of the world tobe in a wheelchair. Many of Gott’s blessings can still be enjoyed. A sunny spring day. A funny joke. A good meal.”
    Dat sat there beside the bishop, nodding in agreement. “And there’s another blessing to be thankful for. The doctors keep saying James is lucky to be alive,” Jimmy added.
    Alive, but trapped in a chair
. But James could not give voice to his feelings; he had to remain respectful. The bishop had the final word on all things in their community.
    “ ‘Thy will be done,’ ” Samuel repeated, his gray eyes magnified by the lenses of this glasses as he studied James. “This part of the Lord’s Prayer,
this
must have a new meaning for you. You must take it to heart.”
    “If I knew that it was Gott’s will for me to be paralyzed, I would accept it,” James said, struggling to keep his voice even. He patted his thighs. “But Gott left me some feeling in these legs, and I’m going to do my best to see if I can make them work again.”
    Samuel’s eyes were steely as he stroked his graying beard. “Determination can be a very good thing, but sometimes Gott puts us on a bumpy road to shake our hand loose.”
    For a brief moment, James could appreciate what the bishop was saying. He was trying to save James the grief of disappointment. He was trying to help James settle in and accept that his was a lifetime injury.
    But James would not, could not settle for that.
    “James is determined, all right,” Dat said. “And a hard worker, too. I told him he wasn’t needed in the orchards, but he wouldn’t sit back. He won’t linger in the house when there’s work to be done outside.”
    “Maybe some wouldn’t mind the rest, but