Rum Spring Read Online Free PDF Page A

dream of having a husband and children, or did she want to see what the world had to offer?
    They had not been able to have an intimate conversation since that day in the cornfield two years before. Most of Dylan’s time was taken up by school and her job at the theater. In addition to her chores on the family farm, Rebecca had a job of her own.
    She worked at the Sunrise Bakery, which was across the street from the restaurant where Marian Schlabach worked as a waitress. She and Marian met on the road each morning and made the three-mile walk together. In the afternoon, they walked home or hitched a ride with friends if one of their buggies happened to be passing by. The journey wasn’t so bad in the spring and summer when the weather was nice, Dylan thought. Come winter, though, Rebecca and Marian would turn into human Popsicles before they reached their destinations.
    Marian had been Sarah’s best friend for years, but Dylan couldn’t remember the last time she had seen them together. Was it before Sarah’s marriage or after? Either way, Dylan never seemed to see Rebecca any longer unless Marian was around.
    Time alone had become a precious commodity. That was about to change. Now they were going to have all the time in the world.
    Dylan turned onto a dirt road. Half a dozen cars and trucks were parked haphazardly along the embankment. Dylan pulled in next to a gray buggy and checked the address to make sure she had come to the right place. Rebecca had asked Dylan to meet her at Marian Schlabach’s house, but the house Dylan was parked in front of was dark except for a single gas lamp that flickered in an upstairs window. Downstairs, a side door was slightly ajar, signaling the crowd of boys milling in the yard that there were girls inside who might be persuaded to go out courting.
    Most of the boys were Amish, but Dylan couldn’t tell them from the English friends they had brought with them. Their bowl haircuts had been shaved off or allowed to grow long and they had tossed their dark suits, black socks, and black shoes aside in favor of T-shirts, jeans, and tennis shoes.
    Dylan watched as one of the boys aimed a flashlight beam at the upstairs window. A few minutes later, Marian appeared in the open doorway and invited some of the boys inside. Dylan didn’t know if she was supposed to join them so she stayed put and waited for Rebecca to show up. She didn’t have to wait long. Less than five minutes passed before the boys came back downstairs, followed by about twenty girls dressed in a traditional manner.
    Dylan looked through the sea of faces until she spotted Rebecca’s. Resisting the urge to honk the horn, she flashed her headlights and climbed out of her car.
    Rebecca waved and came running over. “Did you bring them?” she asked, giving Dylan a quick hug.
    Dylan nodded. “Right here.” She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and her favorite blouse. She and Rebecca were roughly the same size. The jeans might be a little big, but with the belt cinched a little tighter, they should be fine.
    Rebecca looked at the clothes in her hands. “All my dresses are solid colors. This is the first time I’ll wear something that bears a pattern.”
    “I’m sure the blouse will look great on you. Even better than it does on me.”
    “I doubt that, but thank you for letting me borrow it.”
    Rebecca gave Dylan another hug, then pulled off her bonnet and loosened her flowing hair. Dylan had to restrain herself from running her hands through it.
    In the other cars, girls were smoking, drinking, and cranking up the radios. Country, rock, and rap artists fought for dominance of the airwaves. Under normal circumstances, music of any kind was forbidden for fear it would stir up the listeners’ emotions. The members of the caravan that snaked up the road aimed to put the theory to the test.
    “Where are they going?” Dylan kept her eyes averted as Rebecca changed clothes in the backseat. She