Seeds of Deception: A Kate Burkholder Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

something to drink? Mamm made iced tea.”
    Anxious to talk, Katie shook her head. “I have to talk to you.”
    “Let’s sit down at least.” Mattie motioned toward the steps and the two girls sat side by side. “Is everything okay?”
    “I don’t know.” Katie took off the sweater and handed it to her friend. “You tell me.”
    “You rode your brother’s bike all the way over here at the speed of light to return this old sweater?” Mattie gave an incredulous laugh. “What a good friend you are!”
    “You left something in the pocket,” Katie told her.
    Looking puzzled, Mattie checked the pockets and pulled out the lighter. “This must be Billy Marquart’s,” she said, her brows knitting as she turned it over in her hands. “I wonder how it got there.”
    Katie watched her carefully, feeling guilty, because for the first time since she’d known Mattie, she was looking for a lie. “Billy doesn’t seem like the type of guy to carry around a pink lighter.”
    Mattie’s gaze snapped to hers, her eyes widening. “You don’t believe me? You think it’s mine ?”
    “I don’t think anything.” Katie’s voice was strong, belying the nerves snapping beneath her skin, but her heart was beating wildly in her chest.
    “It’s not mine,” Mattie said. “I had no idea it was there. The only explanation I can think of is that Billy put it there after he set the fire so he could blame it on me.”
    “Have the police or fire marshal people talked to you yet?”
    “No.”
    “You have to tell them about the lighter,” Katie said.
    “The police already know Billy did it,” Mattie said petulantly. “They probably don’t even want to talk to me.”
    “Jacob told me they did.” Katie sent a pointed look at the lighter. “You need to tell them about the lighter.”
    “If I do, they’ll think I did it.”
    “The police aren’t stupid,” Katie told her. “You have nothing to fear from them.”
    Mattie looked away. “It’s not the police I’m worried about.”
    The girls went silent and for the first time, Katie thought she understood. Still, she asked, “Did something else happen in the barn?”
    Mattie was silent so long that Katie didn’t think she was going to answer. Finally, she looked down at the ground and whispered, “I let him kiss me. I just … wanted to know what it was like, and he got all pushy and stuck his tongue in my mouth and…” She paused, out of breath and her face screwed up. “I don’t want anyone to know!”
    “Oh, Mattie.”
    “Katie, it’s not the police I’m afraid of, it’s … everything else. You know how the Amish are. You know they’ll blame me.”
    Katie wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come, because in some small corner of her mind she acknowledged that her friend was right. Some of the Amish would blame Mattie. For being in a place she shouldn’t have been. For talking to someone she shouldn’t have been talking to. For letting an older Englischer boy kiss her. Some of the Amish would gossip about her and whisper behind her back. But Katie also knew that those same Amish would be the first to forgive her.
    As if reading her thoughts, Mattie said, “Billy set that fire, not me. But I’ll be the one everyone will blame. I’ll be the one everyone will condemn. I’ll be the one they talk about because they have nothing else to say. I can hear their smug whispers already. Did you hear what that wild Erb girl did with that Englischer boy? ”
    It wasn’t easy to admit, but Katie knew she was right. Oftentimes the truth was a far cry from fair. The Amish shared the same human flaws as their English counterparts. They made the same mistakes. But the Amish, it seemed, were invariably held to a higher standard.
    Mattie got to her feet. “I don’t want anyone to know I was in that barn with Billy. If they find out I let him kiss me … I’ll never hear the end of it. My parents will know. The bishop .” Her eyes filled with tears. “If