The Miting by Dee Yoder Page B

out where they were going to meet?
    Later that afternoon as Leah walked back from the mailbox, she spotted Martha on her bike. Her hair was covered with a work kerchief, but a few strands here and there pulled loose in the breeze and created a halo around her face with the sun behind her. Leah waved and smiled as her friend approached. When Martha didn’t smile back, she feared the worst.
    Martha brought the bike to a stop at the edge of the road where the driveway met the pavement. She leaned on the handlebars. Small sweat beads lined her face, and she tented her hands over her brows to shade her eyes from the bright sun. “He’s going to be banned for six weeks, Leah. Then he’ll be allowed to come back to church. Six lousy weeks—that’s all they’re going to do to him. And he looked at me like the cat that swallowed the canary.” She was breathing hard, and tears rimmed her eyes.
    “Not good, Martha. What do you think he’ll do once the ban is lifted?”
    “I don’t know, but I’m sure he thinks he got away with it. I hope he doesn’t start on my younger sisters. I just couldn’t handle that.”
    She lifted her gaze to meet Leah’s. She sniffed and wiped her angry tears. “But I can’t do anything else, and at least the bishop knows now what to look for. The bad thing is they acted like I was lying. It took me several minutes to convince them.” She sighed, her gaze resting on the surrounding fields. “They don’t like me, Leah. I’m too rebellious—not Amish enough anymore.”
    She shrugged, but her eyes revealed her pain.
    A buzzing sound interrupted their talk, and Martha reached into her apron pocket to flip the cell phone open, fully confirming what the church leaders suspected of her.
    “Hi, Abe. Yep, it’s over. I’m here at Leah’s. We’re talking about what the bishop decided. Uh-huh—he’s banned for six weeks from church. That’s all—yep. I plan to stay away as much as I can.” Martha glanced at Leah, then looked away. “She said she’d meet us at the general store in Raysburg, okay?” She turned back and whispered, “Six thirty?”
    Leah hesitated, then nodded. The decision was made. She tried not to think about lying to Maem and Daet. The memory of Daet ’s joke and Maem ’s laughter from Sunday flashed through her mind, but she shoved the happy moment away. She’d never go through with it if she thought of things like that.
    Martha flipped her phone shut and shoved it back in her apron pocket. “I gotta get going. Maem ’s already hopping mad at me about Abner. She told me I had no business airing the family’s dirty laundry. She said all girls have to put up with a little bit of uncomfortable attention at one point in their lives—better it comes from a brother than a stranger. Can you believe it?” Martha’s face showed her disgust.
    “How awful! Why would she say that?”
    “I think she had it happen to her, too. She just doesn’t know any better, I guess.” Martha clutched the handlebars of the bike tighter. “It doesn’t make sense. How can people be Christians and do stuff like this? Y’know?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Martha got back on her bike. “I’d better get going. Anyway, I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
    “Yeah. Six thirty. I’ll be there.”
    She pushed off toward home but turned back once and waved. Leah waved to her and shuffled wearily back to the house. She was nervous and hoped anxiety didn’t show on her face. As she entered the kitchen, Ada hurried over and repeated, “I’m going with you, Leah.”
    “Ada—”
    “No, I mean it. I don’t want you to get into trouble by yourself. If it happens, then it happens.”
    “It will be worse for me if you’re along.”
    “I’ll tell Maem and Daet it was my idea.”
    “For the last time, Ada, no! I mean it. Leave me alone, please. This isn’t easy, and I’m not doing this just to disobey like you seem to want to do.” She gave her sister an annoyed frown and walked away. Ada