The Lopsided Christmas Cake (11 page)

“I’m glad I could help,” the older of the two men said, still trying to catch his breath.

The man with red hair gave a nod. “He gave us quite a chase.”

Thelma couldn’t help but notice how the man’s freckles stood out against his rosy cheeks. Despite the fact that his ears stuck out a bit, she thought he was rather good looking. Not in a dashing sort of way, like the blond-haired man she’d bumped heads with at Yoder’s Hardware last week, but in a boyish sort of way she found appealing. She knew he wasn’t married because he was clean shaven.
Stop thinking such crazy thoughts,
Thelma reprimanded herself.
My focus should be on all that Elma and I need to get done before Mom and Dad arrive, not thinking about men I don’t even know.

“Would one of you mind holding my horse awhile longer, so I can get the paint and brush put in the buggy?” Thelma asked the men.

“I’d be happy to do that,” the bearded man spoke up.

After giving the horse’s nose a gentle pat, the younger man with red hair stepped away from Rusty. “I’m glad everything’s under control, so I’ll be on my way.” He gave Thelma a quick nod and hurried off down the street.

Thelma put her purchases on the floor of the passenger’s side then stepped into the driver’s seat. Gathering up the reins, she waved at the bearded Amish man and headed down the street in the direction of the building where her grandparents had rented a freezer. “Okay, Rusty, you’ve had your fun for the day. Now you’d better be good.”

Fortunately, Rusty behaved himself, and in no time Thelma was guiding the horse up to the hitching rail. She made sure he was securely tied and hurried inside the building. After paying for this month’s rent, she removed a few packages of meat from the freezer and placed them in a cooler in the back of her buggy. The meat would come in handy when their parents were here next week. Thelma and Elma would be able to make a variety of dishes with the ground beef. She’d also brought a roast, some stew meat, a couple of steaks, and some breakfast sausage.
If we need any more meat while Mom and Dad are here, at least it’s not far to go to get more.

From there, Thelma headed to the clinic, where she found Mary sitting in the waiting room. “How’s Richard?” Thelma asked, taking a seat beside Mary.

“His arm is broken,” Mary replied. “The doctor is putting the cast on now. I came out here to call my driver for a ride home.”

“Have you already done that? If not, I could take you.”

Mary smiled. “I appreciate the offer, but Carolyn is already on the way.”

“Oh, okay.” Thelma glanced at the clock on the far wall. As much as she would like to stay until Richard came out, she’d been gone over two hours and knew she really should get home. “I’ll try to stop by your place sometime tomorrow to see how Richard is doing,” she told Mary.

Mary nodded. “That’d be nice. I’m sure he’d like that.”

“See you tomorrow then.” Thelma gave Mary’s arm a gentle squeeze and headed out the door.

By the time Thelma guided Rusty off the road and onto their driveway, she was more than ready to get out. She’d struggled to keep him under control the whole way home. She wondered how long it would be before he settled down and became easier to deal with. Pearl, their horse back home, had never been this testy. From the day she and Elma had first gotten the gentle mare, she’d always been easy to handle.

Remembering the phone calls she wanted to make, Thelma stopped the horse outside the phone shack and secured him to a post. She stepped into the small building and dialed the first number. After she’d made both calls, she untied the horse and hopped back in the buggy. As she directed Rusty up the driveway toward the barn, Thelma noticed three buggies parked outside the store.
Oh, great. I wonder how many customers there are and how long they’ve been here. I’ll bet Elma is upset with me for being gone so long and leaving her here to run things by herself.

Thelma jumped out of the buggy and quickly took care of Rusty. Once she’d put him in the corral, she grabbed the cooler of meat and took it to the house to put in the refrigerator. She would get the paint out of the buggy later.

Standing in the kitchen, staring at the basement door, Thelma was tempted to make a quick trip down to check on Misty and her babies but figured it was best to get right over to the store. Still, she paused to listen and was satisfied that all was quiet.

In addition to helping Elma wait on customers, Thelma was anxious to tell her sister what she’d found out about Mary’s son. It would be best not to say anything about Rusty taking off when she was in town. And she wouldn’t bother to mention how skittish he’d acted on the way home. No point making Elma more afraid of the horse than she already was. And Thelma would certainly not tell her sister about one of the phone calls she’d made.

I
can’t believe Mom and Dad will be here this evening,” Elma told Thelma as they cleaned the kitchen floor and counters.

“I know,” Thelma agreed, “and I’m glad we managed to get the kitchen painted before they arrive. How exciting it will be to have them here. They’ll be the first guests to stay with us as new owners of this house.” Her bubbly words bounced off the walls. “Hey, Sister, we can have them sign the guest book when they arrive. There’ll be all new memories to make while they’re here.” She pushed the soapy mop around the kitchen floor.

“We’ve worked so hard getting ready for their arrival, yet there’s still so much to be done.” Elma sighed, pinning a wayward strand of hair back under her headscarf. “I think every bone in my body aches.”

“Mine, too.” Thelma set the mop aside, rubbing her neck. “I’m glad we decided to close the store today so we could take care of any last-minute things that needed to be done here at the house.” She smiled. “And I’m glad I went over to see how little Richard was doing last week, because there hasn’t been time this week, with all we’ve needed to do.”

“I keep forgetting to ask. Did he like the book and candy you took him?”

Thelma nodded. “He especially liked
The Wisdom of Solomon
because it’s a picture book, so he can look at the drawings and know what’s happening in the story, even though he can’t read yet.”

“That’s nice.” Elma gestured to the stove. “Have you thought about what we could fix for supper this evening? I’m sure Mom and Dad will be here before it’s time to eat.”

“I thought maybe we could fix some savory stew. There’s a recipe for it in one of Grandma’s cookbooks, and we have some stew meat I brought home last week from the freezer they rented. I put it, along with the rest of the meat, in the smaller freezer compartment of our refrigerator. If I get it out now, I don’t think it’ll take long to thaw.”

“That’s a good idea.” Elma put her cleaning supplies away. “While you get the meat, I’ll cut some vegetables for the stew.”

“Don’t you want to wait till the meat has thawed?”

Elma shook her head. “It’ll save time if I do it now. Once I get the veggies cut, I’ll refrigerate them until it’s time to start the stew.”

“Guess that makes sense.” Thelma took the package of meat from the freezer and placed it in a bowl of cool water. “Think I’ll go to the basement and do a little more cleaning down there before it’s time to start lunch.”

Elma tipped her head. “I don’t think Mom and Dad will be doing much in the basement while they’re here, so that’s not really a priority right now.”

“Mom may go down to wash clothes, and I want Dad to look at the water tank,” Thelma replied. “Sure don’t want them walking through cobwebs or getting their clothes dusty.”

Elma shrugged. “You’re right.”

When Thelma left the kitchen, Elma took out some carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions and placed them on the counter beside the cutting board. As she washed the vegetables in the sink, she thought about her sister and the strange way she’d been acting for the past week. For some reason, Thelma kept making unnecessary trips to the basement. At least Elma saw them as unnecessary. It was one thing to go down there to wash clothes, but Thelma had already done so much cleaning downstairs that the place had to be spic and span by now.
And why, every time I say I’m going to the basement, does she offer to go in my place?

After Thelma fed Misty and filled her bowl with fresh water, she knelt beside the box and petted the kittens. They were so cute and soft. One kitten was gray like its mother, one was all white, and two resembled a black barn cat Thelma had named Shadow. No doubt, he was the father. Thelma felt guilty for keeping the cats a secret, and she didn’t know how much longer she could prevent Elma from coming down to the basement. The one thing she had on her side was that her sister had so many other things to keep her busy.

In addition to trying to get things organized at the store, both she and Elma had spent some time each evening going through some of their grandparents’ things. They’d decided to put some of Grandpa’s marbles in one of Grandma’s old canning jars Thelma had found in the basement. She’d placed it in the middle of the kitchen table as a centerpiece. To some, it may look ordinary, but to Thelma it was a sentimental reminder of her grandparents. She was sure that Elma felt the same. It was fun to look at the variety of marbles in different sizes. Some were clear, some were solid colors, and other marbles had a pattern inside. Since Grandpa had collected so many marbles, she and her sister decided to put the rest of them in glass jars and try to sell them at the store. In the hall closet upstairs, among the other linens, they’d found a box of beautiful pillowcases Grandma had embroidered. They looked as if they’d never been used. Each set had been beautifully wrapped in white tissue paper and neatly folded in the box. Because there were too many for the twins to use, they would ask Mom if she’d like to have a couple of sets. The rest of the pillowcases they would sell.

I can’t worry about that now,
she told herself.
I have to get back upstairs and see what else needs to be done.
Thelma grabbed the little garbage can and emptied the contents into a small cardboard box. Still holding on to the box, she knelt down and took one last look at the kittens. After scratching Misty behind the ears, Thelma rose to her feet, turned off the gas lamps, and headed upstairs.

“How are things going with the stew?” Thelma asked later that afternoon. “Do you think it’ll be done before our folks get here?”

Elma lifted the kettle lid and pierced a piece of carrot with a fork. “The vegetables are tender. Think I’ll move the kettle to the back of the stove so the stew will stay warm but won’t keep cooking. Otherwise, everything will turn to mush.” She glanced at the clock. “It’s four thirty. I wish we knew exactly what time to expect them, because there’s no point baking the biscuits until we see—”

“The whites of their eyes,” Thelma finished Elma’s sentence and giggled. “I’ve always thought that saying was kind of
schpassich.
”

Elma snickered. “It is rather funny.”

At the sound of a vehicle coming up the driveway, the twins both looked out the window. “It’s Mom and Dad. I recognize their driver’s van.” Elma clutched her sister’s hand. “Is that a horse trailer the van is pulling?”