Whispers of a New Dawn by Murray Pura Page A

never have paid me enough to let you look.”
    “Just think what I could have done with a camera.”
    “Uh-uh, sis. No cameras among the Amish.”
    Hoofbeats sounded in the yard. Becky saw Ruth and Lyyndaya appear in the window with another load of washing to hang up and watched them turn in surprise and call out to the rider. She couldn’t hear the response. Feet thudded up the porch steps and the door flew open.
    “Excuse me. I’m sorry.” It was Joshua Miller, his face flushed. “Please come, Rebecca. There’s been an accident.”
    “What’s happened?” Becky felt her body go rigid. “Is it my father? Uncle Luke?”
    “It’s Moses. A gust of wind took him off the roof. We’ve sent for the ambulance. No one wants to move him. He’s badly hurt.” He looked at Nate. “I’ve come by horseback to get her more quickly. Can she follow me by buggy?”
    “Yes.” Nate squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll get Katie harnessed.”
    Both her brother and Joshua seemed strange to her. “I…I’m not sure what to do.”
    “Come with me and get in the buggy,” Nate said. “I’ll drive.”
    “You can’t.”
    “I can.” Nate looked at Joshua. “Thank you. I’ll just harness the mare.”
    “Your mother and your sister are doing that,” Joshua responded.
    Nate put his arm around Becky and took her out onto the porch. Lyyndaya and Aunt Ruth were talking rapidly to each other in Pennsylvania Dutch as they got the mare harnessed to the buggy. Nate walked Becky down the steps. The two women threw their arms around her and held her tight.
    “ Es wird in Ordnung sein ,” said her mother, rubbing her back. “It will be all right.”
    “ Gott ist gut .” Ruth kissed her. “We will pray together on the way.”
    Nate slowly climbed into the driver’s seat. His mother was about to say something but he shook his head and held up a hand. He grasped the reins. “Get in. Quick.”
    Ruth helped Becky up but Lyyndaya held back. “Grandmother and Grandfather are in the orchard. They won’t know where everyone has gone.”
    Joshua was mounted on his large black gelding. “I’ll tell them. You must go ahead. Please.”
    Nate snapped the reins and called out, and Katie set off at a brisk pace down the lane to the main road. They turned right to the Yoder homestead, wheels and hooves kicking up dust. Nate kept calling, Hey, hey , and flicking the reins. Becky hardly heard him or felt the motionof the buggy. Her mother and her aunt were squeezing her hands and praying at the same time in German. She understood most of the words but they didn’t stay with her. In her mind Moses was sitting up against the barn with his arm in a sling, taking some water from her father, smiling, waiting for her, not as badly off as Joshua had made it sound. But when they arrived she saw a ring of men and women around a body on the ground, and the body had a sheet over it up to the neck. She ran across the farmyard. His tanned face was as white as limestone.
    “Moses!”
    His eyes opened as she smoothed back his hair. Blood swiftly covered her fingers.
    “Hey.” She could hardly hear him. “I’m…sorry…Rebecca…I think I did not…did not tie off the rope…properly…it did not hold me when I fell…”
    “Shh. Shh.” She ran her hands over his cheeks. “They’ve called for an ambulance. It will be here soon.”
    “But not soon enough…I was only waiting for you, that’s all—”
    “Hush. Don’t say that. You’ll be fine. You have to be fine. For me. I need you. Moses. Listen to me.”
    “I’m so sorry—”
    “Moses!” In a flash, as if someone had snuffed out a candle flame with a quick pinch of their fingers, the light left his eyes. “Moses!” She threw her body over his, lifting his head and kissing his lips and face. “Moses! I love you! Don’t…”
    Blood was on her hands and mouth and cheeks. It trickled down her face as her father gently pulled her away. She buried herself in his arms.
    “Oh, Daddy! What