Chapter Three
“As soon as we get to the farm house, I’ll give you some of Pa’s clothes. You tried, but even what you have on now isn’t Amish enough. These people will pick apart everything. We must pull this off. Just follow my lead on most of it for now. We can play that off as you’re the shy cousin; he hasn’t quite made it into that time of his life where he talks a lot. I think they will go for that. But if you start trying to interact too soon, they will pull you apart. Along with that they will kick us out of the community. I don’t know what I would do if that happened.” She explained to him.
Ben wasn’t upset that she was telling him how much pressure he had on him. It would remind him that he needed to listen and absorb everything as quickly as he could. “Just how soon will we have people coming around?”
“Well after you meet my brother and sister, they may tell some of their friends. Even if we tell them not too, there will be other people who are noisy. If someone comes and buys vegetables and sees you, they’ll spread it all over that you have come to visit. Just remember who you are, and why they’ve never heard of you.” Sara stated.
“Hello, my name is Ben Albright. My cousin was kind enough to let me come and stay with her for a while. I may plan to move to Lancaster soon.” He said, using the accent from before.
“Good and they are going to ask you right away where you are from.” Sara told him.
“I’m from the Heuvelton settlement; it sits along the St. Lawrence River.” He answered, the accent now sounding quite natural to her.
“Excellent. With the accent you have worked out very well, you’ll pull off the noisy people who come around.” She explained.
“Won’t your brother and sister think it’s odd that they have never heard of me?” He asked. Ben was trying to locate any weaknesses in their story.
“No, when my parents died I became the head of the household. They’ve not heard of all of our relatives, and may never know where all of them are located.” She explained.
To him it sounded a bit weak, but he hoped she knew her culture better than he did. Of course she did, this had been her life for how long now? “Just how old are you Sara?” He asked. John had never told him many specifics. Just that she seemed like a really nice girl.
“I’m 22 years old, just turned a week before my parents passed.” Sara said.
He could hear the sadness in her voice. “I’m really sorry about your folks. I know what it’s like. I lost my mom when I was 14. My dad died a year later. Though I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose both at one time.” Ben told her.
She could hear he was being earnest in his voice. “Thank you, it’s been very hard on us all. My brother and sister are very messed up by it too.”
“I don’t know how you’ve taken over so much at such a young age.” Ben admitted.
“By messing it up mostly, I was going to lose the farm, until your agent came around.” Sara laughed dryly, no humor in it at all.
“Well I appreciate you helping me out.”
“There’s the farm house.” She pointed out a shabby little shack looking thing.
“It needs a bit of work.” Ben commented.
“I can only do so much.” Sara said a bitterness coming through in the comment.
“No I only meant I could help you with it. Believe it or not I do know how to do some hard labor.” He stated.
“I’m sorry; I’m really a bit on edge right now.” She apologized.
“No worry.”
They took his bags in and she placed them into her Ma and Pa’s old room. Here are some clothes. My brother and sister will be home soon, they will normally play outside for a bit. Though I’ve been making Sally help with dinner every now and then, she needs to learn. Get changed, and you can look around outside. Just please remember the story just in case anyone sees you and comes up to talk.” Sara said. He could hear the plea in her voice.
“Alright, don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything wrong.” He told her, though his confidence was shaky at best.
Sara left the room and Ben missed her presence immediately. He would love to get to know her much better. He couldn’t help thinking about how she would be as a lover. After his entire playboy nature made him think that way all the time.
“No way, she would be far different from those others.” Ben told himself. Sara would never be the type to let him touch her, not until they were married.
The thought of marriage scared Ben. He didn’t want to have any part of it. Far too many times he had seen the damage that his parents’ marriage did to them both. They were always fighting; it was never quiet at his house. Ben had often wondered why they stayed together. Wouldn’t it be better to be alone, than to listen to someone yelling at you every day?
He finished dressing and looked in the mirror. Now he really did look Amish, he was impressed how well the clothes looked on him. “Oscar here I come!” He muttered in the mirror and went to check out the rest of the farm.
Before he could make it to the door though he ran into Sara and her brother and sister, they were all staring at him.
“Henry and Sally this is our cousin Ben. He came to visit us.” Sara introduced him.
“Hello nice to meet you both.” He shook Henry and Sally’s hand.
“Who is your father?” Henry asked.
Ben felt a bit of nerves pop up, maybe he knew more than Sally had given him credit for. “Uncle Burt, we live in upper New York, near the St. Lawrence River.” Ben explained.
Henry shook his head like he accepted the answer. Ben wondered if he had spotted a weakness in the story so quickly. “Okay, I don’t know him anyway. Nice to meet you Cousin Ben, I have only a bit of time to play outside before I must do some chores.” Henry went out the door.
Sally followed behind closely and soon it was just Ben and Sara again.
“Good job.” She smiled at him. “I have to finish dinner, you can go look around. Maybe help Henry with the chores, he’ll love it.”
“Sure.” Ben went out to explore more and figured what would it hurt to learn from Henry too.
However, Henry finishes up to fast for Ben who had been lost standing looking over a field that was filled with wheat. The beauty of this area had filled him with a joy he hadn’t felt in some time. This break away from the fast lifestyle would do him a lot of good.
He sat down for what smelled like a wonderful meal. “I hope you don’t mind, I had Henry and Sally eat sooner. They have some homework to do tonight.” Sara explained why it was just the two of them eating.
“Good, that way I can ask you questions and they won’t wonder why.” He smiled.
“Ask anything you want.”
“By the way the food is delicious.” Ben said as he shoveled in another huge scoop of meat and potatoes.
“Thank you very much.”
“Is it all homemade? I mean do you ever buy the powdered potatoes from a store?” Ben asked.
“Never, why would I do that when we can get them from the Earth?” She answered shocked at his question.
“What about a place to plug in my phone?” He asked.
“We don’t use electricity. I’m sorry.” She apologized.
“What, no way to charge my phone. I swear what would it hurt if you just put in some electricity?” Ben asked.
“It’s our religion. We feel that we should live with the basics, only what God provides to us. Electricity was invented by man, not God.” She told him.
“Well who gave him the idea, God?” Ben said.
“Why take a chance, perhaps it was the devil. That means that everyone who uses it is going against God.” She explained.
“That’s the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever heard. You’re telling me that everyone else on the face of the planet is going against God, because they use electricity.” Ben uttered.
“I don’t expect you to understand our ways. But your agent wanted you to know about it. You either accept it or not. I’m not the one who is playing a part, you are.” Sara said. “You know what, I’m going to bed. You can wash up in the other room; I’ll heat some water for you. You know where the bedroom is.”
Ben looked at her, he had insulted her. He hadn’t meant too, but he did think their thinking was backwards. However, as she pointed out, he was the one who was set to play an Amish character on the big screen. How could he pull it off he if didn’t at least understand why they did things, and he would have to practice it too.
He wanted to tell her that he was sorry, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead he cleaned up and went to bed. His head feeling heavy on the pillow as he tried to sleep in a strange new world that he felt far too confused to figure out.