Caught in the Act Read Online Free Page B

was thanking Marta."
    "Then let us hear your prayer."
    Mike bowed his head and said the blessing Ma and Da had taught him. As he came to the end, he looked up at Mr. Friedrich, hoping the man would now let him eat. The wonderful smells of the food were making his stomach rumble with hunger.

    Finally the hand was pulled away. Mr. Friedrich said, "That will do," and went back to his food.
    Mike bent over his plate and ate as greedily as the others. Occasionally he sneaked little side glances at them. None of the three seemed interested in him at all, not even Gunter. No one spoke of Mike's punishment the night before. Mike would have decided it was only a nightmare, except the ache in his back and legs proved the beating really had taken place.
    Mr. Friedrich suddenly pushed his chair away from the table and stood. Before Mr. Friedrich could find fault with him, Mike dropped the last bite of biscuit on his plate and scrambled from his chair.
    "Michael, today I am going to turn you over to Reuben Starkey," Mr. Friedrich said. "You will be in his charge." His eyebrows dipped into a scowl, and he tapped the back of his chair impatiently. "Unfortunately, Reuben can be a woolgatherer when he should be tending to business, but now that harvest is over, he's my only fannhand." He blinked, as though suddenly recalling that Mike was standing there, and continued. "Reuben knows he is to teach and train you in the jobs you will do on the farm to keep you busy and out of trouble. He will report to me on your progress, and if you have been lazy and shirked your chores, we will see that it does not happen again."
    Mike's chin lifted, and he thought. If it's beating me you're thinking of, then you've got another thing coming, because I'm not going to let that happen to me a^ain!
    He realized that his face must have revealed his feelings, because Mr. Friedrich looked a little puzzled and said, less firmly, "Michael, our ways may seem different to you, but this is because you have not had a proper upbringing. No one has taught you that the devil makes use of idle hands, so it is up to us to teach you.

    On a well-run farm there is much to do. You will work hard, but this will help to make a man of you." He paused. "I am a just man, Michael. I will not punish you unless you need punishment."
    Mr. Friedrich stopped speaking and seemed to be waiting for something, so Michael, fighting a boiling resentment, muttered, "Yes, sir." Mr. Friedrich didn't know anything about his upbringing!
    Mrs. Friedrich's hands fluttered as she squeaked, "Michael, you must say, *Thank you, Mr. Friedrich.'"
    Mike thought again of the bam and the strap. He had to live with these people. He'd have to follow their rules. He gripped his fists together behind his back, digging his nails into his hands. *Thank you, Mr. Friedrich," he echoed.
    Mike glanced quickly at Gunter, but Gunter yawned widely and seemed completely uninterested in Mike. Maybe the beating Mike had suffered had been enough to satisfy Gunter. Mike hoped he'd have no more trouble from that tub of lard. In his mind he began to hum his sausage song and had to press his lips together to keep from laughing aloud.
    "Get your coat and go to the bam," Mr. Friedrich said to Mike. "Reuben will be waiting for you."
    As fast as he could, Mike raced up the stairs, snatched his jacket from the bedstead, and tore out to the bam. Light was beginning to streak the eastern sky, but the air was so cold it stung like a slap. He gasped and mbbed his arms, trying to get warm.
    Wulf and Bruna ran toward him, their eyes wary, but Mike stopped and held out the backs of his hands for them to sniff Satisfied, they accepted him and trotted at his side as he entered the bam.
    The huge bam was almost as clean as the house, with the milk pails gleaming, the hamess hanging over the rest of the tack in tidy rows, and the farm tools neatly stored at the far end of the bam. But here the

    smell of lye soap was overpowered by the fine, warm,