Plain Proposal Read Online Free Page B

certainly been the plan, until she learned that her parents used up her college fund fighting each other in their divorce. “No, ma’am. I’ll be getting a job when I go home.”
    Aaron lifted his head for the first time and looked directly at her. “Hard work is good for the soul. Too much schooling can turn a person from what is important—the love of the land and a hard day’s work.”
    “Aaron, now you know that the Englisch often send their children to college, and it’s not our place to judge.” Rebecca smiled at Shelby. “I’m sure you will find a gut job suited to you when you return, Shelby.”
    She doubted it. What kind of job can I get without a college degree? But she didn’t much care what kind of job she found. She was having trouble caring about much of anything. Over the past few months, she’d made sure that she wouldn’t feel much, and she was never going to forgive herself for the things she’d done. Things she knew God wouldn’t approve of. She used to care what God thought, but she’d stopped when she realized. . . God had given up on her.
    These strangers, with their odd clothes and strange lifestyle, seemed nice enough, but her parents were only further punishing her by sending her to this foreign place. Haven’t they hurt me enough?

    Miriam walked into her bedroom with her hair in a towel and dressed in her long white nightgown. Shelby was already tucked into bed with her head buried in a book.
    “What are you reading?” Miriam pulled the towel from her wet hair, then reached for a brush inside the top drawer of her nightstand. She sat on the edge of her bed and fought the tangles.
    “Your hair is so pretty.” Shelby looked up from her book, but Miriam noticed that she also had a pen in her hand, which she began to tap against the book. “Why do you keep it up underneath those caps?”
    Miriam continued to pull the brush through her hair as she spoke. “We believe a woman’s head should be covered, and we try not to show the length of our hair to a man until after we’re married.” She stopped brushing for a moment as she recalled past trips to the beach when most Amish girls shed their caps and pulled their hair into ponytails. “Some boys have seen our hair at the beach, though.”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Shelby stopped tapping her pen and sat taller in the bed, then propped the pillow up behind her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound—”
    “No, that’s okay. I’m sure our ways must seem strange to you.”
    Shelby closed the pink book in her lap and put the pen on the nightstand. “I’m sure everyone else seems strange to you too. Us ‘ Englisch ’ as I heard your mom say.”
    Miriam pushed her hair behind her ears and put the brush back in the top drawer, glad that a conversation was ensuing. “No. We have many Englisch friends, so we know how different things are outside of our community.”
    “How much school do you have left, or did you already graduate?”
    “I’m done with school. We only attend school through the eighth grade.” Miriam was surprised that Shelby didn’t seem to know anything about them. Miriam thought Shelby might have done a little research before she got here, but she didn’t fault her for that.
    Shelby leaned farther back against the pillow. She was wearing a long blue nightgown, and again Miriam thought about how that would please her mother. Maybe someone had told Shelby that it would be appreciated if she dressed conservatively.
    Her cousin began to kick her feet together beneath the covers. Miriam had noticed that Shelby was always fidgeting and couldn’t seem to be still. Even during supper, Shelby kept moving in her seat, pushing her food around, and she wiped her mouth a lot with her napkin. She must be nervous .
    “Will you leave here, since you’re eighteen? Or do you plan to stay here forever?” Something about the way Shelby said forever made it sound like a bad thing.
    “I would never leave