Free Missing Your Smile by Jerry S. Eicher Page B

excuses would be accepted. What a shame that was. On cloudy days like this, even the large windows all along the outer wall let in insufficient light for running the air sprayers.
    The quality didn’t suffer, but it sure strained the eyes and slowed the work. Why must life be so hard to maintain the traditions of the fathers? But he shouldn’t be questioning his life right now. Still, that was apparently what happened to a man’s thinking when a girl sent him packing. Leave it to a girl to muddle it all up until he couldn’t tell which side of the world was up or down. She had even provoked him to think about leaving for the Mennonites. That was too awful an idea to even think about.
    Thomas grabbed the stain gun and began, running a thin spray up and down where his
daett
had left off. As he worked, he couldn’t stop his thoughts.
Perhaps I should take Eunice home some Sunday night?
The idea jolted him.
What an awful thing to consider. And what if Susan found out? But Susan is in Asbury Park
. He smiled, running the sprayer up and down the cabinet doors. What would it be like to have Eunice with him in the buggy? No girl had ever sat there but Susan or his sisters. Was Eunice really as much fun as Susan said she was? That conversation outside Emery Yoder’s house had been interesting enough.
    He could sneak Eunice out some Sunday evening without anyone knowing.
That is, if my sisters could keep their mouths shut. And they would if they knew what was good for them
. His hand paused, the sprayer light in his fingers, his heart racing at the thought.

C HAPTER E IGHT

    T homas sat at the supper table, staring out of the kitchen window. Thoughts raced through his mind, the last splash of color on the western horizon unnoticed.
Tonight would be a
gut
night to pay a visit to Eunice
, he thought.
Why should I wait any longer when my mind is made up?
    â€œThomas, do you want a piece of pie?”
    His
mamm’s
voice jerked him out of his daze.
    â€œHe’s thinking about Susan so far away and gone.” His oldest sister, Lizzie, smirked. “He’s mourning the
gut
thing he’s lost.”
    â€œNo, I’m not. And don’t bring up Susan,” Thomas said. “I was thinking of better things.”
    â€œ
Hah!
Like there are any,” Lizzie said.
    â€œYou wouldn’t know.” Thomas tried to look calm as he finished the last bite on his plate. “And,
yah
, I’ll take some of your pie,
Mamm
.”
    â€œWell, it sure wouldn’t be like you, passing up pie,”
Mamm
said. “I hope you’re feeling okay. Speaking of Susan, I’m sure you two can work out whatever your differences are. But I don’t see how it can be with her gone to that
Englisha
city. Of course, if that’s even true.”
    â€œIt is true,” Lizzie said. Two of the other sisters nodded as Lizzie continued, “And she’ll be getting herself into all kinds of trouble, if you ask me. You should have kept the girl under control while you had her, Thomas. Shame on you.”
    â€œI tried to patch things up, but it didn’t work,” Thomas said in his defense.
    â€œThen I take it you have broken up for good?”
Daett
said.
    â€œI’m not sure,” Thomas said. “But,
yah
, I guess it could be. It just sort of happened.”
    â€œI’m sorry to hear that,”
Daett
said. “You made a nice couple.”
    â€œDon’t go saying that,”
Mamm
said. “Thomas probably feels bad enough already.”
    â€œDid she dump you?”
Daett
asked, cutting into his pie.
    â€œ
Daett!
”
Mamm
said. “Don’t be asking such things.”
    Lizzie made a choking sound from her corner of the table.
    Thomas glared in her direction. There was nothing more he had to say about the matter. He supposed all this was mostly his fault.
    â€œYou don’t have to talk about it,”
Mamm
was saying. “It’s always