Free Katie Opens Her Heart by Jerry S. Eicher Page A

man grumbled. “Can you give us a little break on the prices? Perhaps do an impromptu sale day?”
    Katie smiled. “I’m afraid I can’t do much about that.”
    “Now don’t you mind Nelson one bit,” Bonnie said. “He’s just teasing. And I worked as hard for that money as he did, so he has nothing to complain about. And we get it all back and then some when we sit down to eat these wonderful pies and cinnamon rolls.”
    Nelson patted his stomach and nodded. “This is where the money goes. But I must say it goes down right smoothly, so why should I complain? Besides, you can’t take the money with you, they say.”
    Katie announced the total, and Bonnie reached into her purse for her checkbook. Nelson moved the bagged goods to their grocery cart while his wife wrote out the check and handed it to Katie. As the couple walked away, Nelson said over his shoulder, “See you next time, young lady.”
    “You both have a good evening now,” Katie replied. She watched them go. They seemed so normal. What a contrast to her own situation. Could she possibly find the kind of love they shared by defying Mamm ’s wishes? It was so hard to imagine. She checked out one final customer just as the two girls on the evening shift arrived. Mrs. Cole came out from her office to oversee the transfer. She motioned the remaining two customers in Katie’s line over to another register.
    As Katie finished, she glanced over at Arlene, who had already reconciled her cash receipts and was getting ready to leave. Now if Mrs. Cole would find some way of keeping Arlene occupied for a few minutes until she could finish up and dash outside and get away that would be wunderbah . But of course that wasn’t going to happen. And even if it did, Arlene would be at her again tomorrow. If Arlene waited for her, Katie decided she might as well deal with it and get it over with.
    Sure enough, a few minutes later when she left, Arlene was waiting for her outside.
    “You know I want to speak with you,” Arlene said.
    “ Yah , I know,” Katie said, nodding to an Englisha couple climbing out of their car. The man had a camera draped around his neck. He looked like he would love to snap her picture, especially as she neared her buggy. Well, he would just have to live without achieving his wish. She wasn’t about to break more rules. Going to a Mennonite birthday party was going to be bad enough. When they arrived at their buggies, Arlene said, “Thankfully they’re not taking our picture. But perhaps we should talk where they can’t see us.”
    “We’ll be out of sight over here,” Katie said, catching one final glimpse of the man with the camera as she walked behind her buggy.
    “Now,” Arlene began, “you’re going to tell me what’s going on. What has Esther talked you into doing?”
    Katie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Esther brought me an invite from a boy named Roy Coblenz. He wants me to come to his birthday party tomorrow night. He’s a Mennonite like Esther is—not an Englisha .”
    “You’re going to a Mennonite youth gathering?” Arlene stared at her.
    “ Yah , and Esther offered to pick me up.”
    “Wow! You’re going to a Mennonite party! I can’t believe it.” Arlene was glowing. “You’ve been keeping this news from me all day? I think it’s wunderbah you’re going. And here you had me all worried the other day about you consorting with Englisha boys. Now that would have been bad, but a Mennonite boy might just work for you. I didn’t even know you knew any Mennonites that well.”
    Katie was a bit surprised at Arlene’s attitude. But, after all, she was in her rumspringa , so maybe that accounted for it. “I don’t,” Katie said. “Apparently he saw me yesterday here at Byler’s and probably needs to fill his guest list or something.”
    Arlene studied Katie for a few seconds. “You don’t seem all that happy about it. You should though. Getting invitations to Mennonite youth gatherings is