Amish Christmas Memories

“If I sit in the house one more day, I might go crazy. One can only read so much or do so many crossword puzzles.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Only that I work every day from sunrise until dark.”

“Life of a farmer, I guess.”

“Amish women work hard, too. At least most of them do.”

“Kind of hard to find a job if you can’t remember anything more than your first name.”

Caleb shrugged. Rachel could find work if she wanted it. They both knew it. Instead of defending herself further, she changed the subject.

“Have you named them?”

“Nein. We don’t name our cows.”

“I don’t see any cows.”

“We only have three—all dairy cows. They’re in the east pasture.”

“Oh. I guess I haven’t been in that direction yet.” She reached out her hand and one of the alpacas moseyed over to sniff at her palm.

“I’d call you Mocha.”

The alpaca stood completely still and allowed her to rub its top notch of hair.

“How’d you do that? They won’t let me within five feet of them.”

When the male alpaca began to crunch on something, one of the females bounded over to join him. Soon he could barely see Rachel because the entire herd of alpacas had congregated near the fence. Caleb walked over to see what she was giving him.

“Apple slices?”

“Ya. Your mamm is making an apple pie, but she didn’t want to include the skins. It seems like I always did when I baked a pie...” She shook her head back and forth, as if she could rattle the memory free.

Caleb scratched at his jaw. “I didn’t think of giving them scraps.”

“Makes sense, though. Most animals enjoy apple slices. We had a dog once that loved them.”

Her head jerked up and she met Caleb’s gaze, surprise coloring her features.

“You’re remembering more every day.”

“Small inconsequential things. It’s frustrating.”

“Not to my alpacas.”

She smiled at that, and Caleb felt inexplicably better. He didn’t pretend to understand Rachel, but he somehow thought of himself as responsible for her. Perhaps that was normal considering he’d found her in the snow only a few days before.

“Did you get a good deal on the animals?”

“I think so. Less than three thousand dollars for all seven, and there are two females.”

“Hopefully you’ll have baby alpacas running around by spring.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Do you expect they’ll be much work?”

“Not according to Mr. Vann. They mainly eat hay and grass, though some mineral supplements are good, too.”

“So you won’t be spending much money to maintain them.”

“Nein. Also, they don’t bite or butt or spit. I tried raising a llama once, but that didn’t go so well.”

Rachel crossed her arms on the fence and rested her head on top of them, watching the group of alpacas dart away and then flop and roll in a patch of dirt. He’d seen them do that before, but watching Rachel watching them, seeing the smile grow on her face, he realized for the first time what funny animals they were.

“They’re herd animals, so it’s a good thing I was able to buy seven.”

“I think you made a good business decision, Caleb. You’ll know for sure once you shear them, but my guess is that you’ll make a nice return on your investment.”

“Mr. Vann said to watch the top notch. If the hair grows to cover their eyes, I’m supposed to have it cut, which will mean learning to do it myself because I’m not about to pay someone else to do it.”

Rachel covered her mouth to hide a giggle, which Caleb heard nonetheless.

“What’s so funny?”

“Explain that to me,” she said.

“Explain what?”

“You’re so old-fashioned about other things.” She held up a hand when he began to protest. “You admitted it yourself, the first night I was here. The night that you told me about your last girlfriend.”

“She wasn’t right about everything.”

“But you said...what was it? ‘My normal personality is bullheaded and old-fashioned.’”

“Ya. I suppose it’s true.”

“Not exactly unusual among the Amish.”

“Oh, you remember that, do you?”

“So why are you such a risk taker as far as animals?”

“Crops, too,” he admitted. He’d been watching the animals, but now he turned to study Rachel. “I’ll answer your question, but first tell me why you want to know.”