Across from the women, the menfolk stood respectfully in their own line, every one of them dressed in a black frock coat, vest, trousers, felt hat, and white shirt, and shook hands with one another as they arrived. Perry Stoltzfus, who had been a friend of her brother Eli, nodded at her, and she waved back, wondering what it would have been like for Eli to grow up to courting age like Perry. She imagined her brother smiling as he strolled toward this side of the house, then spotted her across the yard, looking for him. At the time of his death, he’d been so close to fully memorizing the German words of the praise hymn Das Loblied, eager to finally walk into church with the other boys his age. Somehow, thinking of Eli dressed in his Sunday best helped to soften the memory of that awful night that had snuffed out his young life, his nine-year-old body crumpled along the roadside.

Forcing the frightful memory away, Susie noticed Obie’s sister Hazel behind her, looking ahead. What might Hazel have on her mind? Does she even suspect I like her brother? Susie wondered, then stopped. She wouldn’t let her mind wander again. It was time to quiet her thoughts for this solemn assembly.

Bowing her head, she tried to focus on God and not her imaginings.

Susie politely declined Mamma’s offer to take her to the evening Singing in the family buggy. She wouldn’t think of it, not when Mamma looked so peaked. Besides, it was unseasonably warm and easy enough to walk there and possibly rid herself of some pent-up energy after sitting in church all morning. And anyway, walking briskly alone in nature was one of the best ways to ask God for His perspective on her scattered thoughts.

As for the route she would take, Susie purposely chose the road where the hit-and-run driver had careered toward Eli fourteen years ago, striking him and narrowly missing her. She had dawdled that day, stopping to pick up a long, white bird feather from the road when she heard Eli’s holler before that terrible thud. Some time later, Mamma had read a newspaper article to her about Eli’s untimely death and police speculation that the driver may have been impaired. To this day, Susie wondered if that was true. Nevertheless, Mamma had always instructed her children never to hold a grudge, even after something as terrible as this. Scripture admonished them to be quick to forgive, so Susie had done her best to follow that practice, hard as it was.

Coming up on the accident site, she paused as she always did, pushing down the sorrow, trying not to blame the location. What had happened there still tormented her, yet it was also the last place she’d seen dear Eli alive.