On Friday afternoon, while Sadie was gone from the house, Anna received a letter from Wanita. Anna was quick to open it and begin reading.

Dear Anna,

Thanks for your letter. I’m hoping you still enjoy your job there in Strasburg.

I talked to Mamm about the prayer book journals you asked about, but she thinks they were discarded when Mammi Eliza moved over here. Mamm doesn’t recall the location of the house where Mammi stayed in Strasburg, either—understandable since she’s not very familiar with that area. And of course, till here lately, Mammi rarely ever talked about this. Frankly, the bits and pieces we have heard don’t make a speck of sense.

The other day, in fact, Mammi was trying to tell me something about cutting asparagus, and how she put the bundles of stalks together in a rusty old wagon. But then she abruptly stopped talking and stared into space, evidently unable to finish the story. It must be frustrating when that happens, although I’m not sure she even realizes her memory is nearly gone.

“Nearly gone?” Anna whispered, wishing she could be with Mammi more often.

She placed the letter on the writing desk where she’d been sitting. Then she wandered out to the kitchen to make chocolate-chip cookies to surprise Sadie, who’d appeared rather glum the past few days since going to visit her sister Eva and Molly—something she’d done at least twice that Anna knew of. And naturally Glen likes cookies, too, to go along with his nightly ice cream.

That’s when Anna noticed a check lying on the counter near the cookie jar, made out to Glen Flaud from her father. Dat’s kind to do this till I get my first paycheck, she thought, going around to raise all the windows high, from the kitchen to the front room, creating a nice breeze through the house.

Next, she began to gather ingredients, still thinking about Wanita’s letter and how Mammi Eliza’s memory was further diminishing.

While dropping the cookie dough onto the sheet pans, it crossed Anna’s mind to take some for the break room at the information center sometime. And soon, she caught herself daydreaming about Mart’s invitation to go to Hershey with him and a group of his friends tomorrow afternoon.

He was grinning when he invited me, she remembered, having enjoyed his company very much.

Saturday morning dawned with a mostly overcast sky, although here and there in the distance sunlight was already sneaking through as Anna rose. She was all set for a walk. She hadn’t neglected her morning quiet time while here, and just now she felt impressed to pray for Sadie’s elderly sister Eva.