Winter of Faith Collection Read online

  “Daughter, I’m worried that she has the flu. Her mamm says it’s just a cold, but you don’t throw up with ‘just a cold,’” Sarah said drily.

  “Oh, no. What are you going to do? We have so many families here . . . it’s bound to be contagious, and we’re going to have several sick people here until this storm ends,” Miriam said with worry lining her voice.

  “Trust in the Lord, my daughter. He will protect us. In the meantime, we can do a little protection of our own. Hannah and her mother will get the back bedroom upstairs to themselves. Everyone else will have to double up. Oh. Make sure that Adam and Rachel Zook are put in the room farthest from Hannah. No need to put him in any danger,” Sarah instructed. “Please bring Mary Miller here. I’m not happy that she and Hannah put the entire community at risk of the flu, particularly now that we’re forced to wait this blizzard out.”

  “Ya. I’ll find her and bring her here,” Miriam said.

  Sarah, still waiting for Hannah to come out of the bathroom, shifted her feet impatiently. Seeing Miriam and Mary approaching, she fixed the other woman with a sharp look.

  “Mary, this is much more than ‘just a cold.’ Hannah has vomited twice already. That doesn’t happen with a cold. Ach, here she is! Hannah, are you feeling better?” Sarah asked.

  “Nee. Worse. My body hurts. My head aches and I feel exhausted,” Hannah said quietly. Tears trembled at the corners of her eyes as she tried to keep them from falling.

  “Sarah, she only has a . . .” Mary started to say.

  “Mary! I worked as a vocational nurse before marrying Joseph. She has vomited twice already. The symptoms she’s spoken of match those of flu.”

  “Oh . . . I was sure that it was only . . . “ Mary began.

  “Nee. Nee, nee, nee. Are you aware that Adam Zook was diagnosed with asthma two years ago? That, if he gets this flu, he could become very sick? Deathly ill? Hannah. Why would you risk coming out in such bad weather, feeling as bad as you do? And don’t tell me that you ‘didn’t feel that bad’ this morning. When you get the flu, you know it. It hits very hard, very fast,” Sarah said, breathing hard and trying to contain her temper.

  Miriam, watching the interchange at a distance, was surprised to see Hannah’s cherry-red cheeks becoming even redder.

  “I . . . I wanted to see Joshua Lapp. I had to . . .” Hannah whispered miserably, looking down at the smooth wooden floor.

  “Sarah, I wanted to keep her home . . . I tried, but she insisted she was well enough to come to service . . .”

  “Hannah, why would you come out when it’s this bad and you’re so sick? I’ve had the flu. Mamm is right – it kicks like a mule. One minute you’re sniffling, the next, you’re feverish and can barely move,” Miriam said. She had scooted back, away from Hannah when Sarah diagnosed Hannah’s symptoms as flu.

  “But . . . it . . . I didn’t think it would . . .” Hannah whispered, her chin trembling.

  “Nee. No. You didn’t think. Instead, you put the health of some fifty people, including a small asthmatic boy, at risk – just so you could make eyes at a young man. We can’t send people home in this blizzard. It’s too dangerous. Mr. Beiler, Bishop Stoltzfus and I decided that we’re putting everyone up here until the storm blows itself out. I am putting you in the upstairs room at the end of the hall. By yourselves. You’ve done quite enough damage by being here at all. All I can do is hope and pray that nobody else gets sick. I’ll bring blankets and pillows along. Now, go,” Sarah said sharply, motioning the two upstairs. She followed them to make sure they found the right bedroom.

  Miriam, released from the tension, raced from closet to closet, then to benches and chests, rounding up as many pillows and blankets as she could. Passing them out to families, she reserved blankets and two pillows for the Miller women.

  ***

  Bishop Stolzfus and Joseph were directing the men to retrieve as many blankets from their buggies as they could.“Men will bunk out downstairs while women and children will stay upstairs. Now, let’s get these tables and benches onto the wagon. Buggies and horses will need to be put into the barn as well.”

  All the men and older boys trooped outside to finish the task as quickly as they could. The horses and livestock were fed and watered. Several men milked the cows, fed and watered them as well.

  “Samuel,” Joseph said, looking at Samuel Fisher. “We should tie a guide rope going from the barn to the house. I don’t know how long this storm will last, but no sense in losing anyone because they got disoriented.” He held up a long, sturdy length of rope in one hand.

  “Ya. Let’s close the barn against the wind, then we can tie this to something,” Samuel said.

  Joseph led the way back to the entryway off the kitchen. As he did so, he fed out more and more of the rope. As he reached the bottom of the porch steps, he and Samuel tied the rope securely to the bottom of the porch.

  Stamping their feet heavily, all the men and boys removed the thick snow from their boots before walking into the house. Each man carried several blankets, which would become makeshift sleeping bags.

  Miriam and Sarah stayed busy for the next several minutes, assigning women and their children to the remaining empty bedrooms.

  “Families will need to double up. Men will sleep downstairs. Now, Hannah Miller has come down with flu. She and her mother will be the only ones to be in a room by themselves – we don’t want to expose anyone needlessly. We have board games for the children. Once you have made up beds and sleeping areas, come downstairs where it’s warmer,” Sarah instructed.

  She and Joseph went into their storeroom to check on their food supplies.

  “Fortunately, we have stocked up more than enough. We have frozen meat and the fruits and vegetables you canned at the end of the summer,” Joseph commented. “Do you have sufficient flour for baking?”

  “Ya. We bought almost 100 pounds and I believe we still have most of the first bag that I opened. We can make enough bread and biscuits to feed everyone. Desserts . . . yes. And, in the meantime, I am going to make some chicken soup for Hannah, Mary and Adam. The more they get into themselves, the better. I want to keep Adam healthy.”

  “Flu? She’s sick with the flu? Why? Why did she come to meeting so sick?” Joseph asked in confusion.

  “She hid the severity of her symptoms from Mary. Mary should have realized that she was sick with more than a cold. And it was all so Hannah could lay her eyes on a boy,” Sarah said with exasperation.

  “Sarah. Look at me. I know how passionate you are about good health. She did wrong . . . but it’s done. All we can do is protect Adam from getting sick and keep others healthy,” Joseph said.

  ***

  The next morning, the storm still howled. Snow fell heavily, sometimes coming straight down and, at other times, blown so it appeared to be falling horizontally. The men went out as a group to tend to the livestock. Coming in, they reported that the snow that had not drifted was now knee-high. Drifts were as high as the bottoms of the windows of the house.

  Mary Miller tried to come downstairs so she could help. Sarah, seeing her in the kitchen doorway, set her bowl down sharply and motioned with her hands for Mary to get back upstairs.

  “Mary! Nee. You have been exposed to flu. Go upstairs and tend to Hannah. We will bring food and drink to you when it’s done. Go!” Sarah said, more sharply than she had intended.

  Mary, surprised at the sharpness in Sarah’s voice, turned immediately and went back upstairs.

  “Sarah, are you sure you weren’t too harsh with Mary?” asked another wife.

  “Nee, Barbara. She was not too harsh.” This came from Emily Fisher. “She saw that Hannah was feverish. She could have stayed at home with her.”

  “But . . . they would be alone . . .”

  “ . . . In this blizzard. Ya. But Mary has taken care of her older children, and younger, when they have fallen ill. She knows how to care for them. Now, everyone in our community has been exposed to flu. Adam Zook has
asthma. If he gets sick, he is at even higher risk of serious illness,” Emily finished.

  “Oh. I will pray that he stays healthy,” said Barbara.

  By the end of that day, it was clear that Adam had the flu.

  Sarah and Emily, talking quietly in the hallway, decided to tag-team each other.

  “I’ll take this first shift and watch over him,” Emily offered. “First, though, I’ll move him and Rachel into another isolation room and we’ll clean this room completely. The family in the room next to the Millers will have to double up in here . . .” She found the family occupying the room that would now become the Zook’s room and told them they would be moved. Moving Adam and Rachel into that room, she and Emily donned face masks and cleaned the room thoroughly, disinfecting all hard surfaces.

  “Tell us if you start to suddenly feel bad,” she told the other family. “Meantime, I’m making up a large pot of chicken soup. Everyone is getting that for supper.” After washing up, she and several other wives chopped up vegetables, boiled water and added several whole, frozen chickens to the water. Sarah bustled back upstairs with glasses and a bottle of fever reducer. Putting a face mask on, she checked on Adam and gave him a tablet with water, which he immediately threw up. After trying several times to get water and a pill into Adam, she decided he needed a suppository. She limited Adam to tiny sips of cool water, waiting until she knew he could hold these down before giving him more.

  “I have to go downstairs to check on dinner, Rachel. Keep giving him tiny sips. You have to keep him hydrated. I will be back upstairs in a while with a bowl of chicken soup for you. We’ll see if he can tolerate the broth then. Let me know if you need me,” Sarah said quietly.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The next morning, Rachel had fallen asleep curled around the limp form, and Sarah took over Adam’s nursing care.

  “He seems to be getting better. His fever’s down and his breathing is a little easier,” Emily observed. “I want him to use his inhaler to keep his airways open. Oh, and Hannah seems to be getting a bit better as well,” she said.

  But by midafternoon, Adam had taken a turn for the worse. He was lethargic and difficult to rouse.

  Rachel was awake. She looked up at Sarah with a helpless gaze. “His fever is back up to 103,” she said. “And he’s not breathing well. I’ve given him the inhaler, but it’s not – I think it’s running low.”

  Sarah nodded. “It’s all going to be okay,” she said, doing her best to comfort Adam’s frantic mamm, but she was worried. “Give him a bit more water, if you can,” she said. “I’ll talk to the men downstairs.”

  “He needs a hospital,” Rachel said.

  Sarah nodded. But how would they get him to a hospital? Outside the window was a sheet of white. “The men just came in from caring for the livestock. It looks like the storm might be letting up.”

  And maybe it was, a little. “Let me speak with the men.”

  Joseph confirmed that the blizzard appeared to be easing off, at least somewhat. “We can almost see the sun and the wind isn’t as strong as it was yesterday. But, the snow is thigh-deep, even if it’s not falling quite as fast.”

  “We have to get Adam to a hospital, somehow,” Sarah explained. “Unless we can get him to breathe more easily on his own. But his inhaler is almost empty. And even if it wasn’t, he looks bad. I’m worried that he might need a nebulizer treatment to open his airways properly.”

  It would have been better to take Adam that moment, but she doubted the roads near their farm had been cleared and Sarah despaired at how they might carry Adam through thigh-deep snow. Even if one of them made it to one of the emergency phone booths, how would the Englischers get a rescue vehicle through the blizzard?

  That night, Sarah and Rachel prayed over the child until they both fell into a fitful, exhausted sleep at Adam’s side. The next morning, Adam’s condition had grown even worse. He was having even more trouble breathing and he was beyond lethargic – he was barely conscious. After using a damp cloth to moisten his lips and hopefully get some fluid into him, Sarah washed her hands and ran downstairs to report the latest developments to Joseph and the Bishop.

  “We can’t wait any longer to get Adam to a hospital! He’s much worse and I’m afraid his body is starved for oxygen!”

  “I was praying that he would improve overnight. The snow has let up a lot.” Joseph said. “We’ll send a some of the young men to one of the phones to call for help. The roads should be cleared somewhat by now. If we can get one of the buggies through, we’ll be able to meet with an ambulance.”

  Sarah nodded and ran back up to Adam’s bedside. His lips had a decided tint of blue. Sarah lifted him up in the bed of pillows so that he could breathe more easily. He moaned something incoherently.

  Rachel had fallen back asleep again, and Sarah was reluctant to wake her. As much as the virus was ravaging her son’s body, it was also taking its toll on Rachel. The woman had a blistering fever and had taken multiple trips to the toilet through the morning.

  ‘Dear God, help us please,’ Sarah prayed. The door creaked behind her, and Joseph’s heavy footfalls sounded over the wooden floor. He placed a cold hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Should we wake her?” he whispered.

  “Not yet,” Sarah whispered and stood.

  When they were in the hallway, Joseph asked, “How is Adam?”

  “He can’t breathe and his lips are nearly blue,” Sarah said. She clenched her lips against frustration and sudden tears of worry.

  Joseph sighed against his own wave of frustration. As he did so, he absently rubbed his left arm, trying to ease the dull ache inside. “The Bishop’s sent two of the Stoltzfus boys to make their way to the phone. If we have the rest of the healthy men shovel a path though, we might be able to get the buggy through to one of the roads. With God’s grace, they’ve been plowed by now. It will have to be enough.”

  Sarah was caught between terrors. Couldn’t they send a rescue vehicle here? If they couldn’t, Adam was unlikely to last another night. His rescue inhaler was empty, and without it, the virus was making it almost impossible for him to breathe. At the same time, a treacherous buggy ride through the tail end of a blizzard to a road that might not even be plowed – that sounded just as dangerous.

  “Joseph? What do you think? Should we try to take him to the road?”

  “Ya. Now, while the sun is still high. You and Samuel Fisher and Adam’s daed. I don’t know if Rachel is strong enough—”

  “She won’t let her son go without her.”

  “All of you go. Leave now before he gets any worse,” said Joseph. “We really don’t have another choice.”

  Sarah ran upstairs and, putting her face mask back on, she went into the Zook’s room.

  “Rachel, please put your coat, gloves, hat and scarf on. Bundle Adam up. We’re taking him to the hospital right now. He needs more care than Emily and I can give him,” she said.

  Rachel paled. She had known this, but hearing it made the precariousness of their situation real. Obeying Sarah, she bundled Adam’s limp form in his coat, scarf and mittens.

  Emily, wearing her own coat and face mask, helped them get Adam into the Zook’s buggy. Seeing Adam breathing more easily, she looked at the Zooks, her husband and Joseph Beiler.

  “This is temporary. The cold air shocked his airways into opening up, but they’ll swell up again. He has to be hospitalized. Go. Now!” Stepping back, she prayed quietly that they would get to the hospital in enough time – Adam was rapidly approaching respiratory failure.

  ***

  The buggy trip was slow – they stopped and started as the young men worked to clear the snow well enough so the buggy could pass. It was slow, exhausting work with the raspy wheeze of Adam providing a horrifying reminder of what was at risk if they failed. As they approached the final stretch to the road, Sarah caught glimpse of the flash of red lights. An ambulance! Thank the Lord!

  Three EMTs dressed in bulky winter gear stood at the side
of the road with a stretcher. One of the young men shouted, and the trio started trudging through the snow towards them. One, a young woman, carried an oxygen tank. Sarah was immediately relieved. Though the stretcher was too bulky to make the snow, it seemed the EMTs had decided to carry Adam in their arms.

  When they reached the buggy, one of the EMTs, a woman wearing a prayer kapp, put the mask over Adam’s mouth and nose. She shocked Sarah by speaking in Pennsylvania German. “My name is Judith and we’re going to make sure that your son makes it to the hospital safely.”

  “You’re – are you Amish?” Rachel asked.

  Sarah remembered, hadn’t there been something in the Amish paper about a young Amish woman on Rumspringe performing CPR on a man last year? She didn’t live close to Sarah, by buggy at least.

  Judith said, “Ya. I’m still in training, but they’re letting me assist today because of the blizzard. We need to get your son to the ER.”

  Rachel nodded, and she and her husband followed Judith and the other EMTs to the ambulance. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the family was safe and in good hands.

  Dear God, thank you, Sarah said in a mumbled prayer.

  Then, stepping out of the buggy, she waved the exhausted young men back toward the buggy. “They’re on their way. Let’s get back to the house as quickly as we can in case this snow starts up again.”

  ***

  At the hospital’s emergency department, Adam was seen immediately.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Zook, your son has to be admitted. His flu aggravated his asthma. He has pneumonia, which is making his breathing even more difficult. We need to rehydrate him and give him antibiotics intravenously. He’ll also need a breathing treatment,” said the doctor on duty.

  Rachel trembled as she heard the tired doctor’s words.

  “Ya, doctor, admit him, please. He’s our only child. Please help him!” Michael said, trying not to cry.

  “Don’t you Amish people usually have lots of kids?” the doctor asked in confusion.

  “Ya, normally, we do, but Rachel can’t have more children . . . it would . . . it would kill her,” Michael said. “He is our only child.”