While I appreciated hearing my dad tell me I had my head on straight, I didn’t think it was fair for him to compare me to Brady. Our lives were completely different. Besides, my dad had seen me for what had been a total of ten days at the most the year I was fourteen. What did he know?
I’d done my share of stupid things, teenage things. It was just that the Amish in our district handled it differently. Parents, or in my case grandparents, tended to look the other way. As long as we weren’t causing problems or being disrespectful at home, what we did was our own business, within reason. It was part of rumspringa, the chance to stretch our wings, find footing of our own, learn the truth about the outside world and what it really had to offer. Of course I had looked like the perfect child to my father, because he didn’t get that I’d had far more privacy during my teenage years than Brady ever would.
“I don’t know, Dad. I haven’t spent more than a couple days in a row with Brady in four years. I’m afraid he wouldn’t care what I had to say about anything.”
“But you’re wrong! He respects you. You’re his big brother, Tyler. Please. We really need you to come.”
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Maybe what you really need to do is stay, Dad. Maybe this isn’t the best time for both you and Liz to be gone.” It was out of my mouth before I could consider how disrespectful that might come across. But apparently he had not been offended.
“That’s just not an option. I have to go. And Liz has had this trip on her calendar for a year. Besides, I think Brady might need for Liz and me to be away for a little while. The distance might help us all out. Say you’ll come. Just for one month. Please, Tyler?”
I leaned my forehead against the wall and closed my eyes. This was not the answer I had been praying for, not at all. A month in Orange County, babysitting my little brother? How on earth could something like that ever help bring clarity to my muddled mind?
Worse, what if that’s not even what this was? What if the timing of my father’s request was purely coincidental, not an answer to prayer at all, and I was just misreading things?
Show me, God. Show me if this is from You, if this is what You want me to do.
I turned away from the wall to pace the entrance. I knew I needed to say something to my father, who was still waiting for an answer from me.
Glancing up, I spotted Daadi standing nearby, and I knew from the way he looked at me that he had been there a while. Our eyes met, though I couldn’t read what his were saying. Then he turned and walked away to give me some privacy.
“This is a really busy time for me, Dad. I have a lot going on in my life.”
“Seriously? Come on, Ty. You lead as uncomplicated a life as anybody I know. Besides, I can’t believe you of all people would say no to family. Not you.”
My father never had understood that being Plain didn’t mean I led a carefree, easy life. I was as busy as any Englischer with a full-time job, land and farm buildings to maintain, and animals to care for. Still, my father’s other indictment hit home. I wasn’t one to say no to family. That was not the way I had been brought up.
Besides, he had never needed anything from me before. Not once. Now, for the first time ever, I had the power to do something for him that he could not do for himself. To be needed this way was astonishing—and, at some level, deeply pleasing.
“When would you want me to come?”
“I’m thinking you should aim to get here by next Tuesday at the latest, if you can. Liz will already be gone, and my flight to Qatar is the next day.”
My mind raced as I glanced toward the calendar on the shop wall. “But this is already Thursday. That means I’d have just this one weekend to prepare for being away for a whole month.”
“So? That should be more than enough time. I mean, it’s not like you’ve got a bunch of Halloween parties to go to this weekend or anything, is it?”
I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Of course not.” In the Amish world, as he well knew, Halloween was a non issue.
“Well, then, here’s the deal. I’ve already checked the flights, and there are still a couple of good options available. Just give me the word, and I’ll lock one in for you. Why don’t we try and plan for you to come out on Tuesday?”
I took a deep breath, held it in, and then opened my eyes as I slowly let it out. “Look, Dad, even if I come, I’m not sure I will travel by plane. I need to talk this over with Daadi before—”
“No, you don’t. You’re an adult. And you’re not a church member yet. I know how this Amish stuff works.”
“Daadi is also my employer, Dad. I do need to talk to him first. Can I call you back?”
“So you’ll come?”
“I need to talk to Daadi first.”
But in my heart I already knew how my grandfather would respond. He would consider the timing of my father’s call and the prayers everyone had been saying on my behalf, and he would conclude God was showing me what He wanted me to do. If the bishop and the district elders felt the same way, then it would be doubly wrong of me to tell my father no.