Plain Truth Read online

  "Yeah, but does anyone believe him?" Ellie shrugged. "That's where a defense attorney comes in--we convince the jury that the client may not have committed the crime."

  "And if he did?"

  "Then he still gets acquitted. That happens sometimes, too."

  Katie's mouth dropped open. "That would be lying."

  "No, that would be acting as a spin doctor. There are many, many different ways of looking at what's happened to bring someone to trial. It's only considered lying if the client doesn't tell the truth. Attorneys--well, we can say just about anything we want as an explanation."

  "So ... you would lie for me?"

  Ellie met her gaze. "Would I have to?"

  "Everything I've told you is the truth."

  Sitting up, Ellie crossed her legs. "Well, then. What haven't you told me?"

  A sparrow took off in flight, casting a shadow across Katie's face. "It's not our way to lie," she said stiffly. "It's why a Plain person can stand up for himself in front of the congregation. It's why defense attorneys don't have a place in our world."

  To her surprise, Ellie laughed. "Tell me about it. I have never in my life stuck out like such a sore thumb."

  Katie's gaze traveled from Ellie's running shoes to her sundress to the small, dangling earrings she wore. Even the way Ellie sat--as if the grass was too scratchy to let the backs of her legs rest upon it--was slightly uncomfortable. Unlike the hordes of people who streamed into Lancaster County to get a glimpse of the Amish, Ellie had never asked for this. She had done Aunt Leda a favor, and it had mushroomed into an obligation.

  Katie knew how she had felt, from her visits to Jacob. Putting on the costume of a wordly teenager had never made her one. Ellie might think she espoused individuality, but being yourself in a culture where other Englischers were busy being themselves was a far cry from being yourself in a culture where the people were all intent on being the same--but different from you.

  A world that was crowded with people could still be a very lonely place.

  "I can fix that," Katie said aloud. With a big grin she reached into the lake, scooped up some water, and tossed it onto Ellie.

  Sputtering, Ellie jumped up. "What did you do that for?"

  "Wasser," Katie said, splashing her again.

  Ellie shielded herself with her hands. "What's a what?"

  "No, wasser. It's Dietsch for water."

  After a moment, Ellie understood. She took this small gift and let it settle inside her. "Wasser," she repeated. Then she pointed to the field. "Tobacco?"

  "Duvach."

  Katie beamed when Ellie tried the word. "Gut! Die Koo," she said, gesturing at a grazing Holstein.

  "Die Koo."

  Katie held out her hand. "Wie but du heit. It's nice to meet you."

  Ellie slowly extended her own hand. She looked deeply into Katie's eyes for the first time since she'd arrived at the district court yesterday. The lightness of the afternoon, of the Dietsch lesson, fell away until all the two women knew was the pressure of their palms against each other, the heady hum of the crickets, and the understanding that they were starting over. "Ich bin die Katie Fisher," Katie said quietly.

  "Ich bin die Ellie Hathaway," Ellie answered. "Wie bist du heit."

  "I'm going to get the popcorn before the movie starts," Jacob said, standing. When Katie began to rummage through her pockets for the money her Mam always sent along, Jacob shook his head. "My treat. Hey, Adam, keep an eye on her."

  Katie slouched in her seat, annoyed that her brother would think of her as a child. "I'm seventeen. Does he think I'm going to wander away?"

  Beside her, Adam smiled. "He's probably more worried that someone's gonna steal his pretty little sister."

  Katie blushed to the roots of her hair. "I doubt it," she said. She was unused to compliments that referred to her beauty, rather than a job well done. And she was uncomfortable being alone with Adam, who had been invited by Jacob to join them.

  Katie did not wear a watch, and she wondered how long it would be until the film began. This would be her fourth movie, ever. It was supposed to be a love story --such a funny concept, for a two-hour movie. Love wasn't supposed to be about a moment where you looked into a boy's eyes and felt the world spin from beneath your feet; when you saw in his soul all the things that were missing in yours. Love came slow and surefooted and was made of equal measures of comfort and respect. A Plain girl wouldn't fall in love, she'd sort of glance down and realize she was mired in it. A Plain girl knew she loved someone when she looked out ten years from now and saw that same boy standing beside her, his hand on the small of her back.

  She was dragged from her thoughts by the sound of Adam's voice. "So," he said politely, "do you live in Lancaster?"

  "In Paradise. Well, on the edge of it."

  Adam's eyes lit up. "On the edge of Paradise," he said, smiling. "Almost sounds like you're in for a nasty fall."

  Katie bit her lower lip. She didn't understand Adam's jokes. Trying to change the conversation, she asked him if his degree was in English, like Jacob's diploma.

  "Actually, no," Adam said. Was he blushing? "I work in paranormal science."

  "Para--"

  "Ghosts. I study ghosts."

  If he'd taken off all his clothes at that moment, it couldn't have shocked Katie more. "You study them?"

  "I watch them. I write about them." He shook his head. "You don't have to say it. I'm sure you don't believe in ghosts, like most of the free world. When I tell people what my doctorate is in, they think it's from some TV correspondence course, with a minor in air-conditioning repair. But I came by it honestly. I started out as a physics major, theorizing about energy. Just think about it --energy can't be destroyed, only converted into something different. So when a person dies, where does that energy go?"

  Katie blinked at him. "I don't know."

  "Exactly. It has to go somewhere. And that residue energy, every now and then, shows up as a ghost."

  She had to look into her lap, or else she was liable to confess to this man she hardly knew something she'd admitted to nobody. "Ah," Adam said softly. "Now you think I'm crazy."

  "I don't," Katie said immediately. "I really don't."

  "It makes sense, if you think about it," he said defensively. "The emotional energy that comes from a tragedy impresses itself onto a scene --a rock, a house, a tree --just as if it's leaving a memory. At the atomic level, all those things are moving, so they can store energy. And when living people see ghosts, they're seeing the residue of energy that's still trapped." He shrugged. "There's my thesis, in a nutshell."

  Suddenly Jacob reappeared, carrying a bucket of popcorn. He set it on Katie's lap. "You telling her about your pseudo-academic pursuits?"

  "Hey." Adam grinned. "Your sister is a believer."

  "My sister is naive," Jacob corrected.

  "That's the other thing," Adam said, ignoring him and turning to Katie. "You don't bother trying to convince the disbelievers, because they'll never understand. On the other hand, if a person's ever had a paranormal experience --well, they practically go out of their way to find someone like me, who wants to listen." He looked into her eyes. "We all have things that come back to haunt us. Some of us just see them more clearly than others."

  In the middle of the night, Ellie awakened to a low moan. Pushing away the folds of sleep, she sat up and turned toward Katie, who was tossing softly beneath her covers. Ellie padded across the floor and touched the girl's forehead.

  "Es dut weh," Katie murmured. She suddenly threw back her covers, revealing two spreading, circular stains on the front of her white nightgown. "It hurts," she cried, running her hands over the damp spots on her gown and the bedding. "There's something wrong with me!"

  Ellie had friends--more and more of them, lately--who had gone through childbirth. They had joked about the day that their milk came in, turning them into torpedo-breasted comic book characters. "There's nothing wrong. This is perfectly natural, after having a baby.