You Have Got To Love Adalheida Wasser

I'm in the editing process for my next Nurse Hal Among The Amish book in the series. Often something that has happened on my acreage appears in one of my Amish books as a problem for Nurse Hallie Lindstrom Lapp. The book I am working on now You Got To Love Adalheida Wasser has two such problems. One middle ways of the book is about a billy goat Nurse Hal bought which butts down a new water hydrant Hal's Amish husband has just hooked up. He is gone to the salebarn, but the bishop comes to visit and offers to fix the hydrant for Hal. Those of you that read my posts on Facebook will recognize a post I made about this time last year about the Sweet Potato Thief in my basement. I saved all the comments and tips on how to catch the rat which kept outsmarting me. So the first chapter of this book will look familiar to many of you that knew my story about the rat. If you were one of the contributors whether it be advice or a comment, see if you can pick out your part in this chapter.

Chapter One “Ach! This is awful,” Hallie Lapp grumbled to herself. She placed her hands on her hips and stared in the sweet potato bin in the basement. Not believing what she saw, she picked up one of the large sweet potatoes and examined the gnawed hole middle ways of the potato. She fingered several more in the bin that looked just like the one missing a good-sized chunk out of it. “What could have happened to ruin these nice sweet potatoes? Maybe I should show this one to John. He might know.” Hal hurried up the basement stairs, out the mud room door and around the side of the house. Usually, she'd have enjoyed the country sounds: her rooster crowing, and the baas, moos, and neighs coming from the pasture. Hal liked to listen to the trill of the red wing blackbird, the coo of mourning doves and the croaking of pheasants. Right now she wasn't in any mood to take pleasure in anything. She needed to find her husband. Last she knew, John was going to repair the pig pen. From the agitated sounds of squealing pigs, she figured he was still at it. She yelled, “John, John, where are you?” The black-haired, bearded man raised his head above the wooden boards on the pig pen fence he was repairing. “Over here.” He placed his elbows on the top board and leaned against the fence, waiting for Hal to get to him. Holding her prayer cap on top her carrot red curls, Hal rushed to him. Their young children, Redbird, Beth and Johnnie stopped a game of tag to find out what was happening. Their mother seemed really worked up. Hal thrust the sweet potato out for John to see. “What could have made this big hole?” John took the damaged potato and inspected it. “Looks like a rat ate on it to me. Where did you have it?” “In the basement with the rest of what's left of the crop we raised. I went down to get a few to fix for lunch and found three with holes in them just like this one.” What John said finally sunk in. Hal moaned. “Surely, we don't have a rat in the basement?” The children looked at each other. The girls' faces expressed fright. Johnnie grinned. John nodded. “Jah, looks like we do. Rats love sweet potatoes.” “We can't let all those good sweet potatoes get wasted by a rat. What can we do?” Hal asked desperately. John climbed over the fence and handed the potato back to his wife. “I'll get you a live trap out of the tool shed to put in the basement. Move the rest of the sweet potatoes upstairs to the mudroom until you catch the rat.” Hal trailed along behind John, wondering how it had became her problem to catch the destructive rodent. The children followed behind them to find out about the live trap. John went into the tool shed and came out with a small live trap just big enough for a full-grown rat. He showed Hal how to hold the door open and pull out the trigger hooked to the flap at the back of the cage and slip it under the door. “Toss a small chunk of sweet potato to the back of the trap for bait. When the rat goes in for the bait, he will step on the flap, and the trap door snaps shut.” “All recht, I will give this trap a try,” Hal grumbled, taking the trap by the handle. Johnnie reached for her free hand and focused on his father. “I can help Mama.” “That would be really great. Denki, Johnnie,” Hal declared. The three children followed Hal down the basement steps, searching the basement floor for movement. The girls hoped they wouldn't run into the rat, and Johnnie was hoping he'd at least get a glimpse of the speedy creature. Once Hal had the trap set, she asked the children to carry the remaining sweet potatoes upstairs and lay them in a cardboard box in the mud room. While the children helped her by doing that, Hal started lunch. After the children rescued the sweet potatoes, Beth set the table. Redbird peeled the damaged sweet potatoes to boiled for lunch. Now that he wasn't needed, Johnnie went outside to see if he could help his father. The next morning, Hal eased down the basement steps to check the trap. In the loud voice she used to talk to Able Keffhoppre at church, she called repeatedly, “Mr. Rat, I'm coming. If you're still in here get out of my sight. Please do that for me.” Before she reached the bottom step, she heard faint skittering noises travel across the basement floor. The same noises ended up behind a row of canned peaches on one of the shelves across the room. She squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her lips together to keep from screaming until the noises ceased. After the room had been quiet a few seconds, Hal opened her eyes and searched the dimly lit basement, listening intently. She sighed, wishing the basement had lights. She shook her head. Face it, Hallie, the small basement windows has worked for what I've done until now. She'd never had to worry about dodging out of the way of a rat before. No amount of light would be enough if she came face to face with that rat again. The rat's hiding place was behind the jars. She knew that. We aren't going to eat another jar of canned peaches until that rat is out of here. She edged slowly closer to the sweet potato bin and peered in. The trap was still set but without some of the bait. The piece of sweet potato was missing except for a scattering of peeling crumbs. What irked Hal was the square of stale cornbread was still in the trap. The rat didn't touch it. She couldn't understand why the rat didn't like her cornbread. He shouldn't be so particular. Hal went back upstairs. She picked up a small sweet potato tuber from the box and cut it in half. She laid one half in the refrigerator for later bait and silently prayed she wouldn't need it. With the chunk in hand, Hal eased back down the steps, her voice raised to get the rat's attention. “I am coming Rat. Get out of my sight fast. Please!” Though the basement was eerily quiet, she took little comfort in that fact. Even thought the rat stayed hid, she was still in the same space as the rodent. To her way of thinking that was still way too close for her comfort. Hal threw the chunk inside the trap, aiming for it to land at the back beside the stale cornbread. The chunk landed on the flap and threw the trap shut with a loud clunk. Hal took hold of the trap and lifted the front up so the bait rolled to the back behind the flap and reset the trigger. Now that was done. No way was she going to wait around to see what happened next. She didn't want to be around when the rat came back. She hurried up the steps and made sure the basement door shut tightly. A morning later, Hal made her way to the basement to make the daily check of the live trap. She conversed with the unseen rat on the way down. “Here I come, Rat. I'm coming down the steps right now. Stay hid.” Instead of skittering sounds, she heard strange clicking noises coming from the sweet potato bin. She froze halfway down and tried to make sense out of what she heard. Hal decided there was no way to know until she looked at the trap. She clamped her right hand over her mouth as she eased over to the bin and peered in. A healthy, beady-eyed rat, the size of a small kitten, bit the metal cage bars with his sharp teeth. He took one look at her and went ballistic. He tramped over the piece of stale cornbread which he was still refusing to eat and raced back to the front. The rodent hesitated just long enough to bite cage bars as he raced. Hal cringed as she stared at the panicked rat. Now what was she supposed to do? John was busy cleaning out the hay mow for haying season. Johnnie was too little to carry the cage up the stairs with that strong rat bouncing around in it. She figured the girls would refuse if she asked them to help her. Hal couldn't say she blamed them. She didn't want to get close enough to the cage to carry it either, but she didn't have a choice. She caught the nasty creature so she had to get him out of the basement. She assumed that was what John would say if she asked him to come get the trap. One thing was for sure and certain. If John had other ideas, she wasn't going to be the one to kill that rat. Hal picked the cage up by the handle and held it away from her, afraid the rat might bite her through the cage bars if she let the cage brush against her skirt. She hustled back to the stairs, wanting to get the rat out of the house as fast as she could. It was unnerving how the rat squealed as loud as a mad sow, trying to say, “Let me out of here.” A step at a time, Hal eased up the open steps, balancing the trap on each step as the rat made his laps back and forth. The rat could have easily overbalanced her when he lunged one way and then the other, slamming into each end of the trap. For sure, she didn't want to fall down to the basement floor, especially with the occupied trap falling along with her. The rat might end up on top of her. No way could she stand that happening. As much as she hated being near the rodent, Hal suddenly felt pleased with herself for catching the sweet potato thief. Soon the rat would be out of the house and wait until she showed John she caught the rat by herself. That pleased feeling didn't last long. Three steps from the basement door, Hal set the trap on the step. The rat made another lap and lunged at the trap door. The door popped off the trap and sailed through dark space behind the basement steps. Following the trap door, the rat took a ten-foot nose dive to the floor. The square of hard-as-a-rock cornbread sailed after the rat. It was so dark below the stairs, Hal couldn't see his landing if she had watched. She didn't, because she was too busy screaming as she scrambled to get up the last three steps, gripping the empty trap. Hal slammed the basement door shut and propped herself against it to keep from collapsing. Fudge! Why did that trap door have to break? She stared at the empty trap. That piece of rock-hard cornbread followed the rat as he fell. Was it too much to hope the cornbread knocked the noisy creature unconscious? Not that she had any intention of going back to the basement to find out. John burst through the back door, and the children rushed through the front door. They all converged on Hal at the same time. “Are you all recht?” John asked, grabbing Hal by the shoulders. “You are so white,” Redbird noticed. “Mama is shaking,” Beth said, taking Hal's hand. “She's sick,” Johnnie guessed, puckering up to cry in concern for his mother. Hal shook her head. “I am fine, kinner.” Her hand shook as she held the trap out to John. John face held a dead pan expression as he took the trap. “Where's the door?” “In the basement with the rat,” Hal wheezed. “Your old trap broke when the rat hit the door.” John's eyes twinkled as he tried to keep a straight face. “It was a new trap.” “Well, it's not anymore,” Hal proclaimed. “Blame that old rat for it breaking. Not me.” “Where is the rat?” John asked, glancing around them. Hal swallowed hard to keep from crying. “How in the world should I know. He ran away.” “I'm sorry the rat got away,” Johnnie said sympathetically. Hal hugged Johnnie. “So am I. Believe me I really am. Right now I'm thanking my lucky stars I didn't have the trap door turned more toward me when the door came off. I was almost to the top of the basement steps. There wasn't room for that awful rat and me together on those steps. Thank goodness, the rat flew out into the air and plopped to the basement floor. John, is there any chance that the rat died when it hit the cement?” Hal asked hopefully. John turned to his son. “I do not think so. Johnnie, you want to go down and look under the stairs to see?” “Sure enough, Daed,” Johnnie said enthusiastically. Hal moved slowly away from the door, hoping that her shaky legs would hold her up. “I will bring you another trap which is a little bigger and better made than this one,” John said, trying to appease Hal. “Fine! I will set the larger trap with a piece of cornbread, a chunk of sweet potato and a stale marshmallow for dessert.” Hal rubbed her forehead with a trembling hand. “Would it be too much to ask for the rat to find his exit hole and go back outside so I wouldn't have to catch him again?” John's lips quivered, suppressing grin. “Jah, I am afraid so, Hal.” The thud of Johnnie's feet hurrying up the wooden steps preceded him in the doorway. He looked disappointed. “I did not see the rat. Just this piece of cornbread and crumbs.” He held his hand out with the cornbread in it. John turned to face his son. “Reckon we better go find Mama that trap before we eat dinner.” The trap John handed Hal was larger but made of a lighter weight metal. After lunch, Hal threw the bait, sweet potato chuck, the stale cornbread and a hard marshmallow, to the back of the trap and carried it to the basement. In her hurry, she forgot to warn the rat she was on her way down, but her footsteps were enough noise to alert the rat she was invading his territory. His skittering was loud until he ducked behind the peach jars. Silence as far as Hal was concerned was a blessing. As quick as she could, set set the trap and hurried to the safety of upstairs. The travails of Hal and the rat goes most of the way through the book which is really about an elderly woman known as the Wise Woman, and then the billy takes out her husband's new hydrant. More later when I have the book completed and for sale.