"It's God's will, Mr. Wallace," Verity cheerfully replied as she set a plate of steaming pancakes on the table before turning back to the stove.
"God's will that he has no voice?" I asked bristling against the religion-based explanation for a scientific issue.
"Adam, we are Amish," Grace said making it clear that I was treading on thin ice. "We are raised to believe that God's plan is what organizes our life. Our special children are as much a part of that plan as anything else. Danny is no more or less because of his challenges. We have simply learned to adapt."
"I see," I said shifting my attention to the food on the table and reaching for the pancakes. "Well, breakfast looks delicious!"
"Please wait, Mr. Wallace," Verity said as she brought a plate of bacon to the table and set it down. "It is customary to say grace before the meal."
I nodded as I withdrew my hand and looked sideways at Danny who grinned and signed something in the universal language of younger siblings that was clearly about his bossy sister. I chuckled as I offered him a low five under the table, and he softly slapped my hand.
Once everyone was seated around the table, Danny took my hand and nodded toward Grace who sat to my left. I reached out and took her hand and was surprised by how soft and warm it was, and how comfortable it felt in my own. I felt her start to pull back but then change her mind and hold on. I looked up, but rest had bowed their heads and gone silent. In the silence, the buzzing noise grew louder as I waited for the prayer to begin. I tried to focus on the prayer and wondered if it would be like the ones I was forced to recite at the Catholic boarding school my parents had sent me to when I was ten. The buzzing abated a bit as the silence continued and finally I heard Grace say, "Amen."
"Amen," we replied as everyone let go of the hands they were holding and reached for a dish. I felt Grace's hand slide out of mine, but when I looked over at her, she'd focused her full attention on spooning fresh strawberries onto her plate and seemed to be pointedly ignoring me.
"Mr. Wallace, where are you from?" Verity asked as she cut into her stack of pancakes.
"Chicago," I said accepting the plate of pancakes from Danny and transferring several to my own plate. Suddenly the buzzing sound grew louder as if the plane were flying overhead. I looked around, but none of
the Miller's said anything about it, so I shrugged it off assuming they were used to it.
"What brings you to Corner Grove?" she asked.
I handed the plate to Grace as I thought about how to answer this question. I could tell them what I was doing, but then they'd want to know about my meeting with Bishop Miller. I didn't want to have to explain my outburst.
"Mr. Wallace is here to sell his wind turbine technology to the Corner Grove community," Grace interjected using my surname to put distance between us again.
"You know about that?" I said surprised that the news had traveled so fast.
"You're in a small town, Mr. Wallace," she said giving me the kind of look that was usually reserved for small children and addled old folks. "News travels fast, or weren't you aware of that?"
"I guess I wasn't aware of how fast it travels without phones," I said looking away and noticing that the sun had started to rise.
"Touché, Mr. Wallace," Grace said dryly. "But as I told you last night, we're not quite as backward as you city folk think we are."
"But Grace, you're—" Verity started.
"I'm very aware of the stereotypes that the English have of the Amish, aren't I, Verity?" Grace said, quickly cutting off whatever it was her sister was about to say. The two stared at each other silently until Honor broke in.
"What is wind turbine technology?" Honor asked. She'd been silent at the opposite end of the table, but at the mention of technology she'd perked up. "Are those the big windmills that people put up in their fields?"
"Yes, something like that," I nodded shoving another forkful of the light fluffy pancakes into my mouth. The scent of strawberries and maple syrup hung heavy in the air and I realized that I'd never tasted anything so fresh and delicious before. The tartness of the berries and the sugary syrup mingled on my tongue as the buzzing grew louder.
"What do they do?" she asked.
"I'm sorry?" I said looking at her confused. "Can you say that again? I couldn't hear you over the plane."
"What plane?" Verity asked glancing questioningly around the table at her siblings. They all shrugged as Danny signed something I couldn't understand.
"What do the windmills do, Mr. Wallace?" Honor repeated as if speaking to someone whose first language wasn't English.
"They can provide electrical power to entire communities when properly placed," I said. "My company is the first one to offer turbine technology on a small scale in communities that don't fit the requirements for large wind farms. We thought that the Corner Grove might welcome the opportunity to install the technology and move away from generators and wood based heating without having to draw from the electrical grid. The best part of it is that the excess energy can be sold back to the companies running the electrical grid, making it a profitable investment, too."
"That sounds like a great project!" Honor said excitedly. "Wouldn't that be great, Grace? No more hauling gas or wood! We could capture the wind and use it to do the work for us!"
"That's all well and good, but it doesn't explain why you wound up in the ditch across the road," Grace said staring pointedly at me. I had a feeling that she already knew about my meeting with the Bishop and that this explanation was not going to end well.
"Well, I had a meeting with Bishop Miller yesterday," I said, hesitating as the buzzing grew louder and I could barely hear myself speaking. I looked around and then waited for the noise to subside before adding, "He was not as enthusiastic about the idea as Honor is."