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filled the kitchen.
    They worked together in silence until the screen door slammed. The first people were back from choring. Mamm, her face still wet from a quick wash at the washbasin, came in through the washroom door first.
    “Get the girls up,” she said to Clara while looking for a long moment at Ella and then giving her a hug.
    Clara wanted to join the two as they held each other tight but decided this was meant for Ella and her mother alone.
    On her usual trips upstairs to wake her sisters, Clara thought to make as much racket as she could because this usually helped prepare her sisters for her arrival. With noise they might at least stir a little before she opened the door and lit the kerosene lamp. With a light in the room and a jerk on their covers, they would get up.
    This morning, though, the usual methods didn’t seem appropriate. Clara walked quietly up to the bedroom door and opened it. With a gentle shake of their shoulders and a whispered, “Time to get up,” she roused her three younger sisters.
    Ruth popped right up, as did Ada. Martha, the four-year-old, rolled over and pulled the quilt over her head.
    “Go away,” she said. “I’m still tired.”
    “You have to get up, yah,” Clara said firmly.
    Clara pulled on Martha’s arms and stood her up beside the bed. She helped her slide on her dress. Ruth and Ada had already dressed themselves and were out the door by the time Clara followed with Martha’s hand in hers.
    Their footsteps sounded hollow in the morning silence. They didn’t say a word when they arrived downstairs but slipped quietly onto the back bench of the kitchen table. They also must remember that something had gone terribly wrong last night.
    Clara glanced around. The table was set, her mom was in the kitchen with Ella, and there was nothing more for her to do, and so she took her seat at the table.
    The bowl of oatmeal steamed on the stove, and the bacon sizzled until the time came to serve it. Ella had the last batch of fried eggs in the pan. In the washroom the splash of water could be heard as the menfolk washed up. The murmur of their voices could be heard through the utility room wall.
    Quietly they came in. Eli and Monroe sent guarded glances toward Ella as they took their seats. Their father sat at the head of the table as usual.
    He cleared his throat. “This morning we will read a Scripture. We normally don’t do this, but today is not normal.”
    Clara snuck a look at Ella’s face. She was staring straight ahead at the wall. She then glanced over to Eli and Monroe. They were sitting in silence, and from the look on their faces, they were hungry. But this morning Ella’s needs must come first.
    Mamm got up and went into the living room, returned with the big Bible, and gave it to Daett. He leafed through the pages, found what he wanted, and began to read in German. The words, the holy language, were solemn.
    “Ich werde erheben. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber.”
    Then he spoke directly to Ella, “The Lord, He will have His mercy on you, Ella, even in your sorrow and loss. You have not sinned against Him, that He should be angry with you. We do not understand how this can be or why Da Hah’s hand has come down heavy on you. Yet we be trustin’ His mercies are with you. He will give you and all of us strength for the way—for what lay ahead. He will give you His grace for this trial so that the darkness of this pain will not destroy you.
    “We know your heart is broken, and though we don’t feel the pain like you do, we do know what this pain is…to have our hearts broken. We also know that Da Hah does such things, and He alone understands what His hand does. He alone knows what the reasons are. In this trial you are asked to walk through, we know His mercies are still new every