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understand. Ben hopped down from the buggy, said something, and pointed. Two of the schoolboys left to walk down the road a ways in both directions. They held their hats in their hands and waved them like flags even though Clara could see no Englisha cars in the distance.
    Clara was again ready to go inside and explain things to Katie when a movement on the hill caught her eye. She looked closer and recognized Ezra coming up the hill at a run.
    Usually he and his sisters were late and often had to hurry, so seeing him running didn’t seem unusual. He would want to offer his help. Ezra was holding his side by the time he arrived but marched right up to the front of the horse. He then said something to Paul, causing Paul to step back. Ezra, while talking quietly to the horse, took hold of the bridle, didn’t pull or jerk on it, but reached out to stroke the horse’s nose. Moments later the horse jerked its head in response and plunged forward as if to make up for lost time. Ezra hung on to the lines and soon brought the horse under control. Masterfully and quite astonishingly, the boy knew how to talk to horses.
    When Ezra brought the buggy to a halt, the other boys swarmed around and quickly unhitched the horse. Ben led his now docile horse into the little stall they used for a horse barn during school days, and the others pushed his buggy back into place. They were just finishing when Katie pulled the bell rope.
    Clara took her seat along with everyone else as Katie walked to the front of the classroom and cleared her throat.
    “Boys and girls, as I think most of you know, our community has lost one of its members. Aden Wengerd has passed away. The funeral will be on Saturday. This is a tragedy for all of us, and our hearts go out to the family.” She paused a moment as all the children considered the gravity of the loss of one who was only a few years older than the older students. Then Katie said, “Now we’ll continue with our lessons. Will the first graders please come up for class?”
    That was Katie’s system. The eighth graders were called last on any subject. The first graders got to their feet and marched up the aisle to the front of the schoolhouse for class. Clara busied herself. It would be a while until Katie worked her way up to the eighth grade.
    Far sooner than she expected, Clara heard Katie announce, “Eighth grade spelling.” Clara got out of her seat and followed the others up to the benches in front. Katie waited for them to get comfortable and then gave them the spelling words orally. When the last word was given, the students handed in their completed work, and Katie dismissed the eighth graders by saying, “I’ll check your papers this evening as usual and give them back to you in the morning. I hope everyone knew their words. Most of you are gut pupils, and I don’t have to worry about you.”
    Clara smiled, still feeling as happy as she had on her way to school that morning. Even with the sad news of last night, life did go on. How strange that it should be so, Clara thought.
    As she returned to her seat, Katie called the first grade math class forward. Clara slid into her seat, set up her math book, and started to work. The line of grades would move through the aisle throughout the rest of the morning, and the eighth graders would soon be called up again.
    With her math book open in front of her, Clara struggled to concentrate, distracted by the figure of Ezra in the row across from her. He obviously struggled even harder than she did, not only with math but with almost all the subjects. Right now Ezra had his English book open.
    How could it be that a boy who could talk a stubborn horse into moving forward couldn’t complete English assignments with equal ease? It was a puzzling question. They all knew Ezra was slow, but obviously he wasn’t slow in everything.
    Returning to her own work, Clara focused on the math question in front of her. Whatever the answer was, it wasn’t coming.