Chapter 8
When Roger was ten years old, his mother took him to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to see the chocolate factory and learn how chocolate was made. Surrounding Hershey was the Amish countryside, and here, Roger encountered Shana Kreutzer. Shana was a real dyed-in-the-wool Amish girl of nine, growing up somewhat rebelliously only because she didn't like the idea of being made to feel inferior because she was a female.
Shana's rebellious streak was not only against her father, but against the entire masculine sex. Therefore, when ten-year-old Roger came visiting the Amish with his mother, on a tour, she saw a chance to have some small revenge against the male animal.
Shana's brother, like all boys his age, had been given a horse and buggy to care for, and the horse had been a bit of a wild thing. Though learning to respond to the pull of the reins when Shana's brother controlled it, the horse at no time would countenance anyone sitting on its back.
Shana knew this and she told Roger, whose mother was busy buying some home-made Amish preserves, that she would let him ride her pony! Roger, never having ridden a pony, was overjoyed at the prospect, and he followed Shana out into the stable area where the horses were kept. The little girl with the red hair and the sparkling hazel eyes told him to stand on the box near the horse and then just climb on its back. Roger did just that, and the horse suddenly went crazy, bucking up and down until i. had thrown Roger off, almost killing him at the time. Shana had thought the entire thing hilarious, and she had quietly hurried back to her chores in the kitchen so that when the people inside the Amish house came out to find out what the commotion was all about, all they saw was the young boy lying on the ground, in a lot of pain, and a snorting horse.
When Roger was taken back to the hotel, his mother sent for the doctor who told her Roger had nothing broken, but that he would be very sore all over for the next few days. To add to his misery, Roger's mother insisted he stay in the hotel room for the rest of the stay in Hershey, and he never did really get to see the chocolate factory or learn how chocolate was made.
Now Roger was twenty-one, which meant Shana was twenty. By rights, according to Amish law, she ought to have been married off, but from the reports he had received from his private investigator, Roger had found out that Shana's temper was such that no man was willing to marry her; at least no Amish man was willing to marry her. Her father had arranged for her to marry seven different times, and the arrangements fell through every time because Shana threw some kind of temper tantrum.
By now, Shana was a stunningly beautiful redheaded woman. She had clear white skin with freckles across the bridge of a small, turned-up nose. Her figure, even under the shapeless Amish house dress she wore, was classic, but like some few others in her area, Shana was not content to be what generations of women before her had been. Shana wanted to live a life of her own, and though she never came right out and renounced her beliefs, she finally moved away from her parents' home and went to live out in the cold, cruel world where she felt she would be able to do some good as a governess to children, if nothing else. As a governess, she felt she would be safe from the attempts of men to try and become "friendly" with her. Shana hated men and what they stood for, and as far as she was concerned, sex was not merely for pro-creative purposes, but another way in which a woman was subjugated by man, because most of the time the man assumed the position of authority when coupling. No! Shana wanted nothing to do with men nothing.
She had left her father's house a week earlier with some few hundred dollars she had saved by selling different kinds of homemade goods to the tourists who came through the Amish countryside. She knew she would have to find a job quickly, and the first thing she had done was buy herself a store-bought dress, shoes, and stockings, in addition to the underwear, which she was totally unused to.
The second thing she did was buy a newspaper and look in the want-ads to see who might want a governess or even a live-in companion for some older woman. For a week she found nothing.
Then she saw an ad for a governess, but not in Pennsylvania. Whoever took the job had to be willing to move out of state. As far as Shana was concerned, this was fine, because she didn't ever want to see the Amish community again. She was still faithful to the tenets of the Amish, but she refused to live as the women there had lived for so many years. She wanted to be a person, and this job seemed to offer her the opportunity she had been seeking.
The ad had been placed by Roger Starr. Having learned of Shana's leaving the Amish community from his private investigator, who had also found out what it was the redheaded girl was seeking, he had relayed the information to Roger who had immediately placed ads in all the Pennsylvania newspapers. Interestingly enough, he received more than a hundred replies, and he had to meet with each of the applicants in a hotel suite and look as if he was serious about hiring a governess. But he rejected them, one after another, until Shana finally came.
When Shana walked into the motel suite where Roger was conducting interviews, she was wearing her green, store-bought dress, with matching green pantyhose. She had washed all her clothing the previous night because it was the only clothing she possessed outside of her Amish dress, which she always wore when in the privacy of the small transient hotel room where she had been staying.
This suite had two rooms, and Shana found herself in the sitting room with three other women who came ahead of her. Her heart was thudding wildly for she was afraid that any one of the the other women ahead of her would get the job. Aside from the lucrative pay that it offered, it also offered free food and board since she would have to be near the child, or children, night and day. She hoped she would be working for a married couple, because it made things easier if there was a wife around. No man would try making advances to a woman in his house if his wife was also there.
She waited patiently while a woman came out and told the next woman to go in. Two other women came in after Shana, and they also sat and waited, each taking one of the many hard backed chairs that had been brought to the room.
Finally it was Shana's turn, and she went into the bedroom where the interviews were being conducted. She noted the bed was made and unrumpled, and the man standing beside the desk was immaculately dressed in a three-piece gray suit.
Shana didn't recognize Roger. It would have been almost impossible for her to remember him, much less recognize him. His presence had occupied less than five minutes of her entire life up to now.
Roger recognized Shana immediately. The face had matured, but she still had the same upturned nose with freckles across it. Her hazel eyes had glasses covering them, but Roger was able to see them clearly enough. Her dress, un-like the Amish apparel she had always previously worn, accentuated her figure. As far as Roger was concerned, she had a nice build. He intended lavishing all kinds of attention on it. He knew she still clung to her religious beliefs, which meant that since she never had married, she was still a virgin.
The interview proceeded smoothly. Having been forced to interview so many other women before Shana, Roger had all the questions down pat. He explained he had a girl that needed looking after neglecting to mention that the girl was twenty-one years old and being watched by yet another woman. He was careful to avoid telling direct lies. Somehow the Amish and the Quakers had a way of knowing when someone was lying to them. He went on to explain that he had an estate in Ohio, and that if Shana was willing, she would be away from Pennsylvania for a long, long time, possible the rest of her life.
"That will be just fine," Shana nodded. "I'm Amish, but I've been unable to follow in the footsteps of my mother and her mother. I would just as soon leave Pennsylvania and never come back."
She went on to tell him that she still prayed early in the morning and just before she went to bed, and
Roger allowed as how that might be an excellent example to set for the others in his household. Prayer was a distinct necessity.
"All right!" he told her. "I'm satisfied that you'll do nicely. If there are any other women waiting outside, tell them the position is filled. I think it might be a good idea if we left for Ohio this afternoon. As it is I've been away too long."