"What about your turbines?" she asked.
"True, I do need to sell those, but maybe I can go to the farmer's outside of the Amish community and ask if they want to take a chance?" I said as I wondered how many non-Amish farmers were in this community.
"Adam, the next non-Amish community is a good thirty miles away," Grace sa
id answering my question. "This is the perfect place to set up your turbines, and you should. I've been trying to figure out how to make it work on our farm since this morning, but the most we can take on is eight and you need to set up at least twenty, don't you?"
"Yes, twenty is an ideal start to get a return on the investment," I said wondering what she was getting at.
"Then put up eight on our farmland and you only have to find room for twelve more," she said.
"But Grace, the bishop said absolutely not," I reminded her. "If you defy him, it won't matter where you live."
"Yes, but the income from the turbines will keep the store and the farm going, and the rest won't have to worry about money," she said.
"But what about being shunned?" I asked.
"We don't care about being shunned," Honor said through the screen door. "Danny and I talked about it and we agree."
"What are you talking about?" Grace said stepping away from me as she wiped her eyes. "You have no idea what you're saying, Honor."
"Of course, I do," Honor replied stubbornly. She yanked open the screen door and marched into the kitchen followed by her brother who looked like a very determined second-in-command. "You think we're stupid or backward or something, but we're not, Grace. We know what's going on and we know what it takes to run a farm."
"But if you're shunned, then you have no one in the community to...how will you survive?" Grace asked then shook her head and said, "No, no that's not happening! I won't allow it!"
"You can't make that decision for us, Grace! It's not fair!" Honor shouted. "No one ever asks us what we want!"
"Fine, what do you want?" Grace shouted back.
Honor turned, looked at Danny, and nodded her head. From out of his pocket, he pulled a small box that, after a few moments, I recognized as my smashed and discarded phone. He tapped the screen a few times and then held the phone up before he touched it once more.
"We want to go to college," the tinny electronic voice said as Grace and I stared at him.
"Danny, how did you do that?" Grace whispered.
"How did you fix that phone?" I asked almost talking over Grace.
Danny tapped the screen a few times and then held the device up and pressed play. Again, the mechanical voice spoke, "I read. I learn. I like technology. I'm not dumb."
"Of course you're not!" Grace said moving toward him with a look of awe on her face. "No one ever said you were dumb."
"Grace, we don't want to be Amish," Honor said as she dropped into a kitchen chair. "Now that Mamm and Dat are gone, we want to live with you."
"But what about Verity?" Grace asked as she looked back and forth between her brother and sister.
"What about me?" Verity said as she entered the kitchen carrying a basket full of sheets and towels.
"They want to move to the city with me," Grace said.
"Oh, I've known that for ages," Verity replied as she set the basket down by the back door and returned to the table. "They don't belong here, Grace. They belong in your world. Mamm had talked about sending Honor home with you the next time you visited."
"She did?" Honor said as she spun around to look at Verity who smiled and nodded.
"Why didn't Mamm talk with me about it?" Grace demanded.
"I think she was waiting until Dat could get the store business on solid ground, so that you wouldn't have a financial burden if you said yes," Verity said. "I'm sorry, Grace. I don't know what they were planning exactly, but I should have at least told you."
"This family is crazy!" Grace shouted.