Chapter 13: The Cages
The large rectangular dinner table was set for twenty-two people. The children were dispersed at smaller tables placed wherever there was an open space on the main level of the house. Thomas Stoltzfus sat at one end of the adults’ table, and Noah’s mother Elizabeth sat at the other, but she quickly got up to supervise the process of bringing out the many platters of food, with the help of her daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters. While the women worked, the men seated themselves on one side of the table. Once the food had been brought out, the women sat down across from them and the girls found places at the children’s tables. Noah indicated to Kaybri that she should sit across from him, next to his mother.
As soon as she was seated, the room went silent, and everyone turned to look at Mr. Stoltzfus. Kaybri thought he was about to lead the prayer, and she was ready to imitate everyone else and say whatever she needed to say to fit in. Instead, Mr. Stoltzfus asked everyone to get up from their seats and sit on the same side of the table with their spouse or wherever they chose to. No one moved for a few seconds. They appeared shocked by his request. But soon the shuffling and reseating began.
When everyone was settled, Mr. Stoltzfus rose to speak.
“Doctor and Mrs. Stevens and Dr. Lynn, welcome to our home. My family has lived here for over a hundred years. Generations of Stoltzfuses have tended this farm. Little has changed here even as the outside world continually evolved.”
Kaybri felt disgust as she thought about how the family made part of their living. But at the same time, she was charmed by the sweetness of the family and enthralled by the prospect of eating the scrumptious food in front of her: the greenest green beans she’d ever seen, cheesy potatoes, minted lamb with a crust of some kind, biscuits that had just come out of the oven.
“Three beacons have guided the Amish and the Stoltzfus family. We honor the Lord and the bounty he provides; we protect our families from harm; and we seek to purchase more land so that our children can enjoy their own farms and raise their own families in accordance with Amish tradition. After a great deal of reflection, my wife and I have come to realize that change, at times, is inevitable, necessary, and even desirable.
“Elizabeth and I were blessed with twelve children. Because of disease and accidents, only nine survive. We question whether all of our children would still be with us if we had consulted physicians outside of our community. Our reluctance cost us, and we don’t wish to repeat the same mistakes in the future.
“We believe”—Mr. Stoltzfus glanced at his wife, and she nodded, signaling he should continue—"that what happens in this world is God’s will. It is also our opinion that it is God’s will that we initiate actions that help make this world a better place. I have discussed with my son that it cannot be God’s will that we raise dogs, one of his most beautiful creations, in such a primitive manner. I want to thank Dr. and Mrs. Stevens for caring for some of our dogs, whether we knew or didn’t know that they were taken to you for care.”
He looked over at Frank with an eyebrow raised. “I owe you a debt of gratitude and, I suspect, more than a few dollars for their care.”
Kaybri could hardly believe what she was hearing.
“That’s not necessary,” Frank interjected. “Fortunately, dogs provide so much love and companionship that there are many generous parties who have voluntarily paid for the treatments. I can’t accept even a dollar from you.”
“You’re very kind,” Mr. Stoltzfus said. “Still, I am in your debt.”
“My views about you have softened since Noah told me what you want to accomplish,” Frank said humbly.
All of the Stoltzfus family members appeared stunned. Kaybri realized that most likely whatever their patriarch had agreed to was a surprise to them.
Mr. Stoltzfus began leading the prayer over the meal. Kaybri followed the example of everyone else at the table and sat silently with her head bowed. After Mr. Stoltzfus said “Amen,” Kaybri thought the platters of food would finally be passed around. Instead, Mr. Stoltzfus nodded at the young teenager who’d been introduced as Eva. All of the Stoltzfuses seemed to be suppressing smiles and giggles.
“We have a special gift for one of our guests this evening.”
Eva skipped into another room and returned with a beautifully crafted wooden tray that held the robot’s control unit and something that looked like a muddy boot. Upon closer inspection, Kaybri saw it was the work boot the attack dog had pulled off her foot.
The girl extended the tray to Kaybri and presented her with the smashed control unit and her boot. In a regal-sounding voice, she said, “Dr. Lynn, I would like to present you with this gift. But no matter which wires we attach to the boot we can’t seem to make it move. It seems like your boot will work only on your foot. For that reason and others, we are returning the boot to its rightful owner.”
Kaybri rose from her seat and knelt on one knee before Eva, bowed her head, and graciously accepted the prize as if it were a crown. Remembering what she’d heard about Eva, she took the opportunity to look more closely at the burns that marred half of the girl’s once-lovely face. Kaybri had to stop herself from wincing at the sight of the scars and took some solace in how Noah had assured her that the disfigurement would not be as big a deal in the Amish world as it would have been for someone in the modern world.
Kaybri thanked Eva, and the girl beamed at her. “You’re a real-life doctor!”
“Just for animals,” Kaybri said, trying to be modest.
“I love animals!” Then she glanced downed at the robot and the boot and said, “I’ll pack all of this up for you and give it to you before you leave.”
Kaybri caressed Eva’s scarred cheek, then turned and took her seat at the table. The eating had already begun, and Kaybri quickly made up for lost time. She couldn’t remember when she’d tasted such fresh, delicious food. The dinner conversation was spoken in English for the guests’ benefit. It was mostly about crops, weather, buildings that needed to be repaired, and babies that had recently been born. Kaybri said little, because she didn’t know much about those subjects and preferred to concentrate on ingesting as much food as she could without seeming gluttonous.
When the meal had been consumed, Mr. Stoltzfus stood up from his chair and spoke again. “Let’s serve dessert, and then we’ll discuss the future. Right now, I wish for Dr. Stevens and Dr. Lynn to accompany Noah and me to the barn. Everyone else should stay here and enjoy my wife’s shoo-fly pie.”
Squeals came from some of the children.
Noah helped Kaybri up from her seat. “My mother’s shoo-fly pies are legendary in the Amish community. Sometimes shoo-fly pies can be dry. My mother’s recipe is a carefully guarded secret.”
Mr. Stoltzfus led Frank, Noah, and Kaybri through the front door and out to the barn, where he stopped just outside its doors. He turned around to face them. “I am not proud of what you are about to see. I’ve changed nothing. I did nothing to soften the shock. I wanted you to see the situation at its worst. I want you to see the conditions so that you can appreciate the scale of what needs to change here and on other farms.”
He pushed back the barn doors and lit the lamps. At first, Kaybri could see only the outlines of rows and rows of cages stacked ten high. As her eyes adjusted, she could see a few eyes shining in the darkness. Surprisingly, there was no barking. The dogs were eerily quiet. What struck her most potently was the smell. Years of urine and feces had saturated every beam and square inch of ground. The slats of the cages were caked with waste as were the water lines to each cage.
As she moved closer to the cages and peered deeper into them, she saw that each cage held a single dog. Several breeds were represented, all the most popular ones. Each dog resembled the sick dogs Amos Epps regularly dropped off at the clinic. Their fur was matted. The natural glow that normal dogs radiated was absent. Whereas the rest of the farm was vibrant and the family warm and caring, the barn was a tomb where it seemed its inhabitants knew that death, one day, would be a welcome outcome.
Kaybri tried to make eye contact with some of the dogs. The ones that met her gaze appeared to be looking to her as their savior. Kaybri was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the disaster. She could have reached for one dog and taken it out of its cage, but if she did she knew her heart would have broken for the others.
Seeming to recognize her dilemma, Noah took her by the hand and led her out of the barn. She tried to make it to the truck before she erupted, but she failed. She ripped her hand from Noah’s and charged toward Thomas Stoltzfus, who had come out of the barn. She was only feet from him when Noah tackled her from behind. The two went sprawling in the dirt. Noah quickly managed to pin Kaybri’s arms to her side, drag her to the truck and pushed her into the driver’s seat. The fierceness with which he commanded her to stay in the truck was something Kaybri had never seen in Noah. “You don’t know the whole story. The situation was always bad. The breeding operation has deteriorated into the mess you just saw.”
“This is inhumane,” Kaybri exclaimed to Noah through the open window. “I never dreamed it was this awful.” She felt like punching something, somebody, but realized it was not the right response, so she let her head rest on the steering wheel and wept.
“Tomorrow, we begin to change things,” Noah said quietly.
“How?” Kaybri asked between sobs.
“You’ll see. It’s all planned.”
Noah kissed Kaybri on the forehead through the window. “I’ll get Frank and Dorothy, and then we’ll head home. Please stay here and stay calm.”
As Noah hurried back toward the house, Kaybri could see him looking back at her over his shoulder as though he didn’t trust her to stay put. She tried her best to soothe herself, but the horror of what she had just seen was too much.
Kaybri bolted from the truck and started running toward the barn, but Noah caught her before she could reach it and dragged her back to the truck.
“There’s no fixing this. This is what hell looks like,” Kaybri screamed.
“Yes, there is. I’ll explain it to you after we leave here. It’s time to go. We need to put some distance between you and my father. I’ll thank my mother on your behalf for their hospitality.”