"Do we gotta go to church here tonight, Papa?" Freddy asked as they pulled up in front of an old country church on a Wednesday night. The two had gone on a summer hunting trip together in another Iowa county.
"Yeah, we do, Freddy." Fred chuckled.
"But I don't know anyone here!" The 14 year old complained a little.
"You'll be fine, son. I'm sure they have a little program for folks your age. You'll have fun."
"Fine…" He said as they walked the path up to the church and walked inside. They took a seat near the back as the service started and the pastor stepped behind the pulpit to lead a congregational song and then went on to introduce the visitors as was the church's custom, and of course addressed Fred to introduce himself.
"Ah…I'm Fred Lay and this is my son Fred Jr.….Been on a little hunting trip and thought we should stop in tonight."
The pastor then thanked the visitors for coming and dismissed the teenagers and children and they started down the left, right, and center aisles out the church's back doors. A girl about Freddy's age spotted him and stopped by their pew.
"Would you like to come outside with us?" She smiled. "We're gonna have preaching just like the adults….but we have games we play."
"Um….I'm fine staying here." Freddy was beginning to get a little nervous.
"Are you sure? I'll stay with you and show you how we do things…if you want to." The girl smiled a little at him.
"Go…You'll have fun." Fred nudged him.
"Well….okay." Freddy grinned a bit and walked off with the girl outside.
"So….I know your name. Fred, right?" The girl smiled, and leaned against a tree. The children and teens all gathered near it so they could have their Bible lesson.
"Yeah….but you can call me Freddy." Freddy whispered. "Your name?"
"Rachel…." She whispered, smiling at him, and then she looked up lay preacher who was beginning his sermon.
"Nice to meet you." Freddy whispered. He was beginning to like this girl.
While they were all outside, the adults were inside the church, the pastor's sermon in full swing. Every now and again, Fred noticed a woman in her late 50's looking back at him. She was sitting next to her husband and in the pew with them were two of their adult sons and their wives. Fred kept wondering why the woman kept looking back at him. Chalked it up to him being a visitor, of course, and tried to listen to the sermon.
The young children and teenagers had their lesson outside and now were playing outside. They divided the older ones from the younger ones and started running races. They drew a line in the dirt and ran to the tree, around it and back. Freddy was up against a boy named Joel, who was a year older than he, and he was fast. Freddy kept up with him and even had gotten ahead of him on the way back the second time and beat him!
"You're good!" Joel told him, slapping him on the shoulder. "Wanna race again?"
"Sure!" Freddy grinned and crouched down on the ground to be in a ready stance to run.
"I….2…3….STOP!" One of the girls shouted and Joel flinched like he was about to run.
"Awwwhh…Got you, Joel!" She laughed.
"Quit fooling around, Alva!"
"Fine!...1…2….3….GO!" She shouted. And the boys took off! For awhile they were neck and neck, but then Freddy shot past Joel, ran around the tree and darted back to the finish line. Out of breath, he acted like he collapsed on the ground on his back and lay there, catching his breath. After a few seconds, he got up.
"You're a great runner, Freddy! Good job!" Rachel smiled at him.
"Guess I got practice from running from my little sister." He laughed, wiping the dripping sweat from his face on his shirt. Rachel laughed a little at his comment, and talked with him awhile until the adults had come outside as they were finished with their service.
"Have fun, Freddy?" Fred asked him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah Papa." He grinned. "Rachel showed me how they do things here."
"She did, hmm?" Fred grinned, crossing his arms across his chest. He saw how cheerful his son was now and had a feeling he liked this girl.
"Yeah, Papa."
"Cute girl…isn't she?" Fred whispered in his ear.
"Papa….." Freddy muttered.
"Sorry…" Fred chuckled. "Thanks for showing my boy around, young lady…..Your full name?"
"Rachel Argall." She smiled and nodded.
"Nice to meet you." Fred nodded at her. And suddenly turned around as he heard someone's voice call out to him. The woman who he saw kept looking at him in church approached them.
"Sir, we're so glad you came tonight." The woman shook his hand, but couldn't release and just stared at him.
"Um….is there a problem?" Fred chuckled.
"Oh….Oh, how foolish of me. I'm sorry…I'm sorry, but you look familiar to me is all."
"Guess we all have someone that looks similar to us in the world." Fred chuckled.
"Yes….I'm sure that's probably it." She laughed. "I'm so sorry…..I'm most likely confusing you with somebody else."
"That's quite alright ma'am, I understand."
"Well, again, I'm glad you and your son came tonight. Your names again? I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names…"
"Fred J. Lay…and my son Fred Jr." Fred shook the lady's hand again. "And yours?"
The woman stood there, like she was frozen again.
"Ma'am?"
"Oh…Oh, I'm sorry. Jane Argall….Again, I'm sorry…I hear your name, I see you….and I just feel like I know you!"
Fred thought a moment, looking quite puzzled. "I'm sorry….I can't think of how we would know one another.
"Perhaps it's just a little coincidence." Jane smiled and walked off with her daughter. Minutes later, she came up running to their buckboard.
"I can't get it out of my head…..Just answer me this, were you adopted as a child?"
"Um…yes, I was." Fred said solemnly.
"By a couple named the Beck's…." She breathed.
"Why, yes."
"Oh dear Jesus, I thought so." She said. "I know you don't remember, but I and my husband Todd, we babysat you when you were 3 and 4 years old. About that age….Then Amos came and wanted to adopt you….You left us weeks, maybe months later, I thought my heart was broken." She said, getting choked up a little.
"Amos Beck…." Fred said with a grin. "Now I know you must know me! He's was my adopted father."
"I just had feeling!" She smiled. Jane breathed in and let it out. "In a way, you were like my son. I treated you as if you were my own. My soul, I feel like I should hug you!...May I?"
"Go right ahead." Fred smiled and extended his arms to her and wrapped her in an embrace.
"Well, I see you've met my youngest, Rachel….I have 5 older children. My boys, James, Cole, and Griffin are grown, ages 31, 26, and 23. They have families of their own now….and David, Amelia and Rachel are still at home. David's 18, Amelia's 16…and you know Rachel. She's 14, near your son's age…I can't believe it! Your son. You have a little family of your own!" Jane smiled.
"Been married to my lovely wife of 14 years, Frances….she's back home with our daughter Helen. Helen's 12…going on 20 it seems sometimes." He laughed. "And my boy, Freddy." Fred wrapped an arm around his son, ruffling him up a little. "He's 14 years old."
"Are you living in Iowa?"
"Yes….Dubuque."
"Marvelous!" Jane smiled.
"By any chance…would you know where the Beck's live?" Fred asked her, a little unsure if he should. "Are they still alive?"
"Oh yes I believe so! Last I heard they were living in the next county. I have their address back at our place….Come! And you two can have supper with us."
"Oh no, Mrs. Argall…." Fred started to say.
"I insist!...You're like my own son, Fred!"
So they headed over to the Argall farm, had supper with them and enjoyed each other's fellowship. And later that night, Fred and Freddy slept out in the barn, planning to leave the next morning so they could visit the Beck's, and head home.
(
"You nervous, Papa?" Freddy asked as he and his father were outside the house that they believed to be the Beck's.
"Yeah…son…" Fred breathed and coughed a little and ran a hand over his face and blond hair. "I haven't seen these two in….25 years. I left them when I was 15 years old."
"A year older than me."
"Yup." Fred choked out and knocked on the wooden door. A young girl about 12 years old opened the door.
"Hello?"
"Oh….I'm sorry….I think we might have the…wrong house or something." Fred stumbled over his words.
"Who's here Angelika?" Another girl asked coming up behind her, followed by another. They were 13 and 14 years old.
"I don't know, Annette. Some man and a young boy. "
"Girls, step back!" A woman in her late 50's said to them.
"Yes, Oma." They said, and obeyed their grandmother. "How can we help you, sir?" She asked.
"I'm sorry…I think we've found the wrong place or something…..I'm looking for a Mr. and Mrs. Beck."
The older lady chuckled. "Which generation of Becks?"
"I'm sorry?" Fred mumbled.
"Never mind. Whom are you looking for?"
"An Amos Beck…I'm sorry ma'am…I really think we've gotten the wrong place. I'm sorry." Fred said, and he and his son turned around to leave.
"Now stop it right there!" She laughed a little bit. "My husband's name is Amos….I'm Emma."
"You call me, dear?" A frail, older man hobbled to the door.
"Amos…go sit yourself down. You can't always be up and about so much nowadays. Doc said for you to rest! I don't want you breaking something again!"
"Pish posh!" He muttered with a wave of his bony hand. "Who is here?"
"They haven't said who they are! Now go sit down!"
"Well, bring them in for coffee or something!"
"Come in, won't you?" Emma smiled.
"Thank you." Fred said, walking into the house with Freddy.
"So what's your name, young man?" Amos said, looking in Fred's direction. They sat down in the kitchen to have coffee. "I'm sorry…nearly half blind. So I can't see you all that well."
"Young man…I like that." Fred chuckled. "I'm 40. Guess it seems young to you, eh?"
"That it does… I'm 76 years of age...seems like I grow older by the minute...but I ain't talking ages!" He chuckled. "I'm talking names right now!"
"My name….is Fred Lay. This is my 14 year old son, Fred Jr." Fred managed to say. He wondered how this was going to pan out.
"Come again?"
"Fred Lay!" He said a little louder.
"I'm sorry boy, I still can't hear you!"
"He says his name is Fred Lay!" Emma almost shouted at him.
"Well….I'll be damned."
"Amos! Watch your language! Not only your own granddaughters….but there's a young boy here!"
"What's the youngin's name?"
"Fred Jr.!" Fred said loudly.
"Very nice….Very nice." Amos said and sipped his coffee.
"Do you remember me, Amos?"
"What?" He asked, putting a hand to his ear.
"Do you remember him, dear?" Emma shouted.
"Of course I do!….Been quite some time. Hasn't it, son?"
"Yes….It has!" Fred said.
"Remarried a few years later after the wife passed on, to a woman with a boy of her own. Helmut is his name. He was oh, 13 when I married Emma….. He grew up. Married a sweet young thing named Hildeyard…and they have three even sweeter girls! My granddaughters, Peha, Annette, and Angelika."
Fred smiled at Amos filling things in for him….and silence set in until Fred spoke up. "How did….how did Leah die?"
Amos sighed. "Poor soul….lost her mind…it seemed. I took her to every doc in Iowa…..nobody could help her. All she did was sob, couldn't eat….drove herself to the grave."
"I'm….I'm sorry to hear that." Fred said, tears glassing over his eyes.
"She's buried out there…..under the old oak tree." Amos said, pointing to the window, where you could see the very spot where her earthly body was placed.
A/N: Emma Beck, her son and daughter-in-law named Helmut and Hildeyard and their three daughters, Peha, Annette, and Angelika Beck are some of the descendants of Fred's adopted parents. My Grandpa and Grandma visited them over in Germany on August 30th-31st, 1986. They said the Becks were a most wonderful people and a great pleasure to visit.
