Miriam’s Little Gentleman (The Heart of the Amish)

"For what? Your work brings in more buyers than any other artists here. I should be thanking you. Now, this one, I want for my personal collection." He picked up a work depicting a group of elderly Amish men sitting around a table where two of the men were engaged in a lively game of checkers. "It speaks to me. I want to hang it at home." Then he named a price that had Miriam's head spinning. True, the painting was one of her larger ones, and it was beautifully framed in recovered barn wood by her cousin, who did all her framework, but the price was more than twice what she'd thought it might bring.

"Are...are you certain? That seems high."

 

Mr. Jirles gave her a stern look. "You need to be more confident, Miriam. I should offer you even more. And in a year, even I won't be able to purchase your work for this little. But if you find it fair, I'll write you a check now."

Numbly she nodded, and he took the painting to his office and returned with a check, which he handed to her. "Thank you. I'm honored to have such a glorious piece to add to my personal collection."

She smiled disbelievingly and shook her head. "If you say so."

"And I do."

"Well, then, I'll be off. Oh! I almost forgot. I want to remove Evening Quiet from the display. I have decided to give it to my friends for their wedding. Is that oll recht?"

"Of course! These paintings are yours until you sell them. You can change your mind and remove one from the sales display whenever you like. And you've more than replaced it by bringing me six new paintings." He carefully lifted the requested painting, which depicted a soothing scene of an Amish woman, chores obviously finished for the day, relaxing with her cat, a cup of coffee, and a plate of cookies in front of a fire in the evening, down from the wall. "Would you like me to wrap it up and load it in your buggy?"

Miriam glanced out the front window and caught sight of her friends Jane and Lizzie walking down the sidewalk toward the gallery. "Actually, nee... Jane and Lizzie are walking here from the bakery, and we're going to dinner at Rebekkah's Country Kitchen. In fact, I see them now, and the painting is a surprise for Jane. Do you mind holding it for me in the back so they don't see it?"

He glanced out the window and nodded. "Of course." He whisked the painting away to the back of the gallery, and just in time as the bell over the door jingled merrily as Lizzie and Jane pushed inside.

"Miriam! There you are! I can't wait to see your new work!" Jane Bontrager hurried over and gave her friend a hug, followed by Lizzie Bontrager, formerly Lizzie Miller, who had recently returned from her wedding trip out west with her brand-new husband, John, who was Jane's brother.

Jane gave a loud exclamation over the paintings she'd brought in that day.

"Oh! Miriam, they're all beautiful!" Jane clasped her hands to her chest, her eyes luminous as she took in the lovely paintings. "But where's Evening Quiet?"

"Oh, I'm afraid Mr. Jirles took it down today. It's going to a new home soon."

Jane's expressive face fell for a moment, but then she regained her composure and grinned at her friend. "That's wonderful gut! Congratulations on your sale!"

Miriam's pleasure at her friend's love of that painting overrode her slight guilt at misleading Jane about what had happened to it.

"These are all really good," Lizzie said from halfway down the wall where she was currently peering closely at a painting of an elderly Amish man driving a team pulling a large wagon loaded down with pumpkins. It was a smaller piece, and Miriam recalled that she hadn't given Lizzie a wedding gift yet. Perhaps this was something she and John would enjoy.

"Do you like that one better than all the others? It's not as big as some." Miriam waited as her friend looked at the other paintings and then nodded.

 

"Ja, I think it's because the old man looks so content, and I like his fat horses. Plus, orange is my favorite color, and you've got a lot of it in there between the pumpkins and the fall colors in the leaves on the trees and in the flower beds along the road."

"Well then, unless you see one you like better, it's yours. Mr. Jirles? Would you please come help me take down a painting?"