Amelia poked through the kitchen cupboards, unpacking the last of her boxes of dishes. Bridgette was asleep in her crib upstairs, and Amelia was taking the opportunity to organize her kitchen to her liking. She hummed as she worked.
Amelia opened a cupboard and spotted something she’d missed before. It was a book laying flat on the bottom of a top cupboard. She pulled down the book and opened it to discover a list of guests and dates written in Great-Aunt Agatha’s spidery handwriting.
“What’s this?” Amelia murmured, and she looked a little closer. Tomorrow’s date was written next to the name “Arnold Frost,” and her heart hammered to a stop.
They had a guest coming… tomorrow! Their very first guest, and they were not ready!
Amelia ran to the side door, flung it open and put two fingers in her mouth and let out a sharp, loud whistle.
“George!” she hollered.
George poked his head out of the stable, looking alarmed. A horse galloped up to the fence of the pasture, and Ronnie the rooster fluttered up to a fence post, and they all stared at her.
“I had no idea you could do that, Amelia!” George called.
“Well… I can!” Amelia called back. “George, we have a guest coming tomorrow!”
“What?” George pulled off his hat to hear better.
“A guest! Tomorrow! I found your aunt’s schedule!”
George stood perfectly still for a moment, and Amelia waited for him to say something. George was always very level-headed.
“Okay…” George said. “Okay… We can do this. Okay…”
George did not look okay. And Amelia did not feel okay. But then Brigette started to cry upstairs, and Amelia had to rush back inside.
As she hurried up the stairs, she couldn’t help a little twist of worry in her stomach. Tomorrow! That was very, very soon!
The Froggy Amish B&B had their first guest arriving under new ownership, and George and Amelia were not ready!
Amelia went upstairs, and she looked through all the guest rooms. She chose one that had some nice morning light, and she brought up a bucket of cleaning products and a pile of linens, and she set to work.
This room had a lovely view of the farm, and when she looked out the window, she spotted George pushing a wheelbarrow across the farmyard, followed closely by the dog, one cat, and Ronnie the rooster in a little line.
“Polly wanna cracker?” Polly, their rescue parrot, called from the other room. “Polly wanna a friend? Polly want attention?”
“Oh, Polly!” Amelia said, and she rushed out of the room to get the parrot, and while she was out of the room, she heard a thump and a wail. She rushed back, Polly on her shoulder and flapping to hold her balance. She found Brigette on the floor, her little face red with rage.
“Oh, Brigette!” Amelia said, scooping up her little froglet. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. Are you all right?”
Brigette seemed to be in one piece, and Polly reached down and gave her a loud, smacking kiss on the top of her head. And for a moment, Amelia just stood there with the room in shambles, a parrot on her shoulder and her baby in her arms.
“Polly, have we bitten off more than we can chew?” Amelia asked, tears rising. Because everything seemed rather overwhelming right now.
Polly gave Amelia a big, smacking kiss right on her cheek, which made Amelia smile.
“Thank you, Polly,” Amelia said, taking a deep breath. “Time to get back to work.”
The guest room would not clean itself.
George had worked very hard on the outside work that day. He’d cleaned the animals stalls, fed them, watered them, and fixed a gate with Mose’s help. Then he came back inside and helped Amelia with the indoor work, because there was an awful lot to do, and they really did want to make a good impression on their very first guest.
That night, George stood at the sink brushing his teeth.
“Are we ready for a guest?” George asked Amelia.
“I think we are,” Amelia replied. “As ready as we’ll ever be.”
“What will we cook for him?” George asked.
“I’ll make oatmeal and omelettes for breakfast,” Amelia said, “and soup and sandwiches for lunch, and I’ll put a roast in the oven for dinner. I might need to pop over to Mose and Mary’s place to ask Mary about how to make sure the oven is the right heat, but I’ll figure it out.”
“We can do the cooking together,” George said. “That will make it easier for you.”
“Oh, George,” Amelia said, and she planted a kiss on his cheek. “Together, we’ll do just fine!”
George continued brushing his teeth thoughtfully.
“Should I take him out and show him the cows?” he asked after a moment.
“He might like that,” Amelia said. “And there’s the horse, too, and Ronnie who’s bound to want attention. We’ll give him a real Amish experience.”
“And a real Amish experience includes rubber boots!” George laughed. He wiped his mouth and gave Amelia a kiss. “Now, Heaven knows what time Ronnie is going to decide is morning. We’d better get to bed.”
I hope you are enjoying these little stories. I have so much with them! If you’d like to read The Amish books that inspire these stories, check out my book page! You just might find your next read!
Happy reading!
❤
Patricia Johns 
Your comments make me feel warm and fuzzy. Seriously!