Amelia and George would never be able to figure out how Amish Country worked if it weren’t for their neighbors next door, the Lapps. Mary Lapp was always patient when Amelia came with questions, and one morning, Mary arrived at the Froggy Amish B&B with some fabric and a pattern.
“For me?” Amelia asked.
“For your baby!”
Mary Lapp showed Amelia how to make a simple little dress for her daughter. So Amelia got to work and ever so carefully sewed a tiny dress. She had been planning to save it for a Christmas gift, but Brigette was so cute in it, that Amelia just couldn’t make her wait.
“Look, George!” Amelia said, holding Brigette up for his inspection. “What do you think?”
“She’s the cutest little froglet ever!” George said with a proud, fatherly grin.
“No, I mean about her dress,” Amelia said. “Do you like it?”
“It’s wonderful, Amelia,” George said. “She looks just like you!”
“That’s how the Amish dress their children,” Amelia said. “It’s just like the adult clothing, but smaller.”
Outside the window, Amelia heard a far off jingling sound. She frowned and listened.
“Did you hear that?” Amelia asked.
George listened, too. “I do… I’ve been hearing it all morning. What is it?”
Amelia shook her head. “Is that a harness? But it sounds sort of like a bell. Are there some Amish children playing with bells? Christmas is coming, after all.”
But then the jingling sound stopped, and they both shrugged. Whatever it was, they’d find out eventually. And they turned their attention to Brigette’s new dress. She really was adorable!
Brigette was a very happy froglet, and she loved nothing better than being with her parents and the pets. Her world was not very large, but when her mother put her into a little baby walker, her world suddenly got bigger! She could paddle her little feet against the floor and move all over the place.
Amelia set Brigette in her walker so that she could set the table for lunch. But as she put the plates out for their BLT sandwiches, Amelia and George heard that far off jingling sound again. How strange! What could be causing it?
“Is it a bird, maybe?” Amelia asked. “Polly loves to imitate sounds. Maybe a magpie or a crow has started making bell sounds.”
“It’s possible,” George said. “But it’s very strange we haven’t heard it before this.”
Brigette paddled her feet against the floor, and she rolled toward the cat. The cat moved away. So Brigette paddled a little more, and as it turned out, she could really get moving! So when the cat slipped out of the room, Brigette padded her feet and leaned in the direction the cat had gone, and off she zipped.
Just before she made it out of the room, her forward momentum stopped short.
“Not so fast, Brigette,” her father chuckled, and he picked her up, walker and all, and deposited her right where she’d started out.
Catching that cat was going to be harder than Brigette thought!
When George went back out to do some chores, he heard that jingling sound again, and this time, it was closer! So he went in search of source of it, nosing around the barn. That’s when he found it! A telephone was ringing from behind a wooden pallet.
George pulled it out and stared at the ringing telephone in shock. He picked up the receiver and a very cautious, “Hello?”
“Is this the Froggy Amish B&B?” a woman asked.
“Yes, it is.” Sort of. It was the barn at the B&B, at the very least.
“Is this where Amelia Frog works?” the woman asked breathlessly. “I’m a huge fan of Amelia’s. She edits Patricia Johns’s books, doesn’t she?”
“She does,” George said. “I’m her husband.”
“You’re George!” she said. “It’s such an honor to meet you! Do you have any space in your schedule for a guest? I’d really love to come for a few days.”
“We have a few days free this week,” George said.
“I’ll take it!” the woman said delightedly. “Oh, I’m so thrilled! I can’t wait to meet Amelia in person! She was at a book convention last year, and I missed meeting her…”
The woman chattered on about just how happy she was to meet Amelia. George made a note on his arm about the days their guest would be with them, and when he hung up, he shook his head in disbelief.
Apparently, they’d have to listen for that jingling noise and then run like the Dickens to the barn to answer it. And secondly… Amelia had a fan! How wonderful was that!
These little frog stories aren’t exactly like the books I write (my books being considerably more serious, and don’t feature knitted frogs), but you do get a taste of Amish life through them.
Plus, I just love putting these little stories together, and as luck, would have it, a lot of my readers enjoy them. Win-win!
If you’d like to check out my books, I do have some releases coming up!
Happy reading!
❤
Patricia Johns 
Your comments make me feel warm and fuzzy. Seriously!