Isaac was already holding his Clipper card and practically vibrating as the cable car appeared over the rise of a hill. With a grin, David fished his card from his jacket pocket. It wasn’t a train, but it was close.
They’d spent the last few days going out on walks around Aaron and Jen’s neighborhood and had ventured up to the top of the hill with the radio tower at Bernal Heights Park. From there they’d been able to see for miles in each direction. San Francisco was so vast compared to any place they’d ever been, and the bay and ocean were beautiful. From up there, it had all seemed so peaceful.
But today was their first day going into the heart of the city, and David didn’t know where to look first. Near where they waited at the cable car turnaround there were dozens of fancy stores with big windows and fake ladies wearing skimpy clothes.
People bustled this way and that, and the noise was constant. When they were in their room at Aaron’s house, David could imagine that everything would be okay. He could be confident, even. But beyond the safety of those walls, he was less sure.
The sun came and went behind clusters of clouds, but at least the morning fog had lifted. Still, David shivered as the wind gusted, and he was glad he’d worn a sweater beneath his new black raincoat.
There were a few women waiting by the turntable as well, one of them gushing about how cool it was to get the chance to ride a piece of history. As David watched the cable car approach, it sure looked modern enough compared to a horse and buggy.
“The wheels are metal,” Isaac noted. “If not for the electricity, the Ordnung might approve it.”
David chuckled. “But look at the yellow and red paint. Maybe if it were all black.”
“True. But the car itself isn’t electric. Aaron said it clamps onto the cable, right? That’s how it moves? So it’s the cables themselves that are breaking the rules.”
“Hmm. I think Bishop Yoder would say the cable cars have succumbed to worldly temptation.”
Isaac smiled sadly. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How quickly we get used to breaking the Ordnung. Practically everything we do here is against the rules. But once you start, it’s easy.”
“Easy not to think about it, at least.” For when he thought about it, David remembered how hard things were in Zebulon. His chest tightened as he imagined how Mother and the girls would be struggling without him. Who would break the ice in the well, or chop the wood for the stove? Or—
As the cable car dropped off its passengers and did a loop around the turntable to face the way it had come, David shook his head as if he could shake free his thoughts. He could never go back. Only forward with Isaac.
He and Isaac waited so the women could clamber on first. David looked for the machine to tap his Clipper card the way Aaron had showed them, but didn’t see one by the driver. They sat on the bench in the front open-air part of the car.
Isaac glanced around. “I read in that book Aaron gave us that there’s a conductor who comes around, and—oh.”
A man in a bright yellow vest appeared, holding some kind of machine in his hand. He smiled widely and held it toward them. “Morning.”
His skin was brown, and it looked like he had dark fuzzy hair beneath his cap. David thought he might be Hispanic. Aaron had shown them pictures of people on the internet and explained the differences. Some of the people working at the hospital near Zebulon hadn’t been white, but in San Francisco he’d realized just how isolated they’d been.
“Good morning.” David tapped his card on the machine, which made a beep . There were so many beeps and whirs and alarms in the English world. As if to punctuate his thought, a truck honked. As the cable car moved, David gripped the pole and looked around, but couldn’t see anything amiss. Sometimes it seemed that English people simply liked the sound of their horns.
The conductor chuckled. “Where are
They’d spent the last few days going out on walks around Aaron and Jen’s neighborhood and had ventured up to the top of the hill with the radio tower at Bernal Heights Park. From there they’d been able to see for miles in each direction. San Francisco was so vast compared to any place they’d ever been, and the bay and ocean were beautiful. From up there, it had all seemed so peaceful.
But today was their first day going into the heart of the city, and David didn’t know where to look first. Near where they waited at the cable car turnaround there were dozens of fancy stores with big windows and fake ladies wearing skimpy clothes.
People bustled this way and that, and the noise was constant. When they were in their room at Aaron’s house, David could imagine that everything would be okay. He could be confident, even. But beyond the safety of those walls, he was less sure.
The sun came and went behind clusters of clouds, but at least the morning fog had lifted. Still, David shivered as the wind gusted, and he was glad he’d worn a sweater beneath his new black raincoat.
There were a few women waiting by the turntable as well, one of them gushing about how cool it was to get the chance to ride a piece of history. As David watched the cable car approach, it sure looked modern enough compared to a horse and buggy.
“The wheels are metal,” Isaac noted. “If not for the electricity, the Ordnung might approve it.”
David chuckled. “But look at the yellow and red paint. Maybe if it were all black.”
“True. But the car itself isn’t electric. Aaron said it clamps onto the cable, right? That’s how it moves? So it’s the cables themselves that are breaking the rules.”
“Hmm. I think Bishop Yoder would say the cable cars have succumbed to worldly temptation.”
Isaac smiled sadly. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How quickly we get used to breaking the Ordnung. Practically everything we do here is against the rules. But once you start, it’s easy.”
“Easy not to think about it, at least.” For when he thought about it, David remembered how hard things were in Zebulon. His chest tightened as he imagined how Mother and the girls would be struggling without him. Who would break the ice in the well, or chop the wood for the stove? Or—
As the cable car dropped off its passengers and did a loop around the turntable to face the way it had come, David shook his head as if he could shake free his thoughts. He could never go back. Only forward with Isaac.
He and Isaac waited so the women could clamber on first. David looked for the machine to tap his Clipper card the way Aaron had showed them, but didn’t see one by the driver. They sat on the bench in the front open-air part of the car.
Isaac glanced around. “I read in that book Aaron gave us that there’s a conductor who comes around, and—oh.”
A man in a bright yellow vest appeared, holding some kind of machine in his hand. He smiled widely and held it toward them. “Morning.”
His skin was brown, and it looked like he had dark fuzzy hair beneath his cap. David thought he might be Hispanic. Aaron had shown them pictures of people on the internet and explained the differences. Some of the people working at the hospital near Zebulon hadn’t been white, but in San Francisco he’d realized just how isolated they’d been.
“Good morning.” David tapped his card on the machine, which made a beep . There were so many beeps and whirs and alarms in the English world. As if to punctuate his thought, a truck honked. As the cable car moved, David gripped the pole and looked around, but couldn’t see anything amiss. Sometimes it seemed that English people simply liked the sound of their horns.
The conductor chuckled. “Where are
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