A New Home for Lily Read online

  © 2013 by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger

  Published by Revell

  a division of Baker Publishing Group

  P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

  www.revellbooks.com

  Ebook edition created 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  ISBN 978-1-4412-4064-4

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  Scripture quotations, whether quoted or paraphrased, are from the King James Version of the Bible.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

  Published in association with Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency, LLC.

  Mary Ann

  I would like to dedicate this book to my five little brothers who were always there for me.

  Suzanne

  This book is dedicated to my beautiful and talented nieces: Hilary, Heather, Stacey, Whitney, Katie, Kelly, Becca, Sara, Taylor, and Paige. I love you, each and every one.

  Contents

  Cover 1

  Title Page 3

  Copyright Page 4

  Dedication 5

  1. The Big Day Arrives 9

  2. The Red Door 21

  3. Sugar Weather 28

  4. The Mirror at Midnight 35

  5. Lily’s New Doll 44

  6. Cherry Pie Barn 50

  7. An Angry Billy Goat 58

  8. The Sawdust Mountain 65

  9. Pumpkin Pie in the Woods 71

  10. Aaron Yoder and the Lunch Box 77

  11. Tractor Troubles 82

  12. Jenny the Cow and Mayapples 89

  13. Summer Lists 96

  14. Raindrops and Ice Cream 103

  15. Lily’s “Get Rich Quick” Plan 110

  16. The Fireworks Competition 116

  17. Sleeping in the Barn 122

  18. Sunday Church at the Lapps’ 130

  19. Lily’s Gray Jell-O 136

  20. Summer’s End 148

  21. The Funeral 157

  22. A Surprise for Lily 162

  23. Slippery Eggs 170

  24. The Quiz 177

  25. Papa and the Lightning Rods 183

  26. Lily’s Verses 190

  27. Thanksgiving Pudding 199

  28. The Christmas Program 205

  29. Sledding at School 212

  30. The Dust Mop Battles 218

  31. Hannah’s Visit 223

  32. Papa’s Building Project 232

  33. Spring Days 241

  34. Hannah Moves Next Door 247

  35. Lost! 253

  36. Home at Last 260

  Frequently Asked Questions about the Amish 265

  About the Authors 267

  Other Books by Authors 268

  Back Ads 269

  Back Cover 271

  1

  The Big Day Arrives

  There was only one thing Lily Lapp liked about her new house in Pennsylvania. One thing.

  She had a very long list of things she didn’t like: The color of the house was an ugly olive green. The kitchen countertop was a shiny bright orange, so bright it hurt her eyes. There weren’t enough bedrooms for Mama and Papa, seven-year-old Lily, and her little brothers, Joseph and Dannie. In fact, Lily’s bedroom wasn’t a real bedroom at all. Her bed was tucked into the corner of an upstairs hallway. She had a hallway bedroom. A wave of self-pity swept over her whenever she climbed the steps to her hallway bedroom.

  But here’s what Lily liked about the new house: the light switches worked! On, off, on, off. Lily and Joseph tried them in every room. Amazing! Papa said they could use the electricity only for a few weeks. As soon as he installed a new water pump for the well and found a refrigerator that could be run with a little gas engine, the electricity would be turned off.

  Lily was sorry to learn that they couldn’t use those electric lights for much longer. They were so much brighter than the dim oil lamplight she was used to. Electric lights filled every corner of the room with bright cheerful light.

  This very day, Lily’s family had moved to Pennsylvania from their farm in New York—a cold, gray, snowy day that made the long drive even longer. Lily wanted to tell the hired driver to hurry, hurry, hurry! Her papa had gone ahead with the moving van and was already at the house. Sally, her one and only doll, was in a box in the moving van, and Lily wanted to unpack her and play with her.

  But when they arrived in Pennsylvania, Lily was disappointed to find strangers in the yard, helping Papa move furniture and boxes into the house from the moving van. As Lily and Joseph followed Mama into the house, they found other strangers inside, opening boxes and unpacking dishes and putting them into cupboards. They didn’t seem at all concerned if that was where Mama wanted them. A girl stood posted by the front door to open and close it as the men carried in furniture and more boxes. Every time the door opened, snow swirled inside and a cold draft whooshed in. Lily shivered. The men tracked snow in on their boots and it melted in dirty puddles on the floor. Even the snow, Lily thought, was crying.

  This move to Pennsylvania didn’t suit Lily at all. Sadly, common sense had not prevailed, and here they were. She wished they could just pack everything right back up and return to New York. She had hoped, at the very least, that Grandma and Grandpa Miller and Aunt Susie would be here to greet them since they’d moved to Pennsylvania ahead of Lily’s family. But they had gone off to visit Great-Grandma. Another disappointment.

  The couch had been brought in and pushed against the kitchen wall. Mama set two-year-old Dannie on it and asked Lily and Joseph to read to him while she helped with the unpacking. Now that Joseph was six and learning to read, he sounded out words to Dannie in the picture book. Lily listened absently to the women’s conversations in the kitchen. She heard one woman say to Mama, “Rachel, you will probably want to send the children to school tomorrow. Our boys walk right by your house every day on their way to school. I’ll tell them to stop in tomorrow morning to walk with your children.”

  School? School?! In the busyness of moving, Lily had forgotten all about school. She hadn’t even found a bathroom yet in this new house! She hadn’t found Sally in the boxes. How could Mama possibly think that she and Joseph were ready to start school? Too worried to stir, she could barely hold back until the strangers left so she could tell Mama that starting school tomorrow was a terrible idea.

  As the sun began to set, people drifted off to their own homes. Now Lily could talk freely. As the last stranger shut the door, she turned to Mama. “Do we have to go to school tomorrow?” she asked. “I think it’s a good idea that we wait until next week.” Or next month.

  “I think it’s a good idea to go to school tomorrow,” Mama said, sounding certain. “The longer you wait the more you will dread it. Once you’re there, you’ll enjoy it.”

  Lily wasn’t at all certain. She could tell from the look on Mama’s face that her mind was made up. Suddenly, she was looking into a terrible future. She sat there without a sigh left in her.

  That night,
as Lily slipped into her nightgown and hopped into her bed in the hallway, she thought and thought. Soon, an excellent idea took shape. She would stay awake all night long. That way, she reasoned, she would have a terrible headache in the morning and Mama would have to let her stay home from school. She snuggled deep under the covers and kept her eyes wide open, pleased with herself for thinking up a way to avoid school. It was always a good idea to have a backup plan.

  Her eyelids drooped, and it was morning.

  “Time to wake up, Lily,” Mama’s voice called from the bottom of the stairs before she flipped on the light switch. Lily blinked her eyes a few times. She thought the electric lights were wonderful at night, but in the morning they were much too bright. They hurt her eyes.

  She hopped out of bed and put on her dress, then went downstairs to help Mama with breakfast. When she stepped into the kitchen, she noticed two lunch pails on the bright orange countertop. Mama was wrapping sandwiches and placing them inside.

  School! Lily had forgotten. She didn’t stay awake all night like she had planned. A feeling of dread covered her like a blanket. She did not want to go to this new school.

  Mama chatted cheerfully as she finished packing lunches. “This will be exciting for you and Joseph,” she said. “You’ll get to make new friends. And it will be nice to learn with other children and a real teacher instead of at home.”

  Lily had liked having school at home when they lived in New York. It was easy and fun and there were days when Mama was so busy that they skipped schoolwork. Now and then, Lily had missed seeing her friends, but she thought staying home was worth that small sacrifice. She was about to say as much, but from the look on Mama’s face, Lily’s fate was sealed.

  After breakfast was over, Mama sent Lily and Joseph to change into school clothes. She reminded them to brush their teeth and wash their face and hands until they were shiny. They would not have to help with the dishes this morning.

  Lily cheered up a little. At least there was one good thing about having to go to school. She could skip dishwashing. She hated, hated, hated to wash dishes. Drying wasn’t so bad, but washing dirty dishes in gray, soapy, slimy water was disgusting.

  A knock on the door interrupted Mama as she inspected Lily’s and Joseph’s faces. She opened the door to find three boys on the porch. The biggest boy said, “Our mom told us to stop by so we can show your children the way to school.”

  Mama smiled and invited them inside. “Come in and warm up a little while I help Lily and Joseph into their wraps. It’s cold outside this morning.”

  The boys did look cold. Their noses were red and their ears even redder as they peeped out from under their straw hats. Lily wondered why they would wear straw hats on such a cold day. These Amish in Pennsylvania seemed odd. Joseph looked much more cozy with a warm stocking cap on his head.

  “This is Lily and Joseph,” Mama said. “What are your names?”

  “I’m Marvin Yoder,” the biggest boy said. “And these are my brothers, Ezra and Aaron.” Ezra nodded and smiled but Aaron looked Lily over and didn’t like what he saw. He glared at her with angry blue eyes. So she glared back.

  Mama helped Lily slip into her winter coat and close the snaps. She stood quietly as Mama draped her shawl over her shoulders and pinned it firmly under her chin. After the ribbons of her heavy black bonnet were tied, she and Joseph were ready to go.

  The bright sun made the snow glisten and sparkle, so shiny and bright that Lily had to squint to see where to walk. Marvin and Ezra walked alongside Joseph and Lily, but Aaron ran up ahead. Marvin asked questions about the school in New York. Lily told him she had attended school for only one year but had two teachers. Teacher Ellen had been a very nice teacher, but after she was hurt in an accident, she couldn’t teach any longer. Teacher Katie had finished out the school term, but Lily had been scared of her.

  “You won’t be scared of Teacher Rhoda,” Marvin said. “We all like her.”

  “Did you have a farm in New York?” Ezra asked.

  Joseph chimed in. “We sure did.” Only six, he had already decided he was going to be a farmer when he grew up. “A big farm with a lot of animals.”

  Up ahead, Aaron stopped and spun around. “How many cows did you have?”

  “Only one cow,” Joseph said. “And lots of chickens and our big horse, Jim, and a little horse too. We called him Chubby.”

  Aaron sneered. “That’s not much of a farm. One measly cow? Sounds like Pennsylvania had better start sending their milk to New York to keep the people there from dying of thirst.”

  “New York does not need Pennsylvania milk!” Lily said, indignant. “Grandpa Miller and a lot of other people had big farms with lots and lots of cows. Hundreds and millions of cows!”

  Aaron was not impressed. “New York needs Pennsylvania milk. See? New York girls can’t even walk very fast. You need milk!” With that he took off and ran ahead to school.

  What a rude boy! Lily planned to stay clear of him.

  “Don’t pay Aaron any mind,” Marvin said, reading her mind. As they continued on their way, Lily couldn’t deny that Aaron was right about one small thing: she was walking much too slow. But she couldn’t help it. Her feet felt heavy in her heavy winter boots and sank in the soft snow. She tried to walk a little faster, but then she would get out of breath and couldn’t talk.

  They arrived at the one-room schoolhouse just as Teacher Rhoda, tall and slender, stepped outside to ring the bell. Lily teetered on the threshold, reluctant to go in, until the children pushed around her and she ended up inside. Her fingers were cold and stiff from the mile-long walk to school. She couldn’t open the large safety pin that Mama had used to pin her shawl. Teacher Rhoda saw she was struggling and stopped to help her.

  That was a good sign. School might not be too terribly awful if the teacher was kind. Lily hung her shawl on the wall peg, feeling eyes on her from all over the room. Everyone was watching. Lily’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment as Teacher Rhoda showed Joseph and her to their desks. She longed to be somewhere else. Anywhere. Like, at home. Better still, at home in New York.

  Joseph sat with the first grade at the very front of a long row and Lily sat in the same row with the second grade. A girl named Beth sat right in front of her. She turned around to give Lily a bright smile. Another good sign! She had met Beth on the house-hunting trip and was relieved to have one friend in this school.

  But here was a bad sign, a terrible sign: seated right across the aisle was Aaron Yoder. He looked different with his straw hat off. His hair was curly. So curly that it shot out in every direction.

  Mama taught Lily to never stare at anyone, but she had never seen such curly hair. She peeped over to look at the wild hair again just as Aaron glanced her way. He stuck his tongue out at her. Lily narrowed her eyes. She fought an urge to stick her tongue out right back at him, but she didn’t want to have to confess to Mama what she had done on the very first day of school. Instead, she just sighed.

  Teacher Rhoda stood behind the teacher’s desk. “Good morning, boys and girls,” she said in a cheerful voice.

  “Good morning, Teacher Rhoda,” the children responded.

  “We have two new pupils in school today,” Teacher Rhoda said. “I want everyone to welcome them to Green Valley School.”

  Lily squared her shoulders and folded her hands in her lap, expecting everyone to turn and stare at her again. Instead, they opened their desks and retrieved little homemade packages. One by one, they walked over to drop them on her and Joseph’s desks. There were cards that said, “Welcome to Green Valley School!” Some had tucked bookmarks or stickers inside. Lily loved stickers. A few had written a cheerful little note. Even that curly-haired Aaron gave her a yellow balloon. It looked used, though.

  Lily stole glances around the schoolhouse at the children and wondered which ones might be her friends. She was disappointed that there weren’t many girls. Two girls who looked to be Lily’s age caught her eye. One girl wore glasses
and had her nose in a book. The other girl was scribbling away in a workbook. She had dark brown hair and a handful of freckles scattered over her nose and cheeks. Her big green eyes snapped and sparkled. That girl looked like she would know how to have fun. Lily hoped that green-eyed girl might be one of her friends.

  Teacher Rhoda handed several new books to Lily to put into her desk. She browsed through them, pleased. She enjoyed working in schoolbooks and was eager for an assignment from the teacher. Teacher Rhoda called the first graders up to the front of class to read aloud. The school day had begun.

  During recess, all of the boys ran outside to play. They didn’t pay any mind to the cold and wind. The little girls gathered by a table at the back of the room. The girl with glasses told Lily that her name was Malinda. She had a worried look on her face that made Lily start worrying too, so she turned to the girl with green eyes and asked what her name was.

  The girl drew her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “My name is Effie Kauffman. And I am so glad my parents gave me a nice humble name instead of a fancy one like yours.”

  Shocked, Lily didn’t know how to respond to Effie Kauffman. She had always liked her name. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t think of one other little Amish girl named Lily. Maybe it was a fancy name. Maybe it wasn’t humble at all. But she couldn’t change it now. Oh, what a terrible discovery!

  Beth yanked on Lily’s sleeve. “Don’t pay any attention to Effie,” she whispered. “Her father is a minister and she thinks she’s the boss of everybody.”

  Beth got a box filled with jacks and a little red ball while Lily’s thoughts drifted back to a girl in New York named Mandy Mast who liked to boss everybody around. Beth dumped the jacks on the table and the girls started to play. Much too soon, Teacher Rhoda rang the bell and the children hurried back to their desks.

  The rest of the day inched along slowly. As Lily worked in her new schoolbooks, she couldn’t stop thinking of Effie’s accusation. It bounced around in her mind like an echo: Fancy like yours. Fancy like yours. She sighed.