Life with Lily Read online

  Mandy told everyone to look for big rocks. She lined up the rocks along the water’s edge and had the girls stand about ten feet away. “When I say ‘go,’ everyone run and kick their rock!” She put her hands on her hips, like the handles on a sugar bowl. “I’ll watch and see which rock goes the farthest.”

  All of the little girls lined up behind their rocks. This was very exciting.

  “Go!” Mandy shouted.

  Each girl ran to the water’s edge and kicked their rock as hard as they could. Lily’s rock went flying in the air, up, up, up! But so did her new shoe. The shoelace had come undone. Lily was horrified! Her new shoe dropped into the middle of the deep pond with a loud kerplop! before it was swallowed up by the water. A quiet hush fell over the girls, then Lily started to cry. Hannah ran to find a big stick to see if she could dredge the pond, but even Lily knew that would be hopeless. The shoe was at the bottom of Isaac’s cold pond. She had to go tell her parents what she had done. Lily wiped away her tears and turned to hop up the hill to find Mama. She might have just imagined it, as she hopped along on one shoe, sniffling and whimpering, but from behind her she thought she heard Mandy’s giggle.

  Every now and then, Lily was invited to spend an afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Miller’s, all by herself. She loved those special times with her grandparents. She would help Grandma bake or play dolls with Aunt Susie or work with Grandpa in his harness shop.

  On this spring day, Lily was helping Grandma pick asparagus from the garden. She thought spears of asparagus looked odd as they grew, like tall trees sprouting from the straw. After the basket was filled with green spears, Grandma and Lily went back to the house. Grandma stopped at the flower bed to admire the daffodils bobbing in the gentle breeze. In front of the daffodils was a line of pretty little white bell-shaped flowers.

  Lily crouched down to smell them. They had a sweet scent. “What kind of flowers are these?”

  “They’re called lily of the valley.” Grandma picked a flower to sniff.

  Lily was happy that she shared a name with such sweet little flowers. She admired how each dainty, tiny bell had perfect little scallops around the edges.

  Grandma plucked four sprays of lilies and handed them to Lily. “Let’s take these into the house. I have something to show you.”

  In the kitchen, Grandma opened a cupboard door and pulled out four little glass bottles. She told Lily to fill them with water.

  Lily carried them to the washbasin. She carefully filled each bottle with water and set them on the counter. Grandma had her head in another cupboard, hunting for something.

  “I’m sure I still have some,” she muttered. With a satisfied sigh, she pulled out a box of little bottles of food coloring.

  Grandma opened the bottle of red coloring and handed it to Lily. She showed Lily how to squeeze a few drops into the bottle. Lily watched the red drops swirl through the bottle and change the water into red. Grandma had her do the same with the blue and green coloring, but she left the fourth bottle with clear water.

  “Now add one spray of flower to each bottle,” Grandma said.

  Lily tucked one flower spray into each bottle and stood back to admire them. She liked the bottle with the red water best. It looked pretty with the white lilies.

  “See how nice and white all those flowers are now, Lily,” she said. “Soon, the bottle with red water will turn the lilies pink. The blue water will turn those flowers blue, and the green water will turn those flowers green. The water in the bottles is just like the friends you choose. They will affect you, Lily, whether you want them to or not.”

  Lily stared at the flowers, amazed.

  “Can you guess what color the lilies will turn that are in the clear water?”

  Lily bit her lip. “White?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will they stay white?”

  “Yes, they will. They are like little girls who choose their friends wisely. They don’t have to worry about changing who they are no matter how much time they spend with them. But those other lilies are just like friends that you don’t choose wisely. Right now they are all white, but by the time your mother comes to take you home, they will start changing colors. They will never be the same again unless you remove it from the bottle and put it in clear water.”

  Grandma carefully packed the lilies in their bottles of colored water into a box so they wouldn’t spill on the way home. She set them beside the front door so Lily wouldn’t forget to take them with her.

  When Mama arrived to take Lily home, she walked carefully to the buggy with her box of flowers, making sure that none of the water in the bottles spilled. On the way home, she told Mama all about the flowers.

  “Looks like Grandma was sharing the importance of choosing your friends,” Mama said. “I remember when she showed me the flowers in colored water when I was a little girl.”

  Lily tried to think of Mama as a little girl. What would she have looked like? Or acted like? Would she have liked to play dolls? It was hard to imagine.

  At home, Lily carried the box into her bedroom and set the jars on her dresser. Already the colored water was starting to change the colors of the lilies. Even though Grandma and Mama were too kind to say, she knew who they were thinking of: Mandy Mast.

  22

  An Unwanted Schoolhouse Visitor

  Lily sat at her school desk, working in her spelling book. She heard the soft crunchy sound of gravel churning as a car came to a stop in front of the schoolhouse. All of the children turned around in their chairs to see out the window. Who had come to visit their schoolhouse?

  A loud knock sounded on the door. Teacher Katie went to the door to open it. Lily leaned over in her seat and caught a glimpse of an English man. He had a thin brown satchel tucked under his arm. Lily could hear Teacher Katie talk to the man in the coatroom. Then she heard the rattle of a folding chair as it was removed from the closet—the sound that meant the man would be coming inside to stay for a while. She quickly turned around and got busy working in her book again before Teacher Katie returned.

  Teacher Katie placed the folding chair at the back of the room. She walked to the front and stood next to her desk. “Mr. Wilt is the superintendent of schools,” she said. “He came to visit our school and will be staying the rest of the day. I want you all to continue your work as usual.”

  Lily peeked over at Mr. Wilt. His name didn’t suit him at all. He didn’t look wilted. He was very big, with a large double chin resting on his broad chest. The top of his head was bald, with a horseshoe of wispy, wiry gray hair from ear to ear. Under his nose was a moustache that looked like the bristles of a little broom. Mr. Wilt tried to cross his arms over his chest, but they were too short to reach all the way across.

  Lily turned back to her spelling book but became distracted by the sound of heavy footsteps in the aisle. Teacher Katie was at the blackboard, explaining an assignment to the third grade class. Lily peeked and saw Mr. Wilt walking around the desks. He was watching the children do their lessons.

  Lily tried to stay focused on her own work. Teacher Katie instructed the first grade to work on a page in their Learning Through Sounds book. Lily had to cut out pictures and glue them beside the letter that started with the same sound. She liked this easy work. She cut each little picture out carefully and placed them in a neat pile next to her book.

  Suddenly, Mr. Wilt loomed over her desk. He pointed one of his stubby fingers at a picture of a buggy. “Where does this picture go?” he asked.

  Lily pointed to the B. Mr. Wilt gave a short nod of his head and moved along to Hannah’s desk to ask what she was doing. Mr. Wilt must not have realized that visitors were supposed to sit at the back of the room and remain perfectly quiet. Lily wished Mr. Wilt would go home.

  All day long, Mr. Wilt looked over the students’ shoulders to see what they were doing. All day long, Teacher Katie kept her mouth pinched together. Her wooly eyebrows were knit deeper together than Lily had ever seen them. Everyone was h
appy when the day ended and Mr. Wilt drove away in his big car.

  Several weeks later, Mr. Wilt arrived at the schoolhouse. He didn’t knock at the door. He walked right in. In his arms was a big box. He marched right up to Teacher Katie and emptied the box on her desk. Lily tried to stretch her neck to see what was on the desk. It looked like flashcards and books and a big folded piece of paper.

  Mr. Wilt said that he was there to test the children to make sure they had been prepared for their grade level. He told Teacher Katie to sit at the back of the room. Lily thought Teacher Katie looked as if she might explode—her face turned as red as a ripe tomato and her hands were clenched in tight fists—but she did as he said. She walked to the back of the room and sat down.

  Mr. Wilt looked at the students. “First grade, please come forward.” Lily and Hannah and two other little first grade girls rose from their desks and walked up to stand in front of the teacher desk. Mr. Wilt held up some flashcards and asked if the girls could tell him if the pictures on the cards rhymed or not. Easy! Lily and the others took turns answering yes or no. Then they were excused and went back to their desks.

  Next, Mr. Wilt picked up a different set of cards and asked the second grade to come forward. He tested each grade. No one had trouble answering his questions. Not even cousin Levi. Lily was relieved that Levi hardly even stuttered when Mr. Wilt called on him.

  Next Mr. Wilt picked up a big chart and tacked it to the frame of the blackboard. “Who knows what this is?” he asked.

  Lily looked carefully at the chart. There were pictures of monkeys and odd-looking half-animal, half-people. At the end of the chart were real people. She didn’t know what the chart was supposed to be. Neither did anyone else.

  “This chart shows how evolution works,” Mr. Wilt said.

  Lily didn’t know what evolution was, but it sure made Teacher Katie mad. She jumped to her feet, outraged. “We do not teach evolution in our school!” she said.

  Mr. Wilt dismissed her with a flick of his hand. “This is required education for the state of New York. It’s important that every child learns the facts.” He turned his attention to the children. “This is how man evolved over time.” He pointed to the picture of the little monkey. “Man began looking like this, and over millions and millions of years, he has turned into a human being.” He pointed to the picture of the man.

  Lily stared at him in amazement. She had never been a monkey! She knew that God made people and God made monkeys. When God had given them baby Dannie, he had started out tiny and ugly, but everything about him had been a person. Not a monkey! Lily wished Mr. Wilt would go home.

  That evening, Lily told Papa and Mama about Mr. Wilt’s chart. Their faces grew very serious as Lily told them that Mr. Wilt said they had all started out as monkeys.

  Papa listened carefully to everything Lily said. “I think it’s time we had a meeting with the rest of the parents to see what they think we should do about Mr. Wilt dropping into school whenever he feels like and teaching our children theories we don’t believe in.”

  “Something needs to be done,” Mama said. “This is one of the reasons we don’t want our children going to public schools.” Her gentle face looked troubled.

  Lily went upstairs to get ready for bed. She wondered how the parents could get Mr. Wilt to stop dropping by Pleasant Hill School. She thought of one idea that might work. Whenever they heard the sound of Mr. Wilt’s big car roll into the driveway, they should lock the door to the schoolhouse. That would work. That would keep him out.

  Lily cringed whenever the second graders were lined up in front of the blackboard for their reading class. Levi had a stutter, and when he had to read aloud, his stutter was very apparent. Every time the second grade had their reading, Teacher Katie would get upset with Levi. She would hit him with the ruler and make him go stand in a corner. Levi’s stutter had grown worse and worse since Teacher Katie became their teacher.

  Today, it was Levi’s turn to read in front of the class. “One d-d-d-day, M-m-m-mother w-w-w-w-ent—”

  “Stop reading right now, Levi!” Teacher Katie said. “Since you are too much of a baby to read correctly, you can go sit at your desk while the rest of the class finishes the story.”

  Levi hung his head, cheeks flaming, as he walked back to his seat. Teacher Katie grabbed the trash can and followed behind him. As Levi sat down, she turned the trash can upside down on his head. Crumbled paper and shavings from pencil sharpeners fell on his lap and down to the floor. “You can sit with this trash can on your head for the rest of the day,” Teacher Katie said. “It will give you time to think about how to be a better reader so we don’t have to have a big baby in this schoolroom.”

  It wasn’t fair! Lily wanted to shout out but didn’t dare. It was wrong that Teacher Katie was mean to Levi. He couldn’t help his stutter.

  At home that evening, Lily didn’t talk very much. She couldn’t get the image of Levi, sitting with the trash can on his head, out of her mind.

  “Is something troubling you, Lily?” Mama said.

  “Yes,” Lily said. “But I don’t want to tattle.” Not like Joseph did. Little boys tattled all the time.

  “There is a difference between sharing your problems and tattling just to get someone in trouble,” Mama said. “If something is troubling you, maybe I can think of a way to fix your problem.”

  So Lily told Mama about how mean Teacher Katie was to cousin Levi. “She yells at him every time he stutters when they have reading class. And today, she dumped a trash can on his head and made him sit with the trash can for the rest of the day.”

  For a very long time, Mama didn’t say anything. Lily could tell that she wasn’t happy to hear of what was going on at school. Finally, she took a deep breath. “We will have to pray for Teacher Katie.”

  After Lily went to bed that evening, she could hear Papa and Mama talking in the kitchen. When she heard her name mentioned, she sat up in bed and strained to listen. They were saying something about school and Teacher Katie.

  The next morning, Mama took Lily to school, just like she usually did. But this time, she tied Jim to a tree and went into the schoolhouse with her. In a very cheerful voice, she told Teacher Katie, “I will be visiting school this forenoon.”

  Teacher Katie set out two folding chairs in the back for Mama and Joseph and baby Dannie to sit on. Lily was happy that Mama was there. Teacher Katie was much kinder. All forenoon she didn’t yell or hit anyone. Not one single time. When Teacher Katie announced it was time to eat lunch, Mama got up to go home. Lily said goodbye to her and Joseph and Dannie and watched them drive away.

  That afternoon, Teacher Katie acted more cross than ever before. It seemed to Lily she had stuffed down all her crossness until Mama was no longer there. Then it popped out, like Dannie’s jack-in-the-box toy.

  Every day, one parent or another came to school to visit. Lily was always glad when she heard a buggy drive into the school yard and someone knock on the door. It meant someone was there to make sure Teacher Katie would not yell at them for at least part of the day.

  On the last day of school, all the families came and made a big bonfire to roast hot dogs. Mothers packed picnic lunches to eat as everyone sat around the fire. Papa helped Lily roast a hot dog over some red embers. Afterward, they toasted marshmallows. Lily liked the crunchy brown outside of the marshmallows and the sweet gooey centers. She gave Dannie a toasted marshmallow. She laughed when she saw how big his eyes became when he bit into the marshmallow. He had never tasted one!

  As everyone cleaned up to get ready to go home, the school board gave Teacher Katie a check. “Thank you for teaching our children,” the school board men said to her. “But we will not be needing you next year.”

  Lily stood quietly beside Mama and watched as everyone lined up to shake hands with Teacher Katie before she left to go to her home. Inside, Lily wanted to clap and shout for joy! Summer was here, no more school, and no more Teacher Katie!

  23


  Mama’s New Business

  Everywhere Lily looked in the kitchen there was something delicious to eat. All day long, Mama had been baking cookies, breads, and pecan tarts. Mama pulled another sheet of oatmeal raisin cookies out of the oven and lifted them carefully onto a rack on the counter to cool. Tomorrow, she told Lily, she would get up extra early to make cinnamon rolls. “And then, we’re off to town to sell all of these good treats.”

  Lily woke up to the sweet smell of cinnamon floating up the stairs. She hurried downstairs and found Papa had already hitched Jim to the buggy. He had fitted shelves in the back of the buggy and filled them with Mama’s bread and cookies. Lily helped carry pans of cinnamon rolls outside. Papa stood on a stepladder and hung signs on the sides of the buggy: FRESH BAKED GOODS.

  Mama helped Lily into the buggy and they were ready to leave. Mama didn’t let Jim trot down the driveway. It would be too bumpy. As soon as they reached the smooth asphalt road, then Mama let Jim break into a trot. When they reached the town, Mama turned onto a side street. All of the pretty houses had neatly trimmed yards and lawn ornaments in the gardens. Mama found a tree to tie Jim. She held Lily’s hand and they walked up to knock on a door.

  An older lady opened the door.

  Mama smiled at her. “Good morning. I’m selling freshly baked bread and cookies and some other baked goods.”

  The lady followed Mama and Lily out to the buggy. Her eyes went wide as she saw the delicious treats Mama had baked. “Everything looks so good, but I think I’ll only buy a loaf of bread today.” She handed Mama some money for the bread.

  “We’ll be back again next Saturday,” Mama said. After the lady went back to her house, Mama grinned at Lily. “Our first customer!” They walked to another house and knocked on the door. This lady said she didn’t need anything so they walked down the sidewalk to the next house.