A New Home for Lily Read online

  Lily scrambled out of bed and hurried to dress. She could hear Papa talking to Joseph and Dannie in the next room, trying to wake them up. He helped them get dressed and ushered them down to the kitchen where Lily was waiting. Papa handed them their thin coats and told them to be good while they were at Grandma and Grandpa Miller’s. He helped them out the door, waved goodbye, and closed the door behind him.

  Lily, Joseph, and Dannie stood on the porch, wondering what in the world was going on. Why didn’t Papa want them to stay at home on a Saturday morning?

  A wisp of a memory floated through Lily’s mind. There had been another time, back in New York, when Papa had woken her up in the night and taken her to stay at Grandpa and Grandma Miller’s. When she returned home, she discovered that God had brought baby Dannie to Mama. Maybe . . . maybe that’s what was going on! God was bringing them another baby today. How exciting! And this time, Lily was sure He would bring a baby girl. He knew she needed a sister much, much more than she needed another brother. After all, God knew everything.

  Lily tucked the note Papa had given to her into her pocket. She took Dannie’s hand as they made their way down the porch steps and started walking slowly up the road. Faint pink streaks tinted the eastern sky. The gray dawn was starting to look a little more cheerful. A baby girl was getting delivered to their house today!

  She tugged at Dannie’s hand. “Let’s walk a little faster.”

  When they arrived at Grandpa and Grandma Miller’s, everything was quiet. Only the soft glow of an oil lamp showed faintly through the kitchen window. Lily knocked on the door. Knocked and knocked, a little louder each time. Finally, Grandpa opened the door. Grandma was behind him and invited them inside. She read the note that Lily handed to her. Lily hoped Grandma would tell her what was written on the note. Was God on His way with a baby sister? Oh, she hoped so! But Grandma didn’t say a word. She simply folded the note and put it into her pocket. Her eyes twinkled, though. Lily took that as a good sign.

  She started to think up names for her baby sister. Priscilla would be her first choice. Or maybe Isabel. She had never heard of Amish girls with those names, but she thought they were pretty names. She wondered what her baby sister would look like. She hoped she would have ringlets of red hair. Or maybe blonde. Either one. Just not mousy brown, like Lily’s own hair.

  And maybe she would have snapping green eyes. Big pink cheeks. Oh, wasn’t it going to be wonderful to meet her baby sister today? This was the best day of Lily’s life. The best one ever.

  Grandma was already bustling around in the kitchen. Joseph and Dannie were hungry now and eagerly watched her break eggs into a bowl. “Looks like I will have helpers to make breakfast this morning,” Grandma said.

  Lily took Grandma’s hint and started to set the table. It seemed strange to be at Grandma’s home so early in the morning. Strange, but nice.

  Lily handed Joseph and Dannie the silverware to place next to the plates. She went into the living room to find some of their favorite toys to play with while they waited for breakfast to get ready.

  Grandpa came in from feeding his horse in the barn. He washed up at the sink, then sat in his creaky rocking chair. He took a piece of paper from the little table next to his chair and folded it into an airplane. The paper airplane sailed in the air and landed at Joseph’s feet. Dannie’s eyes were glued on the airplane as Joseph picked it up and sailed it back. He had never seen such a thing. “Looks like we need more than one airplane,” Grandpa said.

  Soon, the living room was filled with paper airplanes, soaring through the sky. Aunt Susie came downstairs and wanted to play too, so Grandpa made one more. They laughed and laughed, until Dannie sent his airplane sailing again. This time, it got stuck in Grandpa’s thick, wavy white hair. Grandpa pretended he had been hurt and he slid off the rocking chair and onto the floor, as if he were dead. As Dannie rushed to his side, Grandpa let out a roar and everyone squealed in laughter. They helped Grandpa get to his feet just as Grandma came into the room, shaking her head at the loud noises. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Breakfast is ready, if you think you can all act your age.”

  Grandpa reached for his little black prayer book on the table as everyone found a place to kneel. Lily loved to listen to Grandpa’s deep, rumbling voice as he read the prayer out loud. She tried not to think about that airplane stuck in his hair—but it was so funny! Each time she thought of it, she felt a giggle start in her belly. Oh, and wouldn’t it be awful if she burst out giggling in the middle of Grandpa’s solemn prayer? She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

  After breakfast, Uncle Jacob walked up the driveway and Grandpa went outside to join him. They had a lot of work to do in the sawmill, and Lily knew she wouldn’t see Grandpa until the end of the day. He was firm about that rule: no grandchildren were allowed near the sawmill. Lily knew that rule was given because of Joseph and Dannie. They were curious boys. Knowing them, they would try to saw wood when Grandpa was busy and end up cutting off their little fingers. Too dangerous.

  Lily helped Grandma and Aunt Susie with Saturday cleaning while Joseph and Dannie played with wooden blocks and toy animals. Lily thought the boys should help too. Grandma seemed to think they would be a bigger help by playing instead of getting in her way while she worked. That made no sense to Lily. No sense at all.

  By noon, the cleaning was done. Grandma said that Lily and Aunt Susie could have the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted to do—as long as they stayed away from the sawmill. Aunt Susie ran to find coloring books and dolls. Lily glanced at the clock. Why hadn’t Papa come back by now? Maybe God was running behind on His delivery schedule today. After all, heaven was far, far away.

  It was late afternoon before Papa drove up the driveway. Lily rushed out the door to meet him as he climbed out of the buggy and hitched Jim’s reins to the rack. She had to know! “Did God bring us another baby?”

  Papa was grinning from ear to ear. “He sure did!”

  “A girl baby?” Lily just had to know.

  “No. Another little boy. We named him Paul.”

  Lily was shocked. Thoroughly shocked. She had been confident that God would bring them a baby girl. He brought baby girls to a lot of other people. Why not to them? Disappointment covered her like a heavy blanket.

  Papa didn’t notice. He was already up the porch stairs, talking to Grandma. Joseph and Dannie were getting their coats on. She knew she shouldn’t be so sad about this new baby brother. Her friend Beth would love to have a baby in her family—even if it was a boy.

  Maybe having a baby brother wouldn’t be so bad. Still, Lily had prayed for a baby sister. But maybe God was out of baby girls and that’s why He didn’t bring them a girl. Maybe, if she prayed hard enough, God would save a baby girl for her. With that thought, Lily cheered up. She hurried to find her bonnet and coat. She might as well go home and see the new baby.

  Papa asked Grandma if she would come back with them to stay with Mama for a little while. He was going to pick up a girl who would help Mama for several weeks.

  Another worry. What if the helper turned out to be like the helper who came after Dannie had been delivered? Lily hadn’t thought about cross Frieda Troyer in a long, long time. What if the helper was Frieda Troyer, all the way from New York? Oh, this was terrible news to Lily. Two disappointments in one day. It was too much to bear.

  Grandma plucked her bonnet and shawl off the wall peg and soon they were on their way. When they reached home, Papa tied Jim to the hitching rack and went inside with them. Everyone went to the bedroom where Mama was lying in bed. She looked very tired and very happy. Right beside her was a little bundle, wrapped in a blanket. Lily could see some wispy black hair and wrinkled red skin.

  No. Oh no. Not another ugly baby!

  Papa picked the baby up and placed him in Lily’s arms. He was the ugliest baby she had ever seen—even uglier than Dannie had been. Red and wrinkled and blotchy. And he was squalling. He was a squalling, ugly baby. She qui
ckly handed the baby back to Papa and ran upstairs to her room. She flopped on her bed and started to cry. It wasn’t fair!

  She had wanted a beautiful little baby girl with long red ringlets—not a red, wrinkled baby boy with black wispy hair. And Papa and Mama gave the ugly baby a horrible name. What kind of name was that for a baby? And he was so especially ugly!

  Lily heard Papa leave in the buggy. She sat up and peeped out the window. She saw that Joseph and Dannie were going with Papa to get the helper.

  Joseph and Dannie were lucky to be boys. They didn’t mind that the baby wasn’t a girl. They didn’t care what his name was or what he looked like. And on top of that, they got to go on an errand with Papa and meet the new helper before Lily did.

  Lily buried her face in her pillow, weeping. The day had started out so nicely, so filled with hope, and it had ended so badly. Every hope was dashed. She felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She lifted her head and saw Grandma by her bed.

  Gently, Grandma asked, “Lily, what’s wrong?”

  Lily wiped away her tears and sat up to face Grandma. “I never wanted a baby brother!” she blurted out. Soon, everything else poured out too. “And he’s ugly! Paul is a terrible name for a baby. I wanted a baby sister . . . and instead, I have an ugly baby brother with a horrible name.” Was it asking so much to have one of these little babies be a girl? That was the worst disappointment of all.

  Grandma listened patiently. She didn’t seem to be shocked or horrified by what Lily confessed. She even smiled. “All newborn babies look a little funny. He’ll start looking better in a few days. And you’ll learn to like the name Paul. It’s a good name for a little boy. He’s going to need you and love you in a special way, you know. You’re the only sister he has.” Grandma rose to her feet. “Why don’t you go wash your face and then come downstairs and help me start supper?”

  Lily went into the bathroom and washed her face. She hoped Grandma was right—that Paul would stop being so ugly soon. She was terribly disappointed that he wasn’t a girl, but maybe having a baby in the house would be fun. It was nice to think that Paul might need her and love her in a special way. She hadn’t thought about the fact that she was Paul’s only sister. Dannie and Joseph’s too, but they needed reminding of that. Like she often did, Grandma turned everything around. Lily dried off her face and hurried to the kitchen.

  23

  Slippery Eggs

  Lily woke up early, confused. Why was she on the floor instead of in her nice warm bed? Then she remembered. Yesterday, Mama had a baby. Carrie Kauffman had moved in to be Mama’s helper for several weeks. She was sharing Lily’s hallway bedroom. In fact, she was sleeping in Lily’s bed. That’s why Lily was on the floor in a nest bed.

  Lily felt worried about having Effie Kauffman’s older cousin stay with them. She didn’t know Carrie very well and she hoped she would be much nicer than Effie. She hoped she would be less nosy and tattletale-ish than her aunt Ida. Otherwise, it was going to be a very long six weeks.

  A horrible alarm went off on the dresser next to Lily’s bed. Carrie jumped up to shut off the alarm clock. That, Lily decided, was a bad sign. The first bad sign of Carrie Kauffman. Lily did not like having an alarm clock in her bedroom. It was hard enough to have two noisy brothers right through the door. She would prefer to have Papa or Mama wake her up in their gentle way instead of a shrieking alarm.

  Lily pretended to be asleep while Carrie dressed and went downstairs. She thought about staying asleep as long as she could, but then she changed her mind. She quickly got up and slipped into her everyday dress. She was going to go see what Carrie was up to. After Dannie had been born, Frieda Troyer came, and she rearranged everything in Mama’s kitchen. That was no help at all. After Frieda Troyer left, Mama and Lily put everything back in its place.

  When Lily came into the kitchen, she saw Carrie try to poke at the last few red embers in the bottom of the stove to coax them to burn. Lily quickly ran to the basement and brought an armful of kindling for her. Maybe, Lily reasoned, if she helped with extra chores, then Carrie could go home sooner.

  Carrie thanked Lily as she took the kindling from her and added it to the stove. She blew gently until a little flame started growing, then closed the stove lid. “Lily, what would you like for breakfast this morning?”

  “Mama makes porridge every morning,” Lily said. “And everyone has one egg except for Papa. He gets three eggs.”

  Lily got the eggs from the pantry and showed Carrie where to find the pot to make the porridge. She set the table as Carrie stirred the porridge. Lily kept one eye on her, just in case she was thinking about rearranging cupboards. So far, so good.

  Soon, Lily heard the basement door creak open. Papa was coming in from doing chores in the barn. She ran down the basement stairs to meet him. “Good morning, early bird,” Papa said in his cheerful way. He sat down to pull off his boots. “What made you get up so early?”

  “I got up to make sure Carrie doesn’t try to rearrange Mama’s kitchen.”

  Papa pulled one boot off. He glanced at Lily. “While Carrie is here, I want you to be kind and polite to her. Even if she does things a little differently than the way we’re used to.” He pulled the other boot off. “Okay?”

  Lily nodded. She didn’t think that was the best plan, but she would try to be quiet even if Carrie did things wrong. For Papa’s sake. Then she brightened. If she were extra nice, then maybe Carrie would go home and tell Effie what a wonderful girl Lily was. Then, maybe Effie would be nicer to Lily in school. It was worth a try.

  Papa went up the stairs with the pail of Pansy’s fresh sweet milk. Lily followed behind him. He set the pail on the rug inside the door. “Go get a jar and show Carrie how to strain the milk.”

  As Lily went back down the basement stairs, she pondered how confusing grown-ups could be. Papa had just told her not to worry about how Carrie did the chores. Next thing, he told Lily to teach Carrie how to strain the milk.

  After the milk was strained and safely stored in the refrigerator, Carrie started to prepare eggs. Lily watched as she broke them directly into the frying pan. She had to blink a few times as she saw Carrie pour a glass of water into the pan and cover them up with a lid. This was another bad sign. Sign #2. Mama never made eggs like that.

  When the eggs were ready, everybody sat at the table to eat. All but Mama. Meals were delivered to her in bed. Papa bowed his head to ask a silent blessing. Before Papa raised his head to signal the end of the prayer, Lily quietly added, “Dear God, please help me eat those eggs.”

  Papa reached for the platter of eggs and slid three onto his plate. He passed the platter to Lily. She felt her stomach do a flip-flop. The eggs didn’t look like anything she wanted to eat. The slightest movement of the platter made them jiggle all over. They were slippery eggs. She chose the least jiggly egg and let it slip onto her plate. She dipped a piece of bread into the yolk and ate it. Then she cut bravely into the egg white. It was still runny. Lily tried to keep from gagging, right there at the table. She pushed the jiggly egg to the very side of her plate and hoped Papa wouldn’t notice it. Even porridge sounded better than this slimy, yucky egg, and she hated porridge.

  As soon as breakfast was over and Carrie’s attention turned to filling the sink with soapy water, Lily quietly scraped her leftover egg into the slop pail. The cats could eat that awful thing.

  Carrie was humming to herself as she washed dishes. Maybe Carrie would wash the dishes while she was here. As long as Carrie didn’t ask Lily to help, it wouldn’t be wrong not to offer. Besides, Carrie seemed to enjoy washing dishes. Aunt Susie loved to wash dishes. Maybe Lily was doing a nice thing for Carrie—letting her do all the dishes.

  This was a good sign. The first good sign.

  On Monday morning, Lily was in a hurry to rush through the breakfast of slimy eggs. She couldn’t wait to get to school and tell everyone they had a new baby at their house. She decided she wouldn’t tell her friends that baby Paul was so ugly. The
y didn’t need to know. In time, Grandma Miller had said, his looks might improve. Lily hoped so. After two days, Paul was still the ugliest baby she had ever seen.

  Lily changed into her school clothes and ran down the stairs to get her lunch box. Carrie had not packed their lunches. Bad sign #3. Quickly, Lily spread some butter and jam on several pieces of bread and filled a bowl with canned pears. She put everything in their lunch boxes and shut the lids. There was no time to waste. Not today.

  By the time Lily and Joseph arrived at school, most of the other children were already there. Effie was in a corner of the schoolroom, surrounded by the other third grade girls. Lily quickly hung her bonnet on a hook and went to join them. She could hardly wait! It wasn’t every day that she had exciting news. In fact, today was the first time ever.

  Beth smiled as Lily joined the circle. “I’m so happy to hear about your new baby.”

  Lily stopped abruptly. Her excitement popped like a balloon. “But . . . how did you know?”

  “Effie told us,” Beth said.

  Effie. Since her cousin Carrie was the Lapps’ helper, Effie would have found out about the baby. And if Effie had news to tell, she would tell it. Another reason why having Carrie Kauffman as the helper was not a good idea. Bad sign #4.

  “Can I stop in on the way home from school and see the baby?” Beth said.

  “Oh yes!” Lily said. At least she could be the one to show the baby to Beth first. Effie couldn’t do that.

  After school that day, Beth and Lily walked home together. Lily quickly ran to Mama’s bedroom. “Beth is here and would like to see the baby.”

  Mama smiled. She still looked tired. “Tell her she can come in.”

  Lily motioned to Beth. She quietly came into the bedroom. Mama handed baby Paul to her. Lily cringed. With all the excitement, she had forgotten to warn Beth that Paul was red and wrinkly and ugly. But Beth didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were circles of astonishment as she cradled him in her arms. “Look at his tiny nose and mouth,” she said softly. “And his cute little hands and his soft hair.”