A New Home for Lily Read online

  Lily took a closer look. If you didn’t pay any attention to how red and blotchy his face was, his nose and mouth were kind of sweet looking. And his tiny hands were cute, even though they were wrinkled and had creases. She had never even noticed how soft his hair was, only thin and wispy.

  Carefully, Beth handed Paul back to Mama as if she were holding spun sugar. “Thank you for letting me hold him. I’ve never held a newborn baby before.”

  After Beth went home, Lily looked more closely at baby Paul. She thought his looks might have improved since this morning. She couldn’t call him cute, but he wasn’t quite as ugly.

  Carrie Kauffman wasn’t too bad a helper, even if Effie was her cousin. Carrie liked to sing. She taught Lily a new song and helped her sing it every evening. And she washed all the dishes. Every dish! After all the evening work was done, Carrie would often play a game with Joseph and Dannie and Lily.

  All in all, there was only one thing Carrie did wrong, but it was a doozy. Every single morning she served those slimy eggs. Lily wondered how Papa could possibly eat three of them every morning. It made her gag just to think about it.

  One morning, as Lily pushed the runny egg white to the side of her plate, Papa happened to see her do it. “Eat your egg, Lily.”

  Lily stared at the egg miserably. How could she eat this awful egg? She cut into it tiny pieces, but as thin, watery egg ran along her plate, she could feel the pinprick of tears in her eyes. She couldn’t make herself take a bite of those awful things! From somewhere deep inside of her burst out, “They’re slimy and gross!”

  Oh no. Did she really say that?

  Joseph and Dannie stopped eating and looked at her. Carrie’s face went beet red. Papa cleared his throat. “That will be enough, Lily. If you don’t want your egg you can go and get ready for school.”

  Lily went upstairs to change her clothes. She felt sorry that she hurt Carrie’s feelings. What if Carrie went home and told Effie about Lily’s outburst? She would be teased about it for weeks. She could hear Effie’s squeaky voice, chanting: “Miss Slimy Eggs!” She could only imagine what Aaron Yoder would do with that particular bit of information.

  The next morning, the eggs looked different. Carrie had fried them until they were hard. Practically burnt. Lily didn’t mind. She ate all of her egg. Every bite.

  That evening, after Carrie had fallen asleep, Lily was wide awake. She went downstairs to get a drink of water. As she passed Papa and Mama’s bedroom door, she heard Papa mention Lily’s name. She tried not to listen, she knew it was wrong, but she just couldn’t help herself. “I wish Lily would have had her outburst on the very first morning,” Papa was saying to Mama. “It would have saved us from eating a lot of awful eggs.” She heard them gently chuckling with each other.

  Lily tiptoed to the kitchen to get her drink of water. So, Papa and Mama hadn’t liked those eggs either. Her feet felt light as she skipped up the stairs to go to bed.

  24

  The Quiz

  Friday afternoons were the best part of the week. Teacher Rhoda often saved a surprise for the children—a game or an art project. On this rainy Friday, she stood in front of the classroom and smiled. “We will be doing something a little different today,” she said. “I have a pile of paper here in front of me. Each one is filled with the same set of instructions. I will place one upside down on everyone’s desk from third grade on up. I don’t want you to peek at them until I say, ‘Go.’ The pupil who follows the instructions the best will get a little prize.”

  Lily glanced over at Joseph and the other first and second graders. They didn’t read well enough to take part in an important quiz like this one. She was sorry for them. She remembered how it felt to be their age. Too little for anything fun.

  Lily was glad she was in third grade. She liked to win prizes and wondered what today’s prize might be. She hoped it would be several stickers or maybe even a pretty eraser. In her mind, she reviewed the hint Teacher Rhoda had given them—to follow the instructions carefully. This would be easy. She was a careful instruction follower.

  Teacher Rhoda walked from desk to desk, laying a sheet of paper facedown on each child’s desk. Lily stared at the piece of paper on her desk. She wished she could start right away. When the last piece of paper had been handed out, Teacher Rhoda returned to her desk. The children held their pencils up in the air, ready and waiting. Teacher Rhoda looked around the room, making sure everyone was ready. “Go!”

  How exciting! The race was off and running. Lily quickly flipped her sheet over and skimmed the line at the top of the page: Read all the instructions before you begin.

  #1 Write your name in cursive at the top of the paper.

  Lily quickly wrote her name in cursive at the top of the paper. Then she looked at the next instruction.

  #2 Draw a picture of a barn on the back of this paper.

  She flipped her paper over and drew a barn. It didn’t look very pretty, but the instructions didn’t say anything about it looking pretty and she wanted to get it done fast. She was going to win that prize.

  #3 Tear the bottom right-hand corner off your paper.

  Lily quickly tore a little piece off. She could hear the sound of paper getting torn from all across the schoolroom. She wondered if Aaron Yoder would know enough to tear the right corner instead of the left one. She didn’t think he was very bright. She glanced at him and was surprised to see that he wasn’t working on the paper. He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, studying the raindrops that pelted the window, as if he had all the time in the world. He would never get the quiz done in time if he didn’t start soon. Wasn’t that just like Aaron Yoder not to care what Teacher Rhoda told him to do?

  Lily turned her attention back to her sheet of paper.

  #4 Fold your paper into an airplane.

  She quickly folded it. Grandpa Miller had taught her how to make paper airplanes. This was fun. Then she unfolded it again to see what was next.

  #5 Write your name backwards.

  The next few instructions were for some addition and subtraction problems. They tripped Lily up and slowed her down. She had to erase and do them over a few times.

  #8 Go get your hat or bonnet and place it on your head. Then sit at your desk.

  A flurry began with a hiss of whispers as the children ran to get their hats and bonnets. Lily sat back down at her desk, wanting to burst out laughing. Everyone looked so funny with a hat or bonnet on, inside! That never happened.

  Then she noticed Aaron Yoder. He was bareheaded, still at his desk, at his ease. On his face was a goofy grin.

  There were only a few instructions left to be done. Aaron would never get the paper done in time. It would serve him right not to get a prize.

  Lily came to the last instruction and her heart sank to her toes.

  #10 Now that you have read all the instructions, do only #1.

  Suddenly, she felt ridiculous, sitting there in her bonnet. Teacher Rhoda could see that she had not followed instructions. It gave her some small comfort that no one else had followed them, either. No one except for . . . Aaron Yoder.

  Teacher Rhoda asked Aaron to come forward. She opened her desk and pulled out a little wooden puzzle game. “Congratulations, Aaron,” she said as she handed it to him. “You are the only one who followed instructions.”

  Not fair! This was the best prize Teacher Rhoda had ever given out. It wasn’t fair that Aaron Yoder won it. He walked back to his desk with a smug look on his face. He strutted, as proud as a peacock.

  The problem, Lily thought, was that winning this prize would only make Aaron all the more insufferable. So not fair.

  One Saturday afternoon, Papa bought a baby calf from a neighbor. He led it into an empty stall in the barn. Lily and Dannie watched the small calf through the slats of the stall. Lily had seen plenty of calves, but never one like this one. It was a lovely golden brown, covered with white speckles. Papa said the farmer needed to get rid of it because it wasn’t a girl
calf. Lily understood the importance of girls—hadn’t she been wanting a sister for years and years?—but she felt sorry that the calf wasn’t wanted just because it was a boy. Papa and Mama would never get rid of baby Paul, even if they secretly wanted a baby girl. She was pleased that Papa rescued the calf. Papa was kind like that.

  “What will we name it?” Lily said.

  “We’ll have to discuss different ideas,” Papa said.

  Dannie put his hand through the wooden slat to pat the calf’s little head. “Let’s call it Pretzel.”

  “Pretzel?” Papa said. He was trying not to smile. “Why would you want to call him Pretzel?”

  “Because he’s the color of a pretzel and all the white specks look like salt,” Dannie said.

  Papa’s face broke into a broad smile. “That sounds like a very good reason. Pretzel it is.”

  Lily could think of so many better suggestions: Speckles. Spots. Goldie. But now the calf would be stuck with Pretzel for a name. She sighed. This was the problem with letting little boys name things. They came up with ridiculous names.

  Each evening, Papa milked Pansy and poured the milk into a pail. He added some of her milk to Pretzel’s pail to feed him. He set Pansy’s pail down and held the pail for Pretzel. Lily watched as Pretzel slurped his mixed milk noisily out of his pail. His tail was twitching happily the whole time. It looked like fun. “Can I hold the pail for Pretzel?”

  Papa let Lily hold the pail. “Make sure you hold it tight. When the pail is almost empty, calves like to bump their heads against it hard. They think it will make more milk appear.”

  Lily held the pail firmly with both hands. The milk disappeared as Pretzel slurped. He had almost buried his entire nose in the milk. Lily wondered how he could breathe like that. Papa, satisfied that Lily was holding the pail tightly, went to spread straw in Jim’s stall.

  Finally, there was only a little bit of milk left. Lily tipped the pail to help the calf get to it. Pretzel bumped the pail with his head as hard as he could. Lily went flying backwards and landed with a splash right in the pail of Pansy’s milk that was waiting to be taken into the house.

  Papa heard the kersplash! and stopped to see what had happened. He helped Lily stand up and looked her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Then, he started laughing. He laughed so hard that he had tears running down his cheeks. Lily didn’t think it was very funny. Her dress was soaking wet. Warm, sticky milk was running down her legs, making a puddle by her feet.

  Papa wiped his face with his hands. “I’ll clean up here. Run into the house and get changed.”

  Lily ran into the house, her long wet skirt slapping at her legs. Lily wondered how one little calf could be so strong. Tomorrow she would let Papa hold the pail to feed Pretzel. She was done with boy calves.

  25

  Papa and the Lightning Rods

  Saturday was a dry, sunny, chilly day. Papa came in from the barn and found Mama in the kitchen. “I think I’ll try climbing up on the roof and take those lightning rods off the peak before we get a serious snowstorm.”

  Lily was disappointed. “Why can’t they stay on the roof? They aren’t in anybody’s way.” She had always thought those lightning rods were the only pretty thing on their ugly olive green house. The long rods stuck up high in the sky with funny green balls on the top. She imagined that they looked like a steeple on an English church house. Maybe God would think their home was an extra special place.

  “They might not be in our way,” Papa said. “But we trust in God to protect us during thunderstorms, not in lightning rods. So we need to take them down.”

  After lunch, Papa went to get his ladder. He propped it outside the kitchen wall and climbed up on the roof. Lily watched the ladder disappear as Papa pulled it up onto the roof. She listened to his footsteps as he walked across the roof and propped the ladder against the attic roof. The ladder made funny creaking noises as he climbed. Then there was silence.

  Lily helped Mama wash and dry the lunch dishes. Mama fixed a bowl of lukewarm water and sprinkled some baking soda into it. She swished it around with her hand until all the baking soda was dissolved. She stuck her elbow into the water. Mama said if she couldn’t feel the water with her elbow, then she knew it was just the right temperature for baby Paul’s bath.

  Mama spread out a blanket on the countertop and put a towel on top of that. She laid Paul on it while she undressed him for his bath. Lily pushed the sleeve on her dress up as far as she could and stuck her elbow into the water to test it. How strange! Her elbow was wet, but she couldn’t feel the water.

  Mama carefully placed baby Paul into the water. He kicked and wiggled and waved his little starfish fingers. He liked taking baths. It was one of the few times of the day that Paul didn’t cry. He was a wailer, especially in the evening. His face would turn bright red and he would stiffen his little body and let out window-rattling yells. Lily and Joseph and Dannie would run upstairs whenever the baby pitched his fits.

  But bath time was a nice time with baby Paul. Mama took time to make sure he was clean and sweet smelling.

  Suddenly, there was a loud thump on the roof, then a strange sliding, scraping sound. Lily looked out the window to see Papa fall to the ground.

  Then there was silence. Mama and Lily stood frozen for a moment that felt far longer.

  Mama wrapped the baby in his blanket and handed him to Lily. “Sit in the rocking chair with him until I come back,” she said. Her voice sounded strange to Lily: firm but frightened.

  Lily wished she could run out to Papa and see if he was hurt. She hoped baby Paul wouldn’t start his hollering. She could hear Mama’s voice through the window, but she didn’t hear Papa’s voice answer back.

  Not much later, the door opened and in walked Papa, holding onto Mama. Papa’s face looked pale and tight. “I’ll be fine, Lily,” he said. “I think I’ll just go lie down for a little while.” Mama helped him to their bedroom and onto the bed. Papa never went to bed in the middle of the day.

  When Mama came back to the kitchen, she took Paul from Lily and started to dress him. Her face looked worried, which made Lily feel worried too. What if Papa was hurt more than he had wanted her to know? Papa never complained. Never.

  When it was time to do chores, Mama asked Lily to stay in the house and keep an eye on baby Paul while she milked Pansy and the goats. It worried Lily even more that Papa stayed in bed instead of doing the chores. Maybe tomorrow, he would be all better.

  But the next day, Papa still stayed in bed. And the next, and the next. He didn’t go to his carpentry job. The only time he got out of bed was when Grandpa Miller came by to take him to the doctor. They were gone a very long time, and when Papa came back, his face looked white and strained. The outing had exhausted him. Grandpa spoke quietly to Mama about what the doctor had said. Lily tried to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t make out what Grandpa was saying. Each day, she could feel the worry in the house spike up a notch. What if Papa never got better?

  Mama looked tired. She had to do Papa’s chores on top of her daily chores. Grandpa Miller and Uncle Jacob stopped by as often as they could to help, but they couldn’t come every day. Lily and Joseph did all they could, but much of the work was too difficult for them. Mama had to milk Pansy and the nanny goats. Twice a day, Mama came in from the barn and told Papa they should sell those goats.

  Lily couldn’t help but think that Papa wouldn’t have gotten hurt if they had stayed in New York. Their house at Singing Tree Farm didn’t have lightning rods.

  But if Papa had ever gotten hurt at Singing Tree Farm, the church in New York would have helped them more than this church did. She was sure of it. Sometimes, Lily thought that everybody in this church was as snooty as Effie Kauffman. Everybody except for Beth. And Malinda. And Teacher Rhoda. And Marvin Yoder. Otherwise, everything and everybody was better in New York. They should never have left. She made the mistake of complaining to Grandma Miller and was silenced with a look. Grandma didn’t tolerate any whining.


  One afternoon, Lily and Joseph came home from school and there was Papa, in Mama’s rocking chair, rocking baby Paul by the kitchen stove. He was out of bed, at last! Little by little, day by day, he was able to do more and more. He did some exercises that the doctor had given to him. Mama would warm towels in the oven and wrap them around Papa’s back. He had a funny limp when he walked. Lily thought Papa walked like Great-Grandma used to walk, before she had her stroke.

  But Lily could see that Papa was feeling much better. Once, she even heard him whistle. She loved Papa’s whistle. To Lily it meant all was well.

  One evening, just as the family sat down to the supper table, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Slowly and carefully, Papa eased out of his chair to see who was at the door. She craned her neck to see and saw a stranger. The man’s voice was so low and quiet that Lily couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  When he left, Papa came back to the table with a broad grin on his face. “I don’t think you could ever guess what that was all about.” He couldn’t stop grinning.

  “Well, tell us, Daniel,” Mama said as she spooned some peas onto Dannie’s plate.

  Papa took his time answering. “I don’t know the man, never even heard of him before. He had never heard of us either.” He buttered some bread, still smiling.

  Now Joseph, who never stopped eating, suspended his fork in the air. “What did he want, Papa?” He shoveled the forkful of food in his mouth.

  They were all watching Papa now. Even baby Paul was cooing in his bassinet. Something good had just happened and they couldn’t tell what.

  “When I answered the door to the man, he told me that he had a hip replacement this summer and wasn’t able to walk up and down his basement stairs to fire his coal furnace this winter. He said he installed an electric furnace so he has heat, but . . .” Papa stopped to take a bite of bread.