Life with Lily Page 14

  Mama gently shook Lily’s shoulder. “Wake up, wake up. It’s time to get off the bus.”

  Lily popped her head up to look out the window. The sun shone brightly. She scrambled to her feet and followed Mama down the aisle. This bus station was even bigger than the last one. There were people everywhere, walking fast, talking fast, coming and going. They had a short wait until the next bus arrived to take them to Kentucky. Lily scooted closer to Mama on the bench. She liked watching everything around her. They ate their sandwiches and drank some of the water from the water jug. It wasn’t very cold any longer. Lily wished Papa would go to one of those wonderful machines and get a cold drink or a snack like the other people were doing.

  When the next bus came, Papa quickly guided them to stand in line for the bus driver. Lily held on to Mama’s skirt. She was afraid that someone might bump her and she would get lost in the crowd. Maybe the bus would leave and she would be forgotten. She might never see her family again. Oh, what a dreadful thought!

  As they stood in line for the bus, Papa took Dannie out of Mama’s arms. He looked around him. “Where is Joseph?”

  Mama’s eyes went wide. She looked behind her. “He was right here! He was holding a suitcase!” Her face looked tight and pale.

  Lily started to cry. They couldn’t go and leave Joseph alone in this big scary place. He was just a little boy! He would never find his way home. Papa told Mama to get on the bus while he went into the station to look for Joseph. Mama watched Papa go. Suddenly, Lily saw Joseph! He was already in the bus and waved to them from a window. She pulled on Mama’s sleeve and pointed to Joseph. Lily watched as Joseph climbed down the steps of the bus and ran to them.

  “Why didn’t you come?” Joseph said. “I was waiting for you!”

  Papa saw Joseph run to Mama. He hurried to join them. “We have to stay in line, Joseph, and stay together.” Papa and Mama exchanged a look of relief. “Next time, keep hold of the suitcase. We don’t want to lose our little boy.”

  Lily was relieved when they were sitting on the bus, all together. The next time they would get off, Grandpa and Grandma Lapp would be waiting to meet them.

  It was nearly dinnertime when the bus pulled into the station in Kentucky. From the window, Lily saw her grandparents. Hurry, hurry, hurry! she wanted to tell the people in the aisle. My grandmother is waiting for me! But the line moved so slowly.

  Finally, Lily jumped down the bottom step of the bus and into Grandma Lapp’s arms. “My, my! How you’ve grown!” Grandma Lapp stepped back to look Lily over. She patted her head. “You must be getting to be a good helper for your mama.”

  “She is a very good helper,” Mama said. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

  Lily felt so pleased!

  “I guess that means you won’t want to leave her with us when you go home,” Grandpa said, eyes twinkling, but Lily knew he was only teasing. He liked to tease. He led them to a big white van that was waiting to take them to their house.

  The farm at Grandma and Grandpa Lapp’s looked just the way Lily remembered. They lived in a cute little white house with a porch. It was connected to a big farmhouse where Uncle Ira and Aunt Tillie lived with their eight children. Lily looked forward to playing with her cousins while they were there.

  Grandma and Mama began to make supper while Papa and Joseph went out to the barn to help Grandpa feed the horses. Lily wished she could help make supper or at least set the table with Grandma’s pretty dishes. She wanted to show Grandma what a big helper she was, but Dannie was acting bashful. He was clinging to Mama, so she asked Lily to play with him while they cooked.

  Grandpa and Papa came back inside and sat in the living room to visit until supper was ready. Lily asked Joseph to play with Dannie and went to the kitchen to see if Grandma had something for her to do to help get supper ready. She was getting hungry.

  Grandma handed Lily a big yellow flashlight. “You can go down to the basement and fetch a jar of peaches.”

  Oh. Lily had hoped she could stay in the kitchen with Grandma and Mama. Grandma’s basement was dark and spooky and had a funny musty smell. Cautiously, she tiptoed down the stairs. There were no windows. The light from her flashlight wasn’t very bright. Lily was sure the batteries were almost dead. She hoped the flashlight wouldn’t go out completely before she found the peaches and made it safely back upstairs to the sunny kitchen.

  She shined the flashlight over the shelves. Peaches! She grabbed the jar just as something cold and funny and wet and alive touched her bare foot. She flashed the light on her toes and gasped in fright. A big ugly toad hopped away. She dropped the jar of peaches and it shattered. Lily raced up the stairs and into the kitchen.

  Grandma had heard the crash and met her at the door. “What’s wrong? What happened? Couldn’t you find the peaches?”

  “I found the peaches,” Lily said. She felt embarrassed. “I dropped the jar when a toad hopped on my foot.”

  Mama put a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Do you have something I can use to clean up her mess?”

  “There’s an old broom and dustpan beside the staircase,” Grandma said. “And you might want to keep your eyes open for frogs while you’re down there. They seem to like our basement, though I sure can’t figure out where they get in.”

  This visit wasn’t going well. She had wanted to show Grandma what a good helper she was but had only made more work when she dropped the peach jar. She had wanted Grandma to see how big and grown-up Dannie was getting, but Dannie was acting shy. He buried his head into Mama’s lap so no one could see him. During dinner, he didn’t even want to taste Grandma’s good food. Lily looked down at her plate. She wasn’t very hungry either.

  25

  Aunt Tillie and the Pow-Wow Doctor

  The next morning was warm and sunny. After breakfast, Lily and Joseph ran outside to play with their cousins. There was a swing tied to the limb of a tall oak tree and they took turns pushing each other on the swing. Lily noticed a big sandbox with a blue shingled roof that looked like a wishing well. Dannie loved to play in sandboxes! She ran inside to get him, but he refused to leave Mama’s side.

  Aunt Tillie, gaunt and long-necked as a sandhill crane, frowned as she observed Dannie’s reluctance. “There must be something wrong with that boy,” she said. “There is a good Pow-Wow doctor in our church district. I’m sure she would be able to cure him. I’ll ask Ira to fetch her.”

  A troubled look crossed Mama’s face. “No. Dannie is just a little shy. Once he gets used to everyone he’ll come out of his shell and chatter away and play with everyone.” She stroked Dannie’s hair off of his forehead. More firmly, she added, “Besides, we don’t want anything to do with a Pow-Wow doctor.”

  “Well, why ever not?” Aunt Tillie looked the very picture of astonishment. “It’s one of the best ways to cure folks. It’s cheap, it works, and the Pow-Wow doctor chants Bible verses. It’s the biggest favor you could do for your children.”

  Again, Mama said no, as politely as she could. Aunt Tillie didn’t look happy. She could be a little bossy. As Lily went back out to play with her cousins, she wondered about the Pow-Wow doctor. She had never met a Pow-Wow doctor before and, by the way Mama sounded, wasn’t sure she ever wanted to.

  A little later that morning, Grandpa had a surprise. He had hired a driver so Lily’s mother could visit some of their friends in the community. Aunt Tillie and Grandma wanted to come too, so they all piled into the van. Lily wished she could have stayed at the farmhouse to play with her cousins. Instead, she was stuck in a hot van, stopping at people’s houses so the women could chat for half an hour. Then it would start all over again as they went to visit someone else.

  It was an altogether boring morning until they stopped at an Amish store. Now Lily was glad she had come along. There were so many pretty things to see in the shop. Grandma pressed some money into her hand to go buy something for herself. Lily walked up and down the aisles, looking everything over. Should she buy a new co
loring book? Or a toy? So many choices!

  As Lily turned the corner, her breath caught. All along the shelves were the most beautiful oil lamps. Never in her life had she seen such beautiful lamps. Big pink ones with frilly-looking shades that covered the glass chimney. Blue and green ones, tall ones, short ones, some with flowers and some were plain. How could she possibly choose one? Then she saw the perfect lamp. It was white with dainty little pink flowers painted on the bowl. The chimney was a milky white and all along the top were little scallops.

  Lily found Grandma in the fabric section. She tugged on her sleeve and whispered, “I think I found what I would like to buy.”

  Grandma followed her to the aisle with the lamps. Lily pointed to the little white one. Grandma got it down carefully and handed it to her. “This is a fine choice, Lily. It will be something that you can use for many years.” She bent over. “And it’s very pretty too.”

  Slowly and carefully, Lily carried the lamp to the counter. She handed money to the cashier, who counted out the money and gave change back to Lily. She tried to give the change to Grandma.

  “You keep it, Lily,” Grandma said.

  Lily put the change into her pocket. The day had flip-flopped, from boring to happy. She had a new oil lamp, and some change in her pocket too.

  After they had finished shopping, Aunt Tillie announced that it was time to head home. She had invited a friend over for lunch.

  As the van turned into the driveway to the farmhouse, Lily could see a horse and buggy tied to the hitching rail. Aunt Tillie’s friend was already at the house. As soon as the van came to a stop, Aunt Tillie hurried to the house. Mama and Grandma and Lily carried their purchases into the little house. Then they walked over to the big house to help Aunt Tillie with lunch and meet her friend.

  In the living room sat Aunt Tillie’s friend, an older woman, at least forty. Lily thought it was strange that this woman didn’t help prepare lunch in the kitchen with the others. Instead, she sat on a rocking chair and watched the children play. She pulled a bag of candy out of her pocket and offered it to the children. Everyone lined up to get a piece. Lily ran to get Dannie from Mama and take him to get a piece of candy. Candy was a rare treat and she didn’t want him to miss out, but Dannie refused to accept candy from the woman. Lily took two pieces and gave him one. She was helping Dannie open the wrapper when the woman scooped him up in her arms.

  Dannie squirmed and wiggled to try to get off the woman’s lap, but she held on to him firmly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of red cloth. Then she rolled up Dannie’s pant legs and started rubbing the cloth all over his legs. She muttered words that Lily couldn’t understand.

  Lily hurried to the kitchen to find Mama. “That woman is doing weird things to Dannie in the living room,” she whispered in her ear.

  Mama dropped the lettuce into the bowl, wiped her hands on her apron, and marched into the living room. She didn’t even stop to see what was going on but snatched Dannie off the woman’s lap. The woman didn’t seem at all bothered by Mama’s abruptness. In fact, she seemed pleased with herself.

  But Mama was upset. She went straight to Aunt Tillie in the kitchen with Dannie in her arms. “I thought we had made it clear we don’t want anything to do with a Pow-Wow doctor!”

  Lily shivered. She had never heard Mama talk to anyone in such a cross voice. Not even Joseph when he was in trouble.

  Aunt Tillie stood there still as stone. “Dannie needed help and you weren’t helping him. So I asked Lizzie to come Pow-Wow for him. And I’m not sorry that I did.”

  Grandma blew a puff of air out of her mouth. “Oh, Tillie,” she said quietly, but she knew not to say more. Aunt Tillie wasn’t one to confront.

  Everything felt odd after that, stiff and uncomfortable. The Pow-Wow doctor decided not to stay to eat with them. After she left, Mama and Tillie and Grandma worked quietly in the kitchen. Lily’s stomach twisted into a knot.

  Lunch was finally ready. As everyone gathered at the table and bowed their heads for a silent prayer, a loud “POP!” sound blew out of the stove. Aunt Tillie rose from the table and sailed to the kitchen. She opened the stove’s ash drawer and pulled out the red cloth that the Pow-Wow doctor had rubbed on Dannie’s leg. It was wrapped around an egg. The pop they had heard was the sound of the egg breaking open.

  Aunt Tillie looked triumphant. “Dannie is cured!”

  Lily was all eyes, shifting around to see until Mama laid a calming hand on her.

  Papa was puzzled. “What do you mean, Dannie is cured? There was nothing wrong with him in the first place.”

  Aunt Tillie hooked her hands on her hips. “You can’t tell me that there is nothing wrong with a child who wants to hide instead of eating, and doesn’t want to play with other children.” She folded her arms against her chest. “So I asked Lizzie to come Pow-Wow for him.”

  Papa jumped up from his chair. “You did what?!” He was livid!

  Aunt Tillie lifted her chin. “I asked Lizzie to come Pow-Wow for him.”

  “Oh, Tillie,” Uncle Ira said quietly. “You shouldn’t have done that. You knew they don’t like Pow-Wowing.”

  “You had no right getting someone to practice Pow-Wowing on our son.” Papa picked Dannie up from his chair. He glanced at Mama. “Rachel, we should go.”

  Lily and Joseph bolted from their chairs and followed Mama and Papa over to Grandpa and Grandma’s house. A moment later, Lily’s grandparents came into the house.

  Papa sat at the kitchen table and steepled his fingers together, as if in prayer. He was quiet for a long moment. “To ask someone to heal you in ways other than using medicine or prayer is wrong,” he said. “We believe Pow-Wowing is a form of witchcraft. It’s filled with superstitions and mumbo-jumbo. It’s not something any Christian should practice or allow to be practiced.”

  Grandma and Grandpa apologized that Aunt Tillie had gone against Mama and Papa’s wishes. Lily was so happy that the upset was over. It felt like a dark thunderstorm had swept through the farm, and now the sun was shining again.

  26

  Buggy in the Ditch

  One morning, a week after Lily and her family had returned to Singing Tree Farm from Kentucky, the sky was dark gray and the air smelled of rain. Mama needed to go to town to buy groceries and several bags of feed for the animals. Usually, she took Lily, Joseph, and Dannie with her in the buggy. Not today, though. Mama worried they would get soaked from rain if they went with her, walking from grocery store to feed store. So, instead, she planned to drop them off at Grandma and Grandpa Miller’s.

  Lily and Joseph kneeled on the back seat of the buggy to look out the window as Mama drove Jim down a favorite shortcut—a winding field lane that led to Grandpa Miller’s farm. Mama liked to take the field lane so she could avoid driving the buggy on the busy road or drive up the steep driveway with the deep ditch beside it. Lily liked staying at Grandpa Miller’s. There was always something fun to do there. She could help Grandma in her kitchen. She could watch Grandpa work in his harness shop. Best of all, she could play with Aunt Susie.

  Grandma was happy to see their faces when she opened the door. “Come in, come in,” she said, holding the door wide open.

  Mama stayed on the porch to talk to Grandma while Lily darted inside to find Aunt Susie. She found her aunt in the kitchen, coloring with a yellow crayon in one of her coloring books.

  When she saw Lily, she jumped up from the table. “Do you want to play dolls?”

  “Oh yes!” Lily was hoping Aunt Susie would want to play dolls, Lily’s favorite game.

  Lily followed Aunt Susie into her bedroom. Together they picked out the dolls they wanted to play with and carefully chose the dresses for the dolls to wear. Lily always chose a certain red dress. It was the prettiest one. She wished her own sweet Sally could have a red dress like that. They packed their little diaper bags with cute toys for their dolls and wrapped each doll in a blanket. Now they were ready to play! They sat on the living room
sofa to pretend they were in church while they played with their dolls.

  Joseph and Dannie were playing with wooden blocks and animals on the floor beside the big green toy box, with its lid propped open. Dannie kept hunting for more toys inside the green toy box. He liked digging toys out of the toy box more than he liked to play with them. Toys were littered around the box. Grandma rocked slowly on her rocking chair as she sewed tiny neat buttonholes in Grandpa’s new shirt.

  It felt nice and cozy inside the house. Everyone was having a good time. Rain started gently, tapping the windows with drops. Soon, the gentle drops turned to a steady downpour. Lily was glad she didn’t have to worry about getting wet from walking around town. She hoped that Mama could stay dry under the big black umbrella.

  Thud! Thump! And then came a muffled wail. Dannie had been leaning over the edge of the green toy box and tumbled inside. The lid fell shut on him. Grandma jumped up and opened the lid to the toy box. She scooped Dannie up and held him on her lap while he whimpered and whined. Aunt Susie hurried over to stroke his head and soothe him. It upset her to see a child cry. Dannie soon forgot about his scare and wiggled off Grandma’s lap to play with Joseph.

  Grandpa came in from the harness shop and sat in the living room on his big creaky rocking chair. “Well, well,” he said, pretending to be surprised by the sight of Lily and Joseph and Dannie. “Who do we have here today?”

  Lily laid her doll on the sofa and ran to Grandpa. He reached into his vest and then brought out his hand, tightly closed. Lily and Joseph tried to pry his fingers open to find the hidden treat. Sometimes it was raisins, other times peanuts, or their favorite—little papaya mints. Today, his hand held a few toasted pumpkin seeds. They ate them slowly to make them last as long as they could.

  As soon as Grandpa had come in from the harness shop, Grandma went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. “Lunch is ready, if anyone is hungry.”