A Big Year for Lily Read online

  Once the posts stood straight without help, Papa threw in big shovelfuls of dirt until the holes were filled all the way to the top. He packed the dirt firmly, then tried to wiggle the posts. They didn’t budge. Not an inch. And Papa was satisfied.

  The next day, Papa carried the sign to the end of the driveway and nailed it to the posts. Mama planted a nice circle of pretty pink impatiens flowers around the signposts. Lily thought the whole thing looked beautiful.

  She couldn’t see those little white tracks the bumblebee had made but she knew they were there. She knew the sign would remind her to focus on the good in others. She hoped such thinking might work with Aaron Yoder and Effie Kauffman, but she doubted it.

  7

  The Sandwich Switch

  Lily’s tummy rumbled. She glanced up at the clock. Almost lunchtime. Teacher Rhoda noticed, too. “Put your books away for noon recess.”

  The students closed their books, placed them inside their desks, and stood quietly next to their seats. Teacher Rhoda drew out the first note of a song and the children joined in, singing of God’s blessings.

  Row by row, the children filed to the back of the schoolhouse to wash their hands. Lily splashed cold water over her hands, dried them on a towel, and hurried to get her lunch box. She was especially hungry today. At her desk, she opened her lunch box and was surprised to discover that Mama had made a sandwich with store-bought bread and deli meat. Mama enjoyed putting special treats in Joseph and Lily’s lunches. This was the best surprise!

  Lily savored every bite until second grader Lavina Schrock pointed to her and said, “Lily Lapp is eating my sandwich!” Lily paused mid-chew. She looked at Lavina’s desk. There was a familiar-looking homemade whole wheat bread and egg sandwich. Lily looked over at Joseph. He was eating one of Mama’s egg sandwiches.

  Lily offered the half-eaten deli-meat-on-store-bought-bread sandwich back to Lavina but she didn’t want it, nor did she want Lily’s egg sandwich either. Effie had turned around in her desk and pinched her face up into a knot of exaggerated disgust.

  “How did you get my sandwich?” Lavina said.

  Effie Kauffman turned around to face them. She had to get involved in everything. Everything. “Lily must have stolen it from your lunch box.”

  “Effie, turn around in your seat and finish your lunch,” Teacher Rhoda said. She looked at Lily. “After everyone is done eating, I want Lily to stay in for a little while.”

  How humiliating! Lily’s heart sank. It was terrible to have to stay inside. Only troublemakers, like Aaron and Sam, stayed in during recess. She was sure that all the children assumed she had stolen Lavina’s sandwich. She hadn’t! Lily wanted to slap that smug smile right off Effie’s face, but then she really would be in trouble. She had to bite on her lip to keep her eyes from filling up with tears as the children ran outside to play.

  The only two people left in the schoolhouse were Lily and Teacher Rhoda. It felt eerily quiet.

  “Tell me about the sandwich,” Teacher Rhoda said in a kind voice. Not accusing, like Effie.

  “It was in my lunch box,” Lily said. “I just started eating it. I had no idea that it belonged to Lavina.”

  “How did it get into your lunch box?”

  “I don’t know,” Lily said, her voice quivering. She wished her voice sounded more convincing.

  “Have you ever wished you had someone else’s lunch?”

  “Yes. All the time.” Was that the right answer? Yes? No? It was true that Lily had often wished she could have store-bought bread or some of the other types of food that the children brought to school. But she had never thought about helping herself to it. Not once. That would be stealing.

  Teacher Rhoda looked at Lily quietly for a few minutes. It felt like an hour. Finally she said, “We’ll get to the bottom of this. For now, go on outside and play.”

  Lily went outside, but she didn’t feel like joining in the game the others were playing. Effie Kauffman spotted Lily standing by the door of the schoolhouse. “Lily got a spanking. Lily got a spanking,” she chanted.

  “I did not!” Lily said.

  “You should have,” Effie said. “Teacher Rhoda should always spank thieves.”

  “I am not a thief!” Lily said, eyes burning.

  “Lily is a thief! Lily is a thief!” Effie chanted.

  Teacher Rhoda rang the bell and Lily was relieved. She spun around and hurried to her desk. Recess would be awful if everyone thought she had stolen something.

  For the first ten minutes after noon recess, Teacher Rhoda usually read a story. Not today. Instead, she looked at everyone and said, “Someone took Lavina’s sandwich out of her lunch box and slipped it into Lily’s. Then they took Lily’s sandwich and put it in Lavina’s. I expect whoever did such a thing to admit to it.”

  The children turned to look at Lily. Even Joseph. She wanted to disappear. Why didn’t anyone believe her?

  After a very long time of utter silence, Teacher Rhoda said, “Seventh grade history class.” Lily was relieved to hear the shuffle of books as the classroom resumed to normal noise. She took her books out of her desk and worked on her assignments.

  Just before school was over for the day, Teacher Rhoda dropped a stapled note on Lily’s desk and told her to take it home to her parents. Lily quickly slipped it into her pocket. She hoped no one, especially Effie, had seen it. Only troublemakers were given notes to take home to their parents. Aaron Yoder got them on a regular basis.

  As soon as Lily walked into the kitchen, she handed Teacher Rhoda’s note to Mama. A serious look came over Mama’s face. She went down to the shop to talk to Papa.

  When it was time to get ready for bed, Papa said that he and Mama wanted to talk to Lily. Joseph and Dannie, all ears, sat on the sofa until Papa shooed them to bed.

  Lily ran the hem of her apron through her fingers while she waited for Mama to tuck Paul into bed. Papa and Mama sat on the sofa, sad looks on their kind faces. Lily felt like shouting, “But I didn’t do it!” Instead, she waited quietly to hear what they had to say.

  “Explain to us how you happened to end up with Lavina’s sandwich in your lunch box today,” Papa said.

  “I don’t know,” Lily said. “It was in my lunch box and I thought it was mine. And my sandwich was in her lunch box.”

  “Those sandwiches didn’t change places by themselves,” Papa said.

  A tear trickled down Lily’s cheek. Papa and Mama didn’t seem to believe her. It wasn’t fair!

  “Don’t cry, Lily,” Mama said, wiping away her tear. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  But that was the problem! How could Lily make sure it didn’t happen again when she didn’t know how it happened in the first place?

  8

  Papa’s Woodwork Shop

  For days now, Lily had watched Papa bring home all kinds of woodworking machinery and put it into the new basement. In the evenings he would hurry through his chores so that he could connect pipes to the machinery. Papa explained that he would buy a big diesel engine to pump hydraulic oil through the pipes. “That will make the little hydraulic motors run that are fastened to the machinery. Then I’ll use air to run the small machinery like the drill press and jointer.”

  Lily couldn’t understand any of it. Joseph, though, listened carefully to Papa’s every word. Dannie pretended to understand, but Lily knew he was only trying to seem as big as Joseph. Lily would rather learn about cooking and baking than how machinery worked.

  The day finally came when all the machinery was ready and Papa’s shop was finished. Everyone gathered around Papa as he clamped a piece of wood into the lathe. He pulled the lever and the lathe sprang into action. The wood started spinning so fast that Lily could hardly see it. She held her hands over her ears. This was noisy!

  Papa selected a wood chisel and held it against the spinning wood. Sawdust sprayed over his arms as he drew the chisel back and forth until he was satisfied with what he had made. He turned the lever off. Ever
ything seemed peacefully quiet except for the hum of the big diesel engine outside.

  Papa removed the piece of wood and handed it to Mama. “Well, what do you think, Rachel?”

  “Why, it’s beautiful,” Mama said as she stroked her fingers over it. She handed it to Lily.

  Lily looked at it closely. It really was beautiful. The ugly piece of wood that Papa had put into the lathe was now smooth and round and looked as if it had three little beads.

  “The first spindle for our first chair,” Papa said. He picked up another piece of wood. “I’ll need a lot more of these to have enough to make a set of dining room chairs.”

  Mama and Lily went back upstairs to bake some cookies. They could hear the lathe going in the basement and knew Papa was making more spindles.

  Lily and Joseph came home from school one afternoon to discover something new in the pine trees behind the house. Papa was setting up two used fuel tanks that he had bought from a neighbor. By his side was Dannie, acting like Papa’s chief assistant. Papa stopped what he was doing when he saw Lily and Joseph. “We’ll fill one with diesel fuel for the engine that runs the shop, and the other one we’ll fill with gas for the garden tiller and lawn mower.” He stepped back to look at them. “They sure do look ugly right now though.”

  Lily agreed with Papa. They sure did look ugly. The red paint was peeling off and they were covered with little rust spots.

  “The next time I go to town I’ll have to buy some paint and then you children can paint them for me.”

  Joseph and Dannie jumped up and down, hooting and hollering like they had won a prize. They were excited to paint for Papa. Lily was just as excited but lately she had been trying to practice mature and ladylike behavior. She didn’t jump even though she dearly wanted to. She thought boys were born lucky. They could do whatever they wanted to and never had to worry about someone like Ida Kauffman frowning and whispering, “That’s not ladylike.”

  On Saturday, Papa returned from a trip to town with a gallon of silver paint. He pried open the paint can lid and stirred it to make sure it was mixed properly. Satisfied, he handed paintbrushes to Lily, Joseph, and Dannie.

  Lily dipped her brush into the paint and carefully stroked it on the tank. Now the tank was three colors. Ugly red, rusty orange, and beautiful shiny silver.

  This was fun. The more they painted, the prettier the fuel tanks looked. After finishing one side, they picked up the paint can and went to paint the other side. After that side was done, Lily realized they had a problem. They should have painted the top first.

  She dipped her paintbrush into the paint and stood on her tiptoes to try to reach the top. She stretched as far as she could. She managed to slap her paintbrush against the top but she couldn’t swish it back and forth. Then she lost her balance and fell against the tank. Her dress was covered with silver paint and so were her hands.

  How awful! Joseph and Dannie laughed when they saw her dress. She could feel a few tears welling up in her eyes and tried to wipe them away. That made them laugh all the harder. “Now you have paint under your eyes, too,” Joseph yelped. “Like a raccoon!”

  “Like a skunk!” Dannie added.

  Disgusted with them, Lily rested her paintbrush on top of the pail of paint and went into the shop to find Papa. He would know what to do.

  Papa took one look at her. “What happened to you?”

  “I was trying to reach the top of the fuel tank to paint it, and I fell against it,” Lily said.

  “Let’s go wash your hands and face,” Papa said. “Then you can keep painting. Don’t worry about painting the top of the tanks. I should have told you that I would do it after you’re done with the sides.”

  After washing up, Lily went back outside and helped Joseph and Dannie paint the other tank. She was relieved she didn’t have to worry about painting the tops. Painting sides was much more fun.

  Papa came outside and finished painting the tops for them. That evening, after the paint had dried, he took a little brush and a small can of black paint and carefully wrote GAS in big black letters on the front.

  “Now we won’t have to worry about getting the gas and diesel mixed up.” He glanced at Joseph and Dannie. “I don’t want any of you to ever open the valves on the tanks. Not ever.”

  Lily thought Papa was very wise to add that warning. Little boys were much too curious. But she did wish Papa had remembered to tell her that he would paint the top of the tanks. Her favorite work dress was ruined.

  9

  Joseph’s Campfire Birthday

  Mama sat at the kitchen table with a notepad and pen, scribbling down something. Lily tried to read her notes, upside down. “Joseph will be having his eighth birthday next week,” she explained. “I thought we could build a nice campfire and roast hot dogs and toast some marshmallows. Maybe invite all the relatives.”

  What a wonderful idea! A campfire would be just the thing for a boy like Joseph. And it would be even more fun for Lily to have Cousin Hannah there. They could sit next to each other and talk while the boys did whatever boys tended to do.

  Mama wrote several notes and sent Lily to deliver them. Each family said yes right away, so Lily was able to bring answers home to Mama.

  When Joseph heard about the campfire birthday, he was so happy he couldn’t sit still. He decided to get right to work cleaning up some fallen tree limbs in the yard—something Papa had been meaning to do for a while now. Joseph dragged the branches and made a big pile of them in the barnyard. He was the hardest-working boy in the world. Lily couldn’t help but admire the big pile of wood he had gathered. As big as a bonfire! It would make a fine campfire.

  Joseph’s birthday finally arrived. Lily helped Mama frost Joseph’s birthday cake. She watched Mama decorate it: a little log cabin was surrounded by several pine trees and a little creek that ran through the trees. It was beautiful. She couldn’t wait until Joseph saw it, but it was to be a surprise until later tonight. One thing Lily knew—Joseph would be pleased with Mama’s decoration.

  Mama asked Lily to find old blankets they used for picnics and to take them outside under a tree. Papa and the boys were starting the campfire. It needed to burn down to have plenty of red embers for roasting hot dogs and toasting marshmallows. Lily looked forward to eating hot dogs—they were a special, once-in-a-while treat. But most of all, she was excited to eat the toasted marshmallows. Those were the best. The very best treat of all.

  After everyone arrived, the men started to sharpen sticks to roast the hot dogs. Mama and Aunt Mary scurried around to make sure everyone had a glass of lemonade or water and plenty of hot dogs to roast.

  Aunt Susie sat next to Lily and Hannah. They had each eaten one hot dog and were ready to toast marshmallows. Papa had given them each a sharpened stick and showed them how to toast to perfection. One after another after another. Lily was sorry when Mama said they had eaten enough. She would have liked to toast and eat marshmallows all night long.

  Papa had gone inside and came back out with several brown paper bags. “It’s time for Joseph’s presents.” He handed the bags to Joseph.

  Everyone quieted to watch Joseph pull gifts out of the paper bags. First, he drew out a new shirt and pair of trousers. Next, a shiny new slingshot. Grandpa gave him a book filled with patterns to make birdhouses. “Now that your papa has a woodworking shop, I knew it wouldn’t be long before you want to start building things, too,” Grandpa said. “This should give you something easy to start out with.”

  Uncle Elmer’s family gave him a baseball and bat. Uncle Jacob’s family gave him a crisp, new five-dollar bill. Joseph thanked each family, one by one, and then it was time for everyone to go home. Lily sighed happily as she helped Mama clean up. Birthdays were a lot of fun even when they weren’t hers.

  10

  Trouble Is Brewing

  After the horrible day when Lily ate Lavina’s sandwich, Lily checked her lunch carefully before she started to school. She wanted to be sure she knew exactly what w
as in it before she left for school.

  During lunch, Lily was happy to see that her sandwich looked just the same as it had that morning. The mysterious sandwich switch was soon forgotten.

  But something else had been switched. Lily’s apple slices were missing. In her lunch box were several store-bought cookies. This time, Lily was wiser. She didn’t eat a single cookie, though she loved store-bought cookies and this kind was her favorite. Malinda’s head popped up and she looked around the room. “Someone took my cookies and left these apple slices.”

  Lily quickly gave the cookies to Malinda and took her own apple slices back to her desk.

  Teacher Rhoda saw the exchange. “Who is taking food out of lunch boxes again?” Nobody answered her.

  “I’m sure it was Lily,” Effie said. “Her family is poor. She never has good food and always wants to eat other children’s food.”

  Lily felt her face grow warm. It was true. Lily and Joseph rarely had store-bought treats in their lunches. And she did wish her friends would share their treats with her. But she had never, ever thought of stealing anyone’s lunch.

  “Did you take the cookies, Lily?” Teacher Rhoda asked in a sad voice.

  “No, I didn’t,” Lily said. Her voice sounded wobbly. Her cheeks were burning. She was sure everyone would think she looked and sounded guilty. And she wasn’t!

  Teacher Rhoda’s chin was firm, but her eyes were far from certain. When Lily put her lunch box on the shelf, Teacher Rhoda stopped her before she ran out the door. “Do you have any idea how those cookies got into your lunch box? Any idea at all?”