A Surprise for Lily Page 5

  It was always strange to Lily that grown-ups returned from a burial acting happy. Just a short time ago, everyone had been sad and crying. Now, they were laughing and talking and eating.

  Lily sat at a table with her girl cousins, eating and laughing. She was looking forward to an afternoon filled with fun as soon as they could all go outside to play.

  Suddenly, Papa was at her side. “It’s time to start for home.”

  So soon? Lily had just felt as if she was finally getting to know her cousins. She rose from the table and hugged her cousins goodbye.

  On the ride home in Mr. Tanner’s big blue station wagon, Lily had so many feelings stirring inside of her. She was sad that she would never see Grandpa Lapp again. It was hard to say goodbye to Grandma Lapp. But she did enjoy visiting with her Lapp cousins. She couldn’t wait for the next circle letter—it would be so much more fun now that she was familiar with her cousins. And then there was school to look forward to. She was eager to meet Teacher Judith. She was even curious about how puffed up Effie would act at school.

  It was tiring, in a way, to have so many thoughts bouncing around Lily’s head. Soon, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  7

  Lily’s First Day of School

  Lily’s toes couldn’t stop tapping under the breakfast table. She was eager to get to school today. She had missed two full days and she was full of worry. Would she be far behind her class? What if Teacher Judith thought she should stay in fourth grade for a little while longer?

  And then she started to worry about Teacher Judith. What kind of a teacher would she be? What if she didn’t excuse Lily for her grandfather’s funeral? What if she was mad at Lily for being gone? And stayed mad all year?

  Then there were other worries. Where would Lily’s desk be? If it were anywhere near Aaron Yoder’s, she thought she might scream, right then and there.

  But if she did, then Teacher Judith would think she was crazy.

  Oh, there was so much to worry about when you were in fifth grade.

  She couldn’t stand it any longer. “Mama, can Joseph and I go to school early?”

  Joseph’s spoon froze, midair. “Why?” He stuffed the spoonful of porridge in his mouth.

  “Why? Why! Because it’s the first day!” Lily couldn’t understand why Joseph didn’t like school. She loved school. There were some parts of school she didn’t love, like the Aaron Yoder and Effie Kauffman parts, but other than that, she loved everything about it. Joseph was the opposite. He disliked everything about school except for recess.

  “As soon as Joseph is done with his breakfast,” Mama said, “you can both go.”

  Lily stared at Joseph until he shoveled down the last bite. After a silent prayer bookended the meal—the family prayed before and after, giving thanks and returning thanks—Lily grabbed her bonnet and lunch box and hurried down the driveway. If she ran, she would arrive at school all damp and sweaty, but she did walk briskly. Joseph dragged behind like he was heading to church.

  She hoped she might be the first in the schoolhouse, but Effie Kauffman was already there, sweeping the room. Effie gave Lily a sweet-as-pie smile when she saw her. “Well, look here, Teacher Judith,” she said, very prim. “Lily Lapp has finally decided to come to school.”

  Typical Effie.

  Teacher Judith was at her desk. She looked up and gave Lily a smile. “Welcome, Lily. Don’t you have a brother?”

  “Joseph. He’s out on the playground.”

  “Effie, show Lily where her desk is so she can put her things away.”

  Effie dropped the broom and sailed across the room to a desk against the wall. “This is where you sit, Lily.” She opened the lid for Lily. As Lily put her pencils and crayon box into the desk, Effie whispered, “Don’t you wonder where Aaron is sitting?”

  “No,” Lily said. As long as he wasn’t next to her.

  “Hannah sits right next to you, then Beth, then Malinda, then me. Right behind me is . . . Aaron!” Effie was delighted to be near Aaron, all year long.

  Lily was just as delighted to be far, far away from Aaron. She was on the other side of the room. How wonderful! Fifth grade was looking promising.

  “Teacher Judith is giving a big prize to the student with perfect attendance,” Effie said. “But you—” she pointed to Lily—“have already lost it.”

  Lily was so disappointed! She would have loved to win a prize for perfect attendance. She had never won a prize at school, as hard as she tried.

  Effie traced a finger around the back of Lily’s seat. “I suppose you heard that Hannah’s farm sold and that she’s moving in a few weeks.”

  Lily’s eyes went wide. She had pushed the whole thought of Hannah’s move out of her mind. Effie could see this was news to Lily. “Oh, I thought you knew! I thought Hannah told you everything.” She gave Lily a fake smile. Then she spotted Aaron and Sam on the playground and flounced outside. Aaron saw Lily through the window and made monkey ears at her.

  Lily’s happiness over the first day of school popped like a balloon. Effie and Aaron had that effect on her, many times. She finished organizing her things in her desk and went outside to wait for her friends to arrive.

  Beth and Malinda were coming up the road and ran to greet Lily when they saw her sitting on the schoolhouse steps. “Welcome home!” Beth said.

  Malinda peered anxiously into Lily’s face. “Was the funeral for your grandfather very, very sad?”

  “It was a little sad,” Lily said. “But it was fun to visit with my cousins.” The three girls sat on the steps, warmed by the morning sunshine. “Teacher Judith seems nice.” She was older than Lily thought she would be, and much bigger than she had expected. Low in the backside and high in the front side and rather bunched up in the middle.

  “She is nice,” Beth said. She looked behind her to make sure the schoolhouse door was closed. “She doesn’t have any rules.”

  “None?” Lily said.

  “Not a one,” Malinda said. “She said she’s sure we’ll all behave because we want to, not because we have to.”

  Lily squinted her eyes in disbelief. “Didn’t anyone warn her about Aaron Yoder and Sam Stoltzfus?”

  Beth snorted. “She’s living with Effie Kauffman. Teacher Judith probably heard the sun rose and set by Aaron.”

  Hannah and Levi came around the bend. Hannah broke into a run to join the girls on the steps. “Lily! I’m glad you’re back! I have news.”

  “I already heard,” Lily said glumly.

  Beth, Malinda, and Hannah exchanged a look. “Effie,” all three girls said, at the same time. Effie Kauffman liked to be the first to know everything, often before it happened.

  “When do you move?” Lily asked.

  Hannah sat down beside her. “In a few weeks.”

  Lily wished Hannah didn’t look so excited. The thought of Hannah moving away made Lily want to cry.

  Just then, Effie came toward the girls from the playground, waddling like she was very fat. Hannah frowned. “She’s imitating Teacher Judith. She’s been doing that since school started.”

  “I thought she liked Teacher Judith,” Lily said. “I thought she would like having her stay at her house.”

  Hannah shrugged. “She does. She just makes fun of her behind her back.”

  “That’s Effie,” Beth said. Malinda nodded.

  Two-faced Effie.

  The next morning, as Lily and Joseph walked to school, they chatted about the writing assignment Teacher Judith had given to them. Each student was supposed to write a short story about something that had happened to them during the summer. The student who had written the best story would receive a prize.

  Lily liked to write. She liked prizes even better, though she had never won anything. But trying to think of something interesting that had happened was harder than she had thought it would be.

  She practically tripped and realized her shoelace had come untied. She set her lunch box down and bent down to tie it while Josep
h waited for her. Lily finished tying her lace and straightened up just in time to see a dog charging toward her. Not just any dog. A Dozer dog.

  Dozer jumped all over them, wagging his tail and wiggling all over. “Go home, Dozer,” Joseph said sternly, pointing toward home. Dozer didn’t understand. He tried to grab Joseph’s hand with his mouth as if he thought there was a treat in it.

  “Go back, Dozer!” Lily shouted. She and Joseph stamped their feet and pretended to chase him. Dozer would run a few feet and start following them again.

  “Dozer is a dumb dog,” Lily said.

  “No he isn’t,” Joseph said, offended. “He’s very smart. He wants to be with me.”

  Lily knew it was pointless to argue about Dozer with Joseph. He was crazy about that puppy.

  They heard the school bell ring and ran the rest of the way to school. Lily was glad the other children were already in the schoolhouse. No one had seen Dozer follow them to school. Nobody’s dog ever did that. Surely, Dozer would get tired of waiting outside the schoolhouse for Joseph and go back home again.

  But when the first recess came, Dozer was waiting patiently under the tree in the school yard. When he saw Joseph, he ran over to greet him. Just as Lily feared, Aaron Yoder noticed.

  “That’s the strangest looking dog I’ve ever seen,” Aaron said. “His ears are funny and he has a black patch over his eye like a pirate.” He nudged Sam Stoltzfus and the two started pointing and laughing at Dozer. “What a weird-looking dog!”

  Now wait just a minute. Lily thought Dozer was dumb and she thought he was a little strange looking, but she wasn’t going to let anybody—especially Aaron Yoder—call her dog names. She marched up to Aaron and Sam.

  “Stop making fun of our dog.”

  Aaron couldn’t wipe the grin off his sassy face. “What’s that weird-looking dog’s name?”

  “His name is Dozer,” Joseph said, stroking the top of Dozer’s head.

  Aaron doubled over and laughed some more. “Dozer . . . His name is Dozer! What a dumb name for a dog.”

  “A dumb name for a dumb dog,” Sam echoed.

  It took a lot to get Joseph riled. He was like Papa that way. But Aaron Yoder had done it. Joseph’s hands were clenched in fists by his sides. “Dozer is not a dumb name, and he is not a dumb dog. He’s my dog.”

  Aaron Yoder just kept laughing, like a hyena, and suddenly Joseph punched him right in the nose. Aaron stopped laughing. Sam stilled, and all motion on the school ground stopped. Everything was silent. Even the birds had stopped singing in the trees. Wide-eyed, Joseph stood there shaking his hurting hand, awaiting his fate. Even Dozer sensed something was going on and snuggled tightly against Joseph’s legs.

  The unnatural silence beckoned Teacher Judith from her desk. She popped her head out the window and said, “What’s going on out here?”

  Effie, the bearer of all news, true or otherwise, said, “Joseph punched Aaron right in the nose.”

  Teacher Judith hurried outside. She peered at Aaron’s nose, trying to see if it was broken or swelling up. She didn’t know what to do next. Lily figured she probably hadn’t had to deal with nose punching before. “It’s okay,” Aaron said, waving her away. “I was teasing him about his dog.” He glanced at Joseph, still holding onto his nose. “Sorry about that.”

  Aaron Yoder never apologized for any crime he committed, not unless a teacher made him. The world was turning upside down and Lily didn’t know what to make of it.

  Teacher Judith gathered her wits about her. “Joseph, I want you to apologize to Aaron for hitting him.”

  Joseph scuffed the gravel with the toe of his shoe. “I’m sorry I hit you,” he said, though he didn’t sound too terribly sorry to Lily. He walked off to join his friends and Dozer trotted behind, jumping and oblivious to the chaos he’d created.

  Papa had an idea to keep Dozer from following Lily and Joseph to school. Each morning, he kept Dozer in the woodworking shop until Lily and Joseph were safely in school.

  Papa’s plan worked for a few days. Lily thought Dozer might be teachable after all, until the day when Dozer sneaked into the schoolhouse during lunch. Everyone was quietly eating when Sam Stoltzfus suddenly let out a yelp. “Hey! Get that dog away from me!”

  Lily looked over at Sam’s desk, and there was Dozer, calmly finishing off the last of Sam’s sandwich. If it hadn’t been Dozer, she might have had a good laugh over the sight of Sam, looking so indignant, as Dozer polished off his sandwich. But since it was Dozer, she couldn’t enjoy the moment.

  It was a sunny Tuesday in September. Mama checked each pin in Lily’s dress to make sure they fit neatly. “Okay, Lily, I think you’re ready to go.” Lily wished Mama meant she could go to school, but there would be no school today. The whole community was taking a day off school and work to help Uncle Elmer and his family load a semi with their belongings. They had sold their farm and were moving to live with Hannah’s grandparents on her father’s side. Uncle Elmer would manage his parents’ farm.

  Lily ran out the door to join Papa and Joseph and Dannie. Mama decided to stay home with little Paul. “I don’t want to see them leave,” Mama had admitted at breakfast. “We said our goodbyes last evening when they were all here for supper, and I don’t think I can say goodbye again.” It looked as if Mama was trying not to cry. She was going to miss her sister Mary as much as Lily would miss her cousin Hannah.

  But Lily felt differently about saying goodbye. She was sad, so sad, that Hannah was moving, but she wanted to spend every minute with her before she left. It would be a long time before she could see her again.

  When Papa steered Jim into the driveway, Lily was dismayed to see horses and buggies parked everywhere, filling Uncle Elmer’s driveway. As soon as Papa said she could go, Lily jumped off the buggy, ducked around people, and ran into the house to find Hannah. The house was strange, empty, and echoey. Boxes were piled along the wall beside the front door, waiting to be carried out. Men carried furniture out to the waiting semitrailer.

  Aunt Mary spotted Lily from across the kitchen. “Hannah is upstairs in her room.”

  Lily flew up the stairs. Her heart caught when she saw Hannah’s room. Her bed and dresser were gone. She was removing her clothes from the closet and folding them neatly before she placed them in a box. Lily quietly sat down beside her and helped fold clothes. It didn’t take long until that job was done, but they didn’t know what to do next. They went downstairs, but there were so many people milling around the house that they kept getting in the way, so finally they went back to Hannah’s room and sat on the floor to talk. The only problem was that they had nothing to say to each other. Too sad.

  By noon, the trailer was filled. Everyone gathered to eat sandwiches and cookies that the women had brought along. Too soon, lunch was over. Now it was really time to say goodbye.

  The women murmured comforting words to Aunt Mary. “God bless you in your new home. I hope you’ll be very happy as you adjust to a new community. Safe travels. Come back to visit often.” Aunt Mary shook each person’s hand, thanking them for helping, saying goodbye.

  Lily gave Hannah a hug. Tears started to sting her eyes and she tried to blink faster to hide them. A little part of her felt bothered that Hannah didn’t seem nearly as sad about leaving as Lily was to see her go.

  As Hannah and her family walked out the door to leave, Lily understood why Mama didn’t want to have to watch them go. She couldn’t stand it, either. While the rest of the community waved goodbye as the van and trailer drove away, Lily ran up the stairs into Hannah’s empty room. She opened the closet door and sat on the floor. The tears that had threatened to come all morning were here now, and she couldn’t stop them.

  After Lily had cried herself out, she wiped her face with her apron. She knew that the women had planned to wash all the walls, windows, and floors after Uncle Elmer’s family left. They wanted to get the house ready for the new family that was moving in tomorrow. How awful it would be if the women opened up
Hannah’s closet and found Lily sobbing.

  Slowly, she peeped her head out the closet door. To her horror, David Yoder, Aaron’s father, stood in the middle of the room. He looked surprised to see Lily’s head emerge out of the closet. “I just wanted to walk through the house to make sure they didn’t forget anything before the new family moves in,” he said. He glanced around the room. “It looks like they forgot to take a thermometer.” He plucked a heart-shaped thermometer off the wall and handed it to Lily. “You can take this home with you and hang it on your wall. That way, every time you see it, you can feel good about taking care of something for Hannah until you see her again. You can give it to her the next time you see her. Maybe it will help you to not miss her quite as much.”

  Lily took the thermometer from David Yoder and hugged it close to her. She was sure he must be one of the kindest men she had ever met. As kind as Papa. He could understand how sad she was feeling and tried to make her feel better without embarrassing her. Just the opposite of his son. How disappointed he must be to have a son like Aaron.

  Lily knew she should probably help the women and girls clean the house, but she couldn’t stay any longer. She found her bonnet from the closet shelf and went to find Papa to tell him that she was going home. That was fine with him. Papa understood, just like David Yoder. Hannah was like a sister to Lily.

  Mama was surprised to see Lily when she got home. She smiled when Lily showed Hannah’s thermometer to her and told her what David Yoder had said. “That sounds like a good idea,” Mama said. “I’ll help you hang it on your bedroom wall right away. I think Hannah would be pleased.”

  Mama helped Lily select the best spot in her room and pounded a nail into the bedroom wall. Lily hung the thermometer carefully on it. Mama and Lily sat on the bed and looked at it. Somewhere out there, Hannah and the rest of her family were in a van traveling far away to their new home, but a part of her remained behind in that little heart-shaped thermometer. It made Lily feel better just looking at it. She wondered if it helped Mama, too.