A Surprise for Lily Read online

  The sweet moment was broken when Paul picked up the hammer and started to pound the floor, making dents.

  Mama jumped off the bed and took the hammer from Paul. “I think it’s time to get to work. I want to bake an extra batch of gingersnap cookies to take along tomorrow when we help the new family move in. Who knows, Lily? Maybe you’ll end up with a special new friend.”

  8

  Harvey Hershberger Moves to Town

  Lily sat in her desk at school and tried to concentrate on studying her German spelling, but she couldn’t stop glancing over at the empty desk next to her. Hannah’s desk. She wondered if Hannah had started school today.

  Then her thoughts drifted over to the new family that was moving into Hannah’s house today. She wondered if the family had already unloaded their belongings. Papa and Mama were going to spend the day helping them.

  Lily thought there shouldn’t be school today. She thought it would be nice if everyone could be there to help them move in and welcome them to Cloverdale, but Papa said that the only time school was canceled was when someone got married, someone died, or someone moved away. Everyone needed to say goodbye. But when a person moved in, there would be plenty of people there to help unload the truck without the school children underfoot. There would be plenty more time to say hello and get acquainted later on.

  Lily wondered how many children might be in the new family and if one of them might sit in Hannah’s empty desk. In a way, she hoped so. In another way, she hoped not.

  The next morning, as Lily finished drying the last breakfast dish, she looked out the window to see if she could catch any sight of those new children as they walked to school. Were they feeling nervous about starting a new school?

  Lily would never forget how she had felt when she first moved to Cloverdale and had to walk into a classroom filled with strangers staring curiously at her. Her head felt light and her hands were icy cold and she thought she might throw up, right in front of everyone. She hoped the new children weren’t feeling as anxious as she had been. Mama had told her there were many children in the family, including girls, but she couldn’t remember if one was Lily’s age. It was disappointing to Lily that Mama wouldn’t have made a point to find out that particular piece of information. Lily couldn’t wait to meet these new girls. The new girls would never take Hannah’s place, but it was always, always a good thing to have more girls in school.

  Lily peered out the window to see if the new children had started up the road yet. Mama had told them to stop at Whispering Pines so Joseph and Lily could show them the way to school. So far, there was no sign of them. She hoped they wouldn’t be late. “Mama, what are the girls’ names?”

  “I don’t remember,” Mama said. “There were so many children I couldn’t keep track of everyone’s names or ages. I do remember the names of the parents: Abe and Clara Hershberger.”

  “I like that last name,” Dannie said. “It sounds like a chocolate burger. Hershey burger.” He hopped around the kitchen on one leg, chanting “Hershey burger, Hershey burger, chocolate, chocolate Hershey burgers.”

  Lily frowned at Dannie. He listened in to every conversation she and Mama had. She wondered how Mama could be so patient with him, all day long.

  Mama only laughed at Dannie. “Chocolate burgers sound rather unappetizing to me, especially after breakfast.”

  When Dannie kept chanting “Hershey burger,” Lily finally put a stop to it. She had caught sight of the children walking up the road and didn’t want them to hear Dannie bungling their name. Once he got something into his head, it was hard to change it. “Dannie, their last name is ‘Hershberger.’ Not ‘Hershey burger.’”

  Lily grabbed her bonnet and lunch box and tossed a hurried goodbye to Mama and Dannie. She ran down to the basement to tell Joseph it was time to meet the new children and show them the way to school.

  As usual, Joseph was in no hurry to get to school. Slowly, he plucked his hat off the wall peg by the door. “Hurry, Joseph,” Lily said. She couldn’t wait to meet these girls!

  Lily and Joseph ran to the end of the driveway and stopped abruptly. There were six children standing at the edge of Whispering Pines’ driveway: an older girl, a passel of boys, and two little girls.

  For once, Lily was glad that Joseph wasn’t shy. He walked right up to them. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Joseph and this is Lily. Who are you?”

  The tallest girl spoke first. “I’m Becky. I’m in eighth grade.” She pointed to a boy. “That’s Harvey. He’s in sixth grade. Junior is in fourth grade. Andy is in second. And Carrie and Mary are twins. They’re in first grade.”

  Becky’s eyes left Lily and Joseph and darted down the road, where Aaron, Sam, and Sam’s brother, Ephraim, had emerged from a shortcut in the woods to reach the road. Lily tried hard to cover her disappointment. Becky was not interested in her at all, and there were no other girls near Lily’s age.

  As Lily said hello to each child, she was shocked when Harvey winked at her. No one else seemed to notice, but she thought he was very bold. She quickly looked away but not before she felt her cheeks grow warm.

  On the way to the schoolhouse, Becky asked Lily about the other eighth graders. “I’m sorry to say there are only two boys,” Lily said, and thought it was odd that Becky seemed pleased with that news. “Ephraim Stoltzfus and Wall-Eyed Walter.”

  “Wall-Eyed Walter?” Becky repeated.

  “We’re not supposed to call him that, but everybody does,” Joseph piped up. “Walter’s got a wandering eye. He’s a little . . . different.”

  Becky squinted. “How so?”

  “His mind circles a little slow,” Joseph said, “but it eventually gets there.”

  For the rest of the walk, Harvey did all the talking. Becky looked bored. Teacher Judith was on the school steps, waiting to show the new children to their desks. As each child settled into the desks, the schoolhouse was bursting at the seams. All empty seats were now full. Lily glanced all around the room, liking the extra noise and activity. Then her eyes met Harvey’s and he gave her a foxy grin with a wink. Lily snapped her head to face the front of the schoolhouse.

  That boy was trouble.

  The very next day, Harvey stepped inside the schoolhouse door just as the final bell was rung. He removed his hat and hung it up on the wall peg. He put his lunch box on the shelf with all the other children’s lunches. And suddenly, he was walking up the aisle on his hands. His legs waved in the air as he went. The whole class watched the spectacle, then burst out laughing as he turned right side up and sat in his desk with a goofy grin on his face.

  Effie Kauffman giggled. Sam Stoltzfus laughed the hardest of all. Aaron Yoder was watching Harvey with a curious look on his face. If Lily didn’t dislike Aaron so much, she would wonder what he was thinking. But she did dislike him, so she wasn’t going to wonder what, if anything, might be on Aaron Yoder’s mind. Probably, he was jealous that he had never thought of such a stunt.

  Teacher Judith called the sixth grade history class up to the front of the room. “Watch this, Lily,” Harvey whispered in his overly loud voice. He tucked his books under his suspenders and walked up to the front of the schoolhouse on his hands. Lily was astonished. That boy was brash.

  “That’s enough, Harvey,” Teacher Judith said. “The first time was funny. The second time wasn’t. I don’t want you to walk on your hands during school hours.”

  Harvey flipped over to his feet and his books crashed on the floor. He picked them up and looked straight at Teacher Judith. “So you don’t want me to use my hands during school hours.”

  “That’s what I said,” Teacher Judith said.

  Harvey sat on the bench with the rest of his classmates. Lily returned to her own lessons and tried to ignore the lively history discussion of the sixth graders. An odd noise broke her concentration. She looked up to see the sixth graders returning to their desks. Harvey was kicking and pushing his books along on the floor in front of him.

  “Harvey,
pick up your books,” Teacher Judith said.

  Harvey gave her a flippant look. “Sorry. Can’t. You told me not to use my hands during school hours.”

  Teacher Judith was losing patience, which was quite a feat. “I think you know what I meant.”

  Harvey grinned. “So I can use my hands after all?”

  “Use your hands to take your books back to your desk,” Teacher Judith said, slowly and clearly, as if Harvey might be very dim-witted.

  Harvey picked up his books from the floor, slipped them under his suspenders, and walked back to his desk on his hands. Everyone burst out laughing again. Lily felt a little guilty about laughing, but it looked so funny! Then she caught Aaron frowning at her and her smile faded.

  It didn’t take Harvey Hershberger long to find his place in school. In fact, Lily thought he felt much too comfortable, too soon. From the first day on, Harvey made all the decisions about which games would be played at recess. He didn’t want the first and second graders to play the same games as everyone else. “The little ones just slow everything down,” Harvey insisted. In a way, it was true. But in another way, it wasn’t very kind to exclude them. But Harvey wouldn’t back down.

  To Lily’s shock, Aaron Yoder stood up to him. “I think we should let the younger grades play with us the way they always did.” He scowled at Harvey. “The way they did before the Hershbergers moved in.”

  Sam Stoltzfus, who normally did anything Aaron Yoder did, sided with Harvey. “No! Harvey’s right. It’s high time those little children should play their own silly little games so the older grades can have more fun.” The boys used up the entire recess arguing. Soon, Teacher Judith rang the bell and all the children had to run to the schoolhouse.

  Lily had never heard so much fussing in the school yard before, even from Effie Kauffman.

  September 28th

  Dear Cousin Hannah,

  It’s been two weeks since you moved away and I still can’t get used to it. I keep looking at your desk, expecting you to be there, but instead there sits a horrible boy named Harvey Hershberger. He is too horrible for words. A different kind of horrible than Aaron Yoder, but horrible all the same. Harvey likes to have everyone laugh at him, all the time. He can be funny, but he doesn’t know when to stop and Teacher Judith is too soft on him.

  I wish you still lived down the road and I wish you still went to school with me, but I do hope you like your new school. Write me soon and tell me all about the girls in your school. No boys, though. I’ve had my fill of boys.

  Something interesting happened in school this week, if you want to call “trouble” interesting. It all started on Monday when Harvey Hershberger brought some long stick pretzels to school. During recess, the boys strutted around, pretending to be smoking them. It took a while for Teacher Judith to notice, and when she did, she didn’t like it. But just as she started to scold them, they quickly ate those pretzels up. They acted like eating those pretzels was what they’d been doing all along.

  On Wednesday, we were studying German spelling (you remember how boring that always was!). Harvey, Aaron, and Sam were whispering like thieves and suddenly, a funny smell, like burnt flour, came from behind me. When I turned around, I saw Harvey had lit his pretzel to smoke it. Aaron and Sam whispered to Harvey to pass the matches. Soon, they all had smoking pretzels. It smelled awful.

  Finally, Teacher Judith smelled it. She demanded that Harvey hand over the pretzels and the matches. All three boys had to stay in during recess, which was a relief to the rest of us. All except Effie. She thought Teacher Judith was being too hard on them (as if that were even possible!). She keeps making fun of Teacher Judith when she’s sure the teacher can’t hear her. Today, she imitated how Teacher Judith snores. If it’s even partially true, I do feel a tiny little bit sorry for Effie’s family. The snoring sound was awful, Hannah! Worse than a herd of pigs.

  On Friday morning, all three members of the school board arrived at school. They made Harvey, Aaron, and Sam stand at the front of the schoolhouse while they gave a long lecture about the sinfulness of smoking. Then the boys had to apologize and promise they would behave from now on.

  Fat chance of that!

  Aaron, Sam, and Harvey laughed about getting in trouble during lunch recess, so I don’t think they were very sorry at all. But I doubt they will try to smoke pretzels again.

  Effie had said she wanted to try to smoke a pretzel, but changed her mind after the school board came calling.

  Hannah, can you imagine how you would have felt if you had been scolded by the school board in front of the entire class? How awful!

  You won’t believe what Joseph’s dog did last Saturday! I had been cleaning out my closet and found Sally (remember Sally? She was my rag doll). I put her on my desk chair to play with her later, when I finished with the Saturday cleaning. Dozer must have sneaked into my room and grabbed her, because I found her out in the backyard, all chewed up. I was so mad! I yelled so loudly that Mama came running. He’s a horrible dog, Dozer is.

  Mama is calling so I’d better close. Write soon, Hannah. Remember our promise to write every week. I’ll try and do better. I want to hear all about your new home. I guess you could tell me about the boys in your school if you really have to.

  Your cousin,

  Lily

  9

  Who’s the Next Bishop?

  Lily’s back ached. She had been sitting on a hard, backless bench for hours. Today was Communion Sunday, which lasted all day long. Once it was over, there would be special services to ordain a bishop. Lily’s church had been sharing a bishop with another district, and it was time to ordain one of their own.

  The new bishop would be chosen from the three ministers in Lily’s church: Effie’s father, Henry Kauffman; Aaron’s father, David Yoder; or Lily’s Uncle Jacob. Lily gave some thought to the choice. She decided the new bishop would probably be David Yoder. Henry Kauffman might be the oldest, but he had a wife like Ida. No one in Cloverdale would ever want Ida Kauffman to be a bishop’s wife! She would consider it her duty to spy on church members and inform her bishop husband about what people were doing wrong. Actually, Lily thought, trying to stifle a grin, Ida Kauffman already did consider that to be her duty.

  David Yoder would make a fine bishop for Cloverdale. He was a very kind man and his wife was very kind, too. It was a pity that Aaron Yoder was their son. Lily felt sorry for David Yoder and imagined that he was sorry about Aaron, too. But she did think he would be a good bishop. Uncle Jacob would be a good bishop, the best of all, but he was young. He had just become ordained as a minister last year.

  Yes. Lily was confident that David Yoder would be the choice.

  Henry Kauffman was preaching a very, very long sermon, and finally came to an end. Now would be the time for Zeugnis, when the other ministers shared their thoughts about the sermon the minister had finished preaching. Today, there were several benches filled with visiting ministers and bishops who wanted to witness the ordination. Lily swallowed a yawn. She knew it would take a long time for each to have a turn and share his thoughts. That was one thing she had learned about ministers: they were never shy to share their thoughts.

  At long last, the closing hymn was announced and everyone started to sing in the familiar slow, rhythmic way. Lily’s church sang the same hymns, in one voice, the same way all their great-great-grandparents used to sing.

  Today, just once, Lily wished they could speed up the hymn. Wasn’t anyone else eager to find out who the new bishop would be?

  After the last hymn ended, everyone went outside to get some fresh air before it was time to head back inside. Lily joined the other girls in the kitchen who were waiting to get a drink of water. Effie was beside herself with excitement. She was beaming, positively beaming. “I can’t wait to see who the new bishop will be,” she said. “Becoming a bishop’s family means that family is the most important one in the community. My mother said so, just this morning.”

  Aunt Lizzie, Uncle Jacob�
��s wife, would never say such a thing. Neither would David Yoder’s wife. Dear God, Lily prayed silently, please don’t let the bishop be Effie’s father. Please, please, please. She didn’t think she could stand Effie any more proud or puffed up than she already was.

  Lily filled a glass with water and drank it as slowly as she could before it was time to head back into the room filled with benches. A visiting bishop cleared his throat and got slowly to his feet. His eyes swept the room filled with people. He looked kind and compassionate, almost as if he felt sad to ordain a new bishop today. “We all know why we have gathered back together this day,” he said. “If all the visiting ministers and bishops would join me in the basement, we will be ready to start taking your votes.”

  Lily watched Henry Kauffman, David Yoder, and Uncle Jacob. They sat on the front bench, heads bowed, bearded chins to their chest. Lily wondered if they were all praying that God would let one of the other two ministers become the bishop. She almost giggled out loud. How could God answer such a prayer? If so, someone’s prayer couldn’t be granted.

  All the men went down to the basement and lined up. One by one, they whispered their vote, their choice of whom they’d like to see as bishop, to one of the visiting ministers. After the last man sat down, it was the women’s turn to vote. Afterward, everyone sat quietly, waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. It felt like a heavy silence. Lily didn’t dare wiggle or move an inch. It almost seemed irreverent to breathe.

  The sound of heavy feet on the basement steps broke the silence. The bishop led the way back to the front of the room. He carried three hymnals in his hands, each held shut with a rubber band. That meant all three of the ministers were chosen to be in the lot. Effie could hardly keep the smile off her face. She stretched and craned her neck to see the hymnals. Lily wanted to pinch her.