A Surprise for Lily (13 page)

Papa handed the pink bird cage to Beth. “Lily wanted you to have another bird,” he said. “He can't take the place of Pete, but we hope this one will be a good pet for you.”

Beth's eyes filled with tears. She gave Lily a hug and told her she was the best friend anyone could ever have. Jonas Raber started to thank Papa all over again.

Papa gathered the family together to leave before Jonas could embarrass him again with countless thank-yous. “It's time to go home now,” Papa said.

When they reached Whispering Pines, Lily went up to her room to bring down a book to read after supper. It had been fun to have Beth stay with her for the last few weeks and now her room was strangely empty. It was the closest Lily had ever come to having a sister. She wanted a sister now more than ever.

E
ffie Kauffman thought Harvey Hershberger was cute. Not as cute as Aaron Yoder, she told everyone, but still very, very cute. The attention she gave him only puffed up Harvey's big head all the more, if it were possible.

Harvey
was
cute, Lily had to admit—though she would never admit it out loud. His hair was bleached by the sun and his blue eyes sparkled. But he was every bit as annoying as he was cute. He never knew when to be funny and when to be quiet.

One of the things Harvey did that irritated Lily was to whistle while the children sang songs in school. It wasn't that Lily minded whistling—Papa was a champion whistler. But Harvey whistled off-key. Teacher Judith never stopped his terrible whistling.

On the afternoons when Mama taught English, before she dismissed everyone, she taught the children new songs. It wasn't long before Harvey's boldness set in. He whistled along instead of singing. The first time, Mama didn't stop him, which was a disappointment to Lily. She thought that Harvey's mother should be sent a note about his off-key whistling. Maybe the new bishop, too.

The second time Harvey started to whistle instead of sing, Mama did something odd. She reached into her desk and pulled out a lemon and a knife. Right in front of everyone, while the students kept singing, Mama sliced the lemon in half and squeezed the juice into a teacup. Mama was up
to something, but what? She took a sip of the lemon juice, watching Harvey the entire time.

Harvey's whistle sputtered to a stop.

On Thursday, Mama had the children finish the day by practicing a new song, just like they did on Tuesday. Harvey started up his horrible whistling. Mama quietly pulled out another lemon from her desk drawer and cut it in half, then squeezed the juice into a cup. She lifted the cup to her lips.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily watched Harvey. He got a funny look on his face, like his mouth was puckering up at the very thought of the sour lemon. He kept wiggling his lips like a horse, as if he couldn't get them to do what he wanted them to do.

Mama's sour lemon trick was just the thing to cure Harvey of his off-key whistling.

Dear Cousin Hannah,

Today was the worst day of my entire life. It started when I took too long to wash and dry the breakfast dishes (but there was the cutest little chipmunk outside the kitchen window), and then I had to rush to get ready for school. I threw on my coat and completely forgot my cape and apron! I didn't even realize what I'd done until I heard Effie whisper and point and laugh. Of course, that got Harvey and Aaron and Sam laughing at me, too. I wanted to run home during first recess, but I've got near-perfect attendance so far for the year and it wasn't worth jeopardizing my very excellent record. (Teacher Judith says that there will be a special prize for the student who has the best attendance by the end
of the term, and so far I am in the lead to win.) So I ended up just wearing my coat all day long.

By lunchtime, the schoolhouse was warm (Mama calls it moulting season), and I started perspiring and my face turned bright red. Of course, Aaron noticed, and he started calling me LilyBeet. I guess that's an improvement on calling me Wholly Lily, like he used to call me. But not by much.

The day just kept getting worse.

Joseph brought horse chestnuts to school. (You are probably wondering why, but I have no idea.) Harvey insisted they were good to eat. Even Aaron told him he was wrong, but Harvey doesn't listen to common sense. (That doesn't mean I think Aaron has common sense. He doesn't.)

After a heated discussion that took up most of lunch recess, Harvey tried to roast the horse chestnuts by putting them inside the furnace. After they were nearly burned to a crisp, he took them out and ate several of them. It wasn't long before he turned green, started to moan, and got sick! His throw-up splattered all over my new shoes. Hannah, it was disgusting. Just disgusting. The room smelled horrible.

The only good thing was that Harvey went home early.

But the day got worse! On the way home from school, I made the mistake of complaining to Joseph that my new shoes were spoiled by Harvey. I might have mentioned that I wasn't terribly disappointed because I wished I'd been able to get shoes with high heels, like I'd seen on an English woman who came into Papa's
shop last Saturday. I liked the pecking sound they made on the floor in the workshop.

Well, you know how Joseph likes to make things. He decided to surprise me with a pair of high heels. He pounded a spike through the heels of my brand new, stinky (because of Harvey) shoes. Now they are really, truly ruined.

I should have just stayed in bed.

Your cousin,
Lily

Mama taught English classes to the upper grades on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. On those days, Lily and Joseph stayed to help Mama clean up the schoolhouse after the rest of the children went home. Mama checked all the English lessons while they waited for Papa to come get them in the buggy.

It was such a beautiful spring day that Lily asked Mama if she could walk home instead of wait for Papa to arrive. Mama looked up from the papers she was grading. “As long as you take Joseph with you, I don't mind if you want to start for home. Leave your lunch boxes and I'll take them in the buggy. If Papa comes soon, we'll pick you up along the way.”

Joseph and Lily raced up the road. At the top of the first hill, they stopped abruptly. Just up the road were Becky Hershberger and Ephraim Stoltzfus. They were holding hands!

“Ewww! Look at that,” Joseph said.

“Sickening,” Lily said. She shuddered at the thought of holding hands with a boy.

A car turned onto the road and Becky and Ephraim dropped their hands. As soon as the car passed out of sight, they locked hands again.

Lily and Joseph walked slowly down the hill behind them. “I don't think they know we can see them,” Lily said.

“I don't think so, either,” Joseph said. Just then, Becky and Ephraim stopped walking and he leaned his face toward hers. “Ewww! I think they're kissing.”

Lily felt like gagging. “Let's run toward them. Stomp your feet as loud as you can!”

Lily and Joseph charged down the hill. Becky and Ephraim startled, looked at them, then ran off down the road. Lily and Joseph slowed down to a walk again, huffing and puffing, pleased with themselves.

During recess the next day, Lily was playing in the outfield during a softball game. Harvey ran out to her. “Your brother Joseph is a liar.”

“That is
not
true,” Lily said. Actually, sometimes it was true, but Harvey didn't need to know everything.

“He said that Becky and Ephraim were holding hands and kissing on the way home from school yesterday.”

“Oh
that
?” Lily said. “I saw them, too.”

Harvey was outraged. “I don't believe you, either!”

Lily shrugged. “Suit yourself. But we know what we saw.”

The bell rang and Harvey glared at her before he ran to the schoolhouse. Lily wondered why Harvey acted so indignant about Becky's reputation. Lily wasn't at all surprised that Becky was only thirteen and was already kissing boys. Becky was a girl who wanted to be older than her years.

A few days later, Lily and Joseph were walking home from school with Beth and Malinda when Harvey ran up to join them. “I need to talk to you both.” He waited until Beth and Malinda turned down a road before he said, “I asked Becky if she and Ephraim were holding hands and kissing on the way home from school, and she said they weren't and that now she knows that Lapps are liars.”

Lily gave Joseph a warning look. There was no point in arguing with someone like Harvey.

Of course, silence never stopped Harvey. “I want you both to admit you lied and that you're sorry,” Harvey said. “I'm sure she will forgive you.”

“But we didn't lie,” Joseph said.

“We know what we saw,” Lily said. “Your sister is the one who isn't telling the truth.”

“Well, Hershbergers aren't allowed to lie,” Harvey said.

“Lapps aren't, either,” Lily shot back. This was silly. She didn't really care if Ephraim and Becky were kissing. Her only thought about it was that she would definitely never be caught doing anything like that.

“I'm going to prove that you are lying,” Harvey said. “I'll give you until tomorrow at one o'clock to confess. If you don't admit you're lying about Becky, God will make your index finger turn black. But if you're telling the truth, it won't change color.”

Lily stared at him in disbelief. Was he crazy? He was! “Then we don't have anything to worry about,” she said, “because we are not lying! Come on, Joseph. Let's hurry home.” She started to run. Anything to get away from crazy Harvey.

The next day at first recess, Harvey came to check Joseph
and Lily's fingers. “If there's a gray tinge, that means they're already turning black. You'll see.”

Lily and Joseph held out their hands. Their fingers looked pink and healthy, like they always did.