A Surprise for Lily (18 page)

I
t was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. The students stood at their desks, waiting for Teacher Judith to dismiss them. “Anyone who has a brother or sister starting first grade in the fall,” she said, “please tell your parents that Friday will be preschool day.”

Lily and Joseph shared a look of excitement. Dannie could come to school for a day! He had turned six on his last birthday and would be ready to start school in the fall. She hoped Teacher Judith would let Dannie sit next to her instead of Joseph.

At home, Lily rushed through the door ahead of Joseph to announce the news. After all, she was the oldest. She was always telling Joseph that she should be the one to make the school announcements. When Dannie heard the news, he was stunned speechless, which was a rare event for him. It hadn't occurred to him that he would be going to school one day.

He ran to find Mama. “Mama, pack my lunch box for me right away! I need to go to school!”

Mama laughed. “I think it might be wise to wait to pack it until Friday morning when I get Lily and Joseph's lunches ready.”

Dannie hopped through the house on one leg, chanting a singsongy verse: “I'm going to school next Friday! I'm going to school next Friday!” Over and over and over.

Lily sighed and covered her ears. Friday was four long days from now. She hoped she wouldn't have to listen to Dannie's off-key song until then.

When Friday morning finally arrived, Dannie woke before anyone else, even Papa. So early the chickens hadn't started clucking yet. He was worried that Mama would forget to pack his lunch. Lily was relieved when Mama suggested they should start for school a little earlier than usual. Dannie wasn't used to walking that far and it would probably take longer.

But Dannie didn't mind the mile-long walk to school. In fact, he wanted to run the entire way to get there sooner. Lily and Joseph had to convince him that they would get there in plenty of time by walking.

Teacher Judith had placed a small desk for Dannie next to Lily's desk. There were two other little children visiting today, too. Three little desks. Dannie was disappointed that it was so small, that it wasn't filled with books like Lily's. There was nothing in Dannie's little desk except a pencil and a box of eight crayons. Joseph was disappointed that Dannie wasn't next to him. Lily wasn't at all disappointed.

Teacher Judith handed several pieces of paper to each of the three preschool children. Lily leaned over to whisper directions to Dannie. One was a color-by-number, so Lily colored
the number code for Dannie because he couldn't read yet. It wasn't long before Dannie had finished it and nudged Lily with his elbow. “I'm ready for another paper,” he whispered. His front teeth were gone, so he whistled and spit when he talked.

Lily read the instructions. Dannie needed to cut out the little pictures at the bottom of the page and glue them in the correct boxes. She handed him her pair of scissors and then tried to concentrate on her own schoolwork. She was hard at work on an arithmetic problem when Dannie asked her for glue. School had started only thirty minutes ago and Lily was already tired of having Dannie sitting next to her, interrupting her. She was starting to wonder if she would be able to get her own work done on time today.

Lily couldn't find any glue in her desk. Teacher Judith kept a basket of school glue on the bookshelf. She looked up at the front of the schoolroom. Teacher Judith was having a class, and Lily didn't want to sit with her hand raised until she was noticed. She had too much work to do. She whispered to Dannie, “Raise your hand. When Teacher Judith asks what you need, ask if you can get some glue.” She doubted he would say anything, but it was good for him to learn the rules.

Dannie's hand shot up to the ceiling. In his loudest voice, he announced, “Teacher Judith, I need glue.”

Everyone swiveled in their chair to stare at Lily and Dannie. Aaron Yoder and Sam Stoltzfus started to snicker. They knew. Only the big boys ever spoke out in class like that and they weren't supposed to! Lily was mortified. What happened to her shy-as-a-church-mouse little brother? She wished she could slip under her desk and disappear. Teacher Judith
smiled at Dannie and said, “Lily, you can go get some glue for your brother.”

Lily walked over to the glue basket and brought glue back to Dannie. She glanced at the clock. Six and a half hours to go. She couldn't wait for this day to be over.

Lily trudged way behind Joseph and Dannie on the way home from school that afternoon. She couldn't tolerate one more moment of Dannie's endless questions and interruptions. It made her worry about the next school term, in the fall, when Dannie would be a first grader. She only hoped her desk with the other sixth graders would be far, far away from his. He was nothing but a pest.

The next morning, Dannie lay on the couch clutching his stomach. “Mama, my tummy hurts so bad,” he said.

Mama made a cup of peppermint tea and told him to sip it slowly. Normally, Dannie ate or drank anything. He turned his head away, refusing even a tiny sip.

Mama was worried. It wasn't like Dannie to be still, even if he wasn't feeling well. She covered him with a blanket. “Try to sleep, Dannie,” she said. “Maybe when you wake up, you'll feel better.”

Lily put her hands on her own tummy to make sure nothing was hurting. Whatever Dannie had, she didn't want to catch it. She was determined to stay healthy so she wouldn't miss a single day of school. She was so close! Just two more weeks to go. She wanted that prize for nearly perfect attendance.

Grandma Miller had told her, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Ever since, Lily ate an apple every day. She thought it was definitely helping. Dannie ate plenty of apples,
though, more than Lily did. Then she thought of another of Grandma Miller's saying—something about eating too many green apples could make a person sick. Maybe that's why Dannie had a bellyache. Too many green apples. It sounded like something Dannie would do.

Every few minutes, Mama checked on Dannie again. He was moaning and groaning. She put her hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever. Finally, she went down to the shop to get Papa. When he came upstairs, he kneeled down next to Dannie. He brushed the hair off Dannie's forehead. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Oh, Papa, it hurts so bad,” Dannie said. It sounded like a squeak.

“Just lay here as quietly as you can,” Papa said. “I'll go call a driver to take us to the doctor.”

Papa ran over to Mr. Beal's house to call Mr. Tanner to take them to the doctor. Mama turned to Lily. “Lily and Joseph, I want you to take Paul over to Grandpa and Grandma Miller's and stay there until we get back.”

Lily helped Paul climb into the red wagon. Lily and Joseph took turns pulling the wagon down the driveway and along the road to Grandpa's house. They were almost there when Mr. Tanner passed them in his big blue station wagon. Lily hoped the doctor would give Dannie some medicine to make him feel better. She hoped they would come home soon. She didn't want to stay at Grandpa and Grandma's for weeks and weeks, like they did when Dannie and Paul had the chicken pox.

Aunt Susie was happy to see them come to the door. She hurried to get her favorite book to read to Paul. Lily liked Aunt Susie's book
A Big Ball of String
. She liked the pictures
of the little boy and his ball of string. That little boy had fun with his string even when he had to stay in bed. Maybe, Lily thought, if Dannie was really sick, then she and Joseph could go out to the barn and roll up all the twine into a huge ball for him. He could play the same way as the little boy in the book.

Dannie would be fine, she assured herself.
Everything will be fine.
Just yesterday, he had gone to school and made a big pest of himself.

Everything would be fine.

Papa didn't return for Lily and Joseph until later that evening. When Grandpa Miller opened the door, he asked if Dannie was all right. There was a tone of concern in Grandpa's voice that worried Lily.

Papa came into the kitchen and took Paul from Grandma's arms. “Dannie had to have surgery to remove a ruptured appendix,” Papa said. “Rachel is staying with him overnight. He's a very sick little boy.”

Lily felt sorry for Dannie. She didn't know much about hospitals, but Effie had told her that doctors walked around poking people with needles. Poor Dannie.

“We had a good doctor who recognized all the symptoms and sent him straight to the hospital,” Papa said. “The doctor said Dannie will need to stay there for a few days.”

“Do you want the children to stay here?” Grandma asked.

“No, I'll take them home with me,” Papa said. “They'll get a good night's sleep in their own beds.”

On the walk home in the dark, Lily looked up at the stars. How could things have changed so quickly? Yesterday, Dannie
was fine. Tonight, he was a sick little boy. She said a prayer for Dannie. She hoped he would come home soon. She wouldn't even mind having him come to school again.

It felt strange not to have Dannie at home. Mama or Papa took turns staying with him each day at the hospital. Lily thought he would just be in the hospital a few days, but then he got an infection and had to stay longer. It was a continual worry to Lily.

In the middle of the week, Lily put the last breakfast dish into the cupboard and wiped the countertop. She grabbed the lunch boxes off the counter and went down the basement steps and out the door to Papa's shop to tell Joseph it was time to leave. He was trying to build a toy tractor and was sorry to have to set it aside for school. Joseph felt there was no reason to go to school on any day, but especially so on days he had a project going on in Papa's shop.

Lily and Joseph had just turned onto the road that led to the school when Aaron Yoder came jogging across the field. Usually, he ran right past Lily, unless he stopped to jump in a puddle to splash her or stick out his tongue at her—though she had to admit, that kind of thing wasn't happening as much as it used to.

On this morning, Aaron caught up with them and walked along beside them. “How's Dannie?”

“He's sicker,” Joseph said. “He's got an infection in his incision.” He admired Aaron, which was something Lily could not understand.

“He'll be fine,” Lily said, not wanting Aaron to know their private family news.

“Those doctors will take good care of him,” Aaron said. “He'll be home before you know it. Just wait and see.”

“I hope he's home before school gets out,” Joseph said. “I have a lot of plans to go visit Teaskoota this summer. Dannie's old enough to go with us.”

Aaron frowned. “I don't think you should be going through that train tunnel for a while.”

“Why not?” Lily asked.

“Last week, I saw a mother bear and her cubs walk into it.”

Black bears were a common sight in the woods of Pennsylvania. Joseph shrugged. “Teaskoota's dog would chase them off.” He kicked a rock down the road. “I can't wait until the end of the school term. I had to quit making a toy tractor in the shop this morning just to go to school. School is a complete waste of time. I'll never need to know which president was the shortest or which state produces the most corn.”