Bumpy Ride Ahead! (8 page)

C
HAPTER
8

Before eating breakfast on Monday morning, Mark suddenly remembered that he hadn’t moved the wheelbarrow into the barn the day before. Since that had been their off-Sunday from church and they’d gone to visit Grandpa and Grandma Miller, he’d completely forgotten about the wheelbarrow full of nuts. Knowing he’d better take care of that right now, he dashed out the back door so he could get the walnuts into the barn before heading off to school.

As Mark went around the corner of the house, he noticed a squirrel running across the yard and onto the fence railing along their field. It looked like the animal had something in its mouth, but Mark didn’t think anything of it—until he got to the wheelbarrow.

“Oh no!” Mark put his hands on his head and stared at the few walnuts that were left. “Where are all the walnuts we picked Saturday?” Then slowly, he lifted his gaze to the bushy-tailed varmint making its getaway into the highest oak tree on the other side of the fence.

After putting the few walnuts that were left in the barn, Mark went into the house, not sure how to tell his parents about the newly discovered backyard thief. If only he’d put those walnuts in the barn yesterday.

“Did you get the walnuts moved?” Dad asked when Mark and the others sat down to breakfast.

“Uh … no … Well, a few,” Mark stammered. “See, I—uh—forgot to move the wheelbarrow into the barn yesterday morning, so a few minutes ago I went out to do what you’d asked me to do, and I saw this squirrel.” Mark swallowed hard. “Dad, that varmint stole almost all the walnuts and only left us a few. I saw him runnin’ toward the trees on the other side of our fence with one of the walnuts in his mouth.”

Dad cleared his throat real loud, and Mark sat there waiting with his eyes squeezed shut for the scolding he knew would soon come. Then, to his surprise, Mom and Dad burst out laughing.

Mark opened his eyes and looked quizzically at his parents. They laughed so hard that Mom had tears running down her cheeks and Dad’s beard jiggled up and down.

Mark looked over at Mattie to see her reaction, but she just shrugged her shoulders and started giggling.

After Mom and Dad finally stopped laughing, Dad looked at Mark and said, “Well, son, it doesn’t excuse the fact that you should have done what I asked you to do with the walnuts right away. If you wouldn’t have been thinking of that frog and trying to catch him instead of doing what you were told to do, our bushy-tailed friend wouldn’t have stolen all the walnuts we picked.”

“You’re right, Dad, and I’m sorry.” Mark hung his head, feeling pretty bad that all the work that had gone into picking the walnuts had gone to waste.

“But we can’t blame the squirrel for finding an easy source of food for the winter.” Mom smiled. “In case you’re wondering, your daed and I were laughing because something similar happened to us when we were first married. We had a whole wagon full of walnuts that we’d just picked, and by mistake we left them in the wagon because we’d gotten busy doing something else that day. Only our story ends a bit differently.”

“That’s right,” Dad said. “When we went out the next morning, the wagon was totally empty, and there was not one walnut to be found.” Dad gave Mark’s shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t you worry, son, we had a good time Saturday having family time together, and there are plenty more walnuts left where we picked those. So, Mark, maybe you can convince one of your brothers or Mattie to go along with you to pick some more nuts after school.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ike quickly volunteered. “Since I missed out on Saturday’s walnut picking, I’d be glad to help you get more.”

Mark was happy that Dad wasn’t too upset and that he’d be doing something fun with his big brother Ike. He’d also learned a good lesson, though, about doing what he was told to do instead of what he wanted to do.

“You’re tryin’ to cram too much in,” Mattie mumbled when Mark put a big, thick book in the basket on their bike before they left for school. “What is that, anyway?”

“It’s my dictionary,” Mark said. “I’m gonna study it during recess today so I can have some new big words to say.”

Mattie frowned. “You don’t need any more big words to say. You’ve said enough of those already.” She stuffed her jump rope into the basket beside her lunch pail. “And you shouldn’t be taking up room in our basket with that big book.”

“If you think it’s too crowded, then why don’t you take your jump rope out?” Mark asked.

She shook her head. “My jump rope hardly takes up any room at all, and I’m takin’ it so some of the girls and I can have fun jumping during recess.”

Mark shrugged. “That’s fine by me. Let’s just get going or we’re gonna be late.”

Mattie climbed onto the back of the bike, and Mark climbed onto the front. As they pedaled out of the yard, a cool breeze came up, swirling some of the fallen leaves into the air.

Mattie shivered. Fall was definitely here, and she was glad she’d worn a jacket today. From the looks of the gray sky overhead, it could even rain before the day was out. She hoped no rain would fall—at least not until they were home from school. It was never fun to be caught in the drenching rain, even though they no longer had to walk since they’d been given a bike.

They were halfway to the schoolhouse when they hit a bump and Mattie’s jump rope bounced out. The next thing she knew the bike had come to a complete stop. Mattie pumped her legs and pushed her feet hard against the pedals, but she couldn’t get them to move forward or back.

“What’s going on?” Mark called over his shoulder. “The bike’s not moving. Did you stop pedaling, Mattie?”

“No, I did not. My jump rope fell out, and I think it might be stuck in the chain.”

Mark got off the bike and squatted down beside the chain. “Jah, that’s what happened, all right. Now we need to figure out how to get the jump rope loose.”

Mattie got off, set the kickstand, and knelt on the ground next to Mark.

First, Mark pulled on the jump rope, and then Mattie gave it a try. It was such a tangled mess she didn’t think they’d ever get it out.

“Be careful, Mattie,” Mark said. “If we pull too hard, we might break the chain.”

“What are we gonna do?” she asked, feeling a sense of panic.

“Just keep trying to get it off.”

They both twisted and pulled and twisted some more. Suddenly, the chain popped right off!

“That’s just great,” Mark mumbled. “Now we’re gonna have to push the bike the rest of the way to school.”

“If we do that, we’ll be late,” Mattie said. “Can’t we just leave the bike here and run the rest of the way?”

Mark shook his head. “If we leave the bike, someone might steal it. Then we’ll be walking to school from now on instead of ridin’ our bike.”

Mattie’s lips compressed as she gave Mark’s words some serious thought. “You’re right. It wouldn’t be good if someone stole our bicycle. Guess we’d better start pushing, even if it does make us late.”

When the twins entered the schoolhouse, their teacher, Anna Ruth Stutzman, looked at Mark and Mattie and said, “You two are late.”

“We’re sorry,” the twins both said.

“We had a little problem with the chain on our bike,” Mark explained. “We ended up havin’ to push the bike the rest of the way to school.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Now please take your seats.”

Mark’s face heated with embarrassment. Mattie’s cheeks were red, too. All the other scholars seemed to be looking at them.

They’d just taken their seats when Anna Ruth took out her Bible. “This morning I’ll be reading from First Thessalonians 5:18: ‘Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’”

Mark sat at his desk, mulling things over. Was he supposed to feel thankful that their bike chain had fallen off and they’d been late for school? It was a lot easier to be thankful when things went well, but he did want to do what the Bible said.

“I know it’s not always easy to be thankful when things don’t go as we’d like,” Anna Ruth said as though she knew what Mark was thinking. “But if we have an attitude of thankfulness, it helps us deal with things better. After all, it doesn’t do any good to get mad when things go wrong. When we go through hard times, it can actually help to strengthen our character.”

Mark glanced over at Mattie to see her reaction, but she was whispering something to her friend Stella.

Next the teacher told the children to stand and recite the Lord’s Prayer. Following that, everyone filed to the front of the room and sang a few songs.

Mark didn’t feel much like singing today, but he forced himself to do it. He couldn’t stop thinking about the bike and wondering what Dad would say when they told him what had happened.

After the singing, everyone took their seats, and Anna Ruth gave the arithmetic assignment. When that was done, she told the class that they had another assignment to do.

“I’d like you to write an essay, either about something you’ve recently learned to do or something that’s taught you about becoming responsible. This assignment will be due by the end of the week, and everyone will get the chance to read what they wrote to the class.”

I wonder what I should write about
, Mark thought.
Whatever topic I choose, I think I’ll include a big word or two.