Life with Lily (12 page)

As she clutched the sides of her apron, she tried to think harder.
Think, think, think, Lily!
Everything was so quiet. Everyone was waiting. Everyone was watching. The room was full of watching eyes. Lily wanted to run right out of the schoolhouse and keep running. Just then she caught Papa's eyes. He winked. And just like that—snap!—Lily remembered. She quickly said her poem without a single mistake. And then the scholars sang the final song. Number fifteen.

At last, it was time to exchange the gifts. The children went back to their desks, watching with anticipation as Isaac and another big boy passed out the gifts. Lily watched as Teacher Katie opened her gift. She took a long time admiring the rose pattern on the towels and she started to eat the candy in the candy bowl. Lily thought she seemed pleased, but it was hard to tell because Teacher Katie never smiled. Not once.

Isaac placed a lumpy-looking package on Lily's desk. She turned it over and saw that it was from Hannah. She carefully unwrapped the funny-looking package. Inside was a paint-by-number set. Lily's favorite thing! Next to playing dolls. And there was also a cute red and yellow apple-shaped glass candy bowl with a few pieces of homemade chocolate candy and three packs of Smarties. Lily smiled at Hannah. Smarties were her favorite candy of all. The gifts were perfect, just perfect. She didn't even mind that she was not going to get the great big box. She placed her gifts on the corner of her desk and watched the other children open their gifts. Balls, books, candy. All of the gifts were wonderful! Very, very wonderful.

Isaac passed out the last gift and sat down at his desk where his gift was waiting to be opened. It was the giant box! Lily couldn't wait to see what was inside. She kept her
eyes on Isaac as he opened it carefully. Inside the box was another box, wrapped in colorful wrapping paper. After he opened that box, there was another box inside of that one, and another and another. Each box was smaller than the one before. Finally, there was only a thin little box left to open. Inside was a coloring book—something Joseph or Dannie might like. But not something a big eighth grade boy would want. Lily felt sorry for Isaac. Everyone received special gifts except for him. She wondered who had given him a joke gift. A rusty snorting sound came from the front of the classroom. Lily looked up and saw it was Teacher Katie, watching Isaac and laughing.

The big girls gathered up the wrapping paper so the mothers could take it home to iron and reuse. After the room was cleaned up, it was time to eat.

Together, the students and parents sang a short song of thanks to God for their food. The children ran to get their lunch boxes. Mothers set out the food they had packed. The schoolhouse with filled with happy sounds of laughter and chatter.

When Lily had finished eating, she gathered her gifts into her arms and went to sit next to Papa and Mama. She stopped beside Isaac's desk. She had to know. “Who gave you that silly coloring book?” she whispered.

Isaac glanced around the room. He lowered his voice. “Teacher Katie.”

Teacher Katie?
Teacher Katie!
What a mean trick! And then she had laughed at him too. How could a grown-up be so mean, especially at Christmas? It was a mystery to her. “You can have some of my candy.” It wasn't an easy thing to part with her Smarties, but Lily would do that. She would do that for Isaac.

Isaac shook his head. “No, that's okay. It's yours.”

Lily went back to Papa and Mama. She gave Joseph and Dannie each a pack of Smarties and then opened the last pack for herself. As the Smarties candy dissolved on her tongue, it tasted like Teacher Katie: sour and tangy.

T
he room was warm and full of flickering firelight. Papa and Mama sat on their rocking chairs. A big pile of grapevines lay on the floor between them, near the small table that held the oil lamp. The owner of a nearby vineyard had brought the big bundles of vines for Papa and Mama to prune. One by one, they would take a long vine and carefully count the little knobby buds before they cut the vines into little pieces. Only one or two buds should be on each piece.

After they had finished trimming them, the owner would use the little pieces to grow more big grapevines. In several years, these little sticks would end up producing big juicy grapes. It was hard for Lily to imagine. Right now, they just looked like a big pile of twigs.

Lily sat on the couch playing with her doll, Sally. Joseph played on the floor with his stuffed animals. Dannie was already asleep in his crib. Lily wished she could help Mama
and Papa cut the vines. It looked fun and easy. They made a quick snip with the pruning shears and tossed the cut piece in the box. The box was slowly filling up.

“Can I cut a few grapevines?” Lily asked.

“We only have two pruning shears,” Papa said. “And it is much harder than it looks. Maybe when you are a little older, you can help us.”

Papa started to whistle. Mama hummed along and soon Lily and Joseph chimed in. The little farmhouse was filled with the sounds of their sweet voices.

A wailing sound floated down the stairs. Their beautiful singing must have woken Dannie up. Mama went upstairs to rock him back to sleep. She laid her pruning shears on the floor beside her rocking chair. Lily eyed the pruning shears. It looked so pretty with its bright blue handles and its shiny little scissor-like blades. She was sure she could snip the vines just like Mama had been doing.

Lily scooted behind Mama's rocking chair and got a vine. She carefully counted two buds and cut. Snip! Suddenly the pruning shears slipped and cut a gash into her hand. Lily screamed as blood seeped out of the cut. Papa bolted from his rocking chair and yanked his big red bandana out of his pocket. He wrapped it around Lily's hand and took her to the kitchen sink to wash the blood away.

Mama heard Lily's scream and rushed downstairs to see what had happened. She peered over Papa's shoulder to see how deep the cut was. They decided it didn't need stitches, so they cleaned it carefully, covered it with ointment, then taped a neat little gauze bandage over it.

“I think it's bedtime now,” Papa said.

Oh, no
.
So early!
Lily wished she hadn't tried to cut the grapevine. Her hand was sore and now Papa was sending her
to bed early. After Papa read a short prayer from the little black prayer book, Lily and Joseph went upstairs to bed. As Lily lay in her bed, she listened to the cold winter wind moan through the trees and whistle at her windows. She could hear the murmur of Papa and Mama's voices as they continued to snip the grapevines. She yawned and wiggled farther down the mattress. Soon, she fell asleep.

Early one Saturday morning in March, someone knocked on the door as Lily and Joseph gathered breakfast dishes from the table to take to Mama at the kitchen sink. Mama wiped her wet hands on her apron. She reached up to tuck a stray wisp of hair behind her ear before she went to see who was at the door.

Mama opened the door to a stranger. Lily didn't know who the man was and tried to listen as he talked to Mama.

“I have come to pick up your steer,” the stranger said. “Where do you want me to put the trailer to get him loaded?”

“Along the far side of the barn,” Mama said. “I'll be right out to help you load him.” She closed the door and turned to Lily. “I have to run out to the barn for a little bit. Keep an eye on Dannie for me and I'll be right back.”

Mama put on her warm coat and went out to help the man. Lily and Joseph ran to the living room and knelt on the couch in front of the windows. They saw Mama and the man walk inside the barn. When they came back out, the man was carrying Papa's big red chain saw. Lily wondered what he needed with Papa's saw. Lily and Joseph weren't allowed to touch it.

Mama and the stranger disappeared behind the barn. Lily and Joseph kept watching out the window. Dannie was happily building towers on the floor with his wooden blocks. Lily
heard the chain saw start with a roar. She couldn't think of anything behind the barn that needed cutting.

And then she had a dreadful thought.

Maybe . . . the stranger was cutting off Mama's legs! Lily could imagine the entire scene in her mind. Poor Mama! She wouldn't be able to walk or cook or do anything she was used to doing. It was all too terrible to think about. Lily turned to Joseph and said in a thin, scared whisper, “That man is chopping Mama's legs off!”

Joseph looked at her with big eyes. He started to cry. Big, loud, gasping wails. Dannie's mouth opened wide and he started to bawl. The three of them sat on the floor, held each other, and cried at the top of their lungs.

All of a sudden, Mama was standing in front of them. “Whatever is wrong?” Her eyes scanned all three of them to see if someone had bumped a head or scraped a knee.

Why, Mama's legs were still there! They weren't cut off at all! Lily was so glad to see Mama, still in one piece. But then she felt a little sheepish.

Joseph wasn't feeling at all sheepish. “Lily said that man was cutting your legs off.”

Lily frowned at him. Little boys needed to learn not to tattle.

Mama looked exasperated. “There was a long branch on the big ash tree behind the barn. The man had to cut it so he could back his trailer up to the barn door.” She crouched down to Lily's level. “A healthy imagination is a good thing if you use it for the right things, Lily. But it is never a good idea to use it to worry about things that might not happen. Worrying is a big waste of time.”

Lily wiped away her tears. She would try harder not to think of worrisome thoughts again. But she still thought Joseph should learn not to tattle.

O
n a sunny Saturday, Nate Mast stopped by Singing Tree Farm with Mandy at his side. He needed to buy another draft horse at a horse auction and would be gone all day. Would Mama mind if Mandy stayed to play with Lily today?

Of course, Mama said yes. Normally, Lily liked having friends come for the day, but Mandy was a continual worry. It seemed that every time Mandy came over, Lily ended up doing something that made Papa and Mama sad. And usually, Lily ended up getting sent to her room to think about the choices she had made with Mandy. And Joseph would cry and Dannie would cry and then Lily would cry—mostly because she was sent to her room.

The problem was that Mandy thought of things to do that Mama had never told Lily not to do until
after
she helped Mandy do it. Lily hoped that Mandy wouldn't get any new
ideas this time. She didn't want to get into trouble. She didn't like to make her parents sad. And she definitely didn't like to get sent to her room.

Lily thought back to Mandy's last visit. She had helped Lily gather the eggs in the chicken coop. Mandy showed Lily how she could hold the little pail filled with eggs and swing her arm around in a wide circle without any eggs falling out of the pail. But when Lily tried it, she didn't swing her arm fast enough. Every egg in the pail fell to the ground and splattered on the floor. Mama was not at all happy about wasted eggs. At least the hens were happy. They enjoyed pecking them until they had cleaned up the whole mess.

Lily would not swing the egg pail today. She worried that Mandy would trick her into doing something else, just as
bad. This time, Lily would try extra hard to make sure not to do anything that she knew she shouldn't.
Think, think, think
, she reminded herself.

After Mandy's father left, Mama sent Lily and Mandy out to the chicken coop to gather eggs. She warned them not to break any eggs this time. Lily promised they would be very careful. They gathered the eggs and brought them safely in the house. They had not cracked a single one this time. Not one.

As Lily and Mandy went back outside to play, Joseph and Dannie wanted to join them. Mama asked Lily to keep an eye on Dannie. Everyone was having fun until Mandy grew bored and wanted to play on the swing. Lily stayed with Dannie until Mandy called out for her to come push the swing.

“I'm supposed to watch Dannie,” Lily said. She was pleased with herself. She hadn't jumped up to push Mandy on the swing when she knew that Mama wanted her to watch over Dannie.

Mandy jumped off the swing and ran to the sandbox. “We can all play with Dannie,” she said.

Lily was shocked! Mandy was thinking of someone else. She was actually being nice.

“Come with me, Dannie,” Mandy said. She held out her hand to him and he grabbed it. She started walking away and looked back over her shoulder at Lily. “Let's pretend to be hikers in the wilderness. I'll be the leader and you and Joseph can follow me.”

Mandy led the way across the yard, holding onto Dannie's little hand. Lily and Joseph followed behind. Mandy stopped under a tree, pretending to rest for a while from their long hard hike. Then she started walking again. Mandy pretended she was a hiking guide and chattered as they walked. Every little hill turned into a mountain. Dandelions were special
food that they gathered into their aprons to pretend to eat when they stopped at their camp.

Lily bent down to pluck a few more bright yellow dandelion blossoms from their stems. She was enjoying Mandy's game and admired her imagination. She could have never thought up such a fun thing to do.

Suddenly, a piercing yell filled the air. Lily ran over and saw that Mandy had led Dannie right over a big thistle. He had stepped on it with his little bare feet and was crying up a storm.

“That was not a very kind thing to do, Mandy,” Lily said. “You should not have done that.”

“I know,” Mandy said. “But I just couldn't help it!” Then she started to giggle.

Lily quickly scooped Dannie up into her arms and carried him to the house. Mama came outside to see why Dannie was crying. She had heard Dannie's wail. Mama sat Dannie on a kitchen chair and removed all the little prickles that were stuck in his feet like sharp needles. Lily wiped tears from his round cheeks. Joseph brought him a cookie.

When Mama finished helping Dannie, she turned to Lily. “I asked you to watch over him, Lily. You need to be more careful.”

Mandy stood at the door with a sly smile at the corner of her mouth. Lily was so cross with Mandy that she wanted to slap her. She didn't do it, but she wanted to. And she was mad at herself too. Mandy had done it again! She had gotten Lily into trouble
again
.