Growing Up in Lancaster County (41 page)

“Why do you wish you were a cat?” asked Rachel’s oldest brother, Henry, when he entered the kitchen.

“Cats have life so easy,” Rachel explained.

“You think so, huh?” Henry tapped Rachel lightly on the head. “Think about it, little sister. Your cats get chased by Jacob’s dog, and they have to look for warm spots to sleep on cold days. They can also get worms from eating too many birds and mice, and they often get hair balls.” He tapped her head one more time. “And another thing—cats can’t read books! Now do you think those furry critters have it so well?”

She shrugged. “At least they don’t have to do dishes.”

Henry chuckled, poured himself a cup of coffee, and left the room.

Rachel banged her book shut and jumped out of the chair. “I may as well get this over with!”

Rachel grabbed the sponge and dropped it into the soapy water. Then she picked up a dish and sloshed the sponge over it. Next, she rinsed the dish and placed it in the dish drainer.

The dishwater was beginning to cool, so Rachel turned on the hot water. She turned on a little more cold water so she wouldn’t burn her hands. While the sink was filling, she stared out the window and daydreamed about how much fun she’d have if she ever visited Mary in Indiana and went to the Fun Spot Amusement Park.

“Rachel, are you almost done with the dishes?” Mom called from the other room. “And don’t forget, you still have to mend some things before you go to bed.”

“I’ll be done soon,” Rachel hollered. She grabbed another plate to wash and realized that she’d filled the sink too full. Water had begun running onto the floor.

“Oh no,” she mumbled as she turned off the water. She grabbed a towel, dropped to her knees, and mopped up the spot where the water had puddled.

I need to concentrate on what I’m doing
, she told herself as she began washing dishes again.

Whoosh!
—a bubble flew up and popped on Rachel’s chin. It made her wish this was a warm summer day and that she could be outside blowing bubbles with her bubble wand. But no, she was stuck in here, doing dirty dishes in a hot, stuffy kitchen!

By the time Rachel had finished washing the dishes, she was tired, bored, and not in the mood to dry the dishes. However, she knew if she left them in the dish drainer, she’d be in more trouble with Mom. Besides, she remembered she was supposed to be doing her chores for the Lord.

Rachel picked up a glass and dried it with a clean towel. She was about to set it on the counter when—
bam!
—the back door hit the wall as it swung open.

Rachel was so startled when Jacob entered the room that the glass slipped from her hands and fell to the floor.
Crash!
Her hand shook as she pointed to the broken glass. “Look what you made me do!” she shouted at Jacob.

He shook his head and raised his hands. “Don’t blame me. You did that yourself.”

“If you hadn’t slammed the door and scared me, I wouldn’t have dropped the glass.”

“Grow up, little
bensel
[silly child], and quit blaming others for things you’ve caused yourself.”

Rachel shook her finger at Jacob. “Stop calling me a silly child!”

“I will when you stop acting like one.” He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter and sauntered out of the room.

Rachel’s chin quivered, and her eyes filled with tears as she squatted to pick up the broken glass. “Jacob Yoder, you’re a mean boy,” she muttered under her breath.

By the time Rachel had cleaned up the broken glass and finished drying the dishes, she’d forgotten that Mom had asked her to do mending. She grabbed her cat book and headed up the stairs.

“Where are you going, Rachel?” Mom called from the living room.

Rachel halted on the steps and turned around. She knew right then what she’d forgotten. “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she called to Mom. “I’m taking my book upstairs to my room.”

When Rachel entered the living room a few minutes later, she found Grandpa sitting in the rocking chair in front of the fireplace, holding Hannah. Pap and Henry sat at a small table on the other side of the room, playing a game of checkers. Jacob stood behind Henry, watching over his shoulder. Mom sat on the sofa with a basket of mending in her lap.

“Kumme,” Mom said, motioning Rachel over to the sofa. “One of your dresses needs the hem let down.”

Rachel grunted as she flopped down beside Mom. “You know I’m not good at sewing.”

Mom handed Rachel the small metal seam ripper. “The more you do, the better you’ll get.”

“That’s right,” Grandpa spoke up. “Practice makes perfect.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think I’ll ever be perfect at sewing, no matter how much practicing I do.”

Mom reached over and patted Rachel’s arm. “Just do your best.”

Rachel squinted as she picked at the threads in the hem of her dress. “This is what I get for growing so much this summer,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” Mom asked.

“Oh nothing.”

“King me!” Pap hollered from across the room, where he and Henry were playing checkers.

“I sure didn’t see that coming,” Henry said with a groan.

Jacob nudged Henry’s shoulder. “Then you oughta pay closer attention to the game.”

Henry scowled at Jacob. “Why don’t you find something else to do and quit bothering me? I can’t concentrate with you hovering around.”

“I’m not hovering. I’m keeping my eye on the game, because I’ll get to play whoever wins.”

Rachel smiled. As much as she didn’t like sewing, she’d rather be doing that than playing checkers with Jacob. He didn’t play fair and always tried to distract her so he would win. She sometimes got frustrated and quit before the game was over, but the last time they’d played checkers, she’d let Jacob win just so he’d quit bothering her.

“I’m done ripping out the hem,” Rachel said, handing the dress to Mom.

“Now you need to make a new hem.” Mom handed Rachel a container of pins, a needle, and some dark green thread.

“How am I supposed to know how big I should make the hem?” Rachel questioned.

“Let’s see now.” Mom gave her chin a couple of taps. “You grew two inches over the summer, and you’ll need to allow for more growth that might occur during this school year.” She handed Rachel a measuring tape. “I would suggest that you make the hem on your dress three inches longer than it used to be.”

Rachel frowned. This would take a lot longer than she’d expected.

Mom looked at Rachel again. “Once you’ve got the hem turned up, you’ll need to thread your needle and sew it in place. Oh, and be sure you make tiny stitches so the thread doesn’t show too much.”

This isn’t fair
, Rachel thought.
At this rate, I’ll be here all night!

“Another king for me!” Pap shouted as he clapped his hands.

Rachel jumped and stuck herself with a pin. “Ouch!”

“What’s wrong?” Mom asked with a look of concern.

“When I heard Pap holler, I jammed a
schpell
[pin] into my finger.” Rachel stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked on it. The metallic taste of blood made her lips pucker as she scrunched up her nose. “I’m bleeding, Mom. I don’t think I can finish this dress tonight.”

“Let me see.”

Rachel held her hand out to Mom. “It really stings.”

“It always stings whenever I prick my finger,” Mom said, “but it never lasts long. Just blow on it a few seconds, and then continue pinning the hem.”

Rachel frowned. She didn’t want to pin the hem in her dress. She wanted to go upstairs and finish reading her book. But she knew from the serious look on Mom’s face that she’d better not mention it. She blew on her finger, but it didn’t help much.

By the time Rachel finished pinning the hem, her finger felt a little better, but now she was bored. “Can’t I finish this tomorrow?” she asked Mom.

Mom shook her head. “You’re almost done, Rachel. You just need to sew the hem in place.”

Rachel threaded the needle and tied a knot. She was glad she wore glasses now and could see to do it. If she had tried threading a needle before she’d gotten glasses, she wouldn’t have been able to see the tiny eye of the needle at all.

In and out. In and out. Rachel yawned as she made the tiniest stitches she could possibly make. This was so boring!

“Hannah’s asleep now, Miriam,” Grandpa said as he stopped rocking. “It’s time for me to go to bed, too.”

“Here, I’ll go put her in her crib,” Mom said. She rose from the sofa and took Hannah from Grandpa. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, so keep sewing,” she said to Rachel before she left the room.

Grandpa stood and yawned noisily.
“Gut nacht
[Good night], everyone.”

“Why are you going to bed so early?” Rachel asked.

“I was busier than usual in my greenhouse today,” he replied. “I’d counted on your help this afternoon, but since you had other things to do, I had to do everything on my own.”

Rachel felt guilty for letting Grandpa down. She wished she’d been able to help him all afternoon instead of doing a bunch of chores she didn’t enjoy. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, Grandpa. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have more time.”

Grandpa moved over to the sofa and squeezed Rachel’s shoulder. “We’ll have to see how it goes.”

When Grandpa left the room, Rachel resumed her sewing. In and out. In and out. She wished she didn’t have to make such little stitches. At this rate she’d be up all night trying to get the dress hemmed!

“That’s it! The game’s over, and I won!” Pap hollered.

Henry grunted and pushed back his chair. “It’s your turn now, little
bruder
[brother],” he said, thumping Jacob’s arm. “I hope you have better luck than I did. Pap’s one tricky checkers player!”

“I can be pretty tricky, too.” With a smug smile, Jacob dropped into Henry’s chair. “Now we’ll see who’s the champion checkers player in this family!”

Pap rubbed his hands briskly together. “Jah, we’ll see indeed!”

Rachel rolled her eyes. Jacob was such a braggart, and bragging was being prideful, which the bishop of their church had said wasn’t a good thing. It would serve Jacob right to lose this game of checkers!

In and out. In and out.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock
. The clock on the mantel kept time with Rachel’s stitches.

“King me, Pap!” Jacob shouted. “And then king me again!”

“Ach,” Pap said with a grunt. “You outsmarted me with that sneaky move, boy!”

Jacob chuckled. “I told you I was good at this game!”

Rachel rolled her eyes again and cut the end of her thread. Finally, she’d finished hemming her dress. She stuck the needle in the arm of the sofa, made a knot in the thread, and clipped it with the scissors. Then she wandered across the room to watch the checkers game. Pap had three kings, but Jacob had seven. Unless Pap improved, Jacob would probably win the game.

Rachel was tempted to offer Pap some suggestions but figured he wouldn’t be too happy about that. Jacob didn’t deserve to win—not when he thought he was so great at checkers.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock
. Several minutes passed. Jacob managed to get two more kings.
Click! Click! Click!
He jumped Pap’s last few checkers.

“I won!” Jacob pushed his chair back and waved his arms. “I’m the checkers champion in this house; that’s for certain sure!”

Pap winked at Rachel. He probably thought Jacob was a big braggart, too.

“Whew, that game about wore me out!” Jacob shuffled across the room and flopped onto the sofa. “Yeow!” He leaped up and waved his hand in the air. “There’s a giant
nodel
[needle] stuck in my hand!”

“Well, what’s the matter with you, boy? Take the nodel out,” Pap said.

Jacob hopped from one foot to the other. “I can’t! It’ll hurt!”

“Oh, don’t be such a boppli. The nodel’s not that big.” Rachel hurried to Jacob and grabbed his hand. “If you hold real still, this won’t hurt a bit.” She grabbed the end of the needle and yanked. “There you go! Your hand’s as good as new!”

Jacob’s eyebrows furrowed as he scowled at Rachel. “You put that nodel in the sofa, didn’t you?”

She nodded slowly. “I was going to take it out, but I forgot.”

He shook his finger in her face. “I’ll get even with you for this!” Before Rachel could respond, Jacob darted out of the room.

Rachel sank to the edge of the sofa and groaned.

R
achel sat up with a start. She looked at the clock on the nightstand by her bed and realized she’d almost overslept. She scrambled out of bed and raced to her closet. Then she took off her nightgown, grabbed a dress from its hanger, and slipped it on. She picked up her sneakers and rushed to the dresser.

In a hurry to finish getting dressed, she jerked the bottom drawer of her dresser all the way out.
Crash!
It fell on the floor, spilling all her underclothes. She flopped down beside them and fumbled around until she found a pair of black stockings. In her hurry, she put both stockings on the same foot.

“Always trouble somewhere,” she grumbled as she pulled the stockings off and started over again. This time she carefully put only one stocking on each foot.