Life with Lily (19 page)

O
ne night in late September, Lily was so hot that she couldn't sleep. She crept downstairs and sat on the bottom step when she heard Mama and Papa talking.

“I have to find something else to do besides baking,” Mama said. “It's simply too much work to do all that baking and try to have school too.”

“I could see about finding some extra work,” Papa said.

“You're already working such long hours, Daniel,” Mama said. “I'm sure I can find some way to get everything done and to help make ends meet. Maybe even save some money too. It would be nice to have a nest egg.”

Lily slipped up the stairs and went to bed, worried. That night, she dreamed about baking cinnamon rolls and putting them in a bird's nest.

The next day, Mama went to town and came home happy and excited, filled with plans. “I stopped at a quilt shop,” she
told Papa as she handed Jim's reins to him. “The owner was putting up a sign in the window. She is looking for people to do quilting for her. She gave me some pieces of fabric to show her how my quilting looks. She liked my work.” Mama looked pleased but embarrassed by the praise, all at the same time. “Next week, she said she would send over my first quilt. She said she would pay thirty-five cents for every yard of thread I use.”

As Papa and Mama continued to talk about the quilt shop, Lily tried to figure out how much money Mama would be making. She knew it would take three yards of thread to make a dollar. She wondered how many yards of thread went into one quilt. Probably dozens and dozens. Maybe millions. Mama was going to be rich!

Papa made Mama a large wooden frame to hold the quilt. Mama set it up in the living room, on top of four chairs. She started with the fabric for the backing. Mama carefully opened the fabric and pinned it securely to the frame. It reminded Lily of a big trampoline. Mama opened a large roll of soft, fluffy batting and rolled it out to smooth every wrinkle. On top of that, she laid the quilt top from the shop owner.

Lily's eyes grew wide as she saw the quilt top unfold. It was so beautiful! Shades of pink and cream, with little flowers on the fabric. Lily thought she had never seen such a pretty quilt top.

Walking slowly around the quilt, Mama pinned the three layers together. At last, the time had come to start quilting. She measured out a yard of thread from a spool, snipped it, threaded her needle, and started to stitch. Tiny, even little stitches, so small that Lily could hardly see them.

Lily watched for a while. Soon, she grew bored. Joseph had set up his toy farm under the quilt. Lily decided to get her doll, Sally, and Sally's cradle to play with him.

It didn't take long for a new routine to take shape. After Lily and Joseph had finished with their schoolwork, Mama would sit at the quilt to sew as much as she could while Dannie napped, and before Papa came home from his carpentry work. Then, it was time to make supper.

Lily thought there was nothing in the world as boring as quilting. Sometimes, Mama would tell them stories about the olden days, when she was a girl. But she would only tell one or two stories because she had to concentrate on the quilt, she said. So Lily would go back to playing with her puzzles and her doll, or help watch Dannie. Every now and then,
Joseph would play dolls with her, but only if she would first play farm with him.

One rainy afternoon, Lily had already put all her puzzles together. She didn't feel like coloring or playing farm with Joseph. “Do you want to play church?” she said, peeking under the quilt at Joseph and Dannie. Church was their third favorite game to play together.

Joseph jumped up and climbed up on Papa's big rocking chair. Dannie toddled behind him so Joseph helped him up. Lily ran to get her doll, Sally, and Sally's diaper bag and join him. The rocking chair was their buggy. Joseph pretended to drive the horse. Together, they rocked as hard as they could. When Joseph called out “Whoa!” Lily hopped off and took Dannie with her to go upstairs to her room. She sat Dannie on the bed, propped Sally next to him, then hopped up. The three sat on the bed like pigeons on a telephone wire, waiting for the preacher to arrive.

One minute later, Joseph came into the bedroom, serious and solemn. He stood in the center of the room, pretending to be Preacher Ed, one of the ministers in their church. Joseph could sound just like Preacher Ed, husky voiced and leather-lunged, slamming his fists against each other to make his points, shaking his chin to make his pretend beard wiggle.

“And another thing!” Preacher Joseph shouted, pointing a long boney finger at the church members. “Oversleeping is a sin!”
Wham!
He slapped one fist against the other. “Stealing cookies is a sin!”
Wham! Wham!
“Wishing you had your friends' toys is a sin!”
Wham! Wham! Wham!

Lily startled to giggle, and Joseph couldn't keep a straight face. Soon they were both laughing so hard they couldn't talk. Dannie laughed along with them, even though he was too young to understand what was so funny. Pretend church
was so much more fun than real church, where Lily didn't even dare to smile. And Preacher Joseph was much, much funnier than Preacher Ed.

“Let's play again,” Lily said. “This time, I have a new idea.” She jumped off the bed and yanked the bottom drawer of her dresser open. “We can use this for a bench.” She sat in the drawer.

“You be the preacher,” Joseph said. “I'm tired of always being the preacher.”

He climbed in the dresser drawer. Dannie slipped off the bed and joined them. As Dannie tried to climb in to the drawer, the dresser tipped forward. The oil lamp and pretty candy bowls that were on top of the dresser slipped off and crashed to the floor. Lily quickly jumped out of the drawer and away from the dresser, but Joseph and Dannie weren't as quick. The dresser pinned Joseph and Dannie to the floor. A horrified silence followed.

They were dead! Joseph and Dannie had been killed! Lily was sure of it. She let out a piercing scream. Mama came running up the stairs to see what had happened. Lily was hysterical. All she could do was to point to the dresser. Mama lifted the dresser up. Joseph and Dannie looked up, a little stunned. Lily was so relieved. They weren't dead after all! As soon as Mama was convinced Joseph and Dannie were all right—no broken bones or cuts or bruises—the shock of near-death wore off. Joseph started to yell in terrible, yowling screams. Dannie chimed in at the top of his lungs. Mama made them sit on the bed while she cleaned up the mess.

Lily looked at all the broken glass littering the floor. The candy bowls and the lamp chimney were shattered to smithereens. Mama swept the glass pieces and splinters into the
dustpan. When she was finished, she told them to come downstairs to play where she could keep an eye on them. All afternoon, Mama's face was pinched and tight, as if she seemed mad. Or sad. Lily couldn't tell which.

Maybe both.

P
apa came home with news one evening that Great-Grandma was released from the hospital. She was staying at Grandpa Miller's until she felt strong again. As soon as they finished supper, Papa hitched Jim to the buggy while Lily and Joseph helped Mama wash and put away the dishes. They all wanted to see Great-Grandma. Lily wondered if she was strong enough to wave her cane. If she did, Lily wanted to be sure to stay out of reach.

When they arrived at Grandpa Miller's house, Lily was surprised to discover that Grandma's sewing room had been converted into a bedroom for Great-Grandma. The bed she lay in looked like it belonged in the hospital. It had rails at the side and a handle at the foot so Great-Grandma could be propped up or lay flat.

Lily glanced around the room but couldn't see Great-Grandma's cane anywhere. She was glad that she didn't have
to worry about having it hook around her neck. When Great-Grandma tried to talk to Mama, her words sounded slurred. Lily noticed that Great-Grandma's mouth looked twisted and unsmiling. Grandma whispered to Lily that Great-Grandma could no longer move anything on the right side of her body. Lily felt sorry for her. She was so old, and now she couldn't move. Lily never wanted to get old.

Papa and Grandpa came into the room to see Great-Grandma. Grandma hurried and brought in some more chairs so that each person had a place to sit. Lily hoped that Great-Grandma liked having all of these visitors, even if she couldn't talk.

Mama turned to Lily and said, “Why don't you and Joseph go play with Aunt Susie?”

Papa ushered them out and closed the door behind them. Lily thought that was strange. She and Joseph were always allowed to be with the grown-ups, as long as they didn't interrupt. And why was Dannie allowed to stay? Not fair!

Lily and Joseph found Aunt Susie in the living room. She was coloring a book with her new box of crayons. They all lay on their tummies on the floor and shared the crayons and the coloring book. It was easier to color that way.

The murmur of the grown-ups' voices in the next room was like the sound of buzzing bees. Lily couldn't stop thinking about it. She sat up. “What do you think they are talking about?”

Aunt Susie put her finger over her lips. “Sh-h-h. Follow me.”

Lily and Joseph tiptoed behind Aunt Susie. Very carefully they pressed their ears against the door to Great-Grandma's new bedroom. Lily could hear Papa's deep voice say, “I hate to think about leaving everything after we worked so hard to get our little farm built up.”

“I don't see any other choice,” Grandpa said. “There are already five other families planning to move. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before more of them leave.”

“But where would we go?” Mama said.

Grandpa cleared his throat. “I've heard of a nice little Amish community in Pennsylvania that sounds like a good place to raise a family.”

Pennsylvania? Where was that? It sounded far, far away from Pleasant Hill.

Lily drew away from the door. She didn't want to move away from Singing Tree Farm. Surely, Mama would say they shouldn't move. Their little farm finally had a garden, and a barn, and animals. What about Jenny and Chubby? And what about Jim? Papa wouldn't leave Jim. Surely not! Papa would put a stop to this talk!

“Lily, what is Grandpa talking about?” Joseph asked. “What's Pennsylvania?”

Lily shrugged. She had to know more. She pressed her ear to the door when she heard Papa start to talk. “The children are young enough that they could adjust quickly and make new friends.”

Lily hadn't even thought about leaving her friends! What about Hannah and Levi? And Trisha? Oh, this was a terrible idea.
Say no, Mama!
Tell Papa you want to stay at Singing Tree Farm!

But Mama didn't say anything.

“We can always build up another farm,” Papa said. “It's not the farm that makes a home. It's the people who live there.”

Lily could hear Mama and Grandma and Grandpa murmuring. It sounded as if they were all agreeing with Papa. This was terrible news.

Lily and Joseph and Aunt Susie went back to the coloring
books in the living room. Lily and Joseph didn't feel like coloring anymore. Aunt Susie didn't look very happy, either.

“I'll come help you pack your toys before you move,” she said.

The very thought brought Lily near tears. She didn't want to move away. She loved her home and having her grandparents nearby, and her Aunt Susie. Her eyes welled with tears.

On the way home from Grandpa Miller's, Lily and Joseph were quiet. So were Mama and Papa. Jackrabbits stood on their hind legs along the road, with their tall, twitching ears. As the buggy rolled nearby, they bounded away. Lily thought their tails looked like little white cotton balls. Usually, the sight made Joseph and Lily laugh, but not today. They were too sad about leaving Singing Tree Farm.

Finally, Joseph couldn't stand it any longer. “Papa, we don't want to move!”

Papa glanced at Joseph in the back of the buggy. “What makes you say that?”

“Lily and Aunt Susie put their ears against the door,” Joseph said. He wiggled over to the far edge of the buggy seat, away from Lily, trying to make himself smaller.

Lily poked Joseph in the ribs. Little boys should learn not to tattle.

“Ow!” Joseph said. “I didn't do nothing!”

“You didn't do
anything
,” Mama corrected. She turned around in the buggy to look at Lily and Joseph. “Nothing has been decided. But we are concerned about not having a school for you children.”

“We like having school at home, Mama,” Lily said. “We don't mind not having a teacher. We're learning just fine. Even Joseph. He can just about read, if you don't mind that he points at each word.”

Joseph tried to jab Lily with the bony part of his elbow, but she leaned out of the way and he hurt his elbow on the back of the bench. She didn't feel sorry for him. It served him right for tattling on her about eavesdropping.

“It might be fine for now, Lily,” Papa said, “but we want you and Joseph—and someday, Dannie—to go to school with other children.”

Lily opened her mouth to object, but Papa cut her off. “Nothing is decided for now. Moving is just something to consider.” He looked back at them with a very serious look on his face. “And we definitely don't want you children to eavesdrop on conversations that aren't meant for you to hear.”

It was amazing how small Joseph could make himself. It was almost like there was nobody there. Lily wished she could do that.