A Surprise for Lily (4 page)

S
unlight flooded Lily's room and woke her. She jumped out of bed and crossed the room to open the window. She propped her elbows on the windowsill and rested her chin in her hands, gazing at Mama's flower bed next to the soft green grass of the yard. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in late August. Tomorrow, a new school term would start. She wondered what it would be like to have a new teacher.

Mama kept reassuring Lily that the new teacher was very nice, and that Lily would learn to love her just as much as she had loved Teacher Rhoda. Lily wasn't convinced. She still couldn't puzzle out why Teacher Rhoda wanted to up and marry Samuel Yoder, Aaron Yoder's oldest brother. Aaron was the worst boy in the entire world. The very thought of being permanently tied to any Yoder made her shudder. She
had wanted to be like Teacher Rhoda in every way but that one. Never that.

Learning to love teachers hadn't worked very well for Lily. She had loved her first teacher, Ellen, and then along came Teacher Katie. She did not love Teacher Katie. She did not even like her. Now, she had grown to love her third teacher, Rhoda . . . but what if Teacher Judith was just like Teacher Katie? Maybe that was how it went: good, bad, good, bad. Teacher Judith lived in the neighboring church district and Lily had never met her. She hoped Teacher Judith didn't have big, bushy caterpillar eyebrows like Teacher Katie. For the second time that morning, Lily shuddered.

Her mind drifted to worrying about Effie Kauffman, the most annoying girl in all of Pennsylvania. Teacher Judith was going to board at Effie's house during the week. That was all Effie could talk about at church last Sunday—how she would help Teacher Judith check schoolbooks in the evenings and give her ideas about planning classes. Just the thought of Effie pawing through Lily's work made her hopping mad. She hoped Teacher Judith might have better sense than that.

Then her heart softened a little. How awful it would be to board at Effie Kauffman's home. Not only was there Effie to contend with, but her mother, Ida, too. She decided she would try to be especially helpful at school to make up for poor Teacher Judith's dreadful boarding situation. Maybe Mama would let Lily invite Teacher Judith to their house once a month for supper and an overnight. She would have to remember to ask Mama.

She watched a little brown sparrow fly onto the tip of a pine tree branch and sing a song. It was an off-Sunday, so Mama and Papa were still sleeping. She thought she might head
downstairs soon and surprise Mama by starting breakfast. Just as she put her hand on her doorknob, she heard the sound of a car turning into the driveway. She ran back to the window and recognized the big blue station wagon of Mr. Tanner, a hired driver. Lily wondered why he would come to their home so early on a Sunday morning. An odd feeling ran through her—a feeling of dread—and she didn't know why. Lily ran down the stairs and knocked on Mama and Papa's bedroom door. “Mr. Tanner is here,” she called. She could hear Papa's feet hit the floor, then his footsteps as he hurried to the door.

Papa rushed outside to see what Mr. Tanner wanted. Lily followed behind. Mr. Tanner opened his car door and stepped out when he saw them coming toward him. “Good morning, Daniel,” he said. “I came to bring you a message.”

Mr. Tanner's voice, usually so jolly, sounded serious and sad. “Your brother Ira called me this morning.” He paused and looked down at his shoes. “He said your daddy passed away last night.”

Grandpa Lapp was dead? It couldn't be true! He couldn't die. Lily had never even finished the scrapbook she had started as a surprise for Grandpa and Grandma. Now he would never see it.

Mr. Tanner said he was sorry to bring sad news. He and Papa spoke for a few more minutes, then he got back in his car and drove away. Papa and Lily walked back into the house, silent and solemn. Papa drew out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down, holding his forehead in his hands. Big tears started to run down his cheeks. Lily had never seen Papa cry before, not once. Big choking sobs rose from Lily's belly and Papa held his arms out to her. She scrambled into his lap and cried right alongside him.

A few minutes later, Joseph and Dannie galloped down the stairs and into the kitchen, like it was just another summer day. But it wasn't. Mama followed behind the boys, telling them to be quiet because baby Paul was sleeping. They all ground to a halt when they saw Papa and Lily crying at the table.

Papa looked at Mama. “My father died.” The boys burst into tears and scrambled to find a spot on Papa's lap—pushing Lily off, but she didn't mind. They all loved Grandpa Lapp. Papa took his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his tears. He patted Lily's cheeks with the handkerchief and then the boys' cheeks.

Papa gently shooed Joseph and Dannie off his lap. “I need to go milk Pansy.” He stood and put an arm around Mama. “We need to get ready to go to Kentucky. Mr. Tanner offered to take us to the funeral. He'll be here around one o'clock to pick us up.”

Mama wiped tears from her eyes and nodded. As Papa went out to the barn, she watched him through the window. Lily wondered what she was thinking. Finally, Mama turned to Lily. “Go up to the attic, Lily, and bring down the big black suitcase while I start to prepare breakfast.”

Breakfast? Who could eat? Lily was sure no one would want to eat anything. Grandpa Lapp was dead! But she went upstairs to get the suitcase for Mama.

In just a few hours, Mama had everything planned. Uncle Jacob would take care of the animals while the family traveled to Kentucky to attend Grandpa Lapp's funeral. Baby Paul would stay at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's. Lily knew Aunt Susie would have fun helping Grandma take care of him.

Mama had everything packed and ready by one o'clock, when Mr. Tanner drove up to the house. Papa and Dannie sat up front with Mr. Tanner while Mama, Lily, and Joseph sat in the back. The long ride was very quiet.

It was after midnight by the time the family arrived at Grandma Lapp's house. It felt awful to Lily to be here and know that Grandpa Lapp wasn't here anymore. She wondered if Papa had the same thought.

A dim light shone from a kitchen window and the front door opened as Mr. Tanner's car pulled into the driveway. Uncle Ira came out to greet them, carrying a big flashlight.

Uncle Ira spoke to Papa in low, hushed tones, like a whisper. “So glad you could come here so quickly,” he said. “Dad's passing was quite a shock to all of us. There'd been no warning that he had any heart trouble until he had the heart attack last night.”

Uncle Ira led the way into the house and showed Papa and Mama where they could sleep. “I'll make some nests on the floor in the storage room for the children to sleep,” he said. He opened the door to the storage room and lifted the lid to a cedar chest that was tucked under a window. He pulled several blankets out and plopped them on the floor. “There you go. See you in the morning.” He clumped away down the stairs.

Lily looked at her blanket nest. She was used to making a nest on the floor, but this was not much of a nest. It was just a heavy comforter. There was no pillow or a quilt to cover her. Joseph and Dannie were so tired that they just lay down and curled up like two puppies. Mama turned to the cedar chest again to try to find quilts and pillows. She pulled out
two blankets and gave one to Lily and one to Joseph and Dannie to share.

Mama hunted around the room. “I can't seem to find any pillows, so we'll just have to make our own.” She showed Lily how to roll up one end of a comforter to make a pillow.

Lily lay down. The makeshift pillow felt lumpy and uncomfortable. Everything smelled of cedar and mothballs. It made her feel sick and she was sure she would never sleep. Joseph and Dannie were snoring like the little piglets at Hannah's farm. She rolled over once, then twice, and then it was morning.

Lily's eyes burst open at the sound of a rooster crowing his good morning to the world. For one moment, she was home at Whispering Pines, waiting to hear the familiar sounds that meant Mama was in the kitchen. Then the rooster crowed again, and she knew she wasn't home. This rooster's crow was the sound of a bantam rooster, which was smaller than a chicken and louder than two. She took a deep breath and smelled mothballs. It all came to her—she was in Kentucky at Grandma Lapp's house, sleeping on the floor in a room filled with mothballs. She couldn't wait to get up and go outside and breathe fresh air.

When the bantam rooster crowed again, Joseph and Dannie woke up. The three of them dressed and went down to the kitchen. Grandma Lapp was waiting for them, sitting in Grandpa's creaky old rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forth. She spread her arms wide open and they rushed to her.

Breakfast was scarcely over when women from Grandma's church started to arrive. They scurried around to start
washing windows. Lily knew what this meant. All day, the women would be cleaning the house. The walls and ceilings would be washed, the floors would be waxed, every horizontal surface would be dusted. The women in the church would help to prepare the house and cook the meal for Grandpa Lapp's funeral. It was what women did.

Since Lily and Mama were relatives, they weren't expected to help clean. Instead, Papa and Mama sat next to Grandma and quietly visited. Lily, Joseph, and Dannie sat on a bench against the wall, quiet as mice, bored as could be. Some women and teenaged girls started to wash the walls of the living room. Lily wished she could help them. Anything would be better than just sitting. Just sitting and sitting. Boring!

It wasn't long before Joseph and Dannie couldn't stand it any longer. Joseph placed one hand on the bench between them, and Dannie placed his hand on top of it. Joseph placed his hand on top of Dannie's, and Dannie placed his other hand on top of it. It was the stacking game. Joseph pulled his hand from the bottom of the stack and placed it on top. Then Dannie did the same. Then Joseph did. Then Dannie did. Faster and faster until their hands were just a blur. Papa frowned at the noise they were making. They stopped. Lily, Joseph, and Dannie sat quietly with their hands in their laps. Bored stiff.