Read Growing Up in Lancaster County Online
Authors: Wanda E. Brunstetter
Growing Up in Lancaster County
A Happy Heart
© 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Just Plain Foolishness
© 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Jumping to Conclusions
© 2009 by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Growing Up
© 2009 by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Print ISBN 978-1-61626-255-6
eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-431-4
Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-432-1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.
All Pennsylvania Dutch words are taken from the
Revised Pennsylvania German Dictionary
found in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, New International Version
®
. Niv
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
Cover and chapter art illustrations by Richard Hoit.
For more information about Wanda E. Brunstetter, please access the author’s website at the following Internet address:
www.wandabrunstetter.com
.
Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683,
www.barbourbooks.com
Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses
.
Printed in the United States of America.
Dickinson Press, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49512; May 2011; D10002809
Chapter 1: A Lachlich [Laughable] Day
Chapter 4: Seeing Is Believing
Chapter 12: A Day of Surprises
Chapter 1: Grandpa’s Greenhouse
Chapter 3: Trouble By the Road
Chapter 5: A Birthday Surprise
Chapter 6: Trouble in the Greenhouse
Chapter 8: Nothing but Trouble
Chapter 12: Unexpected Surprise
Chapter 11: The Worst Possible News
To the children at Riverside Christian School in Yakima, Washington. Thanks for letting me share my life as an author with you.
To Dr. Richard Ehlers and Dr. Ben Jaramillo, my kind and helpful eye doctors.
absatz
—stop
ach
—oh
aldi
—girlfriend
bensel
—silly child
blos
—bubble
boppli
—baby
brieder
—brothers
bruder
—brother
buwe
—boy
daed
—dad
danki
—thank you
dumm
—dumb
ekelhaft
—disgusting
fehlerfrie
—perfect
felder
—fields
fingerneggel
—fingernails
gees
—goat
geh
—go
grank
—sick
grossdaadi
—grandfather
guder mariye
—good morning
gut
—good
hund
—dog
hungerich
—hungry
jah
—yes
kapp
—cap
kichlin
—cookies
kinner
—children
lachlich
—laughable
lecherich
—ridiculous
mamm
—mom
mied
—tired
mudder
—mother
naas
—nose
naerfich
—nervous
narrish
—crazy
nee
—no
pescht
—pest
retschbeddi
—tattletale
schlang aage
—snake eyes
schmaert
—smart
schnell
—quickly
schpassich
—odd
schweschder
—sister
wunderbaar
—wonderful
| Bass uff as du net fallscht . | Take care you don’t fall. |
Du kannscht mich net uffhuddle; ich bin zu schmaert | You can’t confuse me; I’m too smart. |
| Duh net so laut schmatze . | Don’t make such a noise when you eat. |
| Geb acht, schunscht geht’s letz! | Watch out, or else things will go wrong! |
| Grummel net um mich rum . | Don’t grumble around me. |
| Sei so gut . | Please. |
| Was in der welt? | What in all the world? |
| Wie geht’s? | How are you? |
A
Lachlich
[Laughable] Day
T
his is so much fun!” Ten-year-old Rachel Yoder squealed as her end of the teeter-totter shot into the air.
“My stomach feels like it’s in my throat!” Audra Burkholder shouted when her side of the teeter-totter dropped down and then sprang up again.
Rachel waved one hand in the air. “Whe-e-e-e!” she hollered.
“Are you gonna ride that thing all day or does somebody else get a turn before recess is over?”
Rachel looked down. Freckle-faced Orlie Troyer stared at her. Rachel and Orlie had become friends during the year, but Rachel didn’t want anyone at school to know she was friends with a boy so she kept it a secret.
“Well?” Orlie asked, tapping his foot. “Can I have a turn on the teeter-totter?”
Rachel squinted at him as her side of the teeter-totter dropped again. “Is that any way to ask for something?”
“Maybe he doesn’t know how to say
sei so gut
[please].” Audra said, wrinkling her nose. “Maybe he doesn’t know about manners.”
Orlie squatted in the dirt, raised his hands in front of his chest, and said, “Can I please have a turn on the teeter-totter?”
Rachel giggled. “You look like Jacob’s dog when he sits up and begs.”
Woof! Woof!
Orlie bounced up and down.
“Oh, all right, you can have a turn while I get a drink of water.” When Rachel climbed off the teeter-totter, she held the handle so Orlie could get on.
“This is sure fun!” Orlie shouted as his end of the teeter-totter rose. A gust of wind whipped his straw hat from his head and spun it away. He tipped his head back and howled with laughter.
Rachel raced to the pump, grabbed a paper cup, and pumped the handle up and down. When the cup was full of water, she took a big drink. Then she pumped until her cup was full again.
Rachel’s brother, Jacob, nudged Rachel’s arm. “Save some of that for me, would ya?”
Water sloshed out of Rachel’s cup and splashed her dress. “Say, watch what you’re doing!”
“I figured you might need a bath.” Jacob snickered.
She glared at him. “Very funny.”
“I thought so, little
bensel
[silly child].” He leaned back and laughed until his face turned red.
“Stop calling me a silly child!” Rachel dipped her finger into the cup and flicked water at Jacob’s shirt. “And there’s plenty of this to go around!”
“A little water doesn’t bother me,” Jacob said with a shrug. “In fact, it feels kind of nice on this warm spring day.”
“Puh!” Rachel hurried across the playground, still holding her cup of water. “I’m back,” she said as Orlie’s side of the teeter-totter shot up. “It’s time for you to get off now.”
When the teeter-totter came down, Orlie shook his head. “I don’t want to; I’m having too much fun.”
“I said you could take a turn while I got a drink,” Rachel announced. “So now you need to get off.”
Orlie grinned but didn’t budge.
Rachel glanced at Audra as Orlie’s end of the teeter-totter rose and Audra’s end dropped. “Can I take your place?”
Audra pushed a strand of dark hair under her
kapp
[cap] and shook her head. “Sorry, Rachel, but I’m having too much fun.”
Rachel tapped her foot impatiently. If she’d known this would happen, she wouldn’t have gotten off the teeter-totter. She would have waited until recess was over to get a drink.