A New Home for Lily (21 page)

O
ne evening, the Lapps had just sat down to a supper of pot roast and fried potatoes when a rap on the door interrupted them. Lily and Joseph followed Papa when he went to answer it, opening it to David Yoder. Bending toward Papa, he spoke in low, urgent tones. Lily couldn't even hear him.

“Yes, of course I'll come,” Papa said. “Just give me a minute and I'll be right out.”

Papa came back to the kitchen. “Aaron Yoder has wandered off into the woods. David is worried he is lost, so a search party is gathering to go look for him. I'm going to have to miss your good dinner, Rachel.”

Mama quickly grabbed two slices of bread and put a thick layer of fried potatoes between them. She wrapped it in a napkin and handed it to Papa. “Here, take this and eat it on your way,” she said. “I hope you find Aaron soon.”

Papa took the sandwich and hurried out the door. Lily ran to a window to see where he was going, her nose flat to the glass. She saw Papa climb into a big white van that looked as if it were filled with straw hats. Mama came up behind her. “With so many men looking for Aaron, they should be able to find him soon.” Her voice sounded faint and far-off, as if she were talking to herself.

Lily shivered at the thought of being lost and alone in the woods. She hoped the men would find Aaron before it grew dark. Fear trickled down her spine. Aaron might be her least favorite person in the entire world, but she didn't want him to be eaten by wild animals. She wouldn't want that for anyone, not even Aaron Yoder.

Mama told everyone to go back to the table to eat. Lily wasn't hungry anymore. She was worried about Aaron. Joseph wasn't at all worried. He sat there eating his food as if nothing was wrong.

After the dishes were cleared away, Mama said, “Weeding the garden can wait until tomorrow. Why don't we sit in the living room and I'll read to you.”

Lily was happy and sad to hear that. Listening to Mama read was much more fun than pulling weeds in the garden. But she was sad too, because she knew Mama was thinking about Aaron. Lily wondered what his mother was doing tonight. She thought Aaron's mother would like to trade places with Mama and have her boy home for a story.

Mama sat on her rocking chair and started to read in her clear, sweet, calm voice, with baby Paul in her arms. Lily curled up in the corner of the sofa to listen while Joseph and Dannie burrowed in right next to Mama so they could see all the pictures in the book. They weren't at all worried about Aaron Yoder in the wild woods. They were too little to worry.

Mama read one story, then another and another. Baby Paul fell sound asleep. The sun went down and darkness crept over the land like a big velvety blanket that was coming to tuck everything in for the night. Mama lit a lamp and then read some more. Lily should have been happy to hear so many stories, but she knew Mama was hoping Papa would be back by now.

The chimes on the grandfather clock struck nine. Mama closed the book. “It's getting quite late. Time for children to be in bed.”

Before Lily went upstairs to brush her teeth, she stood by the kitchen window to look outside. Dark clouds scuttled across the sky. They blocked out the thumbnail moon and made eerie shadows on the ground below. Everything seemed scarier at night. She shivered as she thought of Papa walking through the woods in the dark, calling, calling for lost Aaron. She thought about all the times she wished Aaron would disappear, or pretended he was invisible, and a twinge of guilt pricked her.

Lily climbed into bed and drew the covers up beneath her chin. She prayed for Papa to come home soon. She prayed Aaron would be found.

Early the next morning, Lily found Papa seated at the kitchen table. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept all night.

“Did you find Aaron?” she asked.

Papa shook his head. “No, we didn't. We looked for him most of the night. We used lanterns and flashlights and kept calling his name, but we couldn't find any sign of him. We finally called off the search at three in the morning so that we could all get a little sleep. Right after breakfast, we're heading out again.”

“You're not going to work today?” Lily asked. That shocked
her. Papa never missed a day of work. Only when his back had been hurt and he was stuck in bed.

“Work can wait until we find him.” Papa took a long sip of hot coffee. “If you or Dannie or Joseph were lost, I would be very grateful if others dropped their work to search.”

Lily was glad that Papa would keep looking for Aaron. She didn't know about Joseph or Dannie getting lost—they were much too curious—but she knew Papa would never have to worry about her getting lost in the woods. Lily was frightened by the deep, dark forests in Pennsylvania. It seemed there were forests for miles and miles everywhere she looked with little openings here and there for a house or farm. To get lost in the woods here would be very scary. Nope, not Lily. She was staying clear of woods.

Mama placed a bowl filled with scrambled eggs on the table. She put a piece of bread on top of the burner on the oil stove to toast it. Lily went to get a jar of jam. Toast with jam was always good and so much better than the porridge Mama made on most weekday mornings. At least there was one thing to be happy about on this summer morning. Toast with jam was always a happy thing. But then her smile faded. She wondered if Aaron was hungry.

Papa ate quickly and took his last bite of food as they heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway. He gulped down his glass full of water, rose to his feet, and plucked his straw hat off the hook next to the door. As he tugged it on his head, he said, “I'm hoping we can find Aaron before too long. It should be much easier to search since it's daylight.” He gave Mama a sad smile, then hurried out the door to hop in the waiting van.

All day long, Lily helped Mama work in the garden. Each time they heard a car come up the road, they would stop and
look up, hoping that Papa was coming home with good news. But the cars passed on by the house, and they went back to working in the garden. Waiting and working. And worrying.

Night had fallen by the time Papa came home. Joseph and Dannie had already fallen asleep, but Mama let Lily come downstairs to see Papa. “We still haven't found Aaron,” he said, weary and troubled. “I feel awful thinking that he'll have to spend another long night out in the woods by himself.”

The three of them sat at the kitchen table as Papa ate his warmed-up supper. He said many more people had joined the search for Aaron today. Police too. The police had brought some dogs that could follow Aaron's scent. They hoped the dogs could track Aaron.

Lily shuddered at the thought of those big scary dogs looking for Aaron. She was sure that if she was lost and some dogs started coming after her, she would try to run away from them. Then she would probably be even more lost. Lily didn't like strange dogs. She hoped that Aaron liked dogs. Maybe he did. After all, he was a boy and boys liked things that she didn't.

“I'm exhausted,” Papa said. “Tomorrow, surely, we will find Aaron.” He didn't sound at all certain.

That might have been the first time Lily noticed that it wasn't easy being a grown-up.

That night, Lily had a strange dream. She was in the schoolyard, playing tag, and Aaron Yoder was chasing her with a big snake. Suddenly, he dropped the snake and said he had to hurry. He was going off to live with—

Her eyes flew open.

She ran downstairs and into Papa's room. She shook him
gently until he finally woke. “Papa,” she whispered. “Papa, I have an idea about where Aaron Yoder went.”

Before dawn, Papa left to search again. This time, when he returned, he was smiling from ear to ear.

“You found Aaron!” Lily said.

“He's safely at home,” Papa said. “We followed the trail to that abandoned railroad tunnel, Lily, just like you said. I went through it, came out the other end, and kept going until I saw a small trail of smoke. I followed it until I came to an old cabin. Would you believe who I found there?”

Lily knew. “Aaron Yoder!”

“Aaron Yoder keeping company with an old Indian.”

Papa explained more about the old Indian. “He was ninety-eight years old and lived alone by foraging off the land. The Indian had hurt his foot, so Aaron was trying to help him. That's why he didn't come home for a few days. He had no idea that people were out searching for him. He felt badly about causing people worry.”

It didn't surprise Lily that Aaron wouldn't have thought about causing others to worry, but it did surprise her that he would help someone.

“Aaron might have saved the Indian's life. David Yoder and his son Marvin are going to get back up there tomorrow to check on him, bring him some food. All in all, other than Aaron's mother getting a few gray hairs, it might have been a good thing. Our church came together in a crisis. We needed that, to know we can count on each other. And we're able to help a neighbor we didn't even know about.”

The Indian
, Papa meant.

“And you might have helped save Aaron too.” Papa leaned over to whisper, “I'm not sure Aaron really knew how to get himself home. He might have been up there for quite some time.”

Lily was truly glad that Aaron wasn't killed by wild wolves and that the old Indian wasn't going to starve to death. But as long as he was safe, a part of her wished Aaron could have stayed up there on the mountain a little longer. Just through the school year.

“It's a good thing you listened to Aaron when he talked about that old Indian, Lily,” Papa said. “It's a good thing you listened to him.”

She didn't
try
to listen to Aaron. But she did.

E
arly Saturday morning, Lily woke to hear sounds of Papa hammering boards on the new addition. She dressed and hurried downstairs to help Mama make breakfast and saw a buggy roll up into the driveway. She pressed closer to the window and saw another buggy turn into the drive, then another, and another. And another. Men jumped out of the buggies, grabbed tool bags, and walked over to the addition. Papa stopped working, surprised.

Mama came to the window and stood behind Lily. “Well, I'll be . . .” Her voice drifted off as a wave of wonderment swept through them. “Lily, go wake up Joseph and tell him he's needed outside to put the buggy horses in the pasture.” She was grinning.

A few hours later, two more buggies arrived, filled with women bearing bowls and platters filled with food. David
Yoder had organized a work frolic for Papa. A small way to thank him, he said, for finding his lost boy.

As the day wore on, Lily was amazed to see the transformation occur: two rooms with shingles on the roof, windows, drywall, flooring. After lunch, a group of men worked inside to move old kitchen cupboards into the new kitchen. Lily was disappointed to see the bright orange countertops lifted up and moved into the new kitchen. She was hoping they would be replaced with another color countertop. Purple, maybe. How sad.

David Yoder and his three sons and Papa were up in the attic, hammering away. Mama told Lily to keep out of their way. She didn't have to tell Lily twice. Lily might be glad Aaron Yoder wasn't eaten alive by wild animals, but
he was still invisible to her. She didn't even look at him. Maybe once.

By suppertime, the new kitchen was completed and the ladies had helped Mama put all the food back into the cupboards. Mama and Papa had a new bedroom too. It still needed some finishing touches and it would be awhile before they would move their bed into it, but the addition was nearly complete. Papa couldn't stop grinning. He would look at Mama and she would look back at him and then they would start smiling all over again.

When the clock struck eight and Papa said, “Bedtime for little lambs,” Lily, Joseph, and Dannie didn't even mind. Today's excitement had worn them out. Lily climbed the stairs to her hallway bedroom and stopped short. Her bed was gone. Her dresser was gone. The hallway was empty. She spun around and saw Papa and Mama at the bottom of the stairs. Their hands were on Joseph's and Dannie's shoulders, holding them back with a firm grip. “Go through the red door, Lily,” Papa said, eyes twinkling.

Lily went through her brothers' bedroom to the red door. She opened it and climbed the attic stairs, glad for the long summer light. When she reached the top stair, she couldn't believe her eyes. It didn't look like an attic anymore. A section of the attic had been walled off to create a bedroom, complete with a window under the eaves. It was a girl's bedroom. There was her bed, all made up. And her dresser with the little oil lamp, already lit. And a little purple rag rug on the floor. Lily had a bedroom of her own! A real bedroom.

Later that night, Lily looked out the attic window before she slipped into bed. She could see a light in Hannah's kitchen
from here. She looked at the sky and realized that she was closer to the stars in her attic bedroom. Closer than Joseph and Dannie were, and that pleased her.

She thought about the last few weeks, about the end of school, about Teacher Rhoda's news that she would stay for the next school term, about Hannah moving in. Hannah was the closest thing to a sister she would ever have. Maybe that was God's way of evening things out. He seemed to be perpetually out of baby sisters when the Lapps' turn came around for a delivery. She thought about Papa's back injury and how he was finally mended. She looked around her beautiful new attic bedroom—so much better than a hallway bedroom. Her mind drifted off to those frightening days when Aaron Yoder was thought to be lost and that she and Papa had helped get him home. Even though Aaron would always remain invisible to her, he had helped build this new bedroom for her. She thought about all of the people in their church who had come to help today.

Tonight, as she looked out over the quiet landscape, the darkness didn't look quite so scary. The future looked bright with hope.