A New Home for Lily (9 page)

O
n a rainy afternoon in late June, Mama told Lily that she could go down the road to spend some time at Grandma Miller's. There was always something fun to do at Grandma's house. Lily and Aunt Susie would play dolls or color in books. Sometimes, they would help Grandma with her work.

Lily's favorite times of all were when she watched Grandma work on her scrapbooks. Grandma planned to make a nice scrapbook for each one of her grandchildren. She said she wanted all of them to have something pretty to remember her by. Lily was sure she would always remember Grandma. She loved Grandma Miller and didn't want to think about her passing away one day, but she was looking forward to receiving one of those scrapbooks.

Using old calendars, Grandma carefully glued a piece of plain paper over the numbers. She wrote poems and sayings
on the plain paper and glued pretty pictures on the empty spaces of the pages. Grandma would let Lily and Aunt Susie cut pictures out of catalogs for her. Once in a while, she would let Lily look through her big supply of stickers and choose a few to take home with her. Collecting stickers was one of Lily's favorite things too, right behind playing dolls. Dolls first, then stickers.

Today, Grandma let Lily dig through her big box filled with stickers to choose one. Lily had a hard time deciding which one to choose. They were all so pretty. Should she choose flowers or butterflies or cute animals? She wished she could have one of each, but that would be greedy. Finally, she chose the butterflies.

At home, Lily took the sticker to her bedroom in the hallway. She had a special sticker box in her dresser drawer. She was saving pretty pictures and stickers to make a scrapbook for Grandpa and Grandma Lapp. She looked through everything she had collected already and decided she had enough to start making the scrapbook. Tonight, after all the supper dishes had been washed and put away, she would have time to start the scrapbook.

Mama and Lily took turns washing and drying the supper dishes. It was Lily's turn to wash. First, she had to rinse everything. Lily didn't like this part. The dirty dishes had to be swished in a big bowl of lukewarm water. Lily didn't like feeling the little bits of food that floated in the gray water. She was always glad when the last dish had been rinsed and she could wash the dishes in hot soapy water. Mama and Lily sang and talked while they worked. That part, she liked best.

That night, as Lily handed a clean dish to Mama to dry, she told her about the scrapbook that she wanted to make for Grandpa and Grandma Lapp.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Mama said. “I'm sure Grandpa and Grandma would enjoy getting a scrapbook from you. I think I might have some nice paper that would work very well for your project. After we're done with the dishes, I'll look and see what I can find.”

When the last dish had been dried and put back in the cupboard, Lily ran upstairs to get her special scrapbook box. She brought it back to the kitchen and spread everything out on the table, including scissors and glue. Mama had found paper and brought pens for Lily to use. They had purple and green ink. Lily got right to work.

Mama suggested she might like to trace some pictures and color them with colored pencils. She could glue them to the scrapbook sheets. Lily paged through some old
Family Life
magazines to see if she could find some little pictures. She chose several different pictures of birds and flowers and carefully traced and colored them. Just as she was spreading glue on the back of them to put into the scrapbook sheet, a horrible sound came from the hallway.
Bang. Bump. Thump.

Silence.

Then, bloodcurdling screams.

Everyone jumped up and ran to see what had happened. Dannie had tripped on the stairs and fallen all the way to the bottom. He had bitten his lip and it was bleeding badly.

Papa carried Dannie to the kitchen as Mama hurried to find a clean washcloth. She soaked it with cold water and began to gently clean his lips. Lily and Joseph patted Dannie gently, trying to comfort him. His lip was swollen, but at least the bleeding had stopped. The crying too. Dannie could be loud.

Joseph brought Dannie's favorite book for Mama to read to him. He pulled a little chair up next to Mama's rocking chair to listen too. Usually, Lily liked to listen to Mama read,
but tonight her mind was on her scrapbook project. When she went back to the kitchen table to sit down, she was dismayed to see that the glue she had spread on the back of the colored picture had dried.

She looked at it more closely. It almost seemed like a real sticker. She carried the picture over to the kitchen sink and wet her finger and rubbed it across the dried glue. It became sticky again and she pasted it to the sheet.

How fun! She had invented homemade stickers. She decided to make a whole pile of stickers. All evening, she traced and colored pictures. She spread glue on the backs and let them dry. She thought Grandma Miller would enjoy seeing Lily's invention.

The next time Lily went to Grandma's house, she tucked a sandwich baggie filled with her homemade stickers into her pocket.

Grandma admired her invention. “I think I'll have to buy these from you,” she said. “How does a penny per sticker sound to you?”

Lily had only wanted to show the stickers to Grandma. She had never even thought of selling them. This was so much better! “Oh, it sounds just fine.” She counted all the stickers she had made. “There are twenty-three stickers.” She held out her hand as Grandma counted twenty-three pennies into it. “Thank you, Grandma. I think I'll go home right away.” She couldn't wait to show all of those shiny copper pennies to Joseph and Dannie.

Grandma smiled. “Don't run too fast or you might lose your pennies.” Lily dropped the pennies into her pocket and ran home. She held her hand over her pocket the whole way to make sure she didn't lose any of them. Not one.

After she had showed the pennies to Joseph and Dannie,
she dropped the pennies, one by one, into her penny bank.
Plink, plink, plink!
She liked the sound. A plan started forming in her mind. She would spend all her spare time making stickers for Grandma. Lily was going to be rich!

That evening, after supper, Lily traced and colored as many little pictures as she could. She didn't do it as slowly and as carefully as she had been doing. The faster she worked, the more stickers she could make. More stickers meant more money. She could already see her pile of pennies growing in her penny bank.
Plink, plink plink!
She would probably need a second penny bank soon. Maybe a third.

When the time came for the next visit to Grandma Miller's, Lily had made seventy-five stickers. Seventy-five! Lily could hardly wait until Grandma counted out all those pennies into her hands.

Lily knocked on Grandma's door. When Grandma opened the door, Lily held up the bag of stickers. “I made more stickers for you to buy,” she said.

“Let me see what you have,” Grandma said, pleased.

Lily spread out all the stickers on the scrapbooking desk. Grandma looked them all over carefully. Lily watched as Grandma sorted them into two different piles. What was she doing?

“It looks as if you rushed on some of these,” Grandma said. “I can only buy the best ones.”

Grandma counted eight stickers. Only eight. She gave Lily eight pennies. Lily was disappointed. She had been planning on bringing home seventy-five shiny pennies. Eight pennies was a big disappointment. She walked home slowly with the unsold stickers in her pocket.

Lily decided she would try again. She would slow down and take her time. She wouldn't rush. She would make sure
each sticker was colored very neatly. She didn't want to bring home any more unsold stickers.

She looked at the stickers. She couldn't blame Grandma for not wanting them. She wasn't sure even she would want to use these sloppy stickers in the scrapbook she was making for Grandpa and Grandma Lapp. She decided to give all of the unsold stickers to Dannie to play with. Little brothers weren't fussy like grandmas.

P
apa had just finished milking Pansy and handed the pail of milk to Mama, who was standing by the kitchen door. “I have to go over to the Beals' to make a phone call right after we get the chores done. I thought Joseph would like to go along.”

Not fair!
Lily thought. She wished she could be the one to go with Papa. It was always fun to listen to Papa talk on the phone, but it was even more fun to get a glimpse of the inside of an English house. The Beals were nice neighbors and always welcomed Lily inside. Joseph wouldn't notice anything different in the Beals' home. He wouldn't have anything new to report. But, of course, he was eager to go and hurried to get his shoes on by the door.

Papa tilted his head as he looked at Joseph. “You had better go wash your hands and face again before we go.”

Lily started to set the table as Papa and a freshly scrubbed
Joseph walked across the field to the Beals' house to use their phone. When she finished setting the table with utensils, she sat down to fold the napkins to make them look like flowers. Most evenings there was not enough time to fold them in a special way. Tonight, they had to wait to eat until Papa and Joseph came home, so Lily had time to create beautiful napkin flowers.

When the last napkin was folded, Lily ran to the window to see if Papa and Joseph were coming. She couldn't see any sign of them, so she went to the kitchen. Mama was trying to keep the food warm. What was keeping them?

Dannie was hungry and impatient. And noisy. Mama spooned a pile of potatoes into a little dish for him to eat. It seemed to Lily that little boys were always hungry. Always hungry and never full.

Finally, Papa and Joseph came through the door. Joseph was practically bursting with excitement. Lily wondered what the news could be but knew she should wait until Papa was ready to tell them.

After they had prayed and started to eat, Papa looked at Mama, eyes twinkling. “Mr. Beal said that there is going to be a big fireworks show in Cloverdale on Friday. He said there will be singers to entertain the crowds of people and fun things for children to do. Lots of good food to eat. All to celebrate the Fourth of July. He invited us to go with them.”

Mama looked hesitant. She didn't like to go into town when it was crowded.

Papa seemed to read her mind. “He said if we'd prefer, he wouldn't mind if we drove half a mile up the road, to the top of the hill in one of his fields. We should be able to at least watch the fireworks from there.” He reached out for a basket of rolls. Lily knew Papa was taking his time, giving Mama plenty of room to think about this.

Papa buttered his roll, ever so carefully. “What do you think, Rachel? Does it sound like a nice family evening?”

Lily held her breath. It sounded wonderful! Even if they weren't going to town to hear the singers and eat the good food, at least they could see pretty fireworks. Mama had to say yes. She just had to!

Mama was in no hurry. She ate a few bites of the stew and helped Dannie with his last bite of potato. At long last, she gave her answer. “It does sound nice. I could pack some treats to snack on while we sit there.”

Lily wanted to jump up and down and yell, “Yahoo!” Friday was only two days away, so that meant they wouldn't have to wait very long. Joseph was grinning like a cat in cream.

Friday was a beautiful day. Sunny, but not too warm. Not humid and sticky like so many days had been lately. It would be a perfect evening to sit outside after dark and watch the fireworks.

Papa hitched Jim to the buggy. Mama tucked a picnic basket filled with special treats under the front seat. Lily wasn't sure what she was more excited about: watching the fireworks or eating the yummy things in the basket. Papa had bought special things in town on his way home from work today. There were seedless grapes, potato chips, and little packs with crackers and cheese. Lily was sure that no one in town had better snacks than they did tonight.

When everyone was in the buggy, Papa lifted the reins and said, “Giddyup.” Jim trotted down the driveway and up the road until he came to the field lane that led to the top of Mr. Beal's field. Jim slowed to a walk as the buggy bumped over the ruts in the lane. When they came to the top of the hill, Papa tied Jim to a tree. He spread a blanket on the ground.
He pulled out an empty five-gallon pail and turned it upside down for Mama to sit on. Everyone else sat on the blanket.

Mama blushed. “You make me feel like a queen, Daniel.”

Papa winked at her. “You deserve to feel like one. I want you to be comfortable.”

Lily thought it seemed strange that Mama wouldn't think the blanket on the ground was comfortable enough. She had often sat on blankets when they went on picnics.

Mama opened the picnic basket and started handing everyone snacks. Lily thought that there was nothing better than seedless grapes. She traded one of her packs of cheese and crackers with Joseph for a handful of his grapes. “When will the fireworks start?” Joseph asked. His mouth was full of half-chewed crackers. Lily nearly gagged at the sight.

“We don't speak with our mouth full of food, even when we're outside,” Papa said. “It's getting dark quickly. The fireworks should start any minute.”

Papa had hardly finished talking when a bright flash of lightning lit the sky. Then another and another. Thunder boomed and rolled across the hills. Everyone jumped up and ran to the buggy as the rain began. Papa quickly untied Jim from the tree and hopped into the buggy to guide him down the field lane. It was too bumpy to go fast, so Jim walked slowly and carefully. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder continued to roll. One rumble barely stopped as another one began. Suddenly, little balls of hail started pinging against the buggy. As calm as Jim was with lightning, he did not like hail. He broke into a trot. The buggy bounced and jostled wildly the rest of the way down the field lane.

Joseph and Dannie started to wail. Lily felt like crying too, but she was older than they were. “Now, children, everything will be okay,” Papa said in his reassuring way. “God will take care of us.”

That made Lily feel a little better. God could take care of them in the middle of a big storm. But she wished He would make the storm stop.

When they reached home, Papa pulled up right beside the basement door so they could hop out and run inside. Papa drove Jim to the safety of the barn where he could unhitch him and put him in his stall for the night.

When Papa came inside, he was soaking wet, head to toe. “I've never seen anything like that,” he said, toweling off his hair. “One minute the weather was beautiful. No raincloud in sight. The next minute, we're in the middle of one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever experienced.”

Lily felt sad that they didn't get to see the fireworks. Not
even one. At least no one in town did, either. That thought cheered her as she made her way up the stairs to her hallway bedroom to get ready for bed. Outside, the thunder and lightning continued to rage and roar. The lightning flashed so often that she didn't even need to use a lamp. The hallway was brighter with all those lightning flashes than it would be with her dim oil lamp.

The next evening, Mr. Beal stopped by. “Some storm we had last night, wasn't it?”

Papa nodded. “Do you have storms like that often in this area?”

“I've lived here all my life,” Mr. Beal said, “but I've never seen anything like that. What a doozy. They were just about to start the fireworks last evening when it hit. Right before that, they had a comedian onstage keeping the crowd entertained. He said that they were going to give God a fireworks competition and that they were going to win. Just as he finished, the storm started and everyone had to hurry for home. They didn't have time to set off a single firework.”

Papa looked sober. “It's never wise to challenge God like that. Now the storm makes sense.”

Mr. Beal seemed uncomfortable. He shuffled his feet a little. “I'm sure it was just a coincidence.” He put his hand on the door, then turned back. “Strange, though. There was no sign of rain or anything until he made that remark.”

Lily could feel a shiver go up and down her spine. It seemed just like a miracle in the Bible.

Papa closed the door behind Mr. Beal. He lifted his eyebrows and his eyes twinkled. “Well, looks like God won that fireworks competition.”