Bumpy Ride Ahead! (14 page)

C
HAPTER
14

For the next two weeks, Mark and Mattie remembered not to be selfish and to think about others rather than themselves. But that all changed one Saturday morning when Mom came into the living room where Mark and Mattie sat at a small table, working on a puzzle together.

“I’m taking Perry and Ada, and we’re going over to see Freda Hostetler this morning,” Mom announced. “I thought maybe you two would like to come along.”

Mark shook his head. “I’d rather stay here and work on the puzzle Mattie and I have started.”

“What about you, Mattie?” Mom asked. “Wouldn’t you like to see Freda?”

“I don’t think so, Mom. I wanna finish this puzzle today.”

“You know, children,” Mom said, “Freda lives alone and gets lonely sometimes. I’m sure she would enjoy your company.”

“Maybe some other time,” Mark said. “We don’t want to go over there today.”

Mom’s brows furrowed; she really looked disappointed. “All right then. I won’t force you to go.” She called Perry and Ada to come, and they all went out the door.

“Maybe we should have gone with them,” Mattie said. “Freda always gives us something whenever we stop by her house to visit after school.”

Mark nodded. “That’s true. Once she gave me a little cage to catch tadpoles in.”

“She gave me some flowers she’d dried so I could make a bookmark,” Mattie said. “Oh, and she usually gives us a snack to eat.”

“You’re right, and to tell ya the truth, that’s the real reason I ever go there. I mean, it’s not like Freda has any kinner for us to play with. She’s old, and her grandkids live in another state.” Mark turned his hands over so his palms were straight up. “I just didn’t feel like goin’ there today.”

“Me neither,” Mattie agreed. “I’d much rather be here.”

“Let’s get back to work on the puzzle now,” Mark said. “If we work fast, maybe we can get it put together before Mom, Ada, and Perry get home.”

“I can’t work fast on the puzzle,” Mattie said. “Looking for the right pieces that will fit together takes time. Besides, this puzzle is harder than most.” Mattie motioned to the picture on the box. It was of a big red barn with lots of puffy clouds in the sky, and they all looked the same.

“It’s not hard for me.” Mark picked up an end piece and slipped it right in place.

Mattie wrinkled her nose. “Hey! I was just gonna pick that one up.”

“Guess we think alike.” Mark snickered. “At least on some things, anyway.”

“There are lots of things we don’t think the same way about,” Mattie said, leaning closer to the puzzle and squinting her eyes.

“You’re right, and I know one thing we don’t agree on.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t wait for winter ’cause I really like the
schnee
, but I know that you don’t care much for snow.”

Mattie nodded. “But I do think it’s fun when we get to build a snowman or go sledding.”

“I like that, too,” Mark said. “Oh, and I always enjoy going ice-skating.”

“Not me,” Mattie said with a shake of her head. “I worry that the ice might be too thin and I’ll fall through and drown in that chilly cold water.”

“Well, you can worry about that when winter comes. Right now we need to concentrate on findin’ the right pieces to fit into this puzzle.”

For the next hour, the twins worked on the puzzle and teased each other about who would get to put in the very last piece.

As the puzzle neared completion, Mark started picking up pieces lickety-split and then putting them in the proper place. Just when Mattie would reach for a piece of the puzzle, Mark would quickly grab it up.

It’s not fair. He’s not even giving me a chance to put any in
, Mattie fumed. Then an idea popped into her head. As Mark was busy putting another puzzle piece in place, she grabbed the nearest piece to her, closed her fist around it, and placed her hand in her lap. Then she sat and watched as Mark put in one piece after another until there was just one empty space left.

Mark’s brows furrowed as he studied the puzzle and looked all around and even under the table. “Now that’s sure strange,” he muttered.

“What’s strange?”

“The last piece is missing.”

“No it’s not. I have it right here.” Mattie, feeling quite pleased with herself, slipped the last piece in place and clapped her hands. “There, the puzzle’s all done!”

The skin around Mark’s eyes crinkled as he stared hard at Mattie. “You had that piece the whole time, didn’t you?”

She shook her head. “Not the whole time. I just picked it up a few minutes ago.”

“That’s not fair. You cheated.” Mark’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, if I hadn’t picked it up, you probably would have.”

“Maybe, but not till it was time to put the last piece in place. You took it before it was time.”

Mattie was about to say more, but their conversation was interrupted when Mom, Perry, and Ada came in the door.

“We had a nice time at Freda’s,” Mom said, “but she was really disappointed that you two didn’t come see her today. She even made your favorite ginger cookies, thinking you two would be coming with me and the little ones.”

Mattie looked at Mark, and Mark looked at Mattie. From the sad expression she saw on his face, she figured he felt as bad as she did about not going to see Freda.

“It was selfish of us to stay home,” Mattie said.

“That’s right,” Mark agreed. He looked up at Mom and said, “If it’s okay with you, Mattie and I can stop by to see Freda Monday afternoon on our way home from school.”

Mom smiled and gave the twins’ shoulders a gentle squeeze. “It’s just fine with me.”

Monday afternoon, as the twins pedaled their bike home from school, Mark remembered that they’d agreed to stop by Freda Hostetler’s place.

“Where are you going?” Mattie asked as Mark turned onto the road where Freda lived.

“We’re stoppin’ by Freda’s house. Did you forget?”

“Oh that’s right. I wonder what she’ll give us today.”

“Whatever it is, I don’t think we should take it,” Mark called over his shoulder.

“How come?”

“Remember on Saturday, how we talked about being selfish, and how the main reason we’ve always gone to see Freda is because she gives us things?”

“Jah, now I remember. Guess if she offers to give us something today, we’d better say no.”

Mark smiled. He was glad he and Mattie were in agreement on this. It wouldn’t do for one of them to take whatever Freda gave and the other one to turn it down.

When they entered Freda’s yard, they parked the bike by her porch and sprinted up the stairs. Mark knocked once on the door and was about to knock again when Freda opened it and said, “It’s nice to see you, Mark and Mattie, but I’m sorry, I won’t be able to visit with you today.”

“How come?” Mattie asked.

“There’s an English family who lives down the road a ways, and last night their house caught fire.” Freda slowly shook her head, and her brown eyes looked so sad. “That poor family lost everything they owned.”

“That’s
baremlich!
” Mattie exclaimed.

“It sure is terrible,” Mark put in. “Was anyone in the family hurt?”

“No,” said Freda. “They weren’t at home when the fire started, so that was a good thing.”

“I’m surprised we didn’t hear about this sooner.” Mark looked over at Mattie and noticed how sad she looked. “Anna Ruth must not know about it either, or she would have said somethin’ during school today, don’t ya think?”

Mattie gave a slow nod.

“The family is staying with some other English neighbors right now,” Freda said. “And I’ve been busy all day gathering up some things to give them.”

“We should go home and tell Mom and Dad about this,” Mark said. “I’m sure they’ll want to help that family, too.”

“Before you go, would you like something to eat?” Freda asked. “I baked some more cookies today, and you can take them with you.”

“No thanks,” Mark said. “We didn’t come here to get anything. We just came by to say hi and see how you’re doing.”

Freda smiled. “I appreciate that.”

“We’ll come by to visit you some other day,” Mattie said before they climbed onto their bike and rode away.

That evening during supper, Mark and Mattie told their family about the English family whose house had burned down.

“I heard about that,” Dad said. “Someone came into the wood shop today and told me and Ike the news.”

“I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your house and everything you own,” Mom said. “I think we need to do something to help that family.”

Dad nodded. “I agree. In fact, I spoke to a few people in our community today, and we’re going to help build the family a new house.”

“You can count on my help,” Ike said.

Russell and Calvin said they would help, too.

“What can Mattie and I do?” Mark wanted to know.

“Well, some in our community are going to gather up things that the family will need in their new home,” Dad said. He looked at the twins and smiled. “What I think the two of you can do is donate a few of your toys.”

“Sure, we can do that,” Mattie was quick to say. “I’m sure I can find several things to give away.”

“Me, too,” Mark said with a nod. “As soon as supper’s over, I’ll go upstairs to my room and pick out some toys.”