Life with Lily

by Mary Ann Kinsinger

  So Lily and Joseph spent most of their days in Mama’s bedroom. Mama didn’t mind if they played with their toys or talked and laughed and sang. She helped them sing songs and sat on her rocking chair to read stories to them. But best of all, Lily liked to help take care of baby Dannie. He was finally starting to get cute. She talked and crooned to him just like Mama did. Dannie would look at her with his big blue eyes and tuck his hands under his chin. Lily liked to hold his tiny hands and count his fingers.

  On Sunday afternoons, visitors would come to the house to see Mama and baby Dannie. They would hold Dannie and say he looked just like Mama or Papa. Lily thought that was such a silly thing to say. Baby Dannie had no hair and no teeth. He looked like a baby, not like Mama or Papa. The visitors would bring a baby card and a few little toys. Mama would let Lily place the toys carefully on the dresser. There were baby books, teething rings, rattles, homemade strings of pretty colored beads and little squeaky animals. Dannie was too small to play with them now, Mama told her. But when Dannie grew older, Mama would take the toys to church for him to play with while the ministers preached their long sermons.

  At last, the day came when Frieda Troyer packed her suitcase. It was time for her to leave! Papa paid her and thanked her for helping out. She picked up her suitcase and walked out the door, down the walkway to where a taxi was waiting to drive her home. Lily climbed on a chair to look out the window and watch Frieda leave. As soon as the taxi disappeared around the bend in the driveway, Lily slid off the chair. She didn’t know what she wanted to do first! She held her arms out and started spinning in happy circles until she was dizzy and collapsed, giggling on the floor. Joseph joined in and they both spun in circles. It was so nice not to have Frieda frown at them or tell them to stop! Lily was so happy she couldn’t hold still! Mama smiled at Lily and Joseph from the rocking chair where she held baby Dannie. Lily wondered how Mama could remain calm. Lily felt as if her feet wanted to dance and jump and hop through the house.

  Later in the evening, Papa sat in his big creaky rocking chair and held Lily and Joseph on his lap. Mama rocked Dannie in her rocking chair. It was wonderful to hear Papa and Mama laugh and talk again. Lily snuggled into Papa’s strong arms and sighed with happiness. Everything in her world was right again. And tomorrow, she would help Mama start putting everything in the cupboards back to where they had been before Frieda had come.

  3

  Papa’s Disappearing Shovel

  On a warm, sunny April morning, Lily and Joseph were playing in the sandbox in the yard. A loud roar startled them. They looked up to see a big white truck come bouncing into sight at the bottom of the long driveway. Behind it rolled another truck, lurching around the bend. Stacked on the back of the trucks were piles of lumber.

  Lily watched as the trucks came to a shuddering stop in front of the house. Papa walked over to talk to the truck drivers. He pointed toward Jim’s pasture while he spoke with the men. Lily wished she could hear what Papa was saying! Something was going to happen and she couldn’t tell what.

  After Papa finished talking to the truck drivers, they drove the trucks over to Jim’s pasture. One man climbed on the back of the truck and started handing lumber, one piece at a time, to the other man waiting below. The man on the ground carried the lumber over to Papa. He stacked the lumber in neat piles on the ground. After the men emptied the trucks, they said goodbye to Papa and drove back down the driveway. Lily was glad when the noisy trucks were gone. They had been so loud that she couldn’t hear the birds sing in the trees. She couldn’t hear Mama sing through the open windows as she moved about the house.

  Lily dropped the little shovel that she had been using to dig a pond in the sandbox. She held Joseph’s hand and the two ran to Papa. He was whistling a happy little tune while straightening the piles of lumber. He smiled at them. “Well, children, what do you think? Does this look like a barn?”

  Lily giggled. To her, it did not look like anything but boards.

  Papa pushed his hat back and wiped sweat off of his brow with his shirtsleeve. “Looks like a lot of work before it will be a barn. We’ll have to see if we can organize a frolic.”

  “What’s a frolic, Papa?” Joseph said.

  Lily knew! She answered before Papa had a chance to explain. “It’s when everyone comes to help you work.”

  Papa smiled at her. He understood. She was the big sister. She knew these things.

  Later that day, Lily and Joseph were in the kitchen, watching Mama make molasses cookies. Through the window, Lily saw Papa hitch Jim to the little open buggy and tie him to the hitching post. He came into the kitchen. “I’m ready to go invite people to the frolic. Would Lily and Joseph like to come along?”

  Lily and Joseph looked up at Mama. They knew Papa’s question was directed to her, not to them.

  “They had their naps already,” Mama said, eyes smiling. “I think they might like to go.”

  Lily ran to get her black heavy bonnet off the wall peg. She tried to stand still as Mama tied the strings in a neat little bow beneath her chin, but it was so hard and the bonnet was so big. She skipped happily beside Papa as they walked to the buggy. Papa lifted Joseph to the seat and then boosted Lily up. Joseph had to sit in the middle, between Papa and Lily, so he wouldn’t fall off while they were driving down the road. He was just a little boy. Barely four.

  Lily loved riding in the open buggy. As Jim trotted down the road, she could see everything around her so much better than when she was in the top buggy. Big thistle plants grew in the ditches along the road. Goldfinches flew in funny little bouncing swoops from one thistle to the next, gathering seeds to eat.

  Looking down, Lily could watch the wheels turn around and around. When Jim trotted, the spokes whirled into a blur, but when he slowed to walk up a hill, the spokes turned slowly. Papa whistled cheerfully as they drove along. Suddenly, Jim blew his nose in a loud snort. A wet spray blew back at Papa, Lily, and Joseph, splattering their face and arms. Papa’s whistle died on his lips as he wiped off his face. Lily knew Jim didn’t do it on purpose. Secretly, she thought it would be fun to be a horse and be able to blow her nose like that, whenever she wanted to.

  As they reached the first Amish neighbor, Papa pulled the buggy up to the hitching post. He tied Jim’s rope to the post and told Lily and Joseph to stay in the buggy. He was going to find someone to invite to the barn-building frolic.

  As Papa disappeared, Lily gathered up the reins and pretended to drive the buggy. “Giddyup! Whoa!” she told Jim. Joseph wanted to drive too, so she handed him a rein. “Giddy-up!” they shouted to Jim.

  The gentle horse turned his head and looked back at them but didn’t budge. Jim knew that Papa wasn’t there. He was too well trained to try to leave without Papa.

  When Papa returned, he took the reins back from Lily and Joseph. He told them never to play with a horse’s reins. “Even a nice horse like Jim might not like it.”

  All afternoon, Papa drove the buggy from one neighbor to another, until everyone in their entire church was invited to come to the frolic on Saturday.

  Lily and Joseph sat on top of a little mound of dirt and watched as Papa and Mama pounded little wooden stakes into the ground. Papa wanted to square off the foundation of the barn before the frolic, so that it would be built straight and solid. Baby Dannie kicked his feet and cooed as he lay on his back in the baby carriage beside Lily. He tried to swat at strings of colorful beads that Mama pinned to the roof of the carriage for him.

  Lily liked sitting on the little mound. It was several inches higher than the rest of the yard. There was another mound just like it closer to the house. Papa thought those mounds were a nuisance and an eyesore. Soon, he would try to level them. “Whoever did the landscaping around here must have been in a hurry,” Papa said. “He sure didn’t care what he was doing.”

  Papa pounded the last stake into the ground. After double-checking that the barn foundation was properly measured off, he picked up his shovel and walked to
the house. Lily and Joseph ran ahead of him. As he stepped on the little mound where Lily and Joseph had been playing, his leg suddenly disappeared! Mama screamed and reached for Papa’s hands. He managed to pull his leg out of the mound, but his shovel fell into the hole. Ker-splash! Lily could hear the shovel hit water far below.

  Mama began to cry. Papa held her close to him and patted her shoulder. “It’s all right, Rachel,” he said soothingly. “No one was hurt.”

  Mama’s face was white. “Oh, Daniel!” she whispered. “The children had just been sitting there! Think how often they’ve played on top of those mounds! How could we not have realized it was an old well? It was an accident just waiting to happen!”

  “I must say it gave me quite a stir,” Papa said in a soothing voice. “A man gets kind of used to having the ground stay solid under his feet.” His face brightened. “But this solves the problem of how we will get water to the barn. I’ll get this old well fixed up nice.” He looked around at the mound. “Until then, I’d better do something to keep anyone else from falling through.”

  Papa removed the rest of the dirt and rotten boards. Hands on his hips, he stood gazing at the big, gaping hole in the yard. “I’m guessing there’s an old well under that other mound too.” He went into the basement to get another shovel. He started digging at the other mound. Once again, he found rotten boards covering an old well. This well, though, was bone dry. Not a drop of water was in it.

  Lily and Joseph watched as Papa built covers for the wells and placed them over the holes. “That will have to do until I have more time.” He tested each cover to make sure it didn’t move and it could hold his weight.

  Lily shuddered at how easily she and Joseph and baby Dannie could have fallen into the deep, dark, scary well. They might have disappeared and never been seen or heard from again. How sad! It was a dreadful thought.

  A few days later, Lily and Joseph sat on the back of the bouncing spring wagon as Papa drove Jim across the field. The grass came up all the way to Jim’s belly. If Lily held her hands over the side of the spring wagon, she could brush the tops of the grass with her fingers. Papa was taking them to the edge of the woods for a big pile of rocks and stones. He wanted to fill the spring wagon with the rocks. He would use the rocks to fill up the dry well. If it was filled to the top with rocks, no little boy or girl could fall into it and disappear.

  When they reached the rock pile, Papa hopped off the spring wagon and lifted Lily and Joseph down. He didn’t have to tie Jim when he was working; he was such a good horse that he stood quietly wherever Papa left him. Besides, out in the field, if Jim wanted to take a few steps, it wouldn’t matter.

  Papa started throwing rocks on the back of the spring wagon. Lily and Joseph picked up smaller stones and tossed them into the wagon. Lily’s hands felt dirty and grimy after the first couple handfuls, but she enjoyed being a help to Papa.

  Papa whistled as he worked, and before long the spring wagon was filled with rocks. As they drove to the yard, Lily sat on the front seat with Papa while he held Joseph on his lap. Papa stopped Jim beside the dry well and removed the cover. He climbed into the back of the spring wagon and started pitching the rocks into the hollow well.

  It took many trips to the rock pile before the dry well was filled to the top. Once it was full, Papa unhitched Jim and let him rest in the pasture. Then Papa filled a wheelbarrow with dirt and dumped the dirt on top of the rocks in the well. When he was satisfied that the well was filled and solid, he scattered some grass seeds on top. Soon grass would grow and no one would ever know that there had once been a well on that spot.

  And no little girl would have to worry about falling into it.

  4

  A New Barn for Papa

  On Saturday morning, Lily had eaten breakfast and helped Mama wash the dishes before the sun started to tint the eastern sky with its rosy colors. All that was left to do was to sweep the kitchen floor. Then they would be ready to have neighbors come for the frolic! As Lily held the dustpan for Mama to sweep the dirt pile into it, she heard the sound of buggy wheels in the driveway. She ran to the window and saw her cousins Hannah and Levi jump out of the buggy. Behind Hannah came Aunt Mary, Mama’s younger sister.

  Hannah was just a little older than Lily. She had blonde hair and dark blue eyes fringed with long, black lashes. Hannah was Lily’s favorite cousin. They had special games they played with their favorite dolls. Levi had the same blond hair and blue eyes as his sister, but he didn’t talk much, not like Hannah. Hannah did enough talking for both of them, Uncle Elmer—Hannah’s father—always said. Levi was older than Hannah and Lily, but he had a slight stutter when he talked that made him shy around grown-ups. He was more comfortable with Joseph and ran off to find him.

  Uncle Elmer drove the buggy out toward the lumber piles. He unhitched his horse from the buggy and tied the rope to a tree. Then he walked over to talk to Papa, who was stuffing nails into the nail belt around his waist. Uncle Elmer strapped his nail belt on and started to fill it with nails.

  From the window, Lily and Hannah watched as more buggies started to roll up the long driveway. The men would stop to let the women and children off at the house and then drive out to where Uncle Elmer had parked his buggy. Soon there was a whole row of buggies lined up side by side in the yard. Horses were tied to trees. Some of the younger boys went to get several bales of hay. They dropped handfuls of hay in front of each horse so it would have something to eat. For the horses, it was going to be a long day of waiting.

  In the kitchen, women started to prepare food. Potatoes needed to be peeled. Chicken needed to be fried. Fresh bread needed to be baked so it could be served hot from the oven at noon. Lily and Hannah watched the women cook for a while, then ran outside to see how much progress the men had made on the barn. The first wall had been pieced together. It lay on the ground, ready to be lifted. The men lined up along one side. Walking slowly toward the barn’s foundation, they lifted the wall. The wall went higher and higher until it stood straight to the sky. A few men quickly ran to make supports and props to keep the wall from falling while others went to work on building the next wall.

  Odd noises filled the air. Hammers pounded nails, handsaws cut pieces of lumber into proper lengths. Men called orders out to each other. Lily couldn’t decide where the best place was to be: outside as the barn started to grow or in the house as food was prepared.

  Mama came to the door and called, “Lily!” In her hands were large bowls. Lily ran to see what she wanted. Mama held the bowls out to Lily. “Set these bowls on the bench under the cedar trees and fill them with water. It’s almost time to eat and the men need a place to wash up.”

  Lily and Hannah dragged a water hose to the bench and filled the bowls with fresh water. When they were done, they stacked several towels beside each bowl. It was time to go tell Papa that dinner was ready. She ran to find Papa. He stopped hammering when he saw her.

  “Mama says it’s time to eat!” Lily said.

  Papa turned and hollered to the men that dinner was ready. The sounds of pounding hammers stopped as everyone started removing their tool belts and walked toward the house. “Sure smells good,” they said as they passed Lily.

  The men piled their straw hats on the ground under a tree and went to wash up. Their big hands scooped up water to splash over their faces. Lily and Hannah watched as they reached for towels to dry off. Water dripped from their long beards and trickled down the front of their shirts.

  The men went into the house. The women bustled about, dishing up food and setting steaming bowls filled with mashed potatoes and sweet corn on the table, next to large platters of crisp fried chicken. Another platter held freshly baked bread, still warm from the oven. Beside each loaf of bread sat two little dishes. One held a round ball of homemade butter and the other was filled with sweet clover honey. On the kitchen counter was a row of pies: beautiful brown pecan pie, lemon and vanilla pie piled high with fluffy whipped cream, cherry pie with sugar sprin
kled on the crust. Lily liked how the cherries peeped through the little holes in the pretty vine pattern that Mama had carefully made on each crust.

  Lily’s mouth watered as her eyes took in all the food. She wished she could sit at the table too, but there wasn’t enough room. Only the men and the bigger boys could sit at the table. Once they found a seat, everyone grew quiet and looked expectantly at Papa. Papa bowed his head to pray a silent blessing.

  As soon as he raised his head, everyone started talking and laughing as they passed bowls of food around the table. They spooned hearty helpings on their plates. Mama filled plates with food for the children and sent them outside to sit on the porch to eat. Once everyone was done eating, the men went back to work while the women started cleaning up the dirty dishes.

  Papa stopped for a moment in the yard. He picked up a bench and folded one leg in. He set the other end on top of an overturned washtub. A slide! Lily loved playing on Papa’s homemade slides. She hurried to line up behind the other children. One by one, they took turns sliding down the smoothly varnished bench.

  After all of the dishes had been cleaned and put away, the women brought chairs and benches out into the yard under the shade of the cedar tree. They sat and chattered while keeping one eye peeled on the children. And they could watch the barn steadily grow.

  As the sun began to set, the barn was finished. It looked beautiful with its shiny white sides and its dark green tin roof. It was time for the neighbors to go home, do chores, and get ready for Sunday church. The men hitched horses to buggies and drove up to the house to pick up their families. Lily waved goodbye as the buggies rolled down the driveway.