Grandpa scratched his head. “I can’t imagine that these little children might be hungry, can you, Susie?”
“Oh, but Papa, I think they are,” Susie said. “It’s lunchtime.” She didn’t know he was teasing.
They ran to the table to find their chairs. Grandma helped Dannie sit in a wooden highchair. Lily thought it looked hard and uncomfortable compared to the nice one they had at home with the soft cushions Mama had made for it. Just as they began to pass the sandwiches around the table, Mama drove up in the buggy. Grandma quickly set another plate at the table so Mama could join them. Lily liked listening to Grandpa, Grandma, and Mama visit while they ate. Sometimes, they would tell stories about Mama and Aunt Susie as little girls. But not today. Jim was standing patiently by the barn, dripping wet. Mama ate quickly. She wanted to get poor Jim out of the rain.
“Don’t worry about the dishes,” Grandma said. “Susie likes washing dishes and we can take care of them after you leave. I’m sure Jim would like to get home out of the rain.”
Grandpa helped them out to the buggy. Lily and Joseph and Dannie sat on the front seat beside Mama this time because the back of the buggy was filled with bags of feed and groceries. Grandpa handed Jim’s reins to Mama. “Rachel, I think you had better drive on the road instead of taking the field lane. The lane is too muddy and the buggy is heavy with that load of feed bags in the back.”
Mama clucked “giddyup” to Jim. He started down the driveway in the rain. Lily liked to watch the raindrops hit the storm front of the buggy and run down in little trickles. Inside, the buggy was nice and dry except for the two little holes where Jim’s reins entered the buggy. Water ran down the reins and dripped on the floor under those two little holes. It was raining that hard.
At the end of Grandpa’s driveway, Mama pulled on the reins. “Whoa,” she told Jim.
Several cars and a big milk truck were zooming past. The milk truck splashed a big shower of water all over them. Jim did not like to get splashed with water. Mama held firmly on the reins as more cars zoomed by and splashed water on them. Jim started backing up a little.
“Whoa, Jim, easy, boy!” Mama said.
Jim backed a little more. Another big truck passed and showered them with a huge splash of water. Jim backed up a little more. Bump! The back wheel of the buggy dropped off the edge of the driveway into the deep ditch beside it.
“Whoa, Jim!” Mama said. She pulled on the reins to make him stop, but he kept backing up a little more.
Lily could feel the buggy start to tip. Slowly, slowly, the buggy leaned farther into the ditch. Crash! The buggy tipped over on its side. Lily landed on top of Mama. Dannie sprawled on top of Joseph. Jim lay on the ground. He lifted his big head and looked back at the buggy as if to say, “How did that happen?”
Lily, Joseph, and Dannie started to cry. Cars stopped beside the road and people jumped out to see if they could help. A man with a long gray ponytail opened the storm front and lifted Lily and Joseph out.
“Run back to the house, Lily, and tell Grandpa we need help,” Mama said. She and Dannie were still trapped inside the buggy.
Lily held Joseph’s hand as they ran back up the driveway. Lily tried to run as fast as she could, but her legs still felt wobbly from the scare. She wondered how they would ever get Jim and the buggy out of the ditch.
Grandpa saw Lily and Joseph run up the driveway and met them on the porch. “What’s happened?”
“Our buggy!” Lily said, panting for breath. “Jim backed the buggy into the ditch and Mama needs help.”
Grandpa plucked his hat and coat from the hook inside the door and hurried to help Mama.
Grandma helped them out of their wet coats and told them to sit next to the stove to dry. Aunt Susie was at the sink, washing the dishes. She dried her hands and fussed over Joseph and Lily to make sure they were both okay. It troubled her whenever anyone was sad or hurt or scared.
Lily held out her arms to show Aunt Susie. “Not even a scratch,” she said, wanting to reassure Aunt Susie. “Mama made a nice soft landing to fall on.”
Lily stood by the window to watch Grandpa unhitch Jim from the buggy. Jim scrambled to his feet and stood quietly to wait for Mama to tell him what to do. Lily thought Jim looked sorry. So very sorry. She knew he would never do anything to hurt them on purpose. He was a good horse.
Mama passed Dannie to Grandpa through the buggy door, then climbed out. When Grandpa was satisfied she wasn’t hurt, he handed Dannie to her and turned his attention to righting the buggy. Mama held the corner of her shawl over Dannie’s head to try to keep the rain off him. The two of them watched Grandpa and the man with the long gray ponytail set the buggy back on its wheels. Lily was surprised to see that the buggy still looked fine. The little side windows weren’t even broken. Grandpa hitched Jim to the buggy again. He drove the buggy up to the house, with Mama and Dannie in it. Then he helped Lily and Joseph out to the buggy, covering them with his big black umbrella.
Jim trotted slowly and carefully all the way home, as if he was carrying a buggy filled with delicate china teacups. Lily couldn’t wait until Papa came home to tell him about their day. It had been exciting! And no one had been hurt. Not even Jim. She knew Papa would want to hear all about it.
27
Great-Grandma’s Big Cane
Mama had hurried extra fast through the morning work. Lily tried to keep up behind her. She knew today was a special day. She helped Mama gather a bouquet of daisies and black-eyed Susans and put them into a little vase. Mama tied a pretty pink ribbon around the top of the vase.
“Lily, I think we’re ready to go,” Mama said. She looked Lily up and down and frowned. “On second thought, we will be just as soon as you wash your face and hands.” As Lily bolted up the stairs, Mama added, “And don’t forget your bonnet.”
“Face and bonnet,” Lily repeated.
Lily ran to the washbasin to splash cold water on her face and hands, then dried them on the fluffy blue towel. She glanced into the mirror to make sure there was nothing on her face that would make Mama spit on the corner of her handkerchief and wipe it off. She did not like that. Satisfied that she could pass Mama’s inspection, she ran back downstairs, took her heavy black bonnet off the wall hook, and stood quietly while Mama tied the ribbons under her chin. If only she could wear a straw hat like Joseph did instead of the hot bonnet. It held her head in a tight grasp and made her feel as if she were in a tunnel.
Today, they were going to Grandpa Miller’s to see a special visitor. Mama’s grandmother was visiting! Mama couldn’t wait to see her. Lily tried to imagine how old Great-Grandma must be since she must be older than Grandma. And Grandma Miller was old. Almost fifty. Grandpa called her his little antique and she would swat him, playfully, when he said it. It always made Lily laugh.
When they arrived at the farm, Grandpa came out of his harness shop to unhitch Jim and put him in the barn. He took Jim out of the buggy shafts whenever the visiting would last a long time. Lily saw Uncle Elmer’s buggy next to the barn. She knew that Aunt Mary and Hannah must have come to see Great-Grandma too. What a happy day!
Mama knocked on the door. Lily could hear voices inside and then Grandma’s quick footsteps as she came to the door. When Grandma opened the door, Lily caught sight of Hannah in the kitchen.
Hannah jumped up and ran to Lily, whispering furiously to her.
Lily couldn’t understand what Hannah had said. This awful bonnet! She couldn’t even hear right. She yanked the ties and pulled it right off. “What did you say?”
“Great-Grandma is sitting in there,” Hannah whispered, pointing to the living room. “She’s scary! She has a big cane and she keeps poking it at people.”
Lily did not want to get poked by a cane! She wasn’t sure she wanted to go into the house, but Mama held the door open. “Come in, Lily. I want you to say hello to Great-Grandma before you and Hannah run off to play.”
Lily followed Mama into the house but tried to hide behind
her. She could see Great-Grandma sitting on the rocking chair. Her hair was snow white and her leathery face was lined with deep wrinkles. Her hands looked bony and wrinkled and covered with blue veins. Most concerning to Lily was the wooden cane held across her lap.
Mama went up to shake hands with Great-Grandma. She set the vase of flowers they had brought along beside the rocking chair so Great-Grandma could see them. Lily was surprised how happy and pleased Mama’s voice sounded. Great-Grandma seemed glad to see Mama too. Lily decided that Hannah had been playing a joke on her. Great-Grandma wasn’t scary. Not scary at all!
Just then, Great-Grandma lifted her cane and looped the crooked end around Lily’s neck. She pulled it forward. “And who is this little girl?”
“I’m Lily.” Lily’s voice surprised her. It wobbled, barely above a whisper.
“You’ll have to speak louder so I can understand you,” Great-Grandma said. She tugged the cane closer to her. Lily stumbled forward.
“My name is Lily,” she said, relieved that this time her voice was clear and Great-Grandma seemed to hear her.
“So you are Lily. I hope you are as sweet as the flower.” Great-Grandma leaned forward in her rocking chair and peered at Lily over her wire-rimmed spectacles. “Tell me. Do you know how to gather seeds for summer geraniums?”
What an odd question! Lily nodded her head. “Yes. I help Mama gather seeds every fall.”
Great-Grandma smiled. Satisfied, she released the cane from around Lily’s neck and settled back into her rocking chair. “Summer geraniums have been a part of our family for generations. Every year we plant them in our garden and enjoy their pretty pinks all summer. We harvest the seeds in fall to save and plant next year. Those seeds come from the only pretty things my grandmother had and her mother before her. They’ve been handed down from mother to daughter, generation after generation. Who knows how long our family has been raising those flowers?” She shook a boney finger at Lily. “And you are part of this family of women. When you are old enough to have a garden, I expect you to plant a row of summer geraniums every year.”
Mama gave Lily permission to go play with Hannah and Aunt Susie. As Lily turned to leave, she decided that Great-Grandma was definitely scary, but not quite as scary as Hannah led her to believe. But Lily wished Great-Grandma would use her cane only for walking. She did not like having it hooked around her neck like she was a little lamb.
Mama and Aunt Mary helped Grandma cook a nice big lunch. After they had eaten, Great-Grandma said to Grandma, “I would like to go outside to see your summer geraniums.”
“Are you sure you want to walk in the garden?” Grandma said. “The path is very uneven to walk on.”
Great-Grandma sat up tall in her chair. “I may be old and I may shuffle when I walk. But I’m not so old that I can’t be the judge about what I’m able to do.”
Grandma and Mama exchanged a look. Even Aunt Susie looked surprised at Great-Grandma’s huffy tone of voice. But they all went out to the garden. Slowly. Ever so slowly. As slow as a caterpillar. Lily thought she had never seen anyone walk as slowly as Great-Grandma did, shuffling along. Once they reached the garden, Great-Grandma walked along the row of summer geraniums. Lily wondered what she was thinking. Was she remembering herself as a little girl, or thinking about her own mama and grandma? After all, these flowers were just like the ones she had gathered seeds from as a child—in fact, those flowers were the great-grandmothers of these very geraniums! Lily looked up and observed her mother’s face, her grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s, her aunts’, her cousins’. These geraniums were just like the women in her family—all ages, all shapes and sizes, all belonging together. Same thing.
Great-Grandma moved along the rows, admiring the pretty blossoms and pointing out a few fat bumblebees that flew lazily from blossom to blossom. One bee started to buzz around her. Great-Grandma waved her cane at it. There went that cane again! Watch out, bumblebee, Lily wanted to say, or you’ll find yourself with a cane around your tiny fuzzy neck!
Suddenly, Great-Grandma crumpled to the ground in a heap.
Mama and Aunt Mary tried to help Great-Grandma to her feet, but she couldn’t get up. Her eyes were open, but she was listless. “Run and get Grandpa, Lily,” Mama said. Her voice sounded filled with worry.
Lily ran to the harness shop to fetch Grandpa. As she opened the door, Grandpa looked up from the sewing machine where he had been mending a harness. “Great-Grandma fell in the garden and can’t get up!” Lily said.
Grandpa bolted to the garden. Lily ran after him. She had never seen Grandpa run that fast before and could hardly keep up. He knelt beside Great-Grandma. Her mouth looked funny and twisted and her eyes didn’t look right. “I think something more happened than just a tumble. I’ll go call an ambulance.”
Mama sat in the garden and held Great-Grandma’s head in her lap. Grandma and Aunt Mary crouched down to talk to Great-Grandma even though it didn’t seem as if she could hear them. Her cane lay on the ground next to her. Lily wished that Great-Grandma would sit up and wave it around—even if it meant that Lily would be hooked around the neck. That would be better than having her lay here in the garden like this.
The wail of the ambulance’s siren came closer and closer. Grandpa came running back from the neighbor’s house just as the ambulance flew up the driveway. The ambulance stopped near the edge of the garden. Two men in blue uniforms jumped out and hurried over to see what was wrong with Great-Grandma. One man checked her pulse as the other pulled a stretcher out of the ambulance. Together, they carefully lifted Great-Grandma onto the stretcher and rolled it into the back of the ambulance. Grandma asked if she could go along. They motioned for her to quickly climb in. Then they shut the doors of the ambulance. The two men climbed in the front cab and the ambulance hurried back down the driveway, siren wailing.
Everyone stood there, listening to the siren’s sound as it drove down the street. It had all happened so fast. One minute, Great-Grandma was looking at summer geraniums. The next moment, she was being taken away in an ambulance. It was too much to take in. Aunt Susie started to cry. Mama put an arm around her sister.
“It will be okay, Susie,” she said, patting her shoulder. “Let’s go back to the house and help do the dishes. I’ll wash them if you’ll dry them.”
Aunt Susie wiped her tears and smiled. She liked to wash dishes. Having everyone help would be even more fun.
Grandpa decided he should go to the hospital. “Rachel, would you mind taking Susie home with you?”
“We’ll be happy to have her stay with us as long as necessary,” Mama said.
Lily was glad. It would be fun to have Aunt Susie stay with them.
Later that evening, Lily was getting ready for bed when Grandpa stopped by Singing Tree Farm. “Great-Grandma had a stroke,” he said. “She will have to stay in the hospital for a while. I guess Susie and I will have to do the best we can while Grandma stays with her.”
Lily was happy to hear that Great-Grandma would be all right, but she was sorry Aunt Susie was leaving. She understood that Grandpa needed her. As they said goodbye at the door, Mama said, “If you need any help with cooking or doing laundry or anything, anything at all, just let me know.”
“I think we’ll be fine,” Grandpa said. “Susie is a good helper.” His eyes twinkled as he added, “But if you ever feel like baking a cherry pie, I won’t turn it down.”
Everyone chuckled. Cherry pie was Grandpa’s favorite. Everybody knew that. It felt good to laugh a little. It had been a long, hard, and sad day, but laughter made everything feel a little better.
28
Lily and Mama
Early on Saturday morning, Mama hurried everyone along at breakfast. “It’s time to get ready,” Mama said, as Lily and Joseph finished their last spoonfuls of porridge. “Papa will soon be driving up to the house with Jim and the buggy.”
Lily ran to her room to change into a fresh everyday dress and apron while Mama helped Joseph and
Dannie change their shirts. They were back downstairs just as Papa drove up to the front porch. Lily climbed into the back of the buggy and knelt on the seat beside Joseph, peeking out the back window. They were going to Isaac’s house today to help load a big truck with all the family’s belongings. Lily had been sad to learn that Isaac and his five younger brothers were moving away. The schoolhouse would seem empty without them.
This summer, three other families had moved away. Ten more children, besides Isaac and his brothers, wouldn’t be going to school this fall. Lily wondered what school would be like with so few children. What would they do at recess? What games could they play without Isaac? He was the one who always invented new games. The only children left in the district were her cousins, Levi and Hannah, Mandy Mast, and Joseph and Lily. Poor Joseph. He had been so excited to start school. Lily had been looking forward to having him in school. She wanted him to see how much fun school could be, but a school made up of only five children—one of whom was Mandy Mast—didn’t seem like fun at all. And the school board still hadn’t found a teacher. That was the biggest problem of all.
Two nights later, Lily had just finished cleaning her plate of the last spoonfuls of potatoes and gravy and then sat waiting, patiently, as Joseph and Dannie finished up. Mama was feeding Dannie from his little bowl. Papa sat back in his chair and told Mama about his day. He was building a shed for an older man who liked to tell stories while Papa worked.
As soon as Dannie ate his last bite of food, everyone bowed their heads to pray a silent thank-you to God for all they had eaten. They thanked God before a meal, and they thanked God after a meal. Before and after. Twice.
Afterward, Lily quickly gathered dishes from the table and carried them to the kitchen sink. Monday nights meant that Lily didn’t have to dry dishes for Mama like she usually did. Monday nights meant that Lily and Joseph headed downstairs to the basement and filled the big iron kettle with water. Papa fastened the green garden hose to the faucet in the basement and turned it on, full blast. Lily held the hose so that the arc of water landed inside the big kettle. It would have to be filled all the way to the top with gallons and gallons of water.
Life with Lily Page 15
