A Big Year for Lily (5 page)

F
or days now, Lily had watched Papa bring home all kinds of woodworking machinery and put it into the new basement. In the evenings he would hurry through his chores so that he could connect pipes to the machinery. Papa explained that he would buy a big diesel engine to pump hydraulic oil through the pipes. “That will make the little hydraulic motors run that are fastened to the machinery. Then I'll use air to run the small machinery like the drill press and jointer.”

Lily couldn't understand any of it. Joseph, though, listened carefully to Papa's every word. Dannie pretended to understand, but Lily knew he was only trying to seem as big as Joseph. Lily would rather learn about cooking and baking than how machinery worked.

The day finally came when all the machinery was ready and Papa's shop was finished. Everyone gathered around Papa as
he clamped a piece of wood into the lathe. He pulled the lever and the lathe sprang into action. The wood started spinning so fast that Lily could hardly see it. She held her hands over her ears. This was noisy!

Papa selected a wood chisel and held it against the spinning wood. Sawdust sprayed over his arms as he drew the chisel back and forth until he was satisfied with what he had made. He turned the lever off. Everything seemed peacefully quiet except for the hum of the big diesel engine outside.

Papa removed the piece of wood and handed it to Mama. “Well, what do you think, Rachel?”

“Why, it's beautiful,” Mama said as she stroked her fingers over it. She handed it to Lily.

Lily looked at it closely. It really was beautiful. The ugly piece of wood that Papa had put into the lathe was now smooth and round and looked as if it had three little beads.

“The first spindle for our first chair,” Papa said. He picked up another piece of wood. “I'll need a lot more of these to have enough to make a set of dining room chairs.”

Mama and Lily went back upstairs to bake some cookies. They could hear the lathe going in the basement and knew Papa was making more spindles.

Lily and Joseph came home from school one afternoon to discover something new in the pine trees behind the house. Papa was setting up two used fuel tanks that he had bought from a neighbor. By his side was Dannie, acting like Papa's chief assistant. Papa stopped what he was doing when he saw Lily and Joseph. “We'll fill one with diesel fuel for the engine that runs the shop, and the other one
we'll fill with gas for the garden tiller and lawn mower.” He stepped back to look at them. “They sure do look ugly right now though.”

Lily agreed with Papa. They sure did look ugly. The red paint was peeling off and they were covered with little rust spots.

“The next time I go to town I'll have to buy some paint and then you children can paint them for me.”

Joseph and Dannie jumped up and down, hooting and hollering like they had won a prize. They were excited to paint for Papa. Lily was just as excited but lately she had been trying to practice mature and ladylike behavior. She didn't jump even though she dearly wanted to. She thought boys were born lucky. They could do whatever they wanted to and never had to worry about someone like Ida Kauffman frowning and whispering, “That's not ladylike.”

On Saturday, Papa returned from a trip to town with a gallon of silver paint. He pried open the paint can lid and stirred it to make sure it was mixed properly. Satisfied, he handed paintbrushes to Lily, Joseph, and Dannie.

Lily dipped her brush into the paint and carefully stroked it on the tank. Now the tank was three colors. Ugly red, rusty orange, and beautiful shiny silver.

This was fun. The more they painted, the prettier the fuel tanks looked. After finishing one side, they picked up the paint can and went to paint the other side. After that side was done, Lily realized they had a problem. They should have painted the top first.

She dipped her paintbrush into the paint and stood on
her tiptoes to try to reach the top. She stretched as far as she could. She managed to slap her paintbrush against the top but she couldn't swish it back and forth. Then she lost her balance and fell against the tank. Her dress was covered with silver paint and so were her hands.

How awful! Joseph and Dannie laughed when they saw her dress. She could feel a few tears welling up in her eyes and tried to wipe them away. That made them laugh all the harder. “Now you have paint under your eyes, too,” Joseph yelped. “Like a raccoon!”

“Like a skunk!” Dannie added.

Disgusted with them, Lily rested her paintbrush on top of the pail of paint and went into the shop to find Papa. He would know what to do.

Papa took one look at her. “What happened to you?”

“I was trying to reach the top of the fuel tank to paint it, and I fell against it,” Lily said.

“Let's go wash your hands and face,” Papa said. “Then you can keep painting. Don't worry about painting the top of the tanks. I should have told you that I would do it after you're done with the sides.”

After washing up, Lily went back outside and helped Joseph and Dannie paint the other tank. She was relieved she didn't have to worry about painting the tops. Painting sides was much more fun.

Papa came outside and finished painting the tops for them. That evening, after the paint had dried, he took a little brush and a small can of black paint and carefully wrote GAS in big black letters on the front.

“Now we won't have to worry about getting the gas and diesel mixed up.” He glanced at Joseph and Dannie. “I don't
want any of you to ever open the valves on the tanks. Not ever.”

Lily thought Papa was very wise to add that warning. Little boys were much too curious. But she did wish Papa had remembered to tell her that he would paint the top of the tanks. Her favorite work dress was ruined.

M
ama sat at the kitchen table with a notepad and pen, scribbling down something. Lily tried to read her notes, upside down. “Joseph will be having his eighth birthday next week,” she explained. “I thought we could build a nice campfire and roast hot dogs and toast some marshmallows. Maybe invite all the relatives.”

What a wonderful idea! A campfire would be just the thing for a boy like Joseph. And it would be even more fun for Lily to have Cousin Hannah there. They could sit next to each other and talk while the boys did whatever boys tended to do.

Mama wrote several notes and sent Lily to deliver them. Each family said yes right away, so Lily was able to bring answers home to Mama.

When Joseph heard about the campfire birthday, he was
so happy he couldn't sit still. He decided to get right to work cleaning up some fallen tree limbs in the yard—something Papa had been meaning to do for a while now. Joseph dragged the branches and made a big pile of them in the barnyard. He was the hardest-working boy in the world. Lily couldn't help but admire the big pile of wood he had gathered. As big as a bonfire! It would make a fine campfire.

Joseph's birthday finally arrived. Lily helped Mama frost Joseph's birthday cake. She watched Mama decorate it: a little log cabin was surrounded by several pine trees and a little creek that ran through the trees. It was beautiful. She couldn't wait until Joseph saw it, but it was to be a surprise until later tonight. One thing Lily knew—Joseph would be pleased with Mama's decoration.

Mama asked Lily to find old blankets they used for picnics and to take them outside under a tree. Papa and the boys were starting the campfire. It needed to burn down to have plenty of red embers for roasting hot dogs and toasting marshmallows. Lily looked forward to eating hot dogs—they were a special, once-in-a-while treat. But most of all, she was excited to eat the toasted marshmallows. Those were the best. The very best treat of all.

After everyone arrived, the men started to sharpen sticks to roast the hot dogs. Mama and Aunt Mary scurried around to make sure everyone had a glass of lemonade or water and plenty of hot dogs to roast.

Aunt Susie sat next to Lily and Hannah. They had each eaten one hot dog and were ready to toast marshmallows. Papa had given them each a sharpened stick and showed them how to toast to perfection. One after another after another. Lily was sorry when Mama said they had eaten
enough. She would have liked to toast and eat marshmallows all night long.

Papa had gone inside and came back out with several brown paper bags. “It's time for Joseph's presents.” He handed the bags to Joseph.

Everyone quieted to watch Joseph pull gifts out of the paper bags. First, he drew out a new shirt and pair of trousers. Next, a shiny new slingshot. Grandpa gave him a book filled with patterns to make birdhouses. “Now that your papa has a woodworking shop, I knew it wouldn't be long before you want to start building things, too,” Grandpa said. “This should give you something easy to start out with.”

Uncle Elmer's family gave him a baseball and bat. Uncle Jacob's family gave him a crisp, new five-dollar bill. Joseph thanked each family, one by one, and then it was time for everyone to go home. Lily sighed happily as she helped Mama clean up. Birthdays were a lot of fun even when they weren't hers.

A
fter the horrible day when Lily ate Lavina's sandwich, Lily checked her lunch carefully before she started to school. She wanted to be sure she knew exactly what was in it before she left for school.

During lunch, Lily was happy to see that her sandwich looked just the same as it had that morning. The mysterious sandwich switch was soon forgotten.

But something else had been switched. Lily's apple slices were missing. In her lunch box were several store-bought cookies. This time, Lily was wiser. She didn't eat a single cookie, though she loved store-bought cookies and this kind was her favorite. Malinda's head popped up and she looked around the room. “Someone took my cookies and left these apple slices.”

Lily quickly gave the cookies to Malinda and took her own apple slices back to her desk.

Teacher Rhoda saw the exchange. “Who is taking food out of lunch boxes again?” Nobody answered her.

“I'm sure it was Lily,” Effie said. “Her family is poor. She never has good food and always wants to eat other children's food.”

Lily felt her face grow warm. It was true. Lily and Joseph rarely had store-bought treats in their lunches. And she did wish her friends would share their treats with her. But she had never, ever thought of stealing anyone's lunch.

“Did you take the cookies, Lily?” Teacher Rhoda asked in a sad voice.

“No, I didn't,” Lily said. Her voice sounded wobbly. Her cheeks were burning. She was sure everyone would think she looked and sounded guilty. And she wasn't!

Teacher Rhoda's chin was firm, but her eyes were far from certain. When Lily put her lunch box on the shelf, Teacher Rhoda stopped her before she ran out the door. “Do you have any idea how those cookies got into your lunch box? Any idea at all?”

“No, I don't,” Lily said.

“Lily, you must know that lying is almost as bad as stealing.”

“But I'm not lying,” Lily said. Why didn't Teacher Rhoda believe her?

“Why would someone else exchange food in your lunch box?”

“I don't know,” Lily said miserably.

Teacher Rhoda didn't seem to know what to say. “Try to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

But how?! Lily wanted to ask. She went outside but recess had been spoiled for her. The entire day had been spoiled for
her. How awful that no one believed she was telling the truth! She almost always told the truth.

At suppertime, Lily didn't want to eat very much. When Papa asked her what was wrong, she told him how someone had put Malinda's cookies into her lunch box and her apple slices into Malinda's lunch box.

Papa and Mama exchanged a look. A very worried look.

Weeks passed. Three more times, someone else's food turned up in Lily's lunch box. It was always store-bought food and always from a different child's lunch. Teacher Rhoda asked each student if he or she knew who was exchanging the food. No one knew. If they knew, they weren't telling. Lily was sure they were all blaming her. Even Cousin Hannah and Beth, her best friends, had started to treat her differently. They didn't always include her in recess games or ask her to sit with them or share secrets with her. More and more, Lily sat alone and read books during lunch and recess.

School was no longer a fun place to be. Lily wished she could just stay home.