A Big Year for Lily (11 page)

C
hristmas is coming tomorrow! Christmas is coming tomorrow!” Dannie sang the same phrase over and over as he ran through the house. Lily felt like skipping along behind him and joining him in his happy little song.

Christmas was finally almost here. She had been looking forward to it for so long. She thought of the gift for Papa and Mama she had hidden in one of her desk drawers. She had worked long and hard on that gift and was pleased with how it turned out.

It had started with a simple piece of cardboard that she had covered with scraps of wallpaper. She wrote a special poem about Papa and Mama on it. All around the border were pretty stickers.

Teacher Rhoda gave a sticker to anyone who received 100 percent on their arithmetic tests. Lily didn't like arithmetic but she needed those stickers to make a border for the poem.
For weeks, she had worked hard to make sure she didn't get a single math problem wrong and her efforts had paid off. The poem was framed in stickers. She felt sure that Papa and Mama would love it. It was a gift of extreme hardship and sacrifice.

Dannie made another lap through the house. “Christmas is coming tomorrow! Christmas is coming tomorrow!”

Lily carried a bowl filled with layered pudding into the pantry, set it on the shelf, and stood back to admire it. It looked so pretty. There was a layer of green Jell-O at the bottom and red on the top with white fluffy cream cheese in the middle.

The entire pantry looked like a store. Its shelves were filled with food. There were pies, cookies, several different kinds of bread, and glass gallon jars filled with Christmas treats of party mix, caramel corn, and different homemade candies and snacks. Mama had been working hard to get everything ready for Christmas.

Lily knew if she opened the refrigerator she would see even more food for tomorrow's feast. They would take everything over to Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house for Christmas dinner. Uncle Elmer's family and Uncle Jacob's family were going to be there too. Lily could hardly wait.

“Christmas is coming tomorrow! Christmas is coming tomorrow!” Dannie was still singing.

“I think everything is ready for Christmas,” Mama said, growing weary of Dannie's tuneless song. “Lily, take your brothers outside and ride sleds until suppertime.”

Somehow, upstairs, singing at the top of his lungs, Dannie heard Mama mention sledding. He galloped downstairs and grabbed his coat. Lily slipped into her own coat, helped Dannie tug on his boots, and went to find Joseph in the shop. Lately, that's where Joseph could be found, watching Papa work.

They dragged their sleds to the top of the small hill behind the barn. Joseph sat on his sled and Dannie jumped on it behind him. They went zooming down the hill laughing and squealing all the way.

Lily sat on her sled and wiggled a little to make it start moving. Soon she was flying down the hill. Joseph and Dannie waited at the bottom for her, and then they all walked up together. This time Dannie rode down the hill with Lily.

After several more rides, Dannie wanted to ride a sled all by himself. “Joseph can ride with Lily.”

“You're too little, Dannie,” Lily said.

“I'm
not
too little.” He grabbed the rope from Joseph's sled and pulled it farther up the hill. “I can pull it by myself and I can ride by myself, too!”

Lily didn't want to argue with Dannie. He could be stubborn. Plus, tomorrow was Christmas. She didn't want anything to spoil her happy mood, especially not a mad little brother. Reluctantly, she agreed to give Dannie a turn.

Dannie hopped on the sled, headfirst, and started down the hill. The sled swerved back and forth. Then it straightened out . . . and headed straight toward the barn! Lily froze. She watched in horror as Dannie crashed into the side of the barn. For a long, long moment, there was silence. Then . . . Dannie started to howl like a wounded coyote.

Lily and Joseph ran as fast as they could to get to him. Lily nearly gagged when she saw his face—bloody and scraped up, and his nose looked crooked. Joseph screamed, which only got Dannie howling louder. Lily ran to the workshop as fast as she could to tell Papa that Dannie had had an accident and might be dying.

Papa flew to the barn. He came back to the house with
Dannie in his arms, still wailing. Mama helped him out of his coat. Papa carried him to the kitchen to wash the blood off his face and see how badly he was hurt. Apparently, he wasn't dying.

Mama and Papa talked softly to Dannie as they cleaned him up. “There now, we'll let you sit on my chair while Mama reads a book to you,” Papa said in his gentlest voice. Dannie's breath was still coming in sobs, but slower.

Another wave of sickness hit Lily when she looked at Dannie. He had a bump on his head and his lips were swollen. Worst of all, his two front teeth were missing.

Mama scribbled a note and handed it to Lily. “Go take this to Grandma Miller,” she said. She started to read Dannie's favorite book to him while Lily wrapped up in her coat and bonnet. She trudged up the road to Grandma's house. She thought about peeking at the note, like she often did, but she didn't even want to know what that note said.

When Grandma read the note, she seemed disappointed. She patted Lily's cold cheek. “Tell Dannie that I'm sorry he is hurt. We'll miss you tomorrow. I'll make sure to save some leftovers for you.”

Lily walked home, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was just what she feared! She wouldn't be going to the special family dinner tomorrow. She wouldn't get to play with Hannah and Aunt Susie. She would eat crummy old leftovers. She wished they would never even have gone sledding—and certainly not let Dannie try to ride by himself. Now Christmas was ruined.

By the time she got home, Mama was bustling around the kitchen again. Papa had moved his big chair into the kitchen for Dannie. He was sitting on it surrounded with blankets and his favorite books.

Lily suggested to Mama, in the tiniest way, that she and Papa and Joseph could still go to Christmas dinner tomorrow.

Mama silenced her with a look. “Certainly not. Christmas is about being with our family. If one of us can't go, we will all stay at home.” She arched one eyebrow in that way she had. Lily thought she sounded a little crisp.

That was the end of the discussion.

The next morning, the sun shone brightly. “Looks like we'll all have a very nice day at home,” Papa said when he came in from doing the chores. “I think it's going to be the best Christmas we have ever had.” He washed his hands and scooped swollen, bruised Dannie up in his arms and sat on his chair with him. He whistled “O Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” while Mama finished getting breakfast ready.

Lily loved Christmas breakfast. Mama made special dishes and each child was given an orange. As soon as they were done eating, Lily helped Mama clear the plates away as Papa read the story of the first true Christmas from the Bible. Mama and Lily worked quietly so they wouldn't miss a word. Lily loved hearing Papa's deep rich voice as he read. He had a fine reading voice, Papa did.

When Mama had the kitchen sparkling clean again, Papa carried Dannie upstairs. Lily held Paul and followed Joseph, who was right behind Papa. The children waited in Lily's room. So exciting! The time had come for Papa and Mama to get their gifts ready for the children.

“Let's play Sorry! until it's time to go downstairs,” Joseph said. Lily got the game ready and they started to play, even though Dannie and baby Paul didn't really know how to
play. They were just getting involved as Papa knocked on Lily's bedroom door. He had a big grin on his face. “Present time!” He carried Dannie downstairs. Lily thought Dannie was lucky to be carried everywhere. At least there was one good thing about sledding straight into a barn.

In the kitchen, Lily quickly sat at her place and peered at the towel in front of her seat. Under it were her gifts. She wanted to peek under her towel but knew she shouldn't. She had to be an example to her little brothers and wait until everyone else was ready. But oh, how she wanted to peek! Papa sat at the head of the table. He was smiling from ear to ear. “Okay, let's see what you children might have.”

Lily lifted her towel. There was a new china bowl filled with candy and nuts. It would replace the glued-together one that Paul had broken. There was a new book. And a pack of beautiful stationery, almost too pretty to use. She would use it only to write to Grandma Lapp.

Lily had forgotten her gift for Mama and Papa! She ran upstairs, grabbed it from her desk, hurried back down, and thrust it into Papa's hands. He held the framed poem up against the light to read it and then showed it to Mama. Lily described the painful arithmetic quizzes she had endured just to get those stickers. Mama took the poem into her bedroom and placed it on top of her dresser. So she could see it every day, she said, and think of Lily working so hard at school.

So far, Christmas had been much better than she had expected after the Dannie Disaster. Lily tucked her new pack of stationery into one of her desk drawers, far in the back, where her brothers wouldn't find it. She got her new book and went downstairs to settle into a corner of the sofa. She tried not to think about the Christmas dinner that her
entire—
entire
!—extended family was enjoying. Whenever images of their happy feast popped into her mind, she tried to push the thought away. Over and over. She was stuck on page one of her book, rereading and rereading while pushing images of the Miller feast away, when a knock came on the door.

Papa was first to open the door, with Lily right on his heels. There on the porch were Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Susie! Behind them were Uncle Elmer's and Uncle Jacob's families. Everyone! Everyone was here!

Grandma had a big grin on her face. “We decided since you couldn't come to us for Christmas dinner, we would bring Christmas dinner to you.”

Papa and Lily were stunned.

“Well, aren't you going to let us in?” Grandpa said, stamping his feet from the cold.

Papa opened the door as wide as he could. The Miller family flowed in, carrying bowls and dishes and platters into the kitchen. The women got right to work. They helped Mama put extension boards into the table and set it with her prettiest dishes. Everyone was laughing and talking as they prepared dinner and then sat down together to eat it.

During dinner, Lily looked around the table. There was more food than anyone could ever eat and everyone was talking and the gas lights made the room look sparkly. And they were all together. Happiness welled up in Lily and she knew she would never forget this moment. It was the best Christmas ever.

E
verywhere Lily looked there was snow and more snow. As she bundled up for a buggy ride to school, Papa told her that last night's snowstorm had brought snow more than two feet deep.

As much as Lily liked how beautiful everything looked covered in snow, she knew it would create a problem at school. The children wouldn't be able to play Fox and Geese at recess. That was Lily's favorite winter game.

During the first recess, the girls stayed inside to play games or piece a puzzle together rather than try to play in the deep snow. The boys, naturally, were excited about all the snow. Levi, Aaron Yoder, and Sam Stoltzfus had each brought a shovel along to school. They took turns digging a cave in the big drift of snow beside the schoolhouse.

Lily and Hannah stood at the window, watching those silly boys dig, but they soon grew bored and joined the girls.

At lunch, the only thing the boys could talk about was the snow cave. “We should get it done today,” Aaron said, “and then we can have fun sitting inside of it.”

“I get to have the first turn,” Levi said. “After all, I brought the biggest shovel to school. It's only fair that I get to go first.”

Lily was surprised that the boys readily agreed to let Levi go first. She was glad they were getting along and not letting Levi's endless bragging become too aggravating. Though, even to Lily, it was.

At the window, the girls watched the boys finish digging out the cave. After the boys were satisfied that the cave was finished, they stuck their shovels in the snow. They huddled together for a moment to discuss something, then Levi ran to the stairs of the schoolhouse basement and disappeared. He reappeared with a flying saucer. Lily watched as he placed it carefully in front of the cave. A door!

The boys stood back to admire their work. Then Levi yanked the flying saucer away and crawled into the cave. The second his feet disappeared from sight, Sam Stoltzfus repositioned the flying saucer at the opening. Aaron and a few other boys started shoveling snow in front of it as fast as they could.

Lily
knew
they were up to something! The boys hadn't been nice to let Levi go in first—they did it so they could trap him inside of the cave.

Hannah and Lily ran to Teacher Rhoda to tell her what the boys were doing. Teacher Rhoda hurried to get her coat on, but before she could get her arm through a sleeve, a loud yell filled the air. They ran to the window and saw the boys stampeding over the cave so the roof would collapse on Levi.

Teacher Rhoda ran outside to rescue Levi. Lily watched at
the window, horrified. He was completely buried in the snow. Finally, a gloved hand emerged, then an arm, and Teacher Rhoda yanked hard and Levi's head popped up. He looked dazed, blinking like a newborn owl. Teacher Rhoda pulled him out of the snow pile and helped to brush him off. Once he was safely inside the schoolhouse, she rang the bell. Thanks to Aaron Yoder and Sam Stoltzfus, recess would be cut short today.

The students slipped quietly to their desks. Aaron and Sam had goofy grins on their faces but Teacher Rhoda did not look amused at all. The air in the schoolhouse felt dreadful to Lily, heavy and threatening, like right before a tornado touched down. Something terrible was about to happen.

Teacher Rhoda kept her eyes on her desk for a long, long moment. Then she lifted her chin. “Put your books away for school dismissal.”

Lily looked at the clock. It was much earlier than usual and Mama would be surprised to see them. But Lily was glad to get away from this heavy atmosphere.

Teacher Rhoda stood. “Everyone may go home except for Aaron Yoder, Sam Stoltzfus, and anyone else who was involved in trapping Levi inside that snow cave.”

Lily quickly got her shawl and bonnet, grabbed her lunch box off the shelf, and followed Hannah out the door. There was one good thing about this terrible ordeal: finally Hannah had seen for herself how awful Aaron Yoder truly was. Lily would no longer have to listen to Hannah go on and on about how wonderful and cute and smart Aaron was. Her dearest friend and cousin had a horrible and completely un-understandable crush on Aaron Yoder. She thought he was a hero. Lily knew he wasn't. He was a terrible, awful boy.

The two girls trudged slowly through the snow. “I don't think Teacher Rhoda should have made Aaron stay after school,” Hannah said.

Lily stopped in her tracks. Wait.
What?
“Aaron trapped Levi inside that snow cave and then helped jump on top of it to make it collapse on top of him.”

“He was only going along with what the other boys were doing.”

Lily couldn't believe her ears. “Levi is your brother!”

“Still, I don't think Aaron meant to be mean.”

“You must be crazy!” she exclaimed in her most understanding way. “Of course he meant to be mean! Everything he does is mean!”

Hannah dismissed Lily's complaints with a wave of her hand. “I still think he is the nicest boy in school.”

That was the last straw. Lily slapped her on the cheek, hard. Hannah's eyes widened and her mouth opened to an 
O
. A red handprint appeared on Hannah's face. Then she started to cry.

Lily was horrified. She had slapped Hannah! It was all Aaron Yoder's fault.

Hannah started toward home, tears running down her face. When they came to the fork in the road where Hannah turned off to head to her house, she split off without a word, still crying. Lily was grateful Joseph had run ahead with Levi and had not seen what had happened with Hannah. She walked slowly the rest of the way home, feeling ashamed. Why, she was almost as bad as mean-hearted Aaron Yoder. Not quite, but almost.

She wiped away a tear before she walked into Papa's woodworking shop. He looked up when he heard the door open,
but his cheerful smile faded away when he saw Lily. “Sit down and tell me everything.”

How did Papa know something was wrong? Lily sat on the stool and told him all that had happened at school. She described how the boys had tricked Levi to trap him. “All Hannah ever talks about is Aaron Yoder and how wonderful he is.” She dropped her chin to her chest and mumbled, “So then I might have given Hannah a tiny little slap.”

Papa lifted his dark eyebrows. “Slapping Hannah didn't really solve anything, did it?”

Tears pricked Lily's eyes. “No. It made both of us cry.”

“Take your lunch box to the kitchen. Then we'll go over to Hannah's and you can apologize for losing your temper.”

Lily wished she had not slapped Hannah, but she wasn't sorry enough to want to apologize. She took her lunch box upstairs, placed it on the kitchen counter, and took a long, slow drink of water. Then another. As slowly as she could.

Papa appeared at the top of the stairs, wondering what had happened to her. “Ready?”

They trudged through the deep snow to get to Hannah's house. Papa knocked on the door. Aunt Mary came to the door, surprised to see Papa standing beside Lily. She invited them to come in out of the cold.

“Lily has something she wants to say to Hannah,” Papa said.

Aunt Mary asked them to take a seat in the living room. She called up the stairs to Hannah and then went back to work in the kitchen.

Hannah came downstairs and stopped abruptly when she saw Lily and Papa. Lily rose from her chair. “I'm sorry that I slapped you.”

Hannah rubbed her cheek. “That's okay. It stopped stinging after I got home.”

They stood, awkwardly, looking at the floor. Hannah took a step closer to Lily. In a low voice, she said, “I won't talk about Aaron anymore. I like you better than him.”

Lily was so happy to hear that! She threw her arms around Hannah.

Papa cleared his throat, then coughed, then finally clapped his hands. “I'm glad you girls got everything patched up. It's never good to let the sun go down on anger. But now it's time to go home. Mama needs Lily's help with supper. You girls can play with each other tomorrow.”

On the way home, Lily's feet felt light and happy, even though the snow was just as deep to trudge through. She and Hannah were friends again. But she did hope that Hannah's taste in boys would improve as she got older.