A Big Year for Lily (7 page)

L
ily stretched her toes to touch the last few leaves left on the branch above her as Joseph pushed the swing as hard as he could. Autumn was under way and soon it would be too cold to swing. They loved to play on the swing Papa had made in the big tree in front of the house. It was fun to sail through the air. Lily felt light and happy all over.

Joseph stood to the side of the swing. “It's my turn now.” When the swing slowed down, Lily hopped off. Joseph climbed on the swing and Lily started pushing him—higher and higher, faster and faster. They were having a contest to see who could touch the last red leaf clinging to a branch. As soon as Lily realized Joseph was about to reach it, she stopped pushing. He was close to touching it only because she was a much better swing pusher than he was. Joseph would just have to pump his legs harder.

Something caught her eye. The curtain in the attic window ruffled in the breeze.

She decided to take Sally, her doll, and a book up to the room to play. “I'm tired of swinging,” she said. She ran to the house.

“Hey!” Joseph yelled. “Not fair! Come back! I still need a few more pushes.”

Lily ran back and gave him a few more pushes. Then she went to the house and found her doll and book. She ran up the stairs and into the little attic bedroom. Her gaze swept the empty room and she sighed. It was so lovely. Even without her furniture and purple rag rug.

Lily changed her doll's dress and rocked her to sleep. She lay Sally carefully on a blanket and swaddled her, the way she had seen Mama swaddle baby Paul when he was a newborn. But playing with Sally wasn't as much fun as it used to be. Sally had become a little dull.

Her tummy growled. She thought she might go back down to the kitchen and get a snack when she remembered the glass chimney covered with gooey marshmallows that she had hidden underneath a dresser. It had been only a week. If she were very, very careful, maybe she could scrape some leftover marshmallow off a large piece and eat it for a snack!

She crouched down on her knees and put a hand under the dresser. She felt cobwebs and dust, then her hand touched the paper bag that held the chimney pieces. She pulled it out from under the dresser and opened the bag—then gagged. What had happened to the marshmallow? There was fuzzy, grayish-green mold covering the chimney. It smelled horrible. She tucked it back under the dresser, as far as it would go, and decided she wasn't hungry after all.

Lily picked up her book and soon was lost in the story. A couple of flies buzzed through the open window and circled around her. There was nothing quite so annoying as a fly buzzing around your head when you were trying to read. Though, Lily thought, having a mosquito buzz around your head when you were trying to sleep was equally annoying. She closed the window firmly and heard a thump and rattle outside the door. She paused to listen, but didn't hear anything more, so she went back to her book.

The next thing Lily knew, she heard a little fluttering sound. A familiar, horrible fluttering sound. Something whirred past her face. She shrieked and ducked, covered her head with her arms, then opened one eye carefully to peep under her elbow. A bat! She shielded her head with her book and ran to the door. The handle turned but the door didn't open. She tried again but it still didn't move an inch. She used her shoulder to push on the door as hard as she could, but it was no use. The door was stuck.

Lily felt a spike of worry. Hunger, too. The sun was starting to lay low in the sky. She had stayed in the attic room much longer than she had planned to. Why hadn't Mama called her to come help with supper? Then it dawned on her—no one knew where she had gone. She hadn't told Joseph. Maybe Mama did call for her and Lily hadn't heard her.

Lily started to panic. What if no one ever found her? What if she starved to death up in this attic? The bat flew past again, swooping and dipping. How had it gotten into this room? From the corner of her eye, she saw something dark slip through the attic duct, then unfold its wings and dart across the ceiling. Another bat!

Tears started streaming down Lily's face as she pounded
on the door and called for help. She became hot and sweaty from pounding. Her throat grew hoarse from shouting. She slipped down against the door and sat on the floor, worn out from pounding and calling. Oh this was terrible. Just terrible! She was going to die. She was going to die in this stuffy, bat-infested attic. Someday, Mama and Papa would go to the attic and find a pile of bones. Lily bones.

She sank into a ball by the door, trying to make herself as small as possible. She covered her head with her apron, but then wasn't sure if it would be better to actually see the bats flying around again and know for certain where they were, or not to see them and wonder. She alternated between peeking at the bats and hiding from them. Now there were three bats—swooping, whirring, diving, and darting as if they were having the time of their lives. Soon, she was sure, there would be hundreds. They probably held bat parties each night in her beautiful attic bedroom.

She tried not to cry again. She didn't want to cry. But she was scared and worried and one tear started, then another and another. She wiped her eyes with the apron and noticed that the sky had grown even darker. The first evening star twinkled at her through the little window.

The window.

The window! Why hadn't Lily thought of the window? She ran across the room and opened it. The cool evening air felt as good and refreshing as a drink of water. She stuck her head outside the window. “Help!” she shouted, as loudly as she could.

Far below, near the barn, Papa froze when he heard her voice call out. “Lily! Lily!” Papa yelled, turning in a circle to locate her. “Lily, where are you? Mama and I have been looking everywhere for you!”

Lily waved and waved. “I'm here, Papa! Up here!”

Papa looked up toward the attic and saw her. “What are you doing up there?”

“I can't get out!” She cupped her hands. “AND THERE ARE BATS IN HERE!”

“I'm coming!” Papa bolted up to the house.

Lily was so relieved. She wouldn't end up as a pile of bones, after all. She closed the window and hurried to the door to wait for Papa.

Lily could hear Papa doing something on the other side of the door. Then the handle turned and the door opened and there stood Papa. Lily ran into his arms. “My, you gave us a scare,” Papa said. “We didn't know where you were.”

“I called and called but nobody heard me.”

“Some boxes tumbled down in front of the door. I hadn't realized this house was so well insulated that the sound wouldn't carry. The next time you want to come up here to play, let Mama know where you are. Just in case boxes tumble down again.”

“Papa, I found out how the bats are getting in!” She pointed to the attic duct.

Papa peered at the duct, then moved the dresser and climbed up on it to get a closer look. Lily held her breath when she saw the paper bag, exposed. A bat slipped in through the duct and whizzed by his head. He jumped off the dresser and pushed it back in place. Lily exhaled. “I'll deal with this later,” he said. “For now, let's go tell Mama you're safe and sound.”

Lily followed Papa down to the kitchen. Mama was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, relieved to see her. Joseph and Dannie were at their places at the kitchen table, waiting impatiently for her. Even baby Paul waved his spoon at her,
eager to eat. She forgave them, though. They were just little boys. They couldn't be expected to understand that she had narrowly escaped death.

As Lily sat at the table, she felt so content. She was the luckiest girl in the world. She had barely survived a harrowing ordeal. She had a Papa and a Mama who were searching for her. And she had three brothers who loved her enough to not eat, even though they wanted to, until they knew she was safe and sound.

“One good thing about Lily's adventure,” Papa said, eyes smiling. “She found out how the bats are getting in.”

Joseph and Dannie were all ears and eyes. They even stopped eating to hear the answer to the bat mystery.

“Attic ducts have screens on them,” Papa said. “At least, they're supposed to. But one of them doesn't have a screen. I didn't even notice that when I installed it. That's how the bats had been getting in.” He lathered a biscuit with butter. “I'll get a screen on that tomorrow morning.”

Mama passed Lily a bowl of green peas. “Lily, would you want to move back up to the attic after Papa fixes the screen?”

Lily took her time answering, scooping peas onto her plate. The attic bedroom was very special, but it had some serious drawbacks. She felt far away from the family, and what if she got locked in again? Next time, she might not be discovered until it was too late. Till she was just a pile of Lily bones. “I think,” she said, chewing her peas, “I think I'll just stay where I am.”

Besides, there was the disgusting marshmallow chimney to consider.

N
ot fair. It just wasn't fair to be a girl sometimes.

Joseph and Dannie clambered up over the front wheel of the spring wagon to sit next to Papa on the wagon seat. Papa slapped the reins and Jim proudly trotted down the driveway, away down the road. Lily sighed. She watched from the kitchen window and felt terribly sorry for herself.

Papa was taking the boys to an estate auction. Lily loved auctions. They were fascinating! All kinds of strange things would be sold. She liked to listen to the fast-paced chant of the auctioneer as he encouraged people to bid higher for the items. How could anyone understand him? Best of all was that Papa let her choose something to eat from the food stand. She had so wanted to go today, but Mama needed her to stay at home to help with Saturday cleaning and to keep baby Paul out of trouble.

It just wasn't fair to be a girl. She was Lily, the oldest child, she reminded herself. But today she left like Lily, the only child.

There was one good thing about the day, but just one. And it wasn't a very
big
good thing. It was a little good thing. With Joseph and Dannie gone, it took Mama and Lily half the normal time to finish their regular cleaning. Usually, those brothers ran in and out of the house, interrupting Mama, annoying Lily, tracking dirt on the sparkling clean floors. Baby Paul, still a baby and not a full-fledged boy yet, happily played with his toy animals and wooden blocks all morning. Mama and Lily were done in no time at all.

Mama finished mopping the floor. She rested her chin on top of the mop pole. “Lily, today would be a fine day to wax the kitchen floor. With Papa and the boys gone, we don't have to worry about them tracking in dirt on the floor before the wax has time to dry.”

She seemed pleased. Lily was not pleased. She had hoped they might bake cookies. Or make candy.

“Paul is still playing happily,” Mama said, ignoring Lily's lack of enthusiasm. “If we hurry, he should be fine until we get done.”

Mama plucked the big jug of wax off the shelf in the broom closet and handed several small rags to Lily. She showed Lily how to pour a stream of wax on the floor and carefully spread it evenly over every inch.

In a way, it was a little bit like icing a cupcake. A very, very big cupcake. Every swish of the rag made the floor look new and shiny. Mama let Lily pour another stream of wax on the floor and swish her rag back and forth through it. Lily was nearly having fun, if you could find anything fun about cleaning a house. Nearly. But she didn't like that her fingers stuck together, just as if she had glued them. And the wax was stinky, too.

Lily backed up to see how shiny the floor was looking. She
didn't realize the jug was right behind her. Her heel knocked it over and a big puddle of wax spilled all over the floor. Lily grabbed the jug and Mama hurried to get more rags. At that exact moment, baby Paul toddled into the kitchen. “Milk!” Lily heard him say, right before he stepped into the puddle of wax and his feet flew out from under him. He plopped right down in the middle of it and Lily expected him to start howling—but he was distracted by the wax puddle. He started swishing his hands and was quickly covered with stinky, sticky wax.

Mama came back into the kitchen with the rags. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened in a big 
O
. She dropped the rags and picked Paul up. “I think it's time for you to have a bath, clean clothes, and a nice, long nap. In that order.”

At the foot of the stairs, she stopped and turned, hesitation on her face. “Lily, do you think you can finish the floor while I take care of Paul?”

“Oh, yes!” How fun! “I'll be extra careful not to spill any more wax,” Lily said. “Don't you worry about a thing, Mama. Not a thing.”

Mama seemed a little worried. “Take your time and go slow. Then, after you're done, you can have the rest of the day to play.”

That sounded like an ideal arrangement. Lily could keep icing the cupcake floor and she didn't have a single brother around to bother her. Not one. And then she could play.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Lily finished waxing the rest of the floor. She tried not to spill a drop. She couldn't wait to put away the jug of wax and wash her hands. Lily thought about leaving the wax on her nails. It made them look pretty and shiny, but her hands felt sticky and smelled bad. She decided to go ahead and wash them. That jug of wax had caused enough trouble for one day, and Lily didn't want Mama to
have to tell her why she couldn't have shiny fingernails. She knew just what she would say: Too fancy.

Lily washed and washed and washed her hands, thinking about what she should do next. Playing outside wasn't as much fun without Joseph and Dannie. She went to her room to get Sally, her doll. She dressed Sally in her nicest clothes and wrapped her in the prettiest blanket. She tried to play with Sally but it wasn't fun like it used to be. She felt bored with Sally.

Lily put the doll away and went to see what Mama was up to. She found her in the living room, sitting on her rocking chair, knitting a pair of bedroom slippers. She put down her knitting needles when Lily came into the room. “Don't you know what to do?”

“No,” Lily said. “I tried to play with Sally, but it wasn't any fun.” She sighed. “Sally's changed.”

Mama smiled, but it seemed like a sad smile. “You're growing up, Lily. The things that used to be fun for you haven't changed, but you are growing past them.”

Lily pondered that comment. It made her feel good and bad, all at the same time. She was glad Mama realized she was growing up, but it made her feel sad that she was getting too old to have fun playing with Sally.

Mama picked up her needles and started to knit again. Her fingers flew. “Do you want me to teach you how to knit?” Mama said. “You could start with a nice scarf.”

Oh no! Knitting looked even worse than sewing something by hand.

“Maybe another day,” Lily said. “I'll find something else to do.” Anything else. Except cleaning, sewing, and washing dishes.

Lily heard Papa's voice talking to Jim. “Whoa. Back up. Easy boy. Whoa.” She dropped her book on the bed and ran to the window. Papa was backing Jim and the spring wagon up to the garage door in front of the shop. The spring wagon was piled high. She couldn't wait to see what kinds of treasures Papa had brought home from the auction. She flew outside to investigate.

Papa grinned when he saw the excitement on Lily's face. “Go ask Mama if she can come help me unload some of these things.”

Lily ran back to the house to tell Mama that Papa needed her. Mama tucked her knitting needles into the ball of yarn, put whatever she was knitting into her basket, and got up from her rocking chair. “Lily, I need you to stay inside so you can hear Paul when he wakes up from his nap.”

Lily froze, horrified. She had wanted to run outside to see all the things Papa had bought as he unloaded them off the wagon. This was just one more reason why it wasn't fair to be a girl and to be the oldest. Joseph was never asked to wait inside for baby Paul to wake up. It wasn't just because Joseph wouldn't have remembered to listen for baby Paul, even though that would have been true. It was because he was a boy. And he was thought to be too little to do anything except have fun. She cracked open a window and heard the excited voices of Joseph and Dannie as they explained their purchases to Mama.

Not fair. So not fair.

She wanted baby Paul to wake up right now so she could take him outside. She crept into the bedroom to see if he was still sleeping.

His eyes were closed, his arms were above his head, and his favorite little teddy bear was tucked beside him, under the blanket. He looked so cute and peaceful. On any other day, Lily would have tiptoed away, hoping he wouldn't wake up for hours and hours. But today wasn't an ordinary day.

Lily coughed.

She coughed again. Louder.

She reached into his crib and lifted one of his little hands, but he kept right on sleeping. She tickled his toes, but he only wiggled his feet a little. He went right on sleeping like a bear snoozing away the winter.

Lily sighed. It wasn't fair. Everyone was having fun except her. She heard Dannie squeal with delight. Something was going on and she didn't know what.

She couldn't stand it another minute. She reached into the crib and picked Paul up. He blinked his eyes in surprise, yawned, and stretched.

The trick was to keep him happy. If he woke too early, he could be a grouch. Lily talked cheerfully to him as she walked to the kitchen. She offered him a drink of water. He took a few sips and seemed like he was starting to wake up. Lily held him on her left hip and hurried outside to see what was happening.

Mama looked puzzled when she saw Lily carrying Paul. “Is he up already?”

Lily avoided her eyes and nodded. She wasn't telling a lie. Not yet. But if Mama asked her anything else, she might admit that she had woken Paul on purpose. She felt fairly confident that Mama would not like that.

Lily looked at the treasures spread on the ground. There were several boxes filled with pretty dishes and books. Lily hoped Mama would let her sift through the boxes to see what
was there. Mama was busy helping Papa lift a big desk off the back of the spring wagon. Lily wondered why Papa had bought another desk. He already had one in the living room.

When Papa had put the desk on the ground, he turned to Lily. “What do you think of this desk?”

Paul was wide awake and started to squirm. He wanted to get down and see what Dannie was doing. “I think it's nice,” Lily said.

Papa's eyes twinkled. “I bought it for you. I know how much you like to read and write. I thought it would be nice if you had your very own desk in your room.”

Lily looked at Papa, then at the desk, then back at Papa. Had she heard him correctly? He had a big grin on his face. How wonderful! She would have her very own desk. “Can we take it to my room right now?”

Papa laughed. “Not today. We'll have to rearrange the furniture in your bedroom to make room for it. I have to get started on the evening chores. But we'll try to get it moved in on Monday.”

Monday? That was two days from now. Lily tried not to feel let down. It was hard to have something so wonderful come into your life, right in front of you . . . and then to have to wait. Life just wasn't fair.

But . . . it was more fair now than it was this morning.

Lily finished her geography assignment and put everything neatly inside her desk. She looked at the clock. There were still twenty-five minutes before school would dismiss. She watched the second hand make its round from number to number with slow, jerking moves. One minute ticked away. Only twenty-four minutes left.

Lily wished the clock would hurry up and move faster. She wanted to go home and see if Papa and Mama had moved the new desk into her bedroom already. She felt a little giddy—a Christmas morning giddy. How would her room look with the desk in it? She couldn't wait to fill the drawers with paper and books and all her scrapbook supplies. She decided to get to work again on a scrapbook for Grandpa Lapp. She had started it last year but lost interest. A new desk would make scrapbooking more fun.