Bubble Troubles (8 page)

As Mattie sat in the waiting room at the dentist’s office, she tried to think of things to make herself relax. First she looked at a magazine, but that was boring. Then she looked out the window and counted the cars going by. After that, she worked on a puzzle that was set on a small table for kids to put together. It seemed like it was taking forever for her name to be called. She was about to ask Mom if she knew what was taking so long when the dentist’s receptionist stepped out from behind the desk and walked up to them.

“I just spoke with Dr. Wallers on the phone,” she said. “He had a flat tire on the way here, so he’s going to be a little late.” She looked at Mom. “Would you like to wait, or should I schedule another appointment for Mattie on a different day?”

Mom shook her head. “My daughter’s tooth hurts, so she needs to see the dentist today. We’ll just wait until he gets here.”

Oh great
, Mattie thought.
Now I have to worry and wait even longer
. She was glad her folks had a horse and buggy instead of a car. Although it did take longer to go places by horse and buggy, at least they would never end up with a flat tire.

Mark turned his head and glanced up at the battery-operated clock on the schoolhouse wall near the teacher’s desk. It was almost two o’clock, and still no Mattie. He thought for sure that she would be here by now.
I wonder what’s taking her so long. Did something bad happen at the dentist’s this morning? What if he did have to pull Mattie’s tooth? Oh, I hope that’s not the case
.

By the time their teacher dismissed the class to go home, Mark was upset. Mattie hadn’t come to school at all today, and he was even more worried. He wished he had his bicycle after all, so he could get home quicker to see what happened. But, then, having to pedal it alone would have made things go slower than usual. But maybe he could get home just as quick if he ran all the way.

Mark took off running as fast as his legs would go. Normally he was a slow runner, but not today. He needed to get home quickly and find out if Mattie was okay. He felt lucky that he’d never had a toothache. He could only imagine what his sister had gone through.

When Mark got home from school, he noticed that Calvin and Russell’s bikes were parked near the barn. He figured they were either in there or had gone up to the house. As he approached the back door, Mark was surprised to see Mattie sitting on the porch blowing bubbles.

She smiled at him and said, “How was school today?”

“It was okay.” Still out of breath from running so hard, Mark took a seat on the step beside her. He noticed that she talked kind of funny and her lip looked a bit crooked. “How was your dental appointment?” he asked.

“Fine. The dentist filled my tooth, and now it doesn’t hurt anymore. Wanna see?” Mattie opened her mouth really wide.

Mark took a peek, and sure enough, right where she’d pointed was a shiny silver filling. “Wow, that’s a big one!” he exclaimed.

“Since it’s a baby tooth, I won’t have the filling when the old tooth falls out and a new one comes in,” Mattie explained.

“Did it hurt when the dentist filled your tooth?” Mark asked.

“Only a little when they numbed it up. After that, I didn’t feel a thing.” Mattie blew another bubble. “Dr. Wallers had it done in no time at all.”

“That’s good. I was worried when you didn’t show up at school this afternoon. What happened? If it didn’t take long, how come you didn’t come to school?”

“The dentist arrived late because he had a flat tire on the way to his office,” Mattie replied. “So my appointment ended up being later than expected. Afterward, Mom said there was no point in me goin’ to school, since I’d only be there a couple of hours. So we went to Grandma and Grandpa Millers’ to pick up Ada and Perry.” Mattie smiled. “Mom invited them over here to join us for supper, and they’re in the house right now.”

Mark grinned. “That’s good. I always like to see our grandparents.”

Mark’s cat, Lucky, leaped onto the porch and flopped onto her back. Mark leaned over and rubbed her belly.
Purr … Purr … Purr …
Lucky pawed at the air, as if begging for more. Mark reached down to pet her again, but this time she got up, lumbered across the porch, came back toward Mark, and flopped down once more.

“That cat is so spoiled,” Mattie said.

“She just knows what she likes.” Mark chuckled. “She’s a plopper, that’s what she is.”

“You’re right about that. Lucky likes to plop down and have her belly rubbed whenever she can.”

“Know what, Mattie?” Mark asked, tipping his head while looking at Mattie.

“What?”

“You talk kinda funny.” Mark snickered and pointed to Mattie’s mouth. “And you’re slobberin’ a bit, too.”

“That’s ’cause my mouth is still sort of numb.” She handed Mark the bottle of bubble solution and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Wanna blow a few bubbles?”

“Jah, sure.” Mark took the bottle, stuck the wand inside, and blew a big bubble. He continued to do this and blew several more. Lucky caught sight of the bubbles and started chasing and batting at them. Mark’s other cat, Boots, jumped down from the fence post where he’d been sitting and joined in on the bubble-chasing game.

Mark laughed. So did Mattie. It looked funny to see the cats trying to catch the bubbles. Every time they smacked a bubble with their paws, it would pop.

Then Mattie’s dog, Twinkles, got in on the act. She zipped across the yard, leaped into the air, and snapped at the bubbles.

“I don’t want Twinkles getting sick from those bubbles, so I’d better put her in the house.” Mattie got up to open the back door. “C’mon, Twinkles. You need to go inside now.”

Twinkles did as Mattie asked, and then Mattie quickly shut the door.

“Don’t know why you were worried about Twinkles getting sick. I’m not worried about my katze,” Mark said. “Don’t think a little soapy bubble solution will hurt ’em any.”

Mattie shrugged. “Maybe not, but if I swallowed bubble solution, I’m sure it would make me feel sick to my stomach, so it’s better for Twinkles to be in the house.”

Mark continued to blow bubbles until both cats stopped and arched their backs, looking toward the side of the house. Boots jumped in the air and landed on top of Lucky. Then Lucky darted into the field on the other side of the fence.

Mark gulped when he saw a small red fox following close behind his cats.

“Oh no! Come back!” Mark jumped up from the porch step and dashed into the yard. But it was too late—his cats and the fox were already way out in the field.

“It’s all my fault. I should have put the cats in the barn instead of letting ’em jump at the bubbles.” Mark removed his straw hat and slapped it against his legs. “What if that fox gets my katze?”

“They were running pretty fast,” Mattie said, joining Mark and putting her arm around his shoulders. “Maybe they’ll jump onto the fence post or climb into a tree to get away from the fox.”

Mark sniffed, trying hard not to give in to the tears stinging his eyes. “If anything happens to Boots or Lucky, I’ll be the one to blame.”

“Here, here, what seems to be the matter?” Grandpa Miller asked, stepping out of the house and joining the twins on the lawn.

“Mark’s katze got chased by a red fox, and he’s worried that the fox is gonna get ’em,” Mattie explained.

Grandpa motioned to the porch. “Come sit with me, and we’ll see if we can figure this out.” He lowered himself to the top step on the porch and winked at Mark, his blue eyes twinkling like fireflies on a hot summer night.

Once Mark and Mattie were seated on the porch, on both sides of Grandpa, he said, “Now the way I see it, maybe that old fox just wanted to give your cats a little exercise. You said it was a red fox, right?”

The twins nodded in agreement.

“I know that red foxes are pretty fast on their feet, and if that one wanted your cats, he would have had them, just like that.” Grandpa snapped his fingers. “Why, I’ll bet those cats are having as much fun with that fox as he is with them.”

“Knowing Boots and Lucky, they’re probably just out of reach, teasing the fox like they do Twinkles.” Mattie looked over at Mark. “Right?”

“Maybe so,” Mark said with a nod.

“See there, all that worry was for nothing.” Grandpa smiled. “Hey, how about letting me try blowing some of those bubbles?”

Mark handed Grandpa the bottle of liquid, and Grandpa blew a large bubble. “See that?” he said, as the bubble floated above their heads.

“Jah,” Mark and Mattie both said.

“Well, my daed used to have an old saying about worry and bubbles.”

“What was that, Grandpa?” Mark asked.

“When someone in my family started to fret about something, Dad always said that worries were like bubbles—they’ll soon blow away.”

Mark rubbed the bridge of his nose as he thought about what Grandpa had said. He’d never thought about worry being compared to a bubble before. He was about to ask Grandpa if he thought that was really true when he caught sight of his two cats leaping through the tall grass. As they neared the barn, they raced through the open door.

“They’re safe!” Mark and Mattie hollered at the same time.

Mark sighed with relief.

For the next several weeks, Mattie set her worries aside. With the holidays in full swing, her spirits were lifted. The air seemed like it was charged with excitement, and she could hardly stop smiling. Thanksgiving had been a wonderful time with her family around the table, sharing a tasty meal. Mattie’s favorite part had been the turkey and moist stuffing, but the pumpkin and apple pies were delicious, too. Now she looked forward to Christmas, which was just three weeks away. Every free moment, Mattie spent working on Christmas presents for everyone in the family, like she was doing today. Since it was Saturday and all of her chores were finished, she’d gone upstairs to her room to work on some of the gifts still needing to be done.

Mattie didn’t have much money saved up, so she’d decided to make all the gifts she’d be giving to others this year. It was actually fun to create some neat things, and she hoped everyone would like the secret gifts she had made. So far, she’d created felt pouches for both Grandpa and Grandma Miller to keep their glasses in. For Grandpa Troyer she’d taken an old ring-binder notebook, decorated it with fabric squares cut into a patchwork pattern and then glued to the binder. When Grandpa Troyer’s arthritis wasn’t acting up, he liked to work in the garden, so Mattie had added a gift tag that read: G
RANDPA’S
G
ARDENING
N
OTES
. She’d also made a three-ring binder for Grandma Troyer and decorated it with light blue material, pieces of lace, and some strips of white ribbon. On Grandma’s note tag Mattie had written the words: G
RANDMA’S
R
ECIPES
. Since Grandma liked to cook a lot, Mattie thought she would enjoy having her own recipe book.

Using a piece of pink-colored felt, Mattie had made a special little case where Mom could keep her needles and pins. She’d decorated it with a red heart on the outside and a matching piece of red felt on the inside to stick the needles in. Mattie’s gift for Dad was a small tin she’d gotten from Mom that used to have tea in it. Mattie had painted it and added the words: D
AD’S
K
EYS
. Since Dad often lost his keys, she thought this would be a good gift for him.

Recently, Mattie had finished three bait containers that could be used for fishing. She’d made them from empty coffee cans she had secretly hidden in her closet. She thought Calvin, Russell, and Ike would like how she’d painted the cans, using a different color, with their names on each one.

Using sheets of craft foam, Mattie had made several bath foam shapes for Ada and Perry. The ones for Ada she’d cut to look like flowers, and Perry’s were shaped like fish. She was sure they would enjoy playing with them whenever they took a bath.

Mattie still had to finish gifts for Mark and her schoolteacher, Anna Ruth, but thankfully, she didn’t have to decide what to make for her best friend, Stella. During the early days of autumn, Mattie had collected some pods that had fallen from a sweet gum tree along the route to school. With those, she’d created a little mouse, and it had turned out really cute. When making the mouse, Mattie had used a small acorn for the head, gluing it to the pod, which was the body for the mouse. She’d then applied different seeds she had found, using them for the eyes and ears. Luckily, the pod had a stem attached, and that was perfect for the tail. She had used some pine needles for whiskers and finished it off by gluing the mouse to a small piece of wood. It wasn’t that hard to make and didn’t take her long at all. It was a good thing she’d gathered all the materials, even though at the time she’d had no idea what she would use them for.