Bubble Troubles (9 page)

For her teacher, Mattie planned to make a felt and ribbon bookmark, using scraps of pink felt, red ribbon, and white buttons. She hoped everyone would like the gifts she’d made for them.

Mattie had just taken a seat at her desk to begin working on Mark’s secret gift when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Mattie called.

“It’s me, Mark.”

“You can’t come in right now,” Mattie said loudly. “I’m busy making Christmas gifts, and I don’t want you to see what I’m working on for you.”

Mark rapped on the door again. “If I can’t come in, then would ya please come out in the hallway?”

“I’ll be right there.” Mattie set aside the aluminum pie pan and pile of rocks she’d placed on her desk, which she was going to use for Mark’s garden plaque, and opened her bedroom door. When she stepped into the hallway, she was careful to block the door so her brother couldn’t see in.

Mark held a small cellophane sack with a pine cone inside. “Take a whiff of this,” he said, lifting it up to Mattie’s nose. “I made this for Grandma Troyer. Do ya think she’ll like it?”

Mattie sniffed deeply. “Umm … That smells appeditlich. What’s in there to make it smell so delicious?”

“A pine cone, two cinnamon sticks, and a dried-out orange slice.” He grinned, looking quite pleased with himself. “I made one for Grandma Miller, too.”

“I’m sure they’ll both like ’em to hang in the house, and it’ll make whatever room they put it in smell real nice,” Mattie said.

“Sure hope so.” Mark put his hand on the knob of Mattie’s bedroom door. “What are you makin’ in there?”

She wagged her finger back and forth. “You’ll have to wait till Christmas to find out.”

“Aw, Mattie, can’t ya at least give me a hint?”

She shook her head. “It’s supposed to be a surprise. Now please step away from my door. Don’t you want to be surprised on Christmas?”

Mark’s only reply was a quick shrug.

“It’s no fun knowing ahead of time if you see what I’m going to give you.”

He frowned. “You’re no fun.”

“I’m not tryin’ to be fun. I’m busy.”

“Wanna play a game?” he asked.

“Not right now.”

“How about hide-and-seek?”

“No!” Mattie stepped back into her room and quickly shut the door. She figured if she played the game and hid from Mark, he’d sneak into her room and see what she was making for him, and it would spoil the surprise. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Mattie knew her twin brother well, so as soon as she finished making his gift, she would hide it in the back of her closet, along with all the other gifts she had made.

Mark snickered as he made his way down the hall to his room. Mattie could sure get riled easily. He’d only been teasing when he’d threatened to go in her room to see what she was making for him. Of course, he was curious to know, but he could wait until Christmas. Besides, he didn’t want to spoil the surprise. In the meantime, he had some gifts he needed to finish for family members, too—including one for Mattie. He hoped she would like the surprise gift he was making, because he’d tried hard to come up with something different to give her.

Mark stepped into his room, shut the door, and walked over to the window. He saw his two cats below in the yard, jumping at a flower stem gently blowing in the late autumn breeze. Mark was glad Lucky and Boots had returned after being chased into the field by that red fox. Grandpa Miller had been right about Boots and Lucky being able to take care of themselves. Mark wished he could have known what had actually happened, but later that evening, watching from the porch, he couldn’t help giggling when he saw his cats prancing around the yard, swishing their tails while holding their heads up high.

Going over to his desk, Mark looked at the gifts he’d already completed. He was happy with the way the wind chimes had turned out that he planned to give Mom and both of his grandmas for Christmas. He’d thought about giving them each a box of chocolates but had decided on the chimes instead. It was a good thing he liked to collect small and unusual rocks, because for the top of the wind chimes, he’d stained a small, round-shaped piece of wood he’d gotten from Dad’s shop and then glued a few rocks to the top. After that, he’d attached to the wood some fishing line Grandpa Miller had given him. Mark had finished it off by hooking some of Mom’s old spoons to the line. Those would cause the chimes to jingle whenever there was a breeze.

For Dad and both of his grandpas, Mark had thought about using some strips of craft foam to make soda pop can coolers. But since neither Dad nor his grandpas drank much soda pop, he’d changed his mind and painted some of the bigger stones in his collection to use as paperweights instead. He was glad most of the gifts were pretty much done, and now he was going to begin work on a pair of hand warmers for Calvin and Russell. They would be made from thick fabric sewed together in squares and filled with rice. To warm them, the boys would need to put them in the oven on low for a while, and if they stuck the hand warmers inside their jacket pockets when they went outside, their hands would be toasty warm.

Mark felt pretty good about the gifts he’d made so far, and he was just getting ready to fill Russell’s hand warmer with rice when someone knocked on his door.
Tap! Tap! Tap!

“Who is it?” Mark called.

“It’s me—Calvin.”

“What do ya want?”

“I want to ask you something.”

Mark groaned. He figured Calvin would keep knocking if he didn’t open the door.

“What do you want?” Mark asked when he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him.

“I was wondering if you’d like to go for a bike ride with me and Russell,” Calvin said.

Mark shook his head. “No thanks. I’m busy working on some Christmas presents, and so is Mattie. Anyways, it’s too cold to go bike riding today.”

“It’s not that cold.” Calvin peered around Mark toward the closed door. “What kind of gifts are you makin’ in there?”

“I’m not tellin’,” Mark said. “You’ll have to wait till Christmas to find out.”

On Christmas Eve day it started to snow, and Mattie began to worry all over again.

“What if the roads get bad and Grandpa and Grandma Troyer can’t make it for Christmas?” Mattie asked Mom as she stared out the living room window, watching the snowflakes increase by the minute.

“Now don’t start fretting, because it won’t change a thing,” Mom said with a click of her tongue. “Why don’t you go find somethin’ to do? If you keep busy, it’ll take your mind off the weather.”

“That’s right,” Dad spoke up from his chair across the room. “Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.”

“Maybe Dad’s right,” Mark said, joining Mattie at the window. “Why don’t we find somethin’ to do?”

“Like what?” Mattie wanted to know.

“We can play a game of checkers.”

She shook her head. “You always win when we play that game. Let’s put a puzzle together instead.”

“No way,” Mark said. “The last time we did that, you kept out one of the pieces so you’d be able to put it in last.”

Mattie turned her hands upward. “What can we do then?”

“Let’s go out and play in the
schnee
,” Mark suggested. “The way it’s comin’ down out there, I’ll bet we could have a snowman built in no time at all.”

That sounded like a good idea to Mattie, so she smiled and said, “I’ll get my jacket, gloves, and scarf. Then we’ll meet in the yard.”

“Don’t forget your rubber boots,” Mom called as Mattie started out of the room.

“I won’t,” Mattie hollered over her shoulder, eager to do something other than worry.

By the time Mattie came outside, Mark already had a pretty good-sized snowball made. “What took ya so long?” he asked when Mattie joined him in the yard, which was now a blanket of white, with several inches of snow on the ground. “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind about helpin’ me build a snowman.”

“I couldn’t find my rubber schtiffel,” Mattie explained. “They were way in the back of my closet, behind all the Christmas presents I made. Sure didn’t want to play in the snow without boots on my feet.” Mattie was also glad for the wool scarf she wore on her head. It helped to keep her ears nice and warm.

Mark crunched through the snow until he was standing face-to-face with Mattie. “Wanna play hide-and-seek or tag or have a snowball fight?”

She wrinkled her nose. “ ’Course not. I came out here to make a snowman, and so did you.”

“I know, but we can build the snowman and then play a game.”

Mattie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Mark gave her arm a little poke.

“ ’Cause I don’t want to. Besides, you know it’s more fun to play hide-and-seek in the summer when it’s warm outside.”

“Dad said you should keep busy so you won’t worry about the weather,” Mark reminded Mattie.

“Jah, I know.” She stood for a moment, watching Twinkles as she romped around in the snow. All dogs seemed to like the snow, and her dog especially did. Mark’s cats didn’t like the snow. They preferred to snuggle together on a bale of straw inside the barn, out of the cold.

It was fun to watch Twinkles jump from one point to another and then bury her little nose deep in the snow. Each time the dog would look up, she’d sneeze, sending the soft crystal flakes, which were stuck on the end of her nose, flying in every direction.

“Okay now, let’s get the snowman done, and then we can decide what we want to do after that,” Mark suggested.

“Okay.” Mattie bent down and formed a snowball. She had the urge to throw it at her brother but knew if she did, he’d probably throw a bigger one at her, and then she’d have to throw another one at him. Pretty soon they’d have so much fun tossing snowballs that they’d never get the snowman done. So Mattie began rolling the snowball around the yard until it grew bigger and bigger. Mark did the same with the snowball he had started. Soon the twins had three good-sized snowballs finished and stacked on top of each other.

“The snowman looks great! Isn’t this fun?” Mark asked, patting some snow on the middle section to make some arms and fill in the gaps where more snow was needed.

Mattie nodded and glanced toward the road. “Shouldn’t Grandma and Grandpa Troyer be here by now?”

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. Guess that all depends on what time they left Burton.”

“I sure hope the guy bringing them to our house drives safe.” Mattie sighed, putting her hands on top of her head. “I know Dad said not to, but I’m gonna worry till they get here. I haven’t forgotten the accident we saw on the trip we made to celebrate Grandma’s birthday. That accident was due to all the rain that had fallen, and snow is even worse.”

“Worry if you must,” Mark said, “but I’m gonna enjoy playin’ in the snow.” He slipped and slid across the yard, laughing as he went. When he got to Mom’s garden, he bent down, pushed some snow aside, and found two small rocks. “I think these will work fine for the snowman’s eyes!” he hollered to Mattie.

Losing interest in the snowman, Mattie stared at the driveway. She knew worrying would not bring Grandma and Grandpa here any sooner, but she just couldn’t seem to help herself.