Growing Up in Lancaster County (46 page)

“What mistake is that?” Grandpa asked, stepping up to Rachel.

She pointed to the bulky bookmark. “I tried making this with fresh flower petals instead of dried ones, and it turned out wrong.”

Grandpa tugged his beard. “And just where did you get these fresh flowers?”

“I took them from a couple of African violet plants over there.” Rachel pointed to the other side of the room.

Grandpa frowned. “You should have asked first, Rachel. If you’d asked, I would have told you which plants you could pick flowers from.”

He glanced at the bookmark. “This would have looked better if you’d used pressed flowers, because the moisture needs to be taken out of a flower blossom for it to lie flat.”

“I figured that out after it was too late,” Rachel said.

“This is what happens when you do things without asking.”

Rachel sniffed. “I’m sorry, Grandpa.”

Grandpa gave Rachel a hug. “Just try to do the right thing, okay?”

Rachel nodded. “I don’t like making mistakes, and I promise I’ll try to do better.”

O
n the first Saturday morning in October, Pap came into the house with a huge smile on his face.

“I checked our answering machine in the phone shed. There was a message from Rudy,” Pap said. He hung his straw hat on a wall peg near the door and sat at the kitchen table.

Mom sipped her cup of tea. “What’d the message say?”

Pap’s smile stretched even wider. “Esther had her boppli last night, and it’s a buwe! Rudy said Esther and the boppli will come home from the hospital this morning.”

Mom set her cup down and jumped up from the table.
“Alli mudder muss sariye fer ihre famiyle
[Every mother has to take care of her family]! I need to get over there right away, because I’m sure she’ll need my help.”

Mom looked at Rachel, who was sitting at the table writing a letter to Mary. “Do you know what this means?” Mom asked.

Rachel smiled and nodded. “It means I’m an aunt.”

Rachel figured being an aunt would make her seem grown up in her family’s eyes. Jacob might even stop calling her a little bensel.

Mom patted the top of Rachel’s head. “Jah, that, too, but it also means if I go to help Esther today, I’ll need your help here.”

Rachel’s smile turned upside down. “Can’t I go over to Esther’s with you?”

Mom shook her head. “You need to stay here and take care of Hannah.”

“Can’t she go with us to Esther’s?”

“It’ll be easier for me to help Esther if I don’t have Hannah to care for, too,” Mom said.

Rachel frowned. “Do you expect me to take care of Hannah all by myself?”

Mom nodded. “There are several bottles of milk in the refrigerator and a fresh supply of clean diapers on the dresser in my room. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” She patted Rachel’s head again. “If you want to be grown up, this will give you a chance to prove it.”

Rachel’s heart sank all the way to her toes. She did want her family to think she was growing up, but she’d planned to do other things today. Watching Hannah wasn’t one of them!

“I shouldn’t be gone more than a few hours,” Mom said. “But if you need anything, just ask one of the menfolk, because I think they’ll be around most of the day.” Mom grabbed her jacket and black outer bonnet and started for the door. Then she halted. “I’d better check on Hannah before I go.”

Rachel let her head fall forward onto the table and groaned. She wondered if she’d ever get to go over to Esther’s to see her new nephew.

I may as well finish this letter to Mary
, Rachel decided.
If I don’t do it now, I’ll probably be so busy watching Hannah that I won’t get it done at all
.

Pap pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “I’m going outside to hitch your mamm’s horse to one of our buggies. When I’m done with that, I’ll be in the fields working with the boys.” He smiled at Rachel. “Ring the dinner bell when it’s time for lunch, and if you should need anything, you can ring the bell for that, too. Oh, and if Esther feels up to company, we’ll all go over there tomorrow after church to see the new boppli.”

“Okay,” Rachel said as Pap stepped out the door.

A few minutes later, Mom rushed back into the room. “The baby carriage is in the yard,” she told Rachel. “The sun’s shining, so I’d like you to take Hannah for a ride around the yard so she can get some fresh air.”

“I’ll do it as soon as I finish this letter,” Rachel said as she concentrated on what she wanted to say to Mary. Now she really had some good news to share—she’d become an aunt!

“Okay, and do the best that you can today,” Mom said as the door clicked shut behind her.

Rachel hurried to finish Mary’s letter; then she left the kitchen and went into Mom and Pap’s room to get Hannah.

“Okay, little sister; we’re going outside for some fresh air,” she said as she walked to the crib.

She halted, and her heart pounded. Hannah wasn’t there!

Think, Rachel, think
, Rachel told herself.
Let’s see now…. Mom said I should take Hannah for a ride in her carriage, so maybe Mom put Hannah in the carriage before she left
.

Rachel raced out of the room, grabbed a jacket, and ran out the back door. Sure enough, Hannah’s baby carriage sat in the yard. What a relief!

Rachel grabbed the handle and started pushing the carriage around the yard. She pushed and pushed and pushed some more, until she got tired and was completely bored.

“It’s time to go back in the house now, Hannah.” Rachel bent over the carriage, pulled the blanket aside, and gasped. Hannah wasn’t there! Rachel felt so foolish when she realized that she’d been pushing around an empty carriage!
Could someone have come into the yard while I was still in the house and taken Hannah?
she wondered.

Rachel’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it echo in her head. She was getting ready to head to the greenhouse to tell Grandpa what had happened when she heard a faint cry. She tilted her head and listened. The cry sounded like it was coming from inside the house.

Rachel ran up the porch steps two at a time, jerked the door open, and rushed into the house.

Waaa! Waaa!
The closer Rachel got to the living room, the louder the crying became. She spotted Hannah’s cradle across the room and raced to it. There lay Hannah, with a red face from kicking and screaming.

“It’s okay, Hannah,” Rachel said as she sat in the chair next to the cradle. She rocked the cradle with her foot, hoping to keep the baby from fussing. She was glad none of her family had been there to see the foolish mistake she’d made.
I should have listened better to Mom
, Rachel thought.
She must have told me that Hannah was in her cradle and that the baby carriage was outside
.

Waaa! Waaa!

Rachel picked up the baby, sat in the rocking chair, and put Hannah in her lap. Rachel patted Hannah’s back until she stopped crying. Rachel smiled as she began to rock and hum.

Hannah’s eyelids fluttered, and soon she was fast asleep.

Rachel carried Hannah to Mom and Pap’s room, where she put her to bed in her crib.

Now maybe I can do something fun. I think I’ll paint a few animals on some of my rocks
, Rachel thought as she tiptoed out of the room.
When I’m done with those, I might make some bookmarks with the flowers I’ve pressed
.

Rachel went to the kitchen and had just placed her paints and some newspaper on the table when Hannah started to howl.

Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!

Rachel looked at the clock. Only five minutes had passed since she’d put Hannah in her crib, and already she was crying.
Maybe if I ignore her, she’ll go back to sleep
, Rachel thought as she picked up her paintbrush.

Waaa! Waaa!
Hannah’s crying got louder.

Rachel’s chair scraped against the floor as she pushed away from the table with a groan. “Always trouble somewhere!”

When Rachel entered Mom and Pap’s room, she first checked Hannah’s diaper. Sure enough, it was sopping wet. She looked for the diaper pail but didn’t see it. Then she remembered that Mom sometimes rinsed the baby’s diapers in the toilet, so she carried the diaper into the bathroom and dropped it into the toilet bowl.

“
Windel wesche gleich ich net
[I don’t like to wash out diapers],” Rachel said as she bounced the diaper up and down.

Waaa! Waaa!
Hannah screamed even louder. Her cries seemed to bounce off the walls. Rachel dropped the diaper into the toilet and gritted her teeth, trying not to cry herself. She hoped she could get Hannah settled down soon so she could paint those rocks.

She hurried back to the bedroom and quickly put a clean diaper on the baby. “There, that’s better isn’t it, Hannah?”

Waaa! Waaa!

Maybe she’s hungry
, Rachel thought. She stroked the baby’s flushed cheeks. “I’ll go to the kitchen and get you a bottle of milk. I’ll be right back.”

Rachel raced into the kitchen. Then she opened the refrigerator and took out one of the baby bottles Mom had filled with milk. She placed the bottle into a kettle of water and turned on the stove. Every few seconds she tipped the bottle upside down and let some milk drip onto her wrist to test it. When it felt lukewarm, she knew it was ready for Hannah.

When Rachel returned to the bedroom, Hannah was still crying and kicking her feet. Rachel set the bottle on the nightstand by Mom’s side of the bed. Then she picked Hannah up, sat in the rocking chair, and put the bottle in Hannah’s mouth.

Hannah quit crying, and her little lips went in and out as she sucked on the milk.

When the bottle was empty, Rachel lifted Hannah to her shoulder and patted her back. After several pats, Hannah let out a loud burp!

Rachel was relieved that Hannah had burped so quickly. Usually it didn’t happen so fast.

Rachel rose from her chair and was heading down the hall with Hannah when Henry came into the house.

“Did you need something?” Rachel asked her brother.

“Just using the bathroom.” Henry smiled at Rachel. “Then I’ll refill my thermos with coffee and take it out to the fields. Everything going okay?”

“Jah. I’m going to put Hannah in her cradle, and then I’ll be in the kitchen painting rocks,” Rachel said as she started for the living room.

Rachel had just gotten Hannah settled in her cradle when Henry hollered, “Who left a windel in the toilet?”

“Oh no.” Rachel’s palms grew sweaty as she raced from the room. “I hope you didn’t flush that diaper down the toilet!”

When Henry stepped out of the bathroom, his face was bright red. “Did you put that windel in the toilet?” he asked Rachel.

She nodded. “I put it there so I could rinse it out. I’ve seen Mom do it.”

“Well, she doesn’t walk away and leave it there.” A little vein on the side of Henry’s head stuck out. “If I’d have flushed the toilet, that windel could’ve gotten stuck and clogged the drain. You really ought to grow up and learn to be more responsible!” He frowned at Rachel and slowly shook his head.

“I was going to get the diaper, but Hannah started fussing, and I sort of forgot it was there.” Rachel swallowed a couple of times. She felt as if she’d swallowed a glob of sticky peanut butter that wouldn’t go down.

“You seem to have a short attention span lately,” Henry said.

Rachel stared at the floor as she struggled not to cry. “I do not; I just have a lot on my mind. Besides, it’s perfectly normal for people to forget sometimes.”

“Well, get your head out of the clouds and start paying better attention!”

Rachel’s shoulders started to shake. She dropped her head into her hands as she gave in to her tears.

“Oh, now, don’t start crying on me.” Henry patted Rachel’s trembling shoulder. “I’m sorry for yelling, but if you’re going to take care of the boppli, you need to pay close attention to what you’re doing.”

Sniff! Sniff!
Rachel swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m trying to be grown up, but it seems like no matter how hard I try, I always mess up.”

Henry gave Rachel’s shoulder another pat. “I’m sure you’ll grow up someday. But in the meantime, go get that windel out of the toilet.”