Life with Lily (11 page)

I
t was the first recess for the school day. All the children had removed their sandwiches from their lunch boxes. Some of them were wrapped in foil already, but Teacher Katie kept a roll of foil in her desk in case anyone forgot. Lily checked her sandwich. Mama had made another egg sandwich for her. Lily took it up to Teacher Katie's desk and asked for a piece of foil.

Teacher Katie tore a piece of foil off the roll and helped Lily wrap her sandwich and then handed her a black marker. Lily carefully wrote LILY on the foil and then placed her sandwich on the register. The hot air from the coal furnace in the basement would heat her sandwich by noon and it would be a treat to have something hot to eat.

Lily looked at all the other foil-wrapped sandwiches. Everyone was going to have a good lunch today.

At noon Lily got her sandwich off the register. It was almost
too hot to hold with her bare hands so she folded the corner of her apron to carry it back to her desk. She carefully opened the foil and let some of the heat escape before trying to eat it.

While Lily waited for her sandwich to cool down enough to eat, she noticed that most of the other children had cheese sandwiches. They looked so good! Thick yellow melted cheese oozed out between two slices of bread. Mama's homemade cheese was good, but it didn't melt like the store-bought cheese in those sandwiches.

After everyone had finished their lunch, they went outside to play. Mandy Mast gathered the other little girls around her. “Let's exchange our sandwiches tomorrow,” she said. “It will be fun to have something to eat besides the same thing everyday. I'll make the sandwich myself to be sure it's just right.”

The other girls all thought it would be fun to exchange sandwiches. Lily hoped she would get a good cheese sandwich. She knew that Mandy Mast always had store-bought cheese and, even better, store-bought bread. Her mouth fairly watered at the thought. Maybe she would be the one to get Mandy's lunch.

During first recess the next day, everyone put their sandwiches on the register. Lily looked at Mandy's sandwich. It was wrapped in new foil with her name written neatly on it. Compared to Mandy's, Lily's sandwich looked crinkled and sad. Mama always smoothed out and reused foil until it was too torn to use any longer.

At noon Mandy ran to the register and picked up her sandwich. “Here,” Mandy said, thrusting the sandwich into Lily's hands. “I want you to have my sandwich.”

Lily was thrilled! She would get to eat an oozing cheese sandwich! She gave her own sandwich to Mandy and went
back to her desk. Carefully, Lily unwrapped Mandy's sandwich. She sat there staring at it in disbelief. It wasn't a cheese sandwich at all! It was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was hot and gooey and slimy. Lily didn't even want to try to eat it. It was a gooey mess.

Mandy Mast burst out laughing. She laughed and laughed until Teacher Katie told her to stop.

Lily blinked back tears that prickled her eyes. She refused to give Mandy the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She took her peaches and cookie out of her lunch box and started to nibble at her cookie.

“Here. You can have part of my sandwich.”

Lily looked up. Isaac was standing next to her desk. He held out a melted cheese sandwich. His blue eyes twinkled as he smiled kindly at her and placed half of his sandwich on her desk.

“Oh, thank you!” Lily said.

She was getting a sandwich after all! A real cheese sandwich. She watched Isaac walk back to his desk to finish his lunch. She thought he was the nicest boy in school. Nearly as nice as Papa.

December had come, and snow covered the ground. One morning, Teacher Katie stood in front of the class to make an announcement. “It's time to exchange names for our Christmas program here at school. I have everyone's names written on a slip of paper. If one of the boys will bring me a hat, we can start drawing names.”

Isaac jumped up and went to the back of the room to pluck his hat off the wall peg. He handed it to Teacher Katie. She scooped a pile of small folded papers into the hat, then put
her hand in the hat to mix them up. She drew out a piece of paper and put it into her pocket. Then it was Isaac's turn to draw a name. He put it into his pocket and carried his hat from desk to desk so that every student could pick a paper.

Teacher Katie spoke to the class as Isaac made his rounds. “Remember to tell no one but your parents about whose name you drew. That way it will be a surprise when we open the presents at the Christmas program.”

Presents? That sounded like fun! Isaac paused beside Lily's desk to let her draw a piece of paper from his hat. She carefully opened it to see whose name she drew.
Teacher Katie
. Her excitement fizzled like a popped balloon. She folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket to give to Papa and Mama as soon as she got home.

Every day in December, the scholars prepared for the upcoming Christmas program. Parents and siblings were invited to come to it and to stay for lunch. Teacher Katie instructed the scholars to walk to the front of the schoolroom and file into three rows. The biggest boys and girls stood in the back row and the smallest stood in the front. They sang Christmas songs and recited Christmas poems and read a few Bible verses about Jesus's birth.

Every day.

The same fifteen songs.

Every single day.

Lily's legs grew tired of standing for such a long time. She grew bored with the songs and the poems. She was even bored with the same old Bible verses, though she knew it was wrong to think such a thought.

Mama helped Lily memorize the snowman poem Teacher Katie had assigned to her to recite at the program. Lily didn't like the poem. It wasn't a real Christmas poem like Hannah
and Mandy's. Everybody knew that snowmen were around all winter—not just Christmas. Everybody knew that.

The evening before the Christmas program, Mama helped Lily wrap Teacher Katie's gifts. Mama had bought a beautiful big candy bowl filled with candies and nuts. She included two pretty pink towels with dark pink roses on them. Lily thought she had never seen such pretty towels. She hoped her gifts would make Teacher Katie happy. Maybe Teacher Katie would be nicer if she liked Lily's gifts. Lily set the beautifully wrapped gifts next to the door so she would remember to take it to school in the morning. Oh, but how terrible it would be if she forgot!

As Lily changed into her nightgown to get ready for bed, she wondered what all the other school children would bring for presents. And she thought about who might have drawn her name. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were Isaac? She smiled and snuggled deeper under her covers. Tomorrow, school would be fun.

Papa was in no hurry to leave for work in the morning. Lily worried he might be sick, but Papa only laughed. “I won't be going to work today,” Papa said. “I wouldn't want to miss my little girl's first Christmas program.”

“Oh thank you, Papa!” Lily said. What a wonderful surprise! It would be such a treat to have Papa come to school. He could see her desk. He could see her books and her pencils. Lily knew she wouldn't mind reciting her dumb snowman poem with Papa sitting at the back, smiling at her in his encouraging way.

After breakfast Mama told Lily to hurry and change. “Today is a special day, so you can wear your purple Sunday dress.”

Oh, this day was the best day, the very best! Papa was
coming to school and Lily was going to wear her favorite dress. She ran up the stairs, two at a time. She took her purple dress out of the closet and slipped into it. Then she covered it with her white organdy apron.

Lily hurried downstairs so Mama could button up the back of her dress.

When Mama saw her, she grinned. “I should have told you to wear your purple apron. The white one is only for church.”

Lily removed her white apron and hung it carefully back in her closet, a little disappointed. She wanted to wear her Sunday best to school today. Even Papa was dressed up. He looked so handsome in his nice Sunday visiting clothes. Papa went outside to hitch Jim to the buggy as Mama scurried around getting everything ready. Lily helped Dannie with his socks and shoes, though she needed Mama's help to tie the laces. Just as Papa brought Jim up to the house, they were ready to go.

Lily carried the wrapped gifts for Teacher Katie out to the buggy as if they were made of spun sugar. After everyone was settled, Mama tucked a thick buggy robe over their laps. The buggy robe was warm and cozy, but Lily couldn't sit still. Too excited! She turned around and knelt on the seat to look out the window. Now she was glad she could wear her purple apron. She wouldn't have to worry about wrinkles.

Joseph turned around to look out the window too. It was fun to see the tracks the buggy wheels made in the fresh snow that fell last night. They rolled out like ribbons behind the buggy.

When they arrived at school, Papa guided Jim up to the hitching rack to wait with the other horses. Papa reached under the front seat and got Jim's horse blanket. He tossed it on Jim's back and fastened the straps underneath his belly.
The blanket would keep Jim nice and warm until they were ready to go home.

Mama had packed lunch for them in a big brown paper bag. All but Lily's. Her lunch was packed in her lunch box, like a usual school day, even though nothing about the day felt usual.

“Can I carry your lunch box?” Joseph asked.

Lily handed it to him and carefully carried Teacher Katie's gifts into the schoolhouse.

Rows of benches had been brought into the schoolhouse and pushed up against the walls of the schoolhouse. Most of the parents had already arrived. They were seated and visiting with each other. The students were huddled near the front of the room around Teacher Katie's desk. Her desk was piled high with presents of every shape and size, wrapped in pretty Christmas wrapping. One box was very big. What could be inside? It was almost as big as Lily was tall. She placed Teacher Katie's gift very carefully on the edge of the desk so it wouldn't be squashed, and then stood next to Hannah. Together they eyed the packages and tried to guess what was inside them and who would be getting them. Lily couldn't stop thinking about what was in that big box and for whom
it was meant. Maybe it would be for Lily! Maybe it would be a new doll. Sally would like to have a doll friend.

Teacher Katie rang the bell for the students to sit down. She stood in front of the classroom. “Since we are having a program we will be doing things a little differently this morning,” she said. “I would like to ask Nate Mast and Daniel Lapp to read the Christmas Scriptures for us.”

Papa? Teacher Katie wanted Lily's Papa to read! Mandy sat up straight and proud in her chair, so Lily did too.

Nate Mast and Papa rose from their benches and walked to the front of the schoolhouse. Nate Mast read the second of Matthew. Then it was Papa's turn to read. Lily loved to listen to Papa's deep voice, so smooth and clear, as he read the second of Luke. When he finished, he closed the Bible and went back to sit next to Mama and Joseph and Dannie.

Teacher Katie nodded her head—the signal for the scholars to rise from their desks and file to the front of the schoolroom. The children stood in rows, just as they had practiced so many times. This time, they didn't use songbooks. Teacher Katie had made them sing the fifteen songs so often that they had everything memorized. Lily thought she could sing them in her sleep.

After singing several songs, it was Isaac's turn to recite. His poem was about the innkeeper in Bethlehem. Several other children recited their poems and then they sang more songs. Lily's turn to recite came last because she was the youngest. Always, always last. She looked out at the sea of faces. There were so many people! They were all looking right at her. Suddenly she couldn't remember any words to the dumb snowman poem. Her mind was like a white sheet flapping on a clothesline—blank and restless. Her heart thumped loudly.
She was sure others could hear it.
Ba bump, ba bump, ba bump
. It was echoing through the quiet room!