3
A Walk in the Woods

On a warm July afternoon, when the air felt still, Papa came into the kitchen to talk to Mama. “Jim needs new horseshoes. I’m going to take him over to the blacksmith.” He glanced at Lily and smiled. “I thought Lily might like to go along and play with Beth while her father works on Jim’s shoes.”

Mama smiled. “I think Lily might be persuaded to go with you.”

“Oh yes!” Lily was excited to hear that she could play with Beth. She didn’t get to see Beth often during the summer. She wouldn’t even mind helping Beth with her chores.

Lily yanked her bonnet off its hook and ran to sit on the buggy seat while Papa hitched Jim to the buggy. Soon, they were off.

As soon as Jim pulled into the Rabers’ driveway, Beth flew out of the house, surprised to see Lily seated next to Papa. The two girls followed Papa as he unhitched Jim from the buggy and led him to a shady tree next to the barn. Jonas, Beth’s father, plucked a big, heavy, black leather apron from a peg inside the barn door and tied it around his waist. He carried a wooden toolbox filled with nails, files, clippers, hammers, and horseshoes of different sizes.

Before Jonas got to work on Jim’s feet, he made friends with the horse, which Lily thought was very smart. Jonas walked up to Jim and talked to him a little and stroked his neck. Then he picked up his front hoof. He held it firmly between his legs as he reached into the toolbox for a hammer and pulled Jim’s old metal horseshoe off. Next, he took a big pair of clippers and clipped some of the hoof off.

“Does that hurt Jim?” Lily asked.

“No, it feels the same as clipping your toenails,” Papa said. “Jim’s hooves need to be trimmed regularly so he doesn’t stumble when he walks.”

Jonas picked up a file and started to file Jim’s big hoof. Jonas’s big German Shepherd dog, Bumper, came over to see what was happening. He sniffed at the bits of hoof clippings and started to chew on one. Disgusting, Lily thought.

Beth leaned over to whisper in Lily’s ear. “Let’s go play.”

The girls ran to a swing under a big maple tree in front of the house. They took turns pushing each other, stopping between turns to tell each other important news.

“Baby Paul is starting to crawl,” Lily said. “He tries to put everything into his mouth.” Just like that dog, Bumper. Disgusting, Lily thought.

It was Beth’s turn. “I think my brother has a crush on Katie Miller. His ears turn red whenever he sees her at church.”

My, that was interesting. Much more interesting than Paul’s crawling. Lily was going to have to keep her ears open for better news.

Much too soon, Papa came looking for Lily. “Time to go home,” he said. “Jim has four new shoes and is ready to try them out.”

Lily hopped off the swing. “We just got started playing. Could I stay a little longer? I could walk home over the fields by myself. It isn’t far.”

Papa lifted his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “Beth might have something she needs to do.”

“I’d like Lily to stay,” Beth said. The girls held their breath, waiting to hear Papa’s answer.

“Go ask your father, Beth, and see if it would be okay with him,” Papa said.

Lily and Beth ran to find Jonas Raber in the barn, putting away his leather apron and toolbox. Lily explained that she wanted to stay a little longer and then walk home by herself. “Do you mind?”

“I don’t mind,” Jonas said, smiling. A person couldn’t help but smile back when Jonas Raber smiled. His teeth stuck out in all different directions, a real assortment, and his eyes were warm and kind.

Lily ran to find Papa; Beth skipped along behind her. “I can stay!”

“Be a good girl,” Papa said. “And remember to come home before too late.” He climbed up on the buggy and gave Jim a tch-tch sound. Jim trotted down the drive with an extra spring in his step, proud of his new shoes.

Lily turned to Beth. “Now we can swing all day.” But after a few more turns on the swing, the girls grew bored and tried to think of something else to do.

“Have you seen my little playhouse?” Beth asked. “Dad made it for my birthday.”

The girls ran to the edge of the garden. Beside the garden gate was the cutest little playhouse Lily had ever seen. Beth held the door open and Lily ducked her head to step inside.

In the middle of the tiny room sat a small table and two little chairs. On one wall were several shelves filled with old pots and pans and chipped dishes that Beth’s mother no longer used.

“Let’s get some carrots and cucumbers from the garden,” Beth said. In the garden, they picked several small cucumbers. They rubbed their aprons over the cucumbers to remove the prickles, just like their mothers did. Next came the carrots. This took a little more work: they held the carrot tops in their fists to get a better look at the small top of orange carrot that peeped above the ground. They didn’t want a carrot that was too big or too little. The big ones tasted bitter and the tiny ones tasted watery. It was important to find the right-sized carrot—those were the ones that tasted the best: nice and sweet, crunchy and carroty. After they pulled all the carrots they wanted, Beth filled a pail with water from the springhouse by the barn. They took turns carrying it back to the playhouse. Water sloshed out of the pail and splashed against their skirts and over their bare feet. They didn’t mind. It felt good on such a hot day.

In the playhouse, Beth filled one of the pots on the shelf with water. They swished their carrots in the water until the dirt had been rinsed off.

Beth set the table while Lily divided the carrots and cucumbers on the plates. Then they sat down to eat and tried to have an important, grown-up conversation. With a terribly stern and serious face, Beth brought up the worry of raising youth in this day and age, which made Lily giggle. Then Lily would try: she would make her face stop smiling, then purse her lips and discuss the behavior of the youth in church lately and had Beth noticed a lot of winking going on between the boys and the girls? With that, the girls were overcome by a giggling fit. They didn’t even have to say it out loud: they were both imitating Ida Kauffman as she paid visits to their mothers! Lily was laughing so hard that her tummy hurt.

“Let’s pretend to bake cakes,” Beth said. “We can fill some pans with wet sand and then decorate them with flowers and leaves to make them pretty.”

They rinsed the dishes they had used and set them back up on the shelf. Then they went to get sand from the sandbox, added water until it felt just right and ran to find flowers. They filled their aprons with bright yellow buttercups and sweet purple clover blossoms. They were so busy decorating their little sand cakes that both of them were startled when Beth’s mother stepped out on the porch and called, “Beth! Suppertime.”

Lily was shocked! She had been having so much fun that she had forgotten all about watching the time. She had told Papa she wouldn’t stay too late and the sun was already low in the sky. “I have to go home right now!”

Lily hurried down the driveway, too worried to even wave goodbye to Beth. She walked down the road until she came to a little shortcut that led through the woods. She thought it was the shortcut Joseph liked to use, but it looked different in the late afternoon light.

She gave a start, her heart leaping in fright. A sudden noise, a small crashing sound—something in the bushes. It sounded big. It sounded huge.

Lily didn’t dare look around. What if it were a black bear? She had just heard a story about a farmer meeting up with a bear in his cornfield. She heard another sound. It was coming closer. Instinct took over and she started to run. Faster and faster! She had never run so fast in her life. Her lungs hurt from running so hard. Her side ached and her legs felt as if they could buckle beneath her. She simply couldn’t run one more step. She stopped to catch her breath.

Crunch, pop, snap. Something was following her. What if it were a mountain lion? Joseph was always talking about mountain lions in the woods. The noise got closer and closer. She started to shake, so frightened that she couldn’t budge. Right behind her, a bush crackled. She squawked and flung her arms over her head. She was going to be eaten alive!

A little cottontail darted in the underbrush beside the path. Every hop it made caused twigs and dry leaves to crunch and snap. Lily was relieved! And then, embarrassed. She had been running from a cute little bunny.

Lily walked a little farther and came to the edge of the woods. There, across the field, was her house. A buttery light glowed from the kitchen. Lily had never been so glad to see that little ugly olive-green house. She ran up to the porch and into the kitchen. Stirring a pot on the stove top, Mama spun around. A look of relief swept over her face when she saw Lily.

Papa was washing up at the sink. He didn’t look very happy with Lily. “We were getting worried about you. I was almost ready to go looking for you.”

“I’m sorry, Papa,” Lily said and slid into her chair at the table. “I forgot to pay attention to the time. As soon as I realized how late it was, I ran all the way home. I thought a bear or a mountain lion was chasing me, but it was only a little bunny.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished them back.

Joseph and Dannie looked at each other, jaws opened wide, then they doubled up with laughter. “Only a girl would think a bunny is a bear!” Joseph said, between fits of laughter.

“Only a girl!” Dannie echoed, like he always did.

Even baby Paul started to giggle, which got Papa and Mama grinning.

Lily’s face grew hot, as if she were standing too close to Mama’s stove. She was humiliated. She didn’t think any of them understood how frightening a bunny could sound in the dark woods.