8
Papa’s Woodwork Shop
For days now, Lily had watched Papa bring home all kinds of woodworking machinery and put it into the new basement. In the evenings he would hurry through his chores so that he could connect pipes to the machinery. Papa explained that he would buy a big diesel engine to pump hydraulic oil through the pipes. “That will make the little hydraulic motors run that are fastened to the machinery. Then I’ll use air to run the small machinery like the drill press and jointer.”
Lily couldn’t understand any of it. Joseph, though, listened carefully to Papa’s every word. Dannie pretended to understand, but Lily knew he was only trying to seem as big as Joseph. Lily would rather learn about cooking and baking than how machinery worked.
The day finally came when all the machinery was ready and Papa’s shop was finished. Everyone gathered around Papa as he clamped a piece of wood into the lathe. He pulled the lever and the lathe sprang into action. The wood started spinning so fast that Lily could hardly see it. She held her hands over her ears. This was noisy!
Papa selected a wood chisel and held it against the spinning wood. Sawdust sprayed over his arms as he drew the chisel back and forth until he was satisfied with what he had made. He turned the lever off. Everything seemed peacefully quiet except for the hum of the big diesel engine outside.
Papa removed the piece of wood and handed it to Mama. “Well, what do you think, Rachel?”
“Why, it’s beautiful,” Mama said as she stroked her fingers over it. She handed it to Lily.
Lily looked at it closely. It really was beautiful. The ugly piece of wood that Papa had put into the lathe was now smooth and round and looked as if it had three little beads.
“The first spindle for our first chair,” Papa said. He picked up another piece of wood. “I’ll need a lot more of these to have enough to make a set of dining room chairs.”
Mama and Lily went back upstairs to bake some cookies. They could hear the lathe going in the basement and knew Papa was making more spindles.
Lily and Joseph came home from school one afternoon to discover something new in the pine trees behind the house. Papa was setting up two used fuel tanks that he had bought from a neighbor. By his side was Dannie, acting like Papa’s chief assistant. Papa stopped what he was doing when he saw Lily and Joseph. “We’ll fill one with diesel fuel for the engine that runs the shop, and the other one we’ll fill with gas for the garden tiller and lawn mower.” He stepped back to look at them. “They sure do look ugly right now though.”
Lily agreed with Papa. They sure did look ugly. The red paint was peeling off and they were covered with little rust spots.
“The next time I go to town I’ll have to buy some paint and then you children can paint them for me.”
Joseph and Dannie jumped up and down, hooting and hollering like they had won a prize. They were excited to paint for Papa. Lily was just as excited but lately she had been trying to practice mature and ladylike behavior. She didn’t jump even though she dearly wanted to. She thought boys were born lucky. They could do whatever they wanted to and never had to worry about someone like Ida Kauffman frowning and whispering, “That’s not ladylike.”
On Saturday, Papa returned from a trip to town with a gallon of silver paint. He pried open the paint can lid and stirred it to make sure it was mixed properly. Satisfied, he handed paintbrushes to Lily, Joseph, and Dannie.
Lily dipped her brush into the paint and carefully stroked it on the tank. Now the tank was three colors. Ugly red, rusty orange, and beautiful shiny silver.
This was fun. The more they painted, the prettier the fuel tanks looked. After finishing one side, they picked up the paint can and went to paint the other side. After that side was done, Lily realized they had a problem. They should have painted the top first.
She dipped her paintbrush into the paint and stood on her tiptoes to try to reach the top. She stretched as far as she could. She managed to slap her paintbrush against the top but she couldn’t swish it back and forth. Then she lost her balance and fell against the tank. Her dress was covered with silver paint and so were her hands.
How awful! Joseph and Dannie laughed when they saw her dress. She could feel a few tears welling up in her eyes and tried to wipe them away. That made them laugh all the harder. “Now you have paint under your eyes, too,” Joseph yelped. “Like a raccoon!”
“Like a skunk!” Dannie added.
Disgusted with them, Lily rested her paintbrush on top of the pail of paint and went into the shop to find Papa. He would know what to do.
Papa took one look at her. “What happened to you?”
“I was trying to reach the top of the fuel tank to paint it, and I fell against it,” Lily said.
“Let’s go wash your hands and face,” Papa said. “Then you can keep painting. Don’t worry about painting the top of the tanks. I should have told you that I would do it after you’re done with the sides.”
After washing up, Lily went back outside and helped Joseph and Dannie paint the other tank. She was relieved she didn’t have to worry about painting the tops. Painting sides was much more fun.
Papa came outside and finished painting the tops for them. That evening, after the paint had dried, he took a little brush and a small can of black paint and carefully wrote GAS in big black letters on the front.
“Now we won’t have to worry about getting the gas and diesel mixed up.” He glanced at Joseph and Dannie. “I don’t want any of you to ever open the valves on the tanks. Not ever.”
Lily thought Papa was very wise to add that warning. Little boys were much too curious. But she did wish Papa had remembered to tell her that he would paint the top of the tanks. Her favorite work dress was ruined.