Lily stretched her toes to touch the last few leaves left on the branch above her as Joseph pushed the swing as hard as he could. Autumn was under way and soon it would be too cold to swing. They loved to play on the swing Papa had made in the big tree in front of the house. It was fun to sail through the air. Lily felt light and happy all over.
Joseph stood to the side of the swing. “It’s my turn now.” When the swing slowed down, Lily hopped off. Joseph climbed on the swing and Lily started pushing him—higher and higher, faster and faster. They were having a contest to see who could touch the last red leaf clinging to a branch. As soon as Lily realized Joseph was about to reach it, she stopped pushing. He was close to touching it only because she was a much better swing pusher than he was. Joseph would just have to pump his legs harder.
Something caught her eye. The curtain in the attic window ruffled in the breeze.
She decided to take Sally, her doll, and a book up to the room to play. “I’m tired of swinging,” she said. She ran to the house.
“Hey!” Joseph yelled. “Not fair! Come back! I still need a few more pushes.”
Lily ran back and gave him a few more pushes. Then she went to the house and found her doll and book. She ran up the stairs and into the little attic bedroom. Her gaze swept the empty room and she sighed. It was so lovely. Even without her furniture and purple rag rug.
Lily changed her doll’s dress and rocked her to sleep. She lay Sally carefully on a blanket and swaddled her, the way she had seen Mama swaddle baby Paul when he was a newborn. But playing with Sally wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. Sally had become a little dull.
Her tummy growled. She thought she might go back down to the kitchen and get a snack when she remembered the glass chimney covered with gooey marshmallows that she had hidden underneath a dresser. It had been only a week. If she were very, very careful, maybe she could scrape some leftover marshmallow off a large piece and eat it for a snack!
She crouched down on her knees and put a hand under the dresser. She felt cobwebs and dust, then her hand touched the paper bag that held the chimney pieces. She pulled it out from under the dresser and opened the bag—then gagged. What had happened to the marshmallow? There was fuzzy, grayish-green mold covering the chimney. It smelled horrible. She tucked it back under the dresser, as far as it would go, and decided she wasn’t hungry after all.
Lily picked up her book and soon was lost in the story. A couple of flies buzzed through the open window and circled around her. There was nothing quite so annoying as a fly buzzing around your head when you were trying to read. Though, Lily thought, having a mosquito buzz around your head when you were trying to sleep was equally annoying. She closed the window firmly and heard a thump and rattle outside the door. She paused to listen, but didn’t hear anything more, so she went back to her book.
The next thing Lily knew, she heard a little fluttering sound. A familiar, horrible fluttering sound. Something whirred past her face. She shrieked and ducked, covered her head with her arms, then opened one eye carefully to peep under her elbow. A bat! She shielded her head with her book and ran to the door. The handle turned but the door didn’t open. She tried again but it still didn’t move an inch. She used her shoulder to push on the door as hard as she could, but it was no use. The door was stuck.
Lily felt a spike of worry. Hunger, too. The sun was starting to lay low in the sky. She had stayed in the attic room much longer than she had planned to. Why hadn’t Mama called her to come help with supper? Then it dawned on her—no one knew where she had gone. She hadn’t told Joseph. Maybe Mama did call for her and Lily hadn’t heard her.
Lily started to panic. What if no one ever found her? What if she starved to death up in this attic? The bat flew past again, swooping and dipping. How had it gotten into this room? From the corner of her eye, she saw something dark slip through the attic duct, then unfold its wings and dart across the ceiling. Another bat!
Tears started streaming down Lily’s face as she pounded on the door and called for help. She became hot and sweaty from pounding. Her throat grew hoarse from shouting. She slipped down against the door and sat on the floor, worn out from pounding and calling. Oh this was terrible. Just terrible! She was going to die. She was going to die in this stuffy, bat-infested attic. Someday, Mama and Papa would go to the attic and find a pile of bones. Lily bones.
She sank into a ball by the door, trying to make herself as small as possible. She covered her head with her apron, but then wasn’t sure if it would be better to actually see the bats flying around again and know for certain where they were, or not to see them and wonder. She alternated between peeking at the bats and hiding from them. Now there were three bats—swooping, whirring, diving, and darting as if they were having the time of their lives. Soon, she was sure, there would be hundreds. They probably held bat parties each night in her beautiful attic bedroom.
She tried not to cry again. She didn’t want to cry. But she was scared and worried and one tear started, then another and another. She wiped her eyes with the apron and noticed that the sky had grown even darker. The first evening star twinkled at her through the little window.
The window.
The window! Why hadn’t Lily thought of the window? She ran across the room and opened it. The cool evening air felt as good and refreshing as a drink of water. She stuck her head outside the window. “Help!” she shouted, as loudly as she could.
Far below, near the barn, Papa froze when he heard her voice call out. “Lily! Lily!” Papa yelled, turning in a circle to locate her. “Lily, where are you? Mama and I have been looking everywhere for you!”
Lily waved and waved. “I’m here, Papa! Up here!”
Papa looked up toward the attic and saw her. “What are you doing up there?”
“I can’t get out!” She cupped her hands. “AND THERE ARE BATS IN HERE!”
“I’m coming!” Papa bolted up to the house.
Lily was so relieved. She wouldn’t end up as a pile of bones, after all. She closed the window and hurried to the door to wait for Papa.
Lily could hear Papa doing something on the other side of the door. Then the handle turned and the door opened and there stood Papa. Lily ran into his arms. “My, you gave us a scare,” Papa said. “We didn’t know where you were.”
“I called and called but nobody heard me.”
“Some boxes tumbled down in front of the door. I hadn’t realized this house was so well insulated that the sound wouldn’t carry. The next time you want to come up here to play, let Mama know where you are. Just in case boxes tumble down again.”
“Papa, I found out how the bats are getting in!” She pointed to the attic duct.
Papa peered at the duct, then moved the dresser and climbed up on it to get a closer look. Lily held her breath when she saw the paper bag, exposed. A bat slipped in through the duct and whizzed by his head. He jumped off the dresser and pushed it back in place. Lily exhaled. “I’ll deal with this later,” he said. “For now, let’s go tell Mama you’re safe and sound.”
Lily followed Papa down to the kitchen. Mama was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, relieved to see her. Joseph and Dannie were at their places at the kitchen table, waiting impatiently for her. Even baby Paul waved his spoon at her, eager to eat. She forgave them, though. They were just little boys. They couldn’t be expected to understand that she had narrowly escaped death.
As Lily sat at the table, she felt so content. She was the luckiest girl in the world. She had barely survived a harrowing ordeal. She had a Papa and a Mama who were searching for her. And she had three brothers who loved her enough to not eat, even though they wanted to, until they knew she was safe and sound.
“One good thing about Lily’s adventure,” Papa said, eyes smiling. “She found out how the bats are getting in.”
Joseph and Dannie were all ears and eyes. They even stopped eating to hear the answer to the bat mystery.
“Attic ducts have screens on them,” Papa said. “At least, they’re supposed to. But one of them doesn’t have a screen. I didn’t even notice that when I installed it. That’s how the bats had been getting in.” He lathered a biscuit with butter. “I’ll get a screen on that tomorrow morning.”
Mama passed Lily a bowl of green peas. “Lily, would you want to move back up to the attic after Papa fixes the screen?”
Lily took her time answering, scooping peas onto her plate. The attic bedroom was very special, but it had some serious drawbacks. She felt far away from the family, and what if she got locked in again? Next time, she might not be discovered until it was too late. Till she was just a pile of Lily bones. “I think,” she said, chewing her peas, “I think I’ll just stay where I am.”
Besides, there was the disgusting marshmallow chimney to consider.