14
Papa’s Surprise

Not fair. It just wasn’t fair to be a girl sometimes.

Joseph and Dannie clambered up over the front wheel of the spring wagon to sit next to Papa on the wagon seat. Papa slapped the reins and Jim proudly trotted down the driveway, away down the road. Lily sighed. She watched from the kitchen window and felt terribly sorry for herself.

Papa was taking the boys to an estate auction. Lily loved auctions. They were fascinating! All kinds of strange things would be sold. She liked to listen to the fast-paced chant of the auctioneer as he encouraged people to bid higher for the items. How could anyone understand him? Best of all was that Papa let her choose something to eat from the food stand. She had so wanted to go today, but Mama needed her to stay at home to help with Saturday cleaning and to keep baby Paul out of trouble.

It just wasn’t fair to be a girl. She was Lily, the oldest child, she reminded herself. But today she left like Lily, the only child.

There was one good thing about the day, but just one. And it wasn’t a very big good thing. It was a little good thing. With Joseph and Dannie gone, it took Mama and Lily half the normal time to finish their regular cleaning. Usually, those brothers ran in and out of the house, interrupting Mama, annoying Lily, tracking dirt on the sparkling clean floors. Baby Paul, still a baby and not a full-fledged boy yet, happily played with his toy animals and wooden blocks all morning. Mama and Lily were done in no time at all.

Mama finished mopping the floor. She rested her chin on top of the mop pole. “Lily, today would be a fine day to wax the kitchen floor. With Papa and the boys gone, we don’t have to worry about them tracking in dirt on the floor before the wax has time to dry.”

She seemed pleased. Lily was not pleased. She had hoped they might bake cookies. Or make candy.

“Paul is still playing happily,” Mama said, ignoring Lily’s lack of enthusiasm. “If we hurry, he should be fine until we get done.”

Mama plucked the big jug of wax off the shelf in the broom closet and handed several small rags to Lily. She showed Lily how to pour a stream of wax on the floor and carefully spread it evenly over every inch.

In a way, it was a little bit like icing a cupcake. A very, very big cupcake. Every swish of the rag made the floor look new and shiny. Mama let Lily pour another stream of wax on the floor and swish her rag back and forth through it. Lily was nearly having fun, if you could find anything fun about cleaning a house. Nearly. But she didn’t like that her fingers stuck together, just as if she had glued them. And the wax was stinky, too.

Lily backed up to see how shiny the floor was looking. She didn’t realize the jug was right behind her. Her heel knocked it over and a big puddle of wax spilled all over the floor. Lily grabbed the jug and Mama hurried to get more rags. At that exact moment, baby Paul toddled into the kitchen. “Milk!” Lily heard him say, right before he stepped into the puddle of wax and his feet flew out from under him. He plopped right down in the middle of it and Lily expected him to start howling—but he was distracted by the wax puddle. He started swishing his hands and was quickly covered with stinky, sticky wax.

Mama came back into the kitchen with the rags. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened in a big O. She dropped the rags and picked Paul up. “I think it’s time for you to have a bath, clean clothes, and a nice, long nap. In that order.”

At the foot of the stairs, she stopped and turned, hesitation on her face. “Lily, do you think you can finish the floor while I take care of Paul?”

“Oh, yes!” How fun! “I’ll be extra careful not to spill any more wax,” Lily said. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Mama. Not a thing.”

Mama seemed a little worried. “Take your time and go slow. Then, after you’re done, you can have the rest of the day to play.”

That sounded like an ideal arrangement. Lily could keep icing the cupcake floor and she didn’t have a single brother around to bother her. Not one. And then she could play.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Lily finished waxing the rest of the floor. She tried not to spill a drop. She couldn’t wait to put away the jug of wax and wash her hands. Lily thought about leaving the wax on her nails. It made them look pretty and shiny, but her hands felt sticky and smelled bad. She decided to go ahead and wash them. That jug of wax had caused enough trouble for one day, and Lily didn’t want Mama to have to tell her why she couldn’t have shiny fingernails. She knew just what she would say: Too fancy.

Lily washed and washed and washed her hands, thinking about what she should do next. Playing outside wasn’t as much fun without Joseph and Dannie. She went to her room to get Sally, her doll. She dressed Sally in her nicest clothes and wrapped her in the prettiest blanket. She tried to play with Sally but it wasn’t fun like it used to be. She felt bored with Sally.

Lily put the doll away and went to see what Mama was up to. She found her in the living room, sitting on her rocking chair, knitting a pair of bedroom slippers. She put down her knitting needles when Lily came into the room. “Don’t you know what to do?”

“No,” Lily said. “I tried to play with Sally, but it wasn’t any fun.” She sighed. “Sally’s changed.”

Mama smiled, but it seemed like a sad smile. “You’re growing up, Lily. The things that used to be fun for you haven’t changed, but you are growing past them.”

Lily pondered that comment. It made her feel good and bad, all at the same time. She was glad Mama realized she was growing up, but it made her feel sad that she was getting too old to have fun playing with Sally.

Mama picked up her needles and started to knit again. Her fingers flew. “Do you want me to teach you how to knit?” Mama said. “You could start with a nice scarf.”

Oh no! Knitting looked even worse than sewing something by hand.

“Maybe another day,” Lily said. “I’ll find something else to do.” Anything else. Except cleaning, sewing, and washing dishes.

Lily heard Papa’s voice talking to Jim. “Whoa. Back up. Easy boy. Whoa.” She dropped her book on the bed and ran to the window. Papa was backing Jim and the spring wagon up to the garage door in front of the shop. The spring wagon was piled high. She couldn’t wait to see what kinds of treasures Papa had brought home from the auction. She flew outside to investigate.

Papa grinned when he saw the excitement on Lily’s face. “Go ask Mama if she can come help me unload some of these things.”

Lily ran back to the house to tell Mama that Papa needed her. Mama tucked her knitting needles into the ball of yarn, put whatever she was knitting into her basket, and got up from her rocking chair. “Lily, I need you to stay inside so you can hear Paul when he wakes up from his nap.”

Lily froze, horrified. She had wanted to run outside to see all the things Papa had bought as he unloaded them off the wagon. This was just one more reason why it wasn’t fair to be a girl and to be the oldest. Joseph was never asked to wait inside for baby Paul to wake up. It wasn’t just because Joseph wouldn’t have remembered to listen for baby Paul, even though that would have been true. It was because he was a boy. And he was thought to be too little to do anything except have fun. She cracked open a window and heard the excited voices of Joseph and Dannie as they explained their purchases to Mama.

Not fair. So not fair.

She wanted baby Paul to wake up right now so she could take him outside. She crept into the bedroom to see if he was still sleeping.

His eyes were closed, his arms were above his head, and his favorite little teddy bear was tucked beside him, under the blanket. He looked so cute and peaceful. On any other day, Lily would have tiptoed away, hoping he wouldn’t wake up for hours and hours. But today wasn’t an ordinary day.

Lily coughed.

She coughed again. Louder.

She reached into his crib and lifted one of his little hands, but he kept right on sleeping. She tickled his toes, but he only wiggled his feet a little. He went right on sleeping like a bear snoozing away the winter.

Lily sighed. It wasn’t fair. Everyone was having fun except her. She heard Dannie squeal with delight. Something was going on and she didn’t know what.

She couldn’t stand it another minute. She reached into the crib and picked Paul up. He blinked his eyes in surprise, yawned, and stretched.

The trick was to keep him happy. If he woke too early, he could be a grouch. Lily talked cheerfully to him as she walked to the kitchen. She offered him a drink of water. He took a few sips and seemed like he was starting to wake up. Lily held him on her left hip and hurried outside to see what was happening.

Mama looked puzzled when she saw Lily carrying Paul. “Is he up already?”

Lily avoided her eyes and nodded. She wasn’t telling a lie. Not yet. But if Mama asked her anything else, she might admit that she had woken Paul on purpose. She felt fairly confident that Mama would not like that.

Lily looked at the treasures spread on the ground. There were several boxes filled with pretty dishes and books. Lily hoped Mama would let her sift through the boxes to see what was there. Mama was busy helping Papa lift a big desk off the back of the spring wagon. Lily wondered why Papa had bought another desk. He already had one in the living room.

When Papa had put the desk on the ground, he turned to Lily. “What do you think of this desk?”

Paul was wide awake and started to squirm. He wanted to get down and see what Dannie was doing. “I think it’s nice,” Lily said.

Papa’s eyes twinkled. “I bought it for you. I know how much you like to read and write. I thought it would be nice if you had your very own desk in your room.”

Lily looked at Papa, then at the desk, then back at Papa. Had she heard him correctly? He had a big grin on his face. How wonderful! She would have her very own desk. “Can we take it to my room right now?”

Papa laughed. “Not today. We’ll have to rearrange the furniture in your bedroom to make room for it. I have to get started on the evening chores. But we’ll try to get it moved in on Monday.”

Monday? That was two days from now. Lily tried not to feel let down. It was hard to have something so wonderful come into your life, right in front of you . . . and then to have to wait. Life just wasn’t fair.

But . . . it was more fair now than it was this morning.

Lily finished her geography assignment and put everything neatly inside her desk. She looked at the clock. There were still twenty-five minutes before school would dismiss. She watched the second hand make its round from number to number with slow, jerking moves. One minute ticked away. Only twenty-four minutes left.

Lily wished the clock would hurry up and move faster. She wanted to go home and see if Papa and Mama had moved the new desk into her bedroom already. She felt a little giddy—a Christmas morning giddy. How would her room look with the desk in it? She couldn’t wait to fill the drawers with paper and books and all her scrapbook supplies. She decided to get to work again on a scrapbook for Grandpa Lapp. She had started it last year but lost interest. A new desk would make scrapbooking more fun.

Teacher Rhoda tapped the bell on her desk twice to signal that it was time for everyone to put their books away and get ready to go home. All around Lily was the noise of books closing and desk lids opening. After everyone had their things tucked neatly inside their desks, the students stood, sang the closing hymn and, finally, Lily could go. She dashed to the back of the schoolhouse, grabbed her lunch pail from the shelf, and darted out the door.

“Wait for me, Lily,” Hannah called out.

Lily slowed down until Hannah caught up with her.

“What’s the big hurry?”

“Papa bought a real desk just for me. I want to go home and use it.”

“We do enough writing in school. Why would you want to hurry home and write some more?”

“I can do more than just write at the desk,” Lily said. “I can make scrapbooks like Grandma Miller does. I can draw pictures and paint. I can do anything I want to.”

Hannah didn’t share Lily’s enthusiasm and was in no hurry to get home. “Did you see how far Aaron Yoder batted the ball at recess today?”

Lily rolled her eyes. Hannah talked about how wonderful Aaron Yoder was all the way home from school. Every single day.

“He batted a home run.”

“So did a few of the other boys. And they aren’t as much of a pest as Aaron is.”

Hannah ignored her. “Aaron is so smart! He gets his lessons done faster than anyone else in school. He has such excellent penmanship. Just excellent. Haven’t you noticed?”

Lily wondered if Hannah might be getting slightly addled. Aaron’s handwriting wasn’t neat and tidy. Just the opposite! Teacher Rhoda scolded him for messy writing nearly every other day.

After the sandwich switch, Lily was so happy to spend time with Hannah again that she politely tolerated her ridiculous talk about Aaron. Plus, Aaron had done her one nice thing when he told Teacher Rhoda that Effie was the culprit. But that was the only nice thing Aaron had ever done for Lily, and now he was back to being his pesky old self. Lily couldn’t stand listening to Hannah moon over Aaron Yoder. She actually felt relieved when they reached the path where Hannah turned off.

Lily burst into the house and galloped up the stairs. She didn’t even stop to see if Mama had a snack waiting on the kitchen table. When she reached her bedroom door, she stopped abruptly. There it was! Her very own desk. Mama had picked a bouquet of flowers and put them in a vase on the corner of the desk. On the other corner were her oil lamp and her little apple-shaped candy dish. All the furniture in her room had been rearranged to allow room for the desk. Even the floor looked as if Mama had given it a new coat of wax.

Lily walked over to the desk and opened a few drawers. All delightfully empty—just waiting for her to put something inside.

Dannie came running into her room. “I helped Mama wax your floor. I helped pick the flowers too and fill your candy dish.”

“Thank you,” Lily said. She lifted the lid off of the candy dish and was pleased to see it was almost full. She would make this candy last for a long time. She would eat a piece only on Saturdays. Maybe Sundays, too. Only twice a week would she eat candy.

Dannie stood at the doorjamb, watching and smiling. Finally, Lily asked, “Is there something else I should see?”

Dannie clapped his hands. “Open the drawer. I shared some of my treasures.”

Lily opened another drawer. “Oh, Dannie,” she said when she saw what he had tucked inside: a pile of small stones, several pinecones, and some wood scraps from the shop.

He was so pleased! But Lily didn’t want any of that junk messing up her beautiful desk. “That was kind of you, Dannie,” she said. “But I know how much these treasures mean to you. Why don’t you keep them for me?” She scooped them out of the drawer and handed them to him.

Somehow, Dannie seemed even more pleased.

Just as he left, baby Paul toddled into her room. Lily scooped him up into her arms. “Did you climb the stairs all by yourself?” Lily said. Paul was getting to be quite a climber. Mama said every time she turned around, he was climbing up on something.

Lily couldn’t work at her new desk with Paul bothering her. She took him downstairs and helped Mama get supper ready. She plopped him on the floor beside the toy box and started building a tower with the wooden blocks. As soon as Paul became interested in the toys, she quietly got up to set the table.

After the table was set, Lily sat on a stool at the end of the kitchen counter to watch Mama cook and talk to her. This was one of Lily’s favorite times of the day. She had Mama all to herself and could tell her about her day at school. Today, she admitted how frustrated she felt with Cousin Hannah. “She just doesn’t see Aaron Yoder in the right light!”

“It’s called wearing rose-colored glasses,” Mama said. “It means you see things the way you want them to be.”

That was a new phrase to Lily and it suited the situation perfectly. Hannah wore rose-colored glasses with Aaron Yoder.

“That’s not all bad, Lily. Hannah is just believing the best about a person.”

Just as Lily opened her mouth to explain that where Aaron Yoder was concerned, it was best to assume the worst about him, a horrible crash came from upstairs. A second later, a wailing sound floated down the stairs.

“Where is Paul?” Mama asked.

“He had been playing with his toys in the living room.”

Paul’s cries grew louder. Mama went upstairs and Lily followed. The door to Lily’s bedroom was open and there was Paul sitting on the floor. His mouth and hands were covered with melted chocolate. Beside him was Lily’s little apple dish, broken.

Mama checked Paul to make sure he wasn’t hurt after tumbling off the desk. Then she took him downstairs to clean him up. Lily sat on her bed with the broken pieces of her candy dish. Tears pricked her eyes. What a disappointment. Her very first day with her new desk had not gone well.

During supper, Lily told Papa about her broken candy dish. He asked to see the pieces, so she ran upstairs to get them.

“This shouldn’t be too hard to glue back together,” Papa said, examining the pieces. “It’s a clean break.”

After dinner, Papa glued Lily’s apple dish. By bedtime, it was back on her desk. It amazed her—Papa could fix anything. But from now on, she was going to keep her door shut tight. Too many nosy little brothers.