24
Starting Over

Early Wednesday morning, Lily helped Mama pack lunch for Papa. He was going to help the rest of the men in the community build a new schoolhouse. It would take a few days to complete, so each day would be a work frolic. Usually, large meals were part of the frolics, but not this time. Each person was asked to pack his own lunch to take along.

Lily spooned some peaches into a dish and carefully covered it. She set it into a corner of Papa’s lunch box while Mama fit in several sandwiches. There was still space to tuck a few cookies. Then Lily closed the lid. She hoped Papa would have enough to eat so that he wouldn’t get too hungry before suppertime. She worried that the men wouldn’t be able to work very fast if they got too hungry. She wanted them to work quickly so she could go back to school.

By the time Uncle Elmer drove into the driveway with his horse and buggy, Papa had his tools and lunch box, ready to go. Lily stood at the window and watched as Papa tucked his tool belt under the seat and then climbed on the buggy. They drove down the road to pick up Grandpa and Uncle Jacob.

Lily wandered around the house aimlessly trying to decide what to do for the rest of the day. Her favorite books and her doll didn’t seem very exciting. Since the fire, all she wanted to do was to color with her beautiful box of crayons. How sad. Why was it that the one thing you wanted most, you could never seem to have?

Joseph didn’t mind that he couldn’t go to school. He and Dannie played in the snow for a while and built a snowman. After that, they set up their toy farms in the corner of the living room and became thoroughly involved in the game of pretend farming.

Lily made another round through the kitchen and living room.

Mama could tell Lily felt antsy. “You could work on your cross-stitching.”

Oh no. Lily knew that she should enjoy cross-stitching as much as other little girls her age, but she hated it. It was so tedious to use a needle and thread by hand. Over and over, the same little x for a cross-stitch. “Maybe I could sew on the sewing machine,” she said, hoping Mama would forget about the cross-stitching. She liked the sewing machine because it was noisy and fast, but Mama didn’t have anything for her to sew on the sewing machine.

Mama got the square of fabric that Lily had been working on to make a pretty pillow top. In each corner, there were several hearts made with little x’s and three flowers. Lily sat down and threaded her needle with purple embroidery floss and took several stitches. “Cross-stitching is not fun!” she said, mostly to herself, and jabbed the needle into the fabric again. She jabbed too hard and pricked her finger. A little drop of blood stained the fabric. “Ouch!” Lily quickly put her finger in her mouth.

Mama crossed the room to see what had happened. She saw a drop of red on the fabric. “Let’s go take care of this right away before the blood sets in the fabric.” Mama hurried to get a bottle of peroxide from the medicine cabinet. She started dabbing the fabric with a cloth soaked in peroxide. Lily sat on the sofa, feeling more gloomy than she did when she started to cross-stitch. Mama was more worried about the fabric than she was about the gigantic hole Lily had poked into her finger.

After Mama was satisfied that the blood drop on the fabric had been washed away, she came back into the living room. For a moment, she gazed thoughtfully at Lily. “I don’t think your mind is on the things you can do here at home. Why don’t you bundle up and go spend the rest of the day with Grandma and Aunt Susie.”

Instantly, Lily felt a happy mood return. Mama did understand! She ran to get her coat, shawl, and bonnet and started up the road. It was snowing and the wind blew right in her face, but as long as she kept her head down and walked fast, she didn’t mind the cold too much.

Grandma and Aunt Susie were pleased to answer the knock on the door and find Lily. “Come in, come in out of the cold,” Grandma said.

Lily stepped inside and removed her boots. She was careful not to let any snow stay on the floor. It would never do to make melted snow puddles on Grandma’s floor.

Aunt Susie took Lily’s wraps and hung them on a hook. “Do you want to help me color?” she asked, a hopeful look on her sweet, childlike face.

Oh, how wonderful! She would get to color today, after all. Lily followed Aunt Susie to help her choose which coloring books to color in. Aunt Susie had a big stack of coloring books. Lily took her time looking at each one before settling on one with baby animals.

They took the books and crayons to the kitchen table and sat down to begin coloring. Grandma was baking an apple pie. She looked at Lily and said, “Your nose is still red from the cold walk you had to our house. It looks as if you need some hot chocolate.” She set two mugs of steaming hot chocolate on the table for Lily and Aunt Susie. Then, just for fun, she sprinkled a few mini-marshmallows on top.

Lily felt warm and cozy and special as she stirred her hot chocolate and took a few tiny sips. This day had started so bleak and was improving by the minute. Papa was helping all the other men build a new schoolhouse, and she could spend all afternoon at her Grandma’s house, coloring with her favorite aunt. And no little brothers! It was pure bliss.

Grandma sent Lily home in plenty of time to help Mama prepare supper. Papa walked up the driveway just as the sun was setting and dinner was ready to be served. Lily had just set a bowl of fried potatoes on the table as Papa washed up at the sink. He had a pleased look on his face. “Is the new schoolhouse finished?” Lily asked.

“Not quite,” he said. “Tomorrow we should finish up. On Friday, we’ll be moving in desks while the school board goes and buys new books. You and Joseph can go back to school on Monday.”

Lily felt excited. She loved going to school. Having a brand-new schoolhouse would be fun. And new books would be nice, too. She wondered if Teacher Rhoda would make the children start all over again with the workbooks. That didn’t sound like much fun. But then a happy thought danced through Lily’s mind, something that hadn’t occurred to her: she would no longer have to see Aaron Yoder’s big, dirty footprint on her new book—the one he had stepped on, back on the first day of school.

Monday was still five whole days away! Lily felt almost too excited to eat. Not quite, but almost.

On Monday morning, Lily and Joseph didn’t bother to wait for Hannah and Levi. They were too excited to see the new schoolhouse.

All of the other students felt the same way—they all arrived early. Everyone was excited to smell that fresh paint smell and be the first to walk on the new wooden floors. Beth and her brother Reuben arrived at school just as Lily and Joseph were about to enter the schoolhouse. “Wait, Lily! Wait for me. Let’s go in together!” Beth ran up to the door.

Joseph went in but Lily paused by the door to wait for Beth. They held hands and walked over the threshold, barely able to hold their excitement in. It was beautiful! The walls had been painted a soft cream color. Shelves were built along the two sidewalls that went up to Lily’s waist. The shelves were already filled with library books to read when they had spare time, and new board games and puzzles to play with at recess on rainy days. Farther down were encyclopedias, dictionaries, and stacks of songbooks.

The floor was painted a bluish gray. Lily checked her shoes to make sure they weren’t dirty before stepping off the rug and onto this pretty floor. She and Beth went to find their desks. They were still in the same places they had been, which was a little disappointing. Lily had hoped Teacher Rhoda might have moved Aaron Yoder’s desk far, far away. No such luck. Maybe, if everything was clean and shiny and a fresh start, Aaron would start over with Lily, being nice and kind and sweet. She doubted it, but she hoped.

She opened the lid on her desk and paged through the new books inside.

Beth squealed. “Oh Lily, come look at this!”

Beth stood at the back of the room beside the little sink where everyone could wash their hands. Lily crossed the room to see what Beth was so excited about: beside the sink was a shiny new water fountain. It had a little handle to pull at the side, sending up an arching stream of cold water. Lily had never seen anything so wonderful. Beth held the strings of her covering to keep them from getting wet as she took a drink. Then Lily got a turn. They wouldn’t have to share a water cup at the pump in the school yard. They wouldn’t even have to go outside to have a drink. For the first time, Lily felt a little glad about that fire. New things were so much fun.

Teacher Rhoda rang the bell and everyone found their seats. As she read a Bible story, Lily sighed happily. It felt good to be back in school with the other children. Everything looked and smelled new and fresh and pretty. She couldn’t wait to work in her new books with her new pencil and read all the new library books that were waiting on the bookshelves.

But there was even better news! Last night, Papa had told her he would buy a new box of sixty-four crayons for her the next time he went to town.