26

Buggy in the Ditch

One morning, a week after Lily and her family had returned to Singing Tree Farm from Kentucky, the sky was dark gray and the air smelled of rain. Mama needed to go to town to buy groceries and several bags of feed for the animals. Usually, she took Lily, Joseph, and Dannie with her in the buggy. Not today, though. Mama worried they would get soaked from rain if they went with her, walking from grocery store to feed store. So, instead, she planned to drop them off at Grandma and Grandpa Miller’s.

Lily and Joseph kneeled on the back seat of the buggy to look out the window as Mama drove Jim down a favorite shortcut—a winding field lane that led to Grandpa Miller’s farm. Mama liked to take the field lane so she could avoid driving the buggy on the busy road or drive up the steep driveway with the deep ditch beside it. Lily liked staying at Grandpa Miller’s. There was always something fun to do there. She could help Grandma in her kitchen. She could watch Grandpa work in his harness shop. Best of all, she could play with Aunt Susie.

Grandma was happy to see their faces when she opened the door. “Come in, come in,” she said, holding the door wide open.

Mama stayed on the porch to talk to Grandma while Lily darted inside to find Aunt Susie. She found her aunt in the kitchen, coloring with a yellow crayon in one of her coloring books.

When she saw Lily, she jumped up from the table. “Do you want to play dolls?”

“Oh yes!” Lily was hoping Aunt Susie would want to play dolls, Lily’s favorite game.

Lily followed Aunt Susie into her bedroom. Together they picked out the dolls they wanted to play with and carefully chose the dresses for the dolls to wear. Lily always chose a certain red dress. It was the prettiest one. She wished her own sweet Sally could have a red dress like that. They packed their little diaper bags with cute toys for their dolls and wrapped each doll in a blanket. Now they were ready to play! They sat on the living room sofa to pretend they were in church while they played with their dolls.

Joseph and Dannie were playing with wooden blocks and animals on the floor beside the big green toy box, with its lid propped open. Dannie kept hunting for more toys inside the green toy box. He liked digging toys out of the toy box more than he liked to play with them. Toys were littered around the box. Grandma rocked slowly on her rocking chair as she sewed tiny neat buttonholes in Grandpa’s new shirt.

It felt nice and cozy inside the house. Everyone was having a good time. Rain started gently, tapping the windows with drops. Soon, the gentle drops turned to a steady downpour. Lily was glad she didn’t have to worry about getting wet from walking around town. She hoped that Mama could stay dry under the big black umbrella.

Thud! Thump! And then came a muffled wail. Dannie had been leaning over the edge of the green toy box and tumbled inside. The lid fell shut on him. Grandma jumped up and opened the lid to the toy box. She scooped Dannie up and held him on her lap while he whimpered and whined. Aunt Susie hurried over to stroke his head and soothe him. It upset her to see a child cry. Dannie soon forgot about his scare and wiggled off Grandma’s lap to play with Joseph.

Grandpa came in from the harness shop and sat in the living room on his big creaky rocking chair. “Well, well,” he said, pretending to be surprised by the sight of Lily and Joseph and Dannie. “Who do we have here today?”

Lily laid her doll on the sofa and ran to Grandpa. He reached into his vest and then brought out his hand, tightly closed. Lily and Joseph tried to pry his fingers open to find the hidden treat. Sometimes it was raisins, other times peanuts, or their favorite—little papaya mints. Today, his hand held a few toasted pumpkin seeds. They ate them slowly to make them last as long as they could.

As soon as Grandpa had come in from the harness shop, Grandma went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. “Lunch is ready, if anyone is hungry.”

Grandpa scratched his head. “I can’t imagine that these little children might be hungry, can you, Susie?”

“Oh, but Papa, I think they are,” Susie said. “It’s lunchtime.” She didn’t know he was teasing.

They ran to the table to find their chairs. Grandma helped Dannie sit in a wooden highchair. Lily thought it looked hard and uncomfortable compared to the nice one they had at home with the soft cushions Mama had made for it. Just as they began to pass the sandwiches around the table, Mama drove up in the buggy. Grandma quickly set another plate at the table so Mama could join them. Lily liked listening to Grandpa, Grandma, and Mama visit while they ate. Sometimes, they would tell stories about Mama and Aunt Susie as little girls. But not today. Jim was standing patiently by the barn, dripping wet. Mama ate quickly. She wanted to get poor Jim out of the rain.

“Don’t worry about the dishes,” Grandma said. “Susie likes washing dishes and we can take care of them after you leave. I’m sure Jim would like to get home out of the rain.”

Grandpa helped them out to the buggy. Lily and Joseph and Dannie sat on the front seat beside Mama this time because the back of the buggy was filled with bags of feed and groceries. Grandpa handed Jim’s reins to Mama. “Rachel, I think you had better drive on the road instead of taking the field lane. The lane is too muddy and the buggy is heavy with that load of feed bags in the back.”

Mama clucked “giddyup” to Jim. He started down the driveway in the rain. Lily liked to watch the raindrops hit the storm front of the buggy and run down in little trickles. Inside, the buggy was nice and dry except for the two little holes where Jim’s reins entered the buggy. Water ran down the reins and dripped on the floor under those two little holes. It was raining that hard.

At the end of Grandpa’s driveway, Mama pulled on the reins. “Whoa,” she told Jim.

Several cars and a big milk truck were zooming past. The milk truck splashed a big shower of water all over them. Jim did not like to get splashed with water. Mama held firmly on the reins as more cars zoomed by and splashed water on them. Jim started backing up a little.

“Whoa, Jim, easy, boy!” Mama said.

Jim backed a little more. Another big truck passed and showered them with a huge splash of water. Jim backed up a little more. Bump! The back wheel of the buggy dropped off the edge of the driveway into the deep ditch beside it.

“Whoa, Jim!” Mama said. She pulled on the reins to make him stop, but he kept backing up a little more.

Lily could feel the buggy start to tip. Slowly, slowly, the buggy leaned farther into the ditch. Crash! The buggy tipped over on its side. Lily landed on top of Mama. Dannie sprawled on top of Joseph. Jim lay on the ground. He lifted his big head and looked back at the buggy as if to say, “How did that happen?”

Lily, Joseph, and Dannie started to cry. Cars stopped beside the road and people jumped out to see if they could help. A man with a long gray ponytail opened the storm front and lifted Lily and Joseph out.

“Run back to the house, Lily, and tell Grandpa we need help,” Mama said. She and Dannie were still trapped inside the buggy.

Lily held Joseph’s hand as they ran back up the driveway. Lily tried to run as fast as she could, but her legs still felt wobbly from the scare. She wondered how they would ever get Jim and the buggy out of the ditch.

Grandpa saw Lily and Joseph run up the driveway and met them on the porch. “What’s happened?”

“Our buggy!” Lily said, panting for breath. “Jim backed the buggy into the ditch and Mama needs help.”

Grandpa plucked his hat and coat from the hook inside the door and hurried to help Mama.

Grandma helped them out of their wet coats and told them to sit next to the stove to dry. Aunt Susie was at the sink, washing the dishes. She dried her hands and fussed over Joseph and Lily to make sure they were both okay. It troubled her whenever anyone was sad or hurt or scared.

Lily held out her arms to show Aunt Susie. “Not even a scratch,” she said, wanting to reassure Aunt Susie. “Mama made a nice soft landing to fall on.”

Lily stood by the window to watch Grandpa unhitch Jim from the buggy. Jim scrambled to his feet and stood quietly to wait for Mama to tell him what to do. Lily thought Jim looked sorry. So very sorry. She knew he would never do anything to hurt them on purpose. He was a good horse.

Mama passed Dannie to Grandpa through the buggy door, then climbed out. When Grandpa was satisfied she wasn’t hurt, he handed Dannie to her and turned his attention to righting the buggy. Mama held the corner of her shawl over Dannie’s head to try to keep the rain off him. The two of them watched Grandpa and the man with the long gray ponytail set the buggy back on its wheels. Lily was surprised to see that the buggy still looked fine. The little side windows weren’t even broken. Grandpa hitched Jim to the buggy again. He drove the buggy up to the house, with Mama and Dannie in it. Then he helped Lily and Joseph out to the buggy, covering them with his big black umbrella.

Jim trotted slowly and carefully all the way home, as if he was carrying a buggy filled with delicate china teacups. Lily couldn’t wait until Papa came home to tell him about their day. It had been exciting! And no one had been hurt. Not even Jim. She knew Papa would want to hear all about it.