Life with Lily Read Free

just like Mama did. Dannie would look at her with his big blue eyes and tuck his hands under his chin. Lily liked to hold his tiny hands and count his fingers.
    On Sunday afternoons, visitors would come to the house to see Mama and baby Dannie. They would hold Dannie and say he looked just like Mama or Papa. Lily thought that was such a silly thing to say. Baby Dannie had no hair and no teeth. He looked like a baby, not like Mama or Papa. The visitors would bring a baby card and a few little toys. Mama would let Lily place the toys carefully on the dresser. Therewere baby books, teething rings, rattles, homemade strings of pretty colored beads and little squeaky animals. Dannie was too small to play with them now, Mama told her. But when Dannie grew older, Mama would take the toys to church for him to play with while the ministers preached their long sermons.

    At last, the day came when Frieda Troyer packed her suitcase. It was time for her to leave! Papa paid her and thanked her for helping out. She picked up her suitcase and walked out the door, down the walkway to where a taxi was waiting to drive her home. Lily climbed on a chair to look out the window and watch Frieda leave. As soon as the taxi disappeared around the bend in the driveway, Lily slid off the chair. She didn’t know what she wanted to do first! She held her arms out and started spinning in happy circles until she was dizzy and collapsed, giggling on the floor. Joseph joined in and they both spun in circles. It was so nice not to have Frieda frown at them or tell them to stop! Lily was so happy she couldn’t hold still! Mama smiled at Lily and Joseph from the rocking chair where she held baby Dannie. Lily wondered how Mama could remain calm. Lily felt as if her feet wanted to dance and jump and hop through the house.
    Later in the evening, Papa sat in his big creaky rocking chair and held Lily and Joseph on his lap. Mama rocked Dannie in her rocking chair. It was wonderful to hear Papa and Mama laugh and talk again. Lily snuggled into Papa’s strong arms and sighed with happiness. Everything in her world was right again. And tomorrow, she would help Mama start putting everything in the cupboards back to where they had been before Frieda had come.

3

Papa’s Disappearing Shovel
    O n a warm, sunny April morning, Lily and Joseph were playing in the sandbox in the yard. A loud roar startled them. They looked up to see a big white truck come bouncing into sight at the bottom of the long driveway. Behind it rolled another truck, lurching around the bend. Stacked on the back of the trucks were piles of lumber.
    Lily watched as the trucks came to a shuddering stop in front of the house. Papa walked over to talk to the truck drivers. He pointed toward Jim’s pasture while he spoke with the men. Lily wished she could hear what Papa was saying! Something was going to happen and she couldn’t tell what.
    After Papa finished talking to the truck drivers, they drove the trucks over to Jim’s pasture. One man climbed on the back of the truck and started handing lumber, one piece at a time, to the other man waiting below. The man on the ground carried the lumber over to Papa. He stacked the lumber in neatpiles on the ground. After the men emptied the trucks, they said goodbye to Papa and drove back down the driveway. Lily was glad when the noisy trucks were gone. They had been so loud that she couldn’t hear the birds sing in the trees. She couldn’t hear Mama sing through the open windows as she moved about the house.
    Lily dropped the little shovel that she had been using to dig a pond in the sandbox. She held Joseph’s hand and the two ran to Papa. He was whistling a happy little tune while straightening the piles of lumber. He smiled at them. “Well, children, what do you think? Does this look like a barn?”
    Lily giggled. To her, it did not look like anything but boards.
    Papa pushed his hat back and wiped sweat off