Life with Lily Read Free Page B

landscaping around here must have been in a hurry,” Papa said. “He sure didn’t care what he was doing.”
    Papa pounded the last stake into the ground. After double-checking that the barn foundation was properly measured off, he picked up his shovel and walked to the house. Lily and Joseph ran ahead of him. As he stepped on the little mound where Lily and Joseph had been playing, his leg suddenly disappeared! Mama screamed and reached for Papa’s hands. He managed to pull his leg out of the mound, but his shovel fell into the hole. Ker-splash! Lily could hear the shovel hit water far below.
    Mama began to cry. Papa held her close to him and patted her shoulder. “It’s all right, Rachel,” he said soothingly. “No one was hurt.”
    Mama’s face was white. “Oh, Daniel!” she whispered. “The children had just been sitting there! Think how often they’ve played on top of those mounds! How could we not have realized it was an old well? It was an accident just waiting to happen!”
    â€œI must say it gave me quite a stir,” Papa said in a soothing voice. “A man gets kind of used to having the ground stay solid under his feet.” His face brightened. “But this solves the problem of how we will get water to the barn. I’ll get this old well fixed up nice.” He looked around at the mound. “Until then, I’d better do something to keep anyone else from falling through.”
    Papa removed the rest of the dirt and rotten boards. Hands on his hips, he stood gazing at the big, gaping hole in the yard. “I’m guessing there’s an old well under that other mound too.” He went into the basement to get another shovel. He started digging at the other mound. Once again, he found rotten boards covering an old well. This well, though, was bone dry. Not a drop of water was in it.
    Lily and Joseph watched as Papa built covers for the wells and placed them over the holes. “That will have to do until I have more time.” He tested each cover to make sure it didn’t move and it could hold his weight.
    Lily shuddered at how easily she and Joseph and baby Dannie could have fallen into the deep, dark, scary well. They might have disappeared and never been seen or heard from again. How sad! It was a dreadful thought.

    A few days later, Lily and Joseph sat on the back of the bouncing spring wagon as Papa drove Jim across the field. The grass came up all the way to Jim’s belly. If Lily held herhands over the side of the spring wagon, she could brush the tops of the grass with her fingers. Papa was taking them to the edge of the woods for a big pile of rocks and stones. He wanted to fill the spring wagon with the rocks. He would use the rocks to fill up the dry well. If it was filled to the top with rocks, no little boy or girl could fall into it and disappear.
    When they reached the rock pile, Papa hopped off the spring wagon and lifted Lily and Joseph down. He didn’t have to tie Jim when he was working; he was such a good horse that he stood quietly wherever Papa left him. Besides, out in the field, if Jim wanted to take a few steps, it wouldn’t matter.
    Papa started throwing rocks on the back of the spring wagon. Lily and Joseph picked up smaller stones and tossed them into the wagon. Lily’s hands felt dirty and grimy after the first couple handfuls, but she enjoyed being a help to Papa.
    Papa whistled as he worked, and before long the spring wagon was filled with rocks. As they drove to the yard, Lily sat on the front seat with Papa while he held Joseph on his lap. Papa stopped Jim beside the dry well and removed the cover. He climbed into the back of the spring wagon and started pitching the rocks into the hollow well.
    It took many trips to the rock pile before the dry well was filled to the top. Once it was full, Papa unhitched Jim and let him rest in the pasture. Then Papa filled a wheelbarrow with