“I can’t help it. There are so many things I like to think about.”
“Well, you oughta save your daydreamin’ for nighttime when you’re in bed.”
“I can’t do that,” Mattie said with a quick shake of her head. “Some thoughts just pop into my mind at any old time of the day.” She moved closer to Mark’s bed. “What’s that buch you’re reading?”
“It’s a book about all different kinds of keffer. I’m studying it so I can name all the ones I find in our yard.”
Mattie wrinkled her nose. “I can think of lots of better things to do than study bugs.”
“Well, you like flowers, and I like bugs. That just shows how different we are.” Mark chuckled. “But that’s what makes us so unique.”
“I guess you’re right about that.” Mattie turned toward the door. “Enjoy your buch about keffer, Mark. I’m goin’ outside to play with my hund.”
After Mattie left the room, Mark started thinking more about Perry wanting to play with the wooden horse. Maybe it would be a good idea to hide that horse, Mark thought. Just in case Perry decides to sneak into my room when I’m not here and help himself to the toy. Jah, that’s what I’ll do, he finally decided. I’ll take the horse and hide it in the barn.
“Come here, Twinkles,” Mattie called after she’d brought the dog’s brush out of the house and taken a seat on the top porch step.
Arf! Arf! Twinkles responded with a wag of her stubby tail. Then she raced across the yard, leaped onto the porch, and put her front paws on Mattie’s chest.
“Are you excited about getting your hair brushed?” Mattie asked.
Woof! Twinkles gave Mattie a slurpy kiss with a swipe of her little pink tongue.
Mattie giggled; then she made Twinkles lie in her lap so she could brush her smooth brown and white hair. Twinkles was a good dog and did what Mattie said. Mattie was glad Twinkles liked to be brushed.
Brushing Twinkles made Mattie think about the essay she’d written last week and how Mark had chosen the same topic. Mattie was still upset about the fact that he’d gotten a better grade than she did, but at least the teacher had given her a C. The way Mark had written his essay was a lot more interesting than what Mattie had said. It was longer, with more details, too, so he probably deserved the A he’d gotten.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Mattie concentrated on making Twinkles look good. She brushed and brushed until Twinkles’s hair was nice and shiny. By the time she was finished, Twinkles had fallen asleep.
“Wake up, Twinkles, you’re all done,” Mattie said, leaning her head close to the dog.
Soft little snores came from the dog’s mouth, and she didn’t even open her eyes.
Mattie had planned to teach Twinkles a new trick today, but since the dog had fallen asleep she didn’t want to bother her now. So she just sat, stroking Twinkles’s head and daydreaming about roasting marshmallows and drinking hot apple cider. She knew Dad planned to make fresh-squeezed cider soon, and oh, it would taste so wonderfully good. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. Whenever Dad made cider, he usually built a bonfire, and that evening the family would roast hot dogs for supper and enjoy toasted marshmallows for dessert.
Mattie wasn’t sure she could ever eat another hot dog after watching what happened to Grandma the day she choked. Mattie did love hot dogs, though, and after that incident, she’d probably remember for the rest of her life to eat slowly and always take small bites, no matter what she was eating.
“Hundli!” Ada hollered when she came out of the house and saw Mattie sitting on the porch steps.
“Twinkles is a hund, not a hundli,” Mattie said. “Hundli means puppy, and Twinkles is full-grown.”
Ada plopped down on the step beside Mattie. “Hunnskop.” She pointed to Twinkles’s head.
“You’re right.” Mattie nodded. “That’s my dog’s head.”
Without asking permission, Ada reached over and gave Twinkles a pat.
Twinkles’s eyes snapped open. Arf! Arf! She licked Ada’s hand and then slurped the end of her nose with her little pink tongue.
“Hundli! Hundli!” Ada giggled and waved her hands, the way she always did when she was excited.
Woof! Woof! Twinkles leaped off Mattie’s lap and raced into the yard. Ada jumped up and chased after the dog.
“Absatz! Stop!” Mattie shouted. “You’re gettin’ my hund all worked up!” She wished now she’d never let Ada pet Twinkles.
Twinkles kept running and barking, and Ada kept chasing her, hollering, “Hundli! Hundli!”
Twinkles got so worked up that she dropped to the ground and rolled all around. Now she had streaks of green grass and clumps of dirt in her hair!
Mattie clapped her hands and hollered, “Absatz! Absatz!”
Twinkles ignored her and kept rolling and barking, while Ada excitedly jumped up and down.
“That’s just great,” Mattie mumbled. “Now I’m gonna have to give Twinkles a bath!”
“What’s all the noise about?” Mark asked, stepping out of the barn.
Mattie pointed at Twinkles, still rolling around. “Ada got her all excited, and now I can’t get her calmed down.”
“I can take care of that in a hurry,” Mark said. “I’ll just get the hose and—”
“Oh no you don’t!” Mattie shook her head. “I’m gonna give Twinkles a bath but not with cold wasser. If you’ll take Ada inside, I think that will help.”
Mark gave a nod. Then he grabbed Ada around her waist and said, “Would ya like a horsey ride?”
“Jah!” Ada grinned up at Mark as she bobbed her head.
“Okay then, climb on my back and put your arms around my neck.” Mark bent down, and after Ada had her arms securely around his neck, he grabbed hold of her ankles and stood. “Neigh! Neigh!” Mark shouted as he took off for the house.
Mattie smiled. That twin brother of mine sure is strong.
Twinkles calmed down in a hurry after that, so Mattie picked the dog up and carried her to the house. “All right,
Twinkles,” she said. “It’s time now for your bath!”
That evening after supper, Mark and Mattie had just cleared the dishes off the table when Dad announced that he was going out to the barn to groom their horse. “Gotta have Ginger lookin’ good when she pulls our buggy to church tomorrow,” he said, grinning widely.
Mom smiled and patted Dad’s arm. “Even when we were courting, you liked to have your horse well groomed.”
“That’s true, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s not the reason you agreed to marry me, Alice.”
“No way, Willard,” Mom said with a shake of her head. “I married you because you knew how to cook.”
Mark leaned against the kitchen counter and waited for Dad’s reply. In all his nine years, he didn’t think he’d ever seen Dad cook a meal in Mom’s kitchen.
Dad tipped his head back, and his deep laughter bounced off the walls. “Well,” he said, giving Mom a quick wink, “I have boiled water for your tea a time or two. Does that count as cooking?”
Everyone laughed, even Ada and Perry, although Mark didn’t think his little sister and brother really knew what they were laughing about.
“You’re absolutely right, Willard,” Mom said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Knowing you could boil water is the reason I agreed to become your wife.”
“I knew it!” Dad slapped his hand against the table. Then he turned to Mark and said, “Now that we’ve got that all settled, would you like to come out to the barn and help me groom Ginger?”
Mark didn’t hesitate to answer, “Jah.” Most times Dad asked Ike, Calvin, or Russell to groom the horse. Since he’d asked Mark this evening, that must mean he thought Mark was responsible enough to help.
Dad tapped Mark’s shoulder. “All right then, let’s head on out to the barn!”
Mark followed Dad out the door. When they entered the barn, he glanced up at the shelf where he’d put his wooden horse for safekeeping. Perry would neve
r find it there, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to reach it.
Dad opened Ginger’s stall door and had just picked up her currycomb, when Lucky ran into the stall, chasing a mouse.
Suddenly, Ginger whinnied and reared up. Then she bolted out of the stall and raced into the main section of the barn. She kicked up her feet, banging walls and knocking into things. The next thing Mark knew, the shelf near the barn door vibrated, and his little wooden horse dropped to the floor with a thud.
Ginger, still thrashing about, stepped on the toy, and it broke into several pieces!
“Oh no!” Mark gasped. “No more wooden horse.”
Dad hollered, “Whoa there! Hold steady, Ginger!”
“She smashed my toy horse,” Mark said after Dad had grabbed hold of Ginger’s halter.
Dad didn’t seem to be listening to Mark. He was too busy looking at Ginger’s hoof. “This isn’t good,” Dad said with a shake of his head. “It’s not good at all.”
“What’s wrong?” Mark asked, leaning close to Dad.
“There’s a piece of wood wedged in her hoof, and the wound that resulted in her stepping on that toy horse is bleeding pretty bad.” Dad’s forehead wrinkled. “Guess I’d better go out to the phone shack and call the vet. Looks like we won’t be using Ginger to pull our buggy to church in the morning after all.”
Mark swallowed hard. If he hadn’t hidden the wooden horse in the barn to keep Perry from playing with it, this never would have happened. Mark wished now that he hadn’t been so selfish and would have at least let Perry hold the toy. He hoped Ginger would be okay. The poor horse never would have hurt her foot if it hadn’t been for his selfishness. Grandpa Miller probably would have said that Mark needed some horse sense!
CHAPTER 10
A New Treasure
On Monday afternoon, just before school ended for the day, Anna Ruth took a bag of candy from a drawer in her desk. Dan and Becky Yoder’s mother had given the candy to the teacher this morning and said she could give each of the scholars a piece before they went home today.
Mattie licked her lips as she eagerly waited for her turn to take a piece of candy from the bag. She hoped there was a strawberry-flavored one.
Mark and Mattie were the last ones in line, and Mark got to the teacher’s desk just before Mattie. There was only one piece of candy left, and Mark quickly reached inside the sack, snatching it up.
“Hey, what about me?” Mattie couldn’t believe Mark had taken the last piece.
“Oh dear,” Anna Ruth said. “I guess there wasn’t enough candy for all the scholars.” She looked at Mark. “Won’t you share your piece of candy with Mattie?”
Mark shook his head. “It’s chocolate. Mattie doesn’t like chocolate.”
Anna Ruth looked at Mattie. “Is that true?”
Mattie nodded. “But I would have taken a piece of chocolate candy if there’d been another one.”
“You want half of this one?” Mark asked, although he didn’t look too happy about it.
Mattie shook her head. “No, that’s okay; you go ahead.”
Mark took the wrapper off the candy and popped it into his mouth before his sister could change her mind. “Yum! This sure is good.”
“I’ll bring you a piece of candy tomorrow,” Anna Ruth told Mattie. “What flavor would you like?”
“Strawberry.” Mattie smacked her lips. “I like that kind the best.”
“I’ll see if I can find some strawberry-flavored candy,” Anna Ruth said.
Mattie grinned. “Danki, Teacher.” Then she turned and followed Mark out the door.
“I wonder why Dan and Becky’s mamm didn’t send enough candy to school,” Mark said as they climbed on their bicycle built for two. “You’d think she’d know how many scholars there are at our school.”
“I’m sure she does,” Mattie replied. “She probably just didn’t count each one in the bag.”
“Oh, you mean their mamm probably estimated how many she put in the bag?” Mark further explained that the word estimate meant a calculated guess.
Mattie rolled her eyes thinking, There go those big words again.
Even though her brother’s big words annoyed her most of the time, sometimes Mattie actually found herself using those big words after Mark had explained them to her. She didn’t want to admit it to him, but she was learning a whole new vocabulary of words, not only from her brother but also from Grandpa Miller. Mattie thought that someday her twin brother would make a good teacher. Maybe he’d end up teaching at their own schoolhouse here in Walnut Creek instead of working with Dad and Ike in the wood shop, liked he’d talked about sometimes.
As they pedaled out of the school yard, Mark called over his shoulder, “Sure hope Ginger’s foot is doing better today. Dad wasn’t happy about havin’ to call the vet, and I don’t think anyone in the family liked havin’ to walk to church on Sunday morning ’cause Ginger couldn’t pull the buggy.”
“I didn’t mind walking,” Mattie said. “It wasn’t raining yesterday, and the nice weather gave me a chance to get a close look at all the colored leaves and pretty fall flowers along the way.” She tapped Mark on the shoulder. “Speaking of flowers … I see some bright yellow ones up ahead. Let’s stop a minute so I can pick some to take home.”
Mark grunted. “I’m not stoppin’ so you can pick posies.”
“They’re not posies, and I don’t want them for me. I thought it would be nice to give a bouquet to Mom.”
“Oh, alright.” Mark stopped pedaling, and so did Mattie.
After they’d set the bike’s kickstand, Mattie walked into the field where she’d seen the flowers, while Mark looked around for any unusual rocks.
“Hey, Mark!” Mattie hollered from the center of the meadow, twirling around with her arms outstretched. “Look at all this. It’s like I’m standin’ in an ocean of mustard!”
Mark looked in the direction of his sister’s voice. Putting his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun, he realized that Mattie was standing right in the middle of a field full of goldenrod.
“I’m not sure you should pick that, Mattie,” Mark warned. “They do look pretty, but I think it’s the same weed that makes Perry niesse.“
Mattie returned with a few stems of the amber-colored plant and asked Mark if he was sure it was this wildflower that made their little brother sneeze.
“Jah, that’s what they call goldenrod. It’s a type of weed, and Perry’s allergic to it,” Mark insisted.
“Allergic?”
Mark explained that Perry had an allergy to goldenrod. Having an allergy meant their little brother had an unusual sensitivity to this plant that was otherwise harmless to others. “When Perry’s exposed to the weed, he sneezes,” Mark said once again. “Allergies cause some people to have a strong reaction. Other times, it’s a mild reaction like sneezin’.”
“Well, what am I gonna do now?” Mattie asked. “I really wanted to bring Mom a pretty bouquet of blumme today.”
Mark looked around, and on the other side of the road, near a small grove of trees in the corner of a pasture, he spotted some flowers.
“Look over there near those trees,” he said, pointing. “From here, it looks like asters and all sorts of other wildflowers you might wanna check out.”
Mattie looked in that direction, carefully crossed the road, and bounded toward the trees. When she got up to the flowers, she started picking right away—pink, pale blue, violet, and white—there were all sorts of pretty wildflowers growing in that spot.
Mark figured Mom would be pleased with the pretty bouquet Mattie would give to her when they got home, and while his sister picked the flowers, Mark found two small rocks that he liked. One was flat with green stripes running through it. The other one was black and shaped like a duck’s head.
Mark put both of them in his pocket; then he continued to look around. Suddenly, his eyes caught a flash of silver.
“Hmm … I wonder what that is,” he said, bend
ing down for a closer look. He was surprised to discover that it was a small knife, and it looked brand new.
Every boy needs a pocketknife, he thought to himself. Especially me, since I don’t have one yet.
This pocketknife was very unique. It was silver colored, and there was an eagle etched on the outside. When Mark opened the knife, he noticed some lettering carved in the blade, and it read: SOAR HIGH, LIKE AN EAGLE.
Mark turned the knife over and over again, looking at all the details. This is the best thing I’ve ever found, he thought, smiling to himself.
Mark looked around a bit more, hoping to find some other things lying along the road, until Mattie joined him again with her large bouquet of flowers.
“You were right, Mark.” Mattie held up the bouquet. “Mom should really like this one. Look how colorful it is.”
“Well, I hope we can get them home safely. Just be careful how you put ’em in the basket,” Mark said.
“I will.” Mattie walked to the back of their bike, where their lunch pails were tied onto the metal carrier. “I think I still have a paper towel in my lunch pail that I can put in the bottom of the bike’s basket. That should get the blumme home without ruining ’em.”
Waiting for Mattie to take care of the flowers, Mark slipped his new treasure into his pocket. Maybe I can learn to carve something with this, he thought. I won’t try a wooden horse because that would be too hard, but I might be able to carve a toy wagon.
When Mattie and Mark got home, Mattie couldn’t wait to show Mom the pretty flowers she’d picked. Luckily, the paper towel had protected the flowers, and they were still in good shape.
Jumping off the bike and not even waiting for her brother, she bounded up the walkway and into the house, knowing that the flowers should be put into a vase with some water.
“Look, Mom!” Mattie exclaimed, out of breath. “I found some pretty blumme for you today on the way home from school.”
“Ach, Mattie, they are so nice.” Mom took the flowers from her and went to find a vase. “You really did get an assortment of pretty colors today. Danki very much.”
Bumpy Ride Ahead! Page 8