Mattie’s eyes grew heavy as she listened to the tempo of the rain and a low rumble sounding in the distance. Please keep us and our house safe tonight, Lord, she prayed, snuggling deeper under the covers.
Sure wish I didn’t have to go to bed so early all the time, Mark thought as he stared out his bedroom window at the falling rain. Wish I was as old as Calvin and Russell and could stay up a little later, like they’re allowed to do. Seems like my older brothers get to do a lot more things than Mattie and me.
Mark couldn’t help feeling sorry for himself. Besides being sent to bed earlier than his brothers, Mattie was upset with him because he’d beaten her at Checkers. He didn’t understand why it bothered her so much that he’d won the game. Calvin and Russell didn’t seem to care that much who won. Mark supposed he could have let Mattie win, but then that wouldn’t seem right, either. Since he was good at playing the game, he thought he had the right to win. Besides, there were many things Mattie was good at—baseball, running races, teaching her dog new tricks, and catching the most fish today.
I need to think about something else, Mark told himself as he climbed into bed. Sure hope this rainy weather is over by next Saturday ’cause I’m looking forward to visiting The Farm again. When he had gone there with John and his family, he’d had such a good time. It had been fun to feed the animals, and as they rode along in the horse-pulled wagon, he’d even been able to pet a few of the animals. The only thing that had gone wrong that day was when one of the llamas spit on him. What a smelly mess that had been!
He grinned as he pulled the covers up to his chin. Guess it was pretty funny, but I hope it doesn’t happen again. If it does, maybe this time the llama will aim for Mattie. I wonder how she’d like that.
Mark closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but the ping! ping! ping! of raindrops hitting his bedroom window kept him awake. He lay there, listening, as the minutes passed. Even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t shut out the low rumble of thunder from the oncoming storm as it slowly approached.
Mark rolled onto his side and pulled one edge of his pillow around his ears, trying to drown out the annoying sound.
Ka-boom!
Mattie bolted upright in bed as flashes of lightning lit up her room and thunderous booms made the house shudder. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Mattie didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping, but she was awake now and didn’t think she could go back to sleep. It was scary being upstairs in her room alone. Mattie thought she might feel better if she went downstairs to the living room, which would put her closer to Mom and Dad’s room. Perry and Ada’s rooms were on the first floor across from Mom and Dad, so the two of them didn’t have far to go if they got scared and needed comfort during the night.
Pushing the covers aside, Mattie slipped out of bed and quickly put on her robe. Then, grabbing her pillow and the flashlight she kept on her nightstand, she tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs.
Mattie shivered as she entered the living room. It was cold in the house, and the rain continued to beat hard against the windows. She gasped as a flash of lightning lit the sky, followed by a noisy clap of thunder that rattled the glass. Mattie wondered if anyone else in the family was awake. Surely they couldn’t sleep through such a storm.
Using the flashlight to guide her across the room, Mattie took Mom’s quilt from the back of the sofa. Fluffing up her pillow and then curling into a tight little ball on one end of the sofa, she lay down and covered herself with the quilt.
Ka-boom! Another clap of thunder sounded, and Mattie pulled the covering over her head. Being down here alone on the sofa wasn’t much better than being upstairs in her room, but at least she felt safer knowing Mom and Dad were right down the hall. As Mattie lay there, trembling in fear, she silently prayed, Dear Jesus, please make the dunner and wedderleech stop, and till it does, help me not be so afraid.
Feeling a little calmer now, Mattie closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.
Ka-boom!
Mark sat straight up in bed, eyes wide open. “Wh–what was that?” He sat, listening as the wind howled outside and raindrops battered against his bedroom window, like a shower of pebbles. Oh yeah, there’s a storm brewin’, he reasoned. It seemed so much worse now than when he’d first gone to bed.
Mark didn’t mind the wind and rain, but the loud claps of thunder made him jumpy. He knew the grumbles and growls of the thunderstorm came from the rapid expansion of air surrounding the path of a lightning bolt. Like an explosion, the quickly expanding waves of compressed air created a loud, booming burst of noise. Knowing all that, however, did nothing to make him feel better about the noisy, frightening storm.
“Wish I wasn’t up here in my room all alone,” Mark whispered into the darkness. He thought about going to Ike, Russell, or Calvin’s room and asking if he could sleep with them. But if any of his brothers knew he was scared of the storm, they’d probably think he was acting like a baby instead of a boy who wasn’t fearful of most things. In fact, Mark often bragged about how brave he was and wasn’t afraid to try new things.
Maybe if I go downstairs and sleep on the sofa, I’ll be less afraid, Mark told himself. Jah, that’s just what I’m gonna do.
Grabbing his pillow, Mark pushed the covers aside and crawled out of bed just as another clap of thunder sounded. Hurrying to his door, he slipped out of the room and tiptoed down the stairs, being careful to hold the railing since it was dark and he couldn’t see where he was going.
Guess I should have brought my flashlight, he thought as he made his way down the hall and into the living room. Well, he wasn’t going back upstairs for it now. Feeling around for Mom’s quilt, he discovered it lying on the sofa. Curling up on one end of the sofa, Mark pulled the quilt up to his neck. He ruffled up his pillow, hoping he could fall asleep.
Whoosh! The quilt fell away, and he grabbed for it again, pulling the covering a little tighter this time.
Something sharp jabbed Mark’s foot. “Ouch!”
Suddenly, a beam of light shone in Mark’s face. He quickly sat up. “Mattie? What are you doin’ here?” he asked when he saw his sister on the other end, pointing a flashlight at him.
“I’m tryin’ to sleep,” she replied with a noisy yawn. “At least, I was till you showed up. What are you doing here, Mark?”
“The storm woke me,” he said. “Thought I’d sleep better on the sofa.”
Mattie nodded. “Me, too. I don’t like the dunner and wedderleech.”
“I don’t like thunder and lightning, either,” Mark admitted. “It’s noisy and kinda creepy when you’re all alone. I thought bein’ down here might make it less scary.”
“Same here,” Mattie said. “And now that you’re here, I feel even better.”
“I agree. It’s always nice to have someone nearby when you’re scared.” Mark was glad he and Mattie were helping each other through the awful storm. He hoped neither of them would have any more jealous thoughts about each other, either.
Mattie laid her head back down and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I got upset when you beat me at Checkers,” she said, yawning again.
“And I’m sorry for gettin’ mad when you got the Checkers game down from the bookcase ’cause I couldn’t reach it,” Mark said. “Oh, and I’m sorry for gettin’ mad at you for catching those fish when I caught none.”
“It’s okay. I just happened to find some fish that liked corn.” Mattie yawned once more. “Gut nacht, Mark.”
“Night, Mattie.” Mark closed his eyes, wondering if he and Mattie looked like a pair of bookends, he fell fast asleep.
CHAPTER 7
Mark’s Discovery
Mattie jerked her foot. It felt like someone had pinched her toes. No, that wasn’t possible. She must be dreaming.
“Ouch!” There it was again—something sharp had stabbed her big toe. Slowly, she opened one eye and then the other. Where am I? This doesn’t look like my room.
She sat up and looked around, re
alizing that she was on the sofa in the living room. There lay Mark at the other end with his feet stretched out, all the way to her side. He was sleeping like a baby and snoring softly, too.
It must have been Mark’s toenail that jabbed my foot, Mattie thought. But what’s he doing on the sofa, and why am I here at the other end when we should be in our beds?
Mattie stretched her arms over her head, noticing the morning’s light coming through the front window. Oh yeah, now I remember. Mark and I both came downstairs during the night because of the storm, and we fell asleep on the sofa.
Mattie nudged Mark’s leg. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
He snorted and turned onto his other side.
Mattie bumped his leg again. “It’s morning, Mark. Time to get up.”
Mark didn’t budge or say one word.
“Come on, Mark, open your eyes.” This time Mattie tossed her pillow at him just before she went to the window to look out. Fog rose from the ground, making the sky look cloudy, and a milky sun peeked over the horizon. Mattie hoped it wasn’t going to rain again.
She returned to take a seat on the sofa when Mom came into the room. “What are you two doing down here?” she asked, stopping in front of the sofa.
Mark sat up, yawned, and rubbed his eyes. “You tell her, Mattie. I’m so tired, I can barely talk.”
Mattie explained to Mom how the storm had awakened them during the night and said they’d both been really scared. “We thought we’d feel better if we slept down here, closer to you and Dad,” she quickly added.
Mark bobbed his head, throwing Mattie’s pillow back at her. “Jah, that’s right. Seems we both had the same idea about where we should sleep.”
“I see,” Mom said, tapping her chin.
“You’re not mad, are you, Mom?” Mattie asked hesitantly. “I hope we’re not in trouble.”
“Of course not.” Mom smiled and shook her head. “I’m sorry you were frightened. That was a bad storm we had, and I expect everyone had a hard time sleeping with all the noise. I’m surprised it didn’t wake the little ones, too.”
“The dunner and wedderleech woke me right up,” Mattie said.
“Same here,” Mark agreed. “But we felt better after we came downstairs.”
“Hopefully, you both got a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, you might have a rough time in church today.” Mom walked over to the window and looked out. “The fog’s lifted, and the sky has cleared. Just look at that bright sun coming up. After last night, it sure is good to see it so calm.” She walked back to the sofa then bent down and gave the twins a hug. “All right you two, it’s time to go back up to your rooms. You need to get dressed and ready for church. While you’re doing that, I’ll get breakfast started.”
Mark and Mattie got up and draped the quilt over the back of the sofa. Scampering out of the room, they giggled, hitting each other with their pillows as they headed up the stairs to their rooms. Mattie was glad Mom had understood about them sleeping downstairs. She was also relieved that the storm was over. It would be a lot nicer to ride in their buggy to church now than it would be in the pouring rain.
“Sure am glad it’s not raining,” Mattie hollered to Mark as they rode their bicycle-built-for-two toward the schoolhouse on Monday morning. She caught a glimpse of Russell and Calvin riding their bikes up ahead. They’d no doubt get to school before Mark and Mattie made it there.
“I agree,” Mark called, steering the bike to the right a bit. “But there are a lot of puddles we have to avoid.”
“That’s for sure,” Mattie agreed. “We don’t want our clothes to get splashed, or we could end up wet and muddy. If the weather was still stormy like it was on Saturday night, either Dad or Ike might have given us a ride to school with the horse and buggy.”
“Jah, but I’m glad it’s not,” Mark said, glancing over his shoulder at Mattie. “I like ridin’ our bike to school so we can enjoy the clean, fresh air. And at least we got a good night’s sleep; otherwise I’d be too tired to pedal.”
Mattie couldn’t argue with that. She felt rested and raring to go, especially since it was so pretty out this morning. The air smelled nice after it had rained, and everything looked vivid and clean.
“Watch out, Mattie, there’s a big puddle straight ahead,” Mark hollered. “Pay attention and help me steer. I think there’s just enough room for us to squeeze our bike around the edge.”
Mattie held tightly to her handlebars and pedaled in unison with her brother. Luckily, working together, they managed to get past the mud puddle with the wheels of their bike hugging the border of the water.
“Whew, that was close!” Mark said, expelling a noisy breath of air. “Sure didn’t want to get my new sneakers all wet and dirty.”
“Me neither,” Mattie agreed. “I want to keep my shoes looking new for as long as possible.”
“Hey, look over there!” Mark pointed as a frog hopped into the grass along the side of the road. “Wish I would have seen him sooner. I could’ve caught the critter and took it home to put with the other frosch that lives in your garden.”
“Oh, there’s another one!” Mattie laughed as a second frog jumped into a small puddle, splashing water everywhere. “There goes one more!” she shouted as yet another frog hopped across the road.
“They seem to be everywhere!” Mark said with excitement. “If I had somethin’ to put ’em in, I’d try to catch a few.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Mattie reminded her brother. “We need to keep going or we’ll be late for school.”
“Must be all that rain we had Saturday night that brought out all those hoppin’ frogs,” Mark said as they continued to pedal their bike. “Maybe we’ll find some more frogs at school when we go outside for recess.”
As the twins neared one of their English neighbor’s homes, Mark suddenly put on the brakes.
“Whoa! What are we stoppin’ for?” Mattie asked, grasping the handlebars tighter, trying to keep her balance. I hope he didn’t see another frog. “Don’t you realize we shouldn’t be fooling around?” Mattie looked down, right below her feet, not waiting for an answer. “Mark, I can’t put my feet down here ’cause you stopped our bike right over the top of a puddle. And if we’re not careful, we really will be late for school.”
“Would ya look at that?” Mark hollered, pointing to an old bicycle lying on its side next to a garbage can. “I think the Johnsons must have thrown that out. I’ll bet it’s their son Andy’s old bike. I saw him ridin’ a shiny new one the other day.”
As her twin brother scooted the bike forward for her with his feet, Mattie’s forehead wrinkled. “I can see why they’d toss the old bike out. It’s really a mess!”
“It’s not that bad,” Mark said, climbing off their bike and putting up the kickstand. He walked over to the older bike, squatted down, and looked it over real good.
Mattie joined Mark in front of the bike. “It looks terrible,” she said. “The paint’s wearing off, the tires are flat, there are several dents in the fenders, and the chain’s even broken. Oh, and the handlebars look rusty, and the seat is torn. The only part of the bike that looks any good is the bell.” She reached out and rang the bell. Ching! Ching!
Just then an idea popped into Mattie’s head. “Say, maybe we could take the bell off this old bike and put it on ours. We still need one, you know, and since we have no money to buy a new bell, this one could work out just fine.”
“Hmm…” With his arms folded and head tipped to one side, Mark continued to stare at the bicycle. “Think I’m gonna knock on the Johnsons’ door and ask if they mind if I take this old bike.”
Mattie plopped her hands against her hips. “Take it where, Mark? With the tires flat and the chain broken, there’s no way you can ride that old bike. Besides, we’re supposed to be heading to school. If we don’t go now, I’ll bet we won’t get there on time.”
“Just relax, Mattie. If the Johnsons say I can have the bike, then I’ll leave it parked at their
house and pick it up after school.”
“How are you gonna do that?” she asked. “If you think I’m gonna ride our bicycle all by myself while you try to push that pile of junk home, then you’ve got another think comin’.”
“Don’t get so worked up,” Mark said calmly. “I don’t expect you to ride our bike by yourself. We’ll go home after school, and I’ll ask Dad or Ike to bring our open market wagon over here so we can haul the old bicycle home.”
“You don’t need this bike, Mark. We already have one, remember?” Mattie motioned to their bicycle-built-for-two.
“It’s hard for us to ride our bike when we’re by ourselves,” Mark said. “If I fix this old bike up, I can ride it whenever I want to go somewhere alone.”
“That’s fine for you, but where does that leave me?” Mattie questioned.
“Maybe I’ll let you borrow it sometimes,” he said, smiling widely.
Mattie folded her arms. “Humph! I think it’s a dumm idea, and if we don’t get going right now, we’re gonna be late for school!”
“We won’t be late,” Mark argued. “It’ll only take me a few minutes to run up to the Johnsons’ house and ask if they mind if I take the bike.” Before Mattie could say anything more, he sprinted across the yard and stepped onto the Johnsons’ porch.
Mattie groaned. It wouldn’t be fair if Mark ended up with a bike of his own. She’d probably never get to ride it, either. Secretly, she hoped the Johnsons would tell Mark that he couldn’t have the beat-up-looking bike.
Mark’s heart started to pound as he rapped on the door. What if the Johnsons weren’t home? It wouldn’t be right for him to take the bike without asking, even though it had been sitting out by the trash. What if the Johnsons were home, but said Mark couldn’t have the old bike?
As Mark waited by the door, he glanced around and spotted Andy’s new bicycle parked on one end of the porch. It would sure be nice to have a brand-new shiny bike like that, Mark thought. Andy was an only child and both of his parents worked, so Mark figured they had more money to spend on nice things than his folks did. A twinge of envy shot through him as he thought about all the other toys Andy had to play with, in addition to the new bike. Since Andy’s folks weren’t Amish, they had electricity running into their house. One time, when Mark went to visit Andy, he’d discovered that the boy even had a TV in his bedroom. He also had a computer as well as a couple of electronic toys. Mark couldn’t help feeling a bit envious about that, but even if he were allowed to have such things, he wasn’t sure what he would do with them. He was used to playing with simple things, like the old rope swing in the barn, flying his kite, blowing bubbles, and all sorts of games. Mark was okay with that because all those things were fun to do.
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