by Linda Byler
“Do you want to go to bed now, Lizzie?” Mam asked. Lizzie nodded her head. She was very sleepy because it was getting late, and when Mam tucked her in the cool, clean bed, it only took Lizzie a few minutes to fall asleep. She didn’t hear Mam and Emma when they came into her bedroom a while later.
Mam helped Emma to bed and then stood quietly, watching Lizzie sleeping innocently, her shoulders rising and falling softly with her breathing. Mam breathed an extra prayer for Lizzie, knowing deep in her heart that a small girl who thought so deeply would need all the prayers she could say in a lifetime, however long God chose that to be.
chapter 22
School Days
Summer was coming to a warm golden end. The days were still balmy, but sometimes Lizzie heard Mam close the window in their bedroom at night.
School would be starting again in a few days. Mam was busy at her sewing machine every day, making new school dresses and aprons. She lengthened two of their Sunday dresses so they could wear them for school.
They went to town one afternoon with Evelyn, the Mennonite neighbor lady, and bought new sneakers, a pencil case, a tablet, and some new pencils. Lizzie begged Mam for a package of bright colored pencils, and Emma asked for erasers in a pack of eight. Mam let them have both, but she did not let them have a new coloring book, because they had plenty of them at home.
On the way home, they stopped at the Twin Kiss, where Mam bought them each a soft ice-cream cone that was twirled. Half of it was chocolate and the other half was vanilla. It was so cold and creamy, and Lizzie got a bad headache because she ate hers too fast. Emma’s ice cream lasted a lot longer than Lizzie’s because she ate it more slowly.
Mam and Evelyn sat on the benches of the picnic table and talked while they drank their root beer floats. Evelyn had bright red hair and was tall and thin. Emma told Lizzie she wished her hair was as red as Evelyn’s.
“Why, Emma?” asked Lizzie.
“Because it looks pretty,” she said.
“Yes, but just because it’s combed up fancy and wavy. If she had to wet her hair down and roll it tight, it would look ugly,” Lizzie said, catching the last of her melting ice cream with her tongue. “Besides, would you want her freckles, too?”
“I guess not really,” Emma said, looking over at Evelyn’s freckled arms.
“You do have pretty hair, Emma. Yours is almost black and it’s so shiny. I would be glad to have hair like yours,” Lizzie said.
“Do you think so?” Emma asked, dubiously.
“Of course, Emma,” Lizzie said.
“Well, I like your brown hair better,” offered Emma.
Lizzie looked over at Emma and smiled a genuine smile of sisterly affection. “I’m glad,” she said simply.
And then because the day was so sunny, Mam and Evelyn were laughing, and all their new school things were in the trunk of Evelyn’s car, Lizzie put her arm around Emma’s shoulder and squeezed. She loved Emma when they sat together and ate ice cream, especially when Emma said she liked brown hair better.
“I really wonder what our new teacher will be like,” Lizzie worriedly told Emma.
“I don’t know,” Emma said, matter-of-factly. “Guess we’ll find out on the first day of school.”
· · · · ·
That was exactly how it all turned out. Lizzie, Emma, and Lavina Lapp all walked to school together, as usual, the very first day. It was warm, but the leaves looked a bit dull on the trees, as if they knew fall was just around the corner.
Lizzie’s new sneakers rubbed the back of her heel painfully. She tried to push her toes up against the front, but her shoe just flopped more than ever. She bit down on her lip, determined to be brave and not tell Emma and Lavina to slow down. They walked on, and the blister became more painful. Finally Lizzie could take it no longer, so she said in a very small voice, “Emma.”
Emma didn’t hear her so she said it a bit louder. “Emma!”
“What?” Emma stopped.
“My shoe is rubbing a blister on my heel,” she asked, biting down on her lip so she wouldn’t cry.
Lavina Lapp bent down to look at Lizzie’s heel. “Ouch. That must hurt. I can see the blister through your stocking. Now what are we going to do?” she asked.
They all stood up and turned when they heard a horse come trotting swiftly behind them. A black horse was pulled to a stop as a young girl pulled back on the reins, scattering gravel as she said, “Whoa. Whoa.”
A pair of very blue eyes shone down at the girls. “Do you want a ride? I think you must be some of my pupils. I’m Katie King, your new teacher. I’m late, so hop up,” she said.
It was a buggy with no top. Lavina scrambled up first, followed by Emma, and Lizzie plopped on the small area on the floor.
“Come on, Roy!”
Lizzie’s head flew back as the horse took a flying leap and sped down the road. The horse’s tail tickled Lizzie’s face, and the wind whistled in her ears as they went flying down the road toward the school. Lizzie didn’t look at Emma, because she was afraid they’d start giggling.
“I got lost this morning!” Katie King said, above the wind. “I turned wrong at Clover Road, so that’s why I’m late. I should have driven more often by myself when I was getting my school ready.”
“That’s alright,” Lavina said. “We were early.”
“I sure hope the other children aren’t there yet,” she said. The new teacher pulled back on the reins to slow down. They rounded the corner and came sliding up to the schoolyard gate. Katie jumped off the buggy without using the step, flung open the gate, and led her horse inside. The girls all piled out, and Katie quickly unharnessed, watered her horse, and tied him in the horse shed. The girls just stood self-consciously on the porch, because this teacher was very different from Teacher Sylvia, who always came with a driver, and was much slower and quieter than this new young girl.
Katie took the porch steps two at a time, inserted the key into the lock, and turned. She threw open the door and stepped back to let the girls enter first.
Lavina gasped when she stepped through the door. “Wow!” was all she managed to say. The schoolroom looked so different. There was a whole row of pretty scrolls with brightly colored roses, a different color for every grade, and all the pupils’ names stenciled neatly in black letters. There was a colorful chart with all the primary colors on it and a chart with each child’s cleaning chores and when it was their turn.
The floor was newly oiled, the desks were glowing with a coat of fresh varnish, and there was a new plastic water jug.
Lizzie drew in a deep breath, her eyes opening wide in surprise. This was like a different classroom. Everything was so new and pretty, and Emma and Lizzie walked around, touching things in awe.
Lavina was talking to Katie King, and Lizzie wished she knew what to say to her, too. But she didn’t know what to say, so she just watched Katie from a distance, her hands clasped behind her back.
Katie was slender, with dark brown hair and a neat white covering pinned over it. Her eyes sparkled and danced with enthusiasm as she waved her arms to demonstrate a point. Her dress was gray, as was her cape, and her black apron was pinned neatly around her waist. Lizzie even noticed her shoes, which had small heels on them. Lizzie couldn’t wait to tell Emma that Amish people could so wear heels, as long as they were not too high.
The door opened and the Zook children entered quietly. Everyone felt the same, Lizzie supposed, because the teacher was so new and different. One by one, the families arrived, saying, “Good morning,” shyly, some with averted eyes. But Katie walked among her pupils, introducing herself, always smiling, putting a hand on one little girl’s shoulder while she bent to talk to her at eye level.
Betty came hurrying up to Lizzie. “Hi!” she said, quite fervently, grabbing Lizzie’s hand and squeezing tightly.
“Hi!” Lizzie answered.
“It’s so good to see you, Lizzie! All summer I could hardly wait to come back to school, mostly just to
be with you. Do you have a new dress on?”
“Mm-hmm,” Lizzie nodded her head proudly.
“It’s pretty,” Betty said.
“Mam just made it last week, so it wasn’t even washed yet,” Lizzie beamed.
“Did you find your seat yet?” Betty asked.
“No.”
“Let’s go look which one has our name,” Betty said.
Before they found their desks, the bell rang. Everyone looked for their name tag, and eventually the classroom became quiet as the children found their own desks.
As the new teacher stood at attention, she tapped a little bell on her desk, just as Teacher Sylvia always had. That was the only thing that was as usual, because her heartfelt “Good morning, boys and girls,” was so loud that Lizzie jumped. The whole school responded much louder than when Teacher Sylvia had said it.
When she started to read her Bible story, she spoke very loudly and clearly, using lots of expression. No matter how hard Lizzie tried, she could not keep a straight face. She looked sideways at Betty, and Susie opened her eyes wide, lifting her eyebrows. But Lizzie looked away quickly, because she desperately wanted to be a perfect student for this new teacher. She clasped her hands carefully on her desk and listened closely.
The singing did not go very well because the pupils felt shy with a new teacher. But Katie smiled at all of them after she had put the songbooks away, and told them they sang nicely for the first time.
Then she introduced herself, saying this was her third term of teaching. She had taught two years at Rocky Creek School, about ten miles away. She asked all the pupils to introduce themselves and say who their parents were. After the pupils had made their introductions, the new teacher got Teacher Sylvia’s wooden pointer and walked over to the wall where a new poster had been put up.
“Now, as you know, we need to pay attention all together while we go over the rules. We can’t have a school running smoothly without rules.”
Oh boy, thought Lizzie. Here we go. She’s going to have so many rules that I’ll never be able to be good enough. She’ll spank us little ones, I’ll bet. She glanced over at Susie, noticing that she sat up straighter, and her face took on a worried expression.
“The very first one, and by far the most important for all of us, is this one.” Katie pointed to the first line. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” she said clearly.
“Now, if all of us would care more about our friend than about ourself, we would have a perfect school, and we wouldn’t need rules at all.” She smiled her wide, enthusiastic smile. “But since none of us is perfect, we will need rules this year.”
Lizzie let out her breath. Oh goody, she’s still being nice, she thought.
“Who can read the next rule for me?” Katie asked.
One of the upper grade girls raised her hand and read quietly, “Please do not turn around in your seat or whisper to anyone.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Katie raised her hand to her mouth in mock distress. “Is that as loud as you can talk?”
The upper grader blushed and giggled self-consciously. “No,” she said.
“Alright, here we go then. Louder, please!” said Katie.
So the rule was read much more loudly and clearly, which caused the poor girl to blush again.
Lizzie trembled in her shoes. Oh my. I certainly hope she won’t ask me to read anything. She is too bossy, she thought.
After the rules were read by different pupils, who all had to read them the second time to speak more clearly, Lizzie decided she did not like Katie King for her teacher. How embarrassed that poor girl looked, Lizzie thought. She makes me mad. I’m not going to speak that loudly and clearly if she asks me to do anything—I’m too little. So Lizzie drew her mouth down in a tight line, and sat in her desk, not liking Katie King.
The new teacher was quite unaware of one little girl’s rebellious thoughts, as she moved up and down the aisles, distributing brand new tablets with cardboard backs on them.
“Write your name on the back, please,” she said.
So Lizzie dutifully wrote her name on her tablet with her new pen.
That wasn’t necessary to say, Lizzie decided. We knew that last year. After all, this is my second year in school. Without thinking, Lizzie leaned over to Susie and whispered, “We knew that, right?”
Susie looked frightened and held up one finger against her mouth, drawing down her eyebrows. “Shh!”
“Lizzie! It is Lizzie, right?” Katie stood directly in front of her desk, frowning down at her. Lizzie’s heart flopped in her chest and her mouth went dry. She hadn’t meant to whisper—she just forgot.
“Were you whispering to your friend?” the teacher asked.
“Y-yes. Kind of,” Lizzie stammered, feeling perfectly horrible. Now she’ll just get out her ruler and smack me, she thought miserably. She bowed her head and clutched the wooden seat of her desk with both hands till her knuckles turned white.
“Either you were whispering or you weren’t, Lizzie,” Katie said sternly.
Lizzie just sat there, not knowing what to say. It felt like twenty pairs of eyes were looking right through her, including the new teacher’s.
“What did you say?” Katie asked, not unkindly.
“I … I don’t know. I forget.”
“Well, you must not whisper to your neighbor, and I hope everyone remembers from now on. Lizzie, I will have to let you go this time, but next time you will get a point on the blackboard. Now remember, pupils—no whispering!”
Since Katie stood directly in front of Lizzie’s desk, her voice rolled out over Lizzie like thunder. Two huge teardrops formed in Lizzie’s eyes and one broke loose, splashing on her black apron. She bit down hard on her lower lip, keeping her head bowed and wishing the floor would just open up and swallow her. She managed not to cry openly, but it was only because she thought very hard about the new pony spring wagon Dat was making.
At recess she got a chocolate cupcake from her lunch, unwrapped it, and found Emma at the water jug.
“Emma,” Lizzie said.
“What?”
“Do you like our new teacher?” she whispered.
“I don’t know yet. She seems a bit strict. But, Lizzie, why did you whisper?” Emma asked.
“I forgot we weren’t allowed to,” Lizzie said quietly.
“We weren’t allowed to last year, either, Lizzie. You have to remember and listen to what she says.”
“Okay.” Lizzie hung her head. She decided the only good thing about the first day of school was her chocolate cupcake. It was big and moist and filled with creamy white frosting. There was a blue cupcake liner around it, and when you took a bite, you kept pulling the liner away from the moist, chocolaty cake. Oh well, Lizzie thought sadly, I’ll just have to be more careful. But it did cheer her immensely when she thought of her bag filled with fresh cheese curls in her lunchbox.
chapter 23
Going for Groceries
It was Saturday morning, so Lizzie and Emma were allowed to sleep later than on school days.
When Lizzie woke up, Emma was not in bed beside her, so she knew it was really late. She stretched and yawned, snuggling down into her pillow again. She thought about the fact that it was Saturday, and wondered what they would be doing that day. She really hoped Dat would work on his spring wagon so she could watch. But she knew first of all they had to help Mam do the weekly cleaning. Of course, Emma loved to clean—or at least she acted that way. She was always bossier when they helped Mam clean, because she knew better how to do things right, Lizzie supposed.
She swung her feet over the side of her bed and sat up. She yawned again and scratched her stomach. Then, because she was just so lazy, she lay back down again, and pulled the quilt over her shoulders. Maybe if she shut her eyes every time someone tried to wake her, Emma and Mam would do the cleaning all by themselves and let her sleep.
“Lizzie!” Mandy’s tousled little head stuck in through the doorway.
>
Lizzie didn’t answer.
“Lizzie!”
“What do you want, Mandy?”
Lizzie couldn’t help but smile at Mandy, even if she didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Mandy’s huge green eyes blinked at her like a little owl. Her hair stuck out in every direction and she was still wearing her pajamas.
“Mam said to tell you breakfast is ready,” Mandy said.
“Come here, Mandy. I want to show you something.” Lizzie smiled.
“What?” asked Mandy.
Lizzie hopped out of bed and hurried to her dresser. She pulled out a piece of art paper that had some drawings on it. “Look, Mandy. I made this for you in school yesterday.”
Mandy looked at it closely. “What is it?” she asked innocently.
“Well, look at it,” Lizzie said.
“Is it a puppy or a kitty?” Mandy asked.
“Not a kitty, Mandy. It’s a calf. A baby cow.”
“Oh. It’s a nice calf.” Mandy smiled at Lizzie.
“Do you want it?” asked Lizzie.
“Mm-hmm.”
Lizzie took Mandy’s hand and they went to the kitchen together. Emma was already seated on the bench, and Mam was putting Jason in his high chair.
“Good morning!” Dat said, looking up from the paper he was reading.
“Morning,” Lizzie mumbled.
“Morning, Lizzie,” Mam said. She brought a dish of scrambled eggs and a small plate of buttered toast.
“Is that all we have?” Lizzie asked, rubbing her one eye with her fist and yawning again.
“Oatmeal yet,” Emma said grumpily.
“I hate oatmeal,” Lizzie said.
“Then eat eggs and toast, and be quiet,” said Emma.