Growing Up in Lancaster County Read online

  A Happy Heart © 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Just Plain Foolishness © 2008 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Jumping to Conclusions © 2009 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Growing Up © 2009 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Print ISBN 978-1-61626-255-6

  eBook Editions:

  Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-431-4

  Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-432-1

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

  All Pennsylvania Dutch words are taken from the Revised Pennsylvania German Dictionary found in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

  Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Niv®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Cover and chapter art illustrations by Richard Hoit.

  For more information about Wanda E. Brunstetter, please access the author’s website at the following Internet address:

  www.wandabrunstetter.com.

  Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

  Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Dickinson Press, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49512; May 2011; D10002809

  Table of Contents

  A Happy Heart

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: A Lachlich [Laughable] Day

  Chapter 2: Crazy Rooster

  Chapter 3: Disappointments

  Chapter 4: Seeing Is Believing

  Chapter 5: Blurry Words

  Chapter 6: Learning the Truth

  Chapter 7: Four Eyes

  Chapter 8: Jacob’s Promise

  Chapter 9: Plenty of Trouble

  Chapter 10: Vanished

  Chapter 11: Happy Medicine

  Chapter 12: A Day of Surprises

  Back to School

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: Grandpa’s Greenhouse

  Chapter 2: A Trip to Town

  Chapter 3: Trouble By the Road

  Chapter 4: Camping Surprise

  Chapter 5: A Birthday Surprise

  Chapter 6: Trouble in the Greenhouse

  Chapter 7: Hannah Comes Home

  Chapter 8: Nothing but Trouble

  Chapter 9: A Thrilling Ride

  Chapter 10: An Exciting Day

  Chapter 11: Lost

  Chapter 12: Unexpected Surprise

  Jumping to Conclusions

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: Good New

  Chapter 2: Out of Patience

  Chapter 3: Eavesdropping

  Chapter 4: Busybody

  Chapter 5: Tittle-tattle

  Chapter 6: The Big Day

  Chapter 7: Wishful Thinking

  Chapter 8: Nosing Around

  Chapter 9: Babysitting

  Chapter 10: Another Good-bye

  Chapter 11: The Worst Possible News

  Chapter 12: A Big Surprise

  Growing Up

  Glossary

  Chapter 1: Sidetracked

  Chapter 2: Too Many Chores

  Chapter 3: Getting Even

  Chapter 4: Daydreaming

  Chapter 5: Borrowing Brings Sorrowing

  Chapter 6: Mistakes

  Chapter 7: Aunt Rachel

  Chapter 8: Gone Fishing

  Chapter 9: Total Chaos

  Chapter 10: Rachel’s Pie

  Chapter 11: Bad Advice

  Chapter 12: A New Opportunity

  About the Author

  A Happy Heart

  Dedication

  To the children at Riverside Christian School in Yakima, Washington. Thanks for letting me share my life as an author with you.

  To Dr. Richard Ehlers and Dr. Ben Jaramillo, my kind and helpful eye doctors.

  Glossary

  absatz—stop

  ach—oh

  aldi—girlfriend

  bensel—silly child

  blos—bubble

  boppli—baby

  brieder—brothers

  bruder—brother

  buwe—boy

  daed—dad

  danki—thank you

  dumm—dumb

  ekelhaft—disgusting

  fehlerfrie—perfect

  felder—fields

  fingerneggel—fingernails

  gees—goat

  geh—go

  grank—sick

  grossdaadi—grandfather

  guder mariye—good morning

  gut—good

  hund—dog

  hungerich—hungry

  jah—yes

  kapp—cap

  kichlin—cookies

  kinner—children

  lachlich—laughable

  lecherich—ridiculous

  mamm—mom

  mied—tired

  mudder—mother

  naas—nose

  naerfich—nervous

  narrish—crazy

  nee—no

  pescht—pest

  retschbeddi—tattletale

  schlang aage—snake eyes

  schmaert—smart

  schnell—quickly

  schpassich—odd

  schweschder—sister

  wunderbaar—wonderful

  Bass uff as du net fallscht. Take care you don’t fall.

  Du kannscht mich net uffhuddle; ich bin zu schmaert

  You can’t confuse me; I’m too smart.

  Duh net so laut schmatze. Don’t make such a noise when you eat.

  Geb acht, schunscht geht’s letz! Watch out, or else things will go wrong!

  Grummel net um mich rum. Don’t grumble around me.

  Sei so gut. Please.

  Was in der welt? What in all the world?

  Wie geht’s? How are you?

  Chapter 1

  A Lachlich [Laughable] Day

  This is so much fun!” Ten-year-old Rachel Yoder squealed as her end of the teeter-totter shot into the air.

  “My stomach feels like it’s in my throat!” Audra Burkholder shouted when her side of the teeter-totter dropped down and then sprang up again.

  Rachel waved one hand in the air. “Whe-e-e-e!” she hollered.

  “Are you gonna ride that thing all day or does somebody else get a turn before recess is over?”

  Rachel looked down. Freckle-faced Orlie Troyer stared at her. Rachel and Orlie had become friends during the year, but Rachel didn’t want anyone at school to know she was friends with a boy so she kept it a secret.

  “Well?” Orlie asked, tapping his foot. “Can I have a turn on the teeter-totter?”

  Rachel squinted at him as her side of the teeter-totter dropped again. “Is that any way to ask for something?”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know how to say sei so gut [please].” Audra said, wrinkling her nose. “Maybe he doesn’t know about manners.”

  Orlie squatted in the dirt, raised his hands in front of his chest, and said, “Can I please have a turn on the teeter-totter?”

  Rachel giggled. “You look like Jacob’s dog when he sits up and begs.”

  Woof! Woof! Orlie bounced up and down.

  “Oh, all right, you can have a turn while I get a drink of water.” When Rachel climbed off the teeter-totter, she held the handle so Orlie could get on.

  “This is sure fun!” Orlie shouted as his end of the teeter-totter rose. A gust of wind whipped his straw hat from his head and spun it away. He tipped his head back and howled with laughter.

  Rachel raced to the pump, grabbed a paper cup, and pumped the handle up and down. When the cup was full of water, she took a big drink. Then she pumped until her cup was full again.

  Rachel’s brother, Jacob, nudged Rachel’s arm. “Save some of that for me, would ya?”

  Water sloshed out of Rachel’s cup and splashed her dress. “Say, watch what you’re doing!”

  “I figured you might need a bath.” Jacob snickered.

  She glared at him. “Very funny.”

  “I thought so, little bensel [silly child].” He leaned back and laughed until his face turned red.

  “Stop calling me a silly child!” Rachel dipped her finger into the cup and flicked water at Jacob’s shirt. “And there’s plenty of this to go around!”

  “A little water doesn’t bother me,” Jacob said with a shrug. “In fact, it feels kind of nice on this warm spring day.”

  “Puh!” Rachel hurried across the playground, still holding her cup of water. “I’m back,” she said as Orlie’s side of the teeter-totter shot up. “It’s time for you to get off now.”

  When the teeter-totter came down, Orlie shook his head. “I don’t want to; I’m having too much fun.”

  “I said you could take a turn while I got a drink,” Rachel announced. “So now you need to get off.”

  Orlie grinned but didn’t budge.

  Rachel glanced at Audra as Orlie’s end of the teeter-totter rose and Audra’s end dropped. “Can I take your place?”

>   Audra pushed a strand of dark hair under her kapp [cap] and shook her head. “Sorry, Rachel, but I’m having too much fun.”

  Rachel tapped her foot impatiently. If she’d known this would happen, she wouldn’t have gotten off the teeter-totter. She would have waited until recess was over to get a drink.

  Suddenly, Orlie leaped off the teeter-totter, sending Audra thudding to the ground.

  Audra squealed. “That wasn’t nice! You should have warned me that you were getting off!”

  “I decided I was thirsty!” Orlie snatched the cup out of Rachel’s hand and drank. “Ah…that’s better.”

  “Aren’t you worried about germs?” Audra asked as she scrambled off the teeter-totter.

  “Nope.” Orlie took another drink and handed the cup back to Rachel.

  “Eww.” Audra wrinkled her nose. “That’s so ekelhaft [disgusting]!”

  Rachel pushed the cup at Orlie. “You may as well keep it, ‘cause I won’t drink from it again.”

  Orlie shrugged and drank some more.

  “Let’s play on the swings,” Rachel said to Audra.

  “Okay.”

  The girls had only been swinging a few minutes when Orlie headed toward them wearing his straw hat. He stopped in front of the swings, swayed back and forth, and fell on the ground. The paper cup flew out of his hand and landed in a clump of weeds. His straw hat flew off his head and landed in the dirt.

  Rachel rushed over to Orlie and dropped to her knees. “Orlie’s what’s wrong? Are you grank [sick]?”

  He stayed with his eyes closed, unmoving.

  Audra gasped. “Ach [Oh], do you think he’s dead?”

  Rachel touched Orlie’s arm, but he didn’t move. She clasped her hand over her mouth. “Maybe he is dead. I’d better get the teacher!”

  Rachel raced for the schoolhouse, but she hadn’t gone far when someone pushed her. She whirled around. There stood Orlie, wearing his tattered hat and a lopsided grin.

  “Ha! Ha! I got you good!” he said, slapping his knee.

  “Orlie Troyer, you should be ashamed of yourself, scaring us like that,” Audra said in a shaky voice. “We thought you were a goner. Jah [Yes], we sure did.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Not me; I knew he was only pretending to be dead. I was just playing along.”

  Orlie’s lips twitched, his shoulders shook, and he laughed so hard tears streamed down his cheeks. Then he dropped to the ground and rolled in the grass.

  Orlie looked so funny that Rachel laughed, too. Soon Audra joined in.

  “Now you really do look like Jacob’s dog.” Rachel pointed at Orlie. “Whenever Buddy has an itch on his back, he rolls in the grass just like you’re doing.”

  Woof! Woof! Orlie sat up and begged.

  Rachel giggled. “What a lachlich day!”

  When Rachel and Jacob got home from school that afternoon, Rachel still felt like laughing. She’d laughed so much during recess that she couldn’t concentrate on her schoolwork the rest of the day. In fact, a couple of times the words in her spelling book had looked a bit blurry. She figured it was because she had tears in her eyes from laughing so much.

  “How come you’re wearing such a silly grin?” Jacob asked.

  “I just feel happy today.”

  Jacob stared at Rachel a few seconds. Finally, he shrugged and opened the door. “We’re home, Mom!”

  “Mmm…it smells like Mom’s been baking today,” Rachel said, heading for the kitchen. “I hope she made maple syrup cookies, because they’re my favorite.”

  Jacob tickled Rachel in the ribs. “Every kind of cookie is your favorite, sister.”

  Rachel giggled and tickled Jacob back.

  He snickered. “Stop that. You know how ticklish I am—especially my ribs!”

  “Then you shouldn’t have started it.”

  “What’s all this silliness about?” Mom asked when they entered the kitchen.

  “Rachel’s in a lachlich mood today,” Jacob said.

  Mom removed a tray of cookies from the oven and placed them on the counter. “It’s good to be in a laughable mood. When we laugh it makes us have a happy heart,” she said, peering over her metal-framed glasses at Rachel.

  Rachel nodded and smiled. “I’ve had a happy heart most of the day.”

  “Wash your hands and have a seat at the table,” Mom said. “Then you and Jacob can have a glass of milk and some of my freshly baked maple syrup cookies.”

  Rachel patted her stomach. “Yum…that sounds gut [good] to me.”

  Rachel and Jacob raced to the sink. They reached for the bar of soap at the same time, and—woosh!—it slipped off the soap dish and landed in a bowl of water sitting in the sink. Floop! A spurt of water flew straight up and splashed Rachel’s face.

  “That soap’s sure slippery.” She giggled and dried her face on a towel.

  “I’ll bet it won’t be too slippery for me.” Jacob plunged his hand into the bowl of water and scooped up the soap. He’d just started to scrub his hands when the soap slipped through his fingers and landed back in the water with a splash.

  Rachel chuckled. “I warned you about that, Jacob.”

  “Will you two please quit fooling around and wash your hands?” Mom said, shaking her head. “I’m going to see if Grandpa’s up from his nap.”

  When Mom left the room, Jacob lunged for the soap, just as Rachel bumped his arm. The soap flew in the air, bounced onto the floor, and slid all the way to the table.

  Rachel laughed as Jacob scrambled after the soap, his feet sliding with every step he took.

  Smack! Jacob banged into the table, knocking over a carton of milk. “Oh no,” he moaned as the milk dribbled onto the floor. He took a step back, and his legs sailed out from under him. He landed on the floor with a thud.

  Rachel rushed forward. “Are you all right?”

  Jacob grabbed the soap and scrambled to his feet. “I’m fine—I’m not hurt a bit.”

  “I’d better get the mop and clean this before Mom comes back.” Rachel hurried to the cleaning closet and removed the bucket and mop. She leaned the mop against the counter, set the bucket in the sink, filled it with warm water, and added some detergent.

  “This bucket is sure heavy,” Rachel said as she struggled to lift it out of the sink. “I’m not sure I can carry it now that it’s full of water.”

  “Here, let me help.” Jacob reached around Rachel, put the soap in the soap dish, and grabbed the bucket handle.

  “Careful now. You don’t want to spill any water.”

  “Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing.” Jacob lifted the bucket. Bang! It bumped the edge of the sink, sloshing water all over the floor.

  “Oh, no,” Rachel groaned.

  “Look at it this way,” Jacob said with a chuckle, “the water’s already out of the bucket. Now you only have to mop the floor.”

  Rachel grabbed the mop and pushed it back and forth. “This isn’t getting the water up,” she muttered. “There’s too much of it on the floor.”

  “Say, I have an idea.” Jacob tossed two dish towels on the floor. He put his left foot on one towel and his right foot on the other; then he starting moving around the room.

  “That looks like fun.” Rachel grabbed two more towels, tossed them on the floor, and followed Jacob. “Whe-e-e—this is fun! It’s almost like skating on a frozen pond!”

  “Was in der welt [What in all the world]?”

  Rachel whirled around. Mom stood inside the kitchen door with her arms folded, frowning. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on in here?”

  “The bar of soap fell on the floor,” Rachel explained. “Then Jacob bumped the table and spilled the milk. I was going to mop up the mess, but the bucket of water spilled on the floor.” Rachel drew in a quick breath. “We couldn’t get the water up with the mop, so we decided to use some towels.”

  “I’m sure you meant well, but that isn’t the way to mop the floor.” Mom stepped toward Rachel.

  “Don’t come in here!” Rachel shouted. “You might slip and fall.”

  “That’s right,” Jacob said. “You wouldn’t want to break a bone or hurt the boppli [baby].”

  Mom placed her hands against her bulging stomach. “You’re right; I do need to be careful.” She pointed to the mop. “One of you needs to hold the head of the mop over the bucket and wring out the water. That will make it easier to mop.”

  “I’ll do it!” Jacob grabbed the mop.

  Mom pointed to the sopping wet towels. “Rachel, please get some clean towels to help Jacob mop up the water.”