Look Out, Lancaster County Read online

  Rachel was eager to try out her new skateboard, so after Pap and her brothers headed to the fields to work, she put her new bubble wand in her room and took the skateboard outside. Mom had forbidden Rachel to ride on the paved road in front of their farm, saying it was too dangerous. So Rachel knew she would have to find another place to try it out. The graveled driveway was out of the question because the wheels would never roll smoothly over the rocks. The grass had too many bumps, so that wouldn’t do. The wooden floor in the barn might work, though.

  Holding the skateboard under one arm and calling Cuddles to follow, Rachel headed for the barn.

  As soon as she stepped through the door, she realized that the barn was definitely big enough for skateboarding. Unfortunately, most of the floor was covered with bales of hay piled on it.

  Rachel groaned and flopped onto one of the bales to think. Maybe she could move the hay out of the way to create a path for skateboarding. However, that seemed like a lot of trouble, and she probably couldn’t move the heavy bales alone. “There must be somewhere I can try out the skateboard Henry and Jacob worked so hard to make for my birthday.”

  Finally an idea popped into her head. She jumped up, grabbed the skateboard, and dashed out of the barn. She looked around the yard and spotted Mom hanging laundry on the clothesline. If she hurried, she thought she could make it to the house without being seen.

  Rachel scampered to the back door, slipped inside, and scurried up the stairs with Cuddles on her heels. She screeched to a stop in the hallway and studied the long wooden floor. It had been freshly polished and looked like the perfect place to try her skateboard. Cuddles stopped, too, only she curled up in a corner and quickly fell asleep.

  Rachel stood at one end of the hall and placed the skateboard on the floor. She had watched other children in town ride their skateboards up and down the sidewalks, so she knew how to stand. Put one foot on the board, the other one on the ground, and push off. It looked easy enough.

  Rachel soon discovered that keeping her balance was the hardest part. It wasn’t easy to hold her body upright and move forward at the same time. Soon after she had pushed off, the skateboard sailed down the hallway, and she swayed back and forth like a tree branch in the wind. “This is so much fun!”

  In spite of the trouble Rachel had remaining upright, she enjoyed the ride, although it didn’t seem nearly long enough. By the time she had made four trips up and back, she was able to keep her balance fairly well.

  “Look at me, Cuddles,” she called to her sleeping cat. “I’m having such a good time!”

  Cuddles opened one eye and replied with a meow. Then she curled her paws under her head and settled back down.

  “That’s okay,” Rachel said. “You go ahead and sleep while I have all the fun. I’ll take you for a ride on my skateboard some other time.”

  Rachel was about to start down the hall again, when a shrill voice called out, “Rachel Yoder, what are you doing?”

  Rachel whirled around so fast, she lost control of the skateboard. It sailed across the floor, and Rachel fell hard, landing on both knees. “Ouch! Ouch!”

  Mom rushed up the stairs to Rachel. “Are you hurt?”

  “Jah, my knees are bleeding.”

  “And see here what you’ve done.” Mom pointed to a hole near the hem of Rachel’s dress.

  Rachel wiggled on the floor, trying not to cry. “I—I didn’t do it on purpose.”

  “Calm down,” Mom said softly as she examined Rachel’s knees. “I can’t help if you don’t stay still.”

  “If I’d been wearing pants like English girls get to wear, I probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” Rachel complained.

  “There will be no more of that kind of talk,” Mom said crossly. “Now stop with the rutschich [squirming] and let me take a closer look at the damage you’ve done.”

  “I can’t help it if I’m squirming.” Rachel sniffed. “My knees hurt awfully.”

  “You brought this trouble on yourself. You know better than to ride your skateboard in the house.” Mom pointed to the hardwood floor. “Now look at what you’ve done to my freshly polished floor.”

  Rachel hadn’t noticed all the ugly streaks her skateboard had left. She felt sad because she knew she had marred Mom’s clean floor. “I’m sorry,” she cried as tears seeped under her lashes and splashed onto her cheeks. Her knees hurt, and she felt so ashamed that she didn’t even care if Jacob heard about this and called her a crybaby.

  “Sorry is good, but you must learn a lesson,” Mom said, shaking her head. “You need to start thinking about what you’re doing and stay out of trouble. As soon as we clean and bandage your knees, you will have to scrub and repolish the floor. And then you may try out your new sewing kit on the hole you put in your dress.”

  The last thing Rachel wanted to do was mend her dress, but she knew better than to argue with Mom—especially after she had messed up the shiny, clean floor. She glanced at Cuddles, who was still asleep in the corner of the hall. It was a good thing the kitten hadn’t been on the skateboard with her when she fell. It was bad enough that she had injured her knees. She wouldn’t have wanted Cuddles to get hurt, too.

  Mom helped Rachel to her feet. “No more skateboarding in the house. Do you understand?”

  Rachel nodded and stared at the floor. “Where can I skate?”

  “I don’t know where would be a good place, but I think trying to balance on a silly old skateboard is just asking for trouble.”

  “A lot of kinner have them. I’ve seen many of the English kinner ride skateboards in town.”

  Mom frowned. “You know, Rachel, some folks believe other people’s bread tastes better than their own.”

  Rachel knew that Mom meant it wasn’t good to always want the things others had. But was it really so wrong for her to want a skateboard?

  Mom pointed to Cuddles. “You know the cat’s not supposed to be in the house.”

  “Sorry,” Rachel mumbled.

  After Mom cleaned up Rachel’s knees and bandaged them, Rachel spent the next hour cleaning and polishing the hallway floor. By the time she had finished, she wondered if having a skateboard was worth so much trouble.

  Esther and Rudy showed up while Rachel sat at the kitchen table, mending her dress. “Sorry I wasn’t here to wish you a happy birthday this morning,” Esther said before she leaned over Rachel’s chair and kissed the top of her head.

  Rudy placed a large paper sack on the table. “It’s my fault your sister was gone so long. We hired a driver to take us to Lancaster so we could do some shopping.”

  Rachel shrugged. It really didn’t matter that her big sister hadn’t been there when she opened her presents this morning. She didn’t even care that Esther hadn’t given her anything. Rachel’s day was ruined the moment she’d fallen off the skateboard and discovered that she’d marred Mom’s floor.

  Esther looked around the room. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

  “Mom’s upstairs, checking the hallway floor I just polished. Pap, Henry, and Jacob are working in the fields.” Rachel set her sewing aside and stood.

  “Why did you polish the hallway floor?” her sister asked. “I thought Mom did that yesterday.”

  Rachel nodded. “She did, but I scuffed it with my new skateboard.”

  “Skateboard?” Rudy’s dark eyebrows drew together, and he glanced at Esther with a strange look on his face.

  “Jah,” Rachel explained. “I couldn’t find anyplace to skate on it, so I tried the hallway upstairs.”

  Esther pointed to the paper sack Rudy had placed on the table. “You may as well open this, Rachel, because you’ll probably want to take it back right away.”

  Rachel peered inside the sack and gasped. “Another skateboard?”

  Esther nodded. “I knew you’d wanted one for a long time.”

  “We stopped at a toy store in Lancaster this morning and bought it,” Rudy added.

  Rachel just stood there, too stunned to utter a
word. Finally, she began to laugh. She laughed and laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks and her sides ached.

  “Do you think this is funny?” Esther tipped her head and gave Rachel a curious look.

  Rachel hiccupped on another chuckle. “It is funny. I woke up this morning owning one half a skateboard, and now I own two more!”

  Rudy’s eyebrows lifted high on his forehead. “Huh?”

  “I didn’t think anyone would buy me a skateboard for my birthday,” Rachel explained. “So a few weeks ago I put one on layaway at Kauffman’s.”

  “You did?” Esther touched Rachel’s shoulder.

  “Jah, but I didn’t have enough money to get the skateboard off layaway. Then this morning, Jacob and Henry gave me a wooden skateboard they had made for my birthday. Now, you and Rudy have just given me—”

  “Another skateboard,” Esther said, finishing Rachel’s sentence. “Oh, little sister, that is funny!”

  “I haven’t told anyone else in the family about the skateboard I planned to buy myself,” Rachel said in a whisper. “I didn’t want to hurt Jacob’s and Henry’s feelings, because they must have worked hard on the one they made.” She leaned over and touched her sore knees. “And now the skateboard they gave me has caused so much trouble, I almost wish I didn’t have any!”

  “Today was a day for learning lessons, wasn’t it, sister?” asked Esther.

  “Jah,” Rachel replied with a nod.

  “Say, I have an idea. Why don’t you return the skateboard we gave you and use the money you get back to buy something else?” Rudy suggested.

  “That probably would be best. And I’ll cancel my layaway on the other skateboard.” Rachel drew in a quick breath and released it with a huff. “Now if I can just find a good place to ride the one skateboard I’m going to keep.”

  “How about the barn?” Rudy asked. “There should be plenty of room in there for you to skateboard.”

  Rachel shook her head. “I already thought of that, but too many bales of hay are stacked in the barn.”

  Rudy smiled. “I don’t think that’s a problem. I’ll go to the fields and see your daed. If he says it’s okay, I’ll move some of the bales out of the way so you’ll have enough room to skateboard.”

  “That’s a wunderbaar idea,” Esther said excitedly. “And I’ll help Rudy move them.”

  Rachel gave Esther and Rudy both a hug. She had gotten a new skateboard, would soon have a place to ride it, and tonight they would probably have a barbecue supper. This had turned out to be a pretty good birthday after all.

  Chapter 9

  Dunner and Wedderleech

  Rachel looked forward to sharing a meal with her family at Uncle Ben and Aunt Irma’s home. Uncle Ben was Pap’s older brother. Mary was Uncle Ben and Aunt Irma’s youngest daughter—and Rachel’s favorite cousin. She hoped that after supper she and Mary would have time to play on the swing hanging from the rafters in the barn.

  “Sure wish I could have brought Cuddles along,” Rachel said from her seat in the back of the buggy. “She would have enjoyed playing with Mary’s cat, Stripes.”

  “Maybe some other time, Rachel,” Mom called over her shoulder. “After your kitten gets used to riding in the buggy.”

  “That was disgusting when you brought that critter along on a ride last time, and she threw up.” Jacob wrinkled his nose. “Just thinking about kotze [vomit] is enough to make my stomach flip-flop. Your cat is as much trouble as you are!”

  “Let’s have no more of that talk,” Pap scolded. “We don’t need to ruin our appetites.”

  “That’s right,” Henry agreed. “Cousin Abe told me his daed’s fixing homemade ice cream for dessert, and I hope to eat at least two bowls.”

  “Me, too,” Jacob agreed. “I might even have three bowls.”

  “What a pig,” Rachel mumbled. “Oink, oink.”

  Jacob poked her on the arm. “Look who’s talking. The last time Mom made ginger cookies, you ate half a dozen before I finished one.”

  “Did not.”

  “Did so.”

  “Did not.”

  Esther turned in her seat and put her finger to her lips.

  Rachel knew her sister wasn’t trying to be bossy. She probably didn’t want Rachel or Jacob to get in trouble this evening.

  Not that Jacob would get in trouble, Rachel thought. I’m the only one who gets in trouble around here!

  So for the rest of the ride, Rachel remained quiet, watching the scenery and dreaming about riding in a fast car with the top down.

  Soon they were pulling into Uncle Ben’s place, and before long, everyone had found seats at the picnic tables in the backyard. Rachel sat beside Mary and her older sister, Nancy. Jacob sat between his cousins Abe and Sam. Henry and Esther sat at the table with the grown-ups.

  Besides barbecued hot dogs and burgers, the families could choose from coleslaw, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, macaroni salad, potato chips, and ice-cold lemonade.

  “God is good. Let us thank Him for what He gives to us,” Uncle Ben said before all bowed their heads for silent prayer.

  The meal was tasty, and everyone seemed happy. After the meal, Rachel and Mary were about to walk to the barn, when a cloud burst open and rain began to fall.

  “Looks like we might be in for another summer storm,” Pap said.

  “We’d better clear this table quickly.” Mom grabbed empty dishes, and everyone else did the same.

  “Even though it’s raining, we can still go to the barn,” Mary said as she and Rachel raced for the house with their hands full of empty bowls. When everything had been cleared away, the girls headed for the barn.

  Boom! Crack! Thunder clapped, and lightning zigzagged across the sky. Rachel shuddered. She only feared a few things, and lightning was one of them.

  “Come on, let’s run!” Mary grabbed Rachel’s hand and pulled her across the yard.

  “I hope the rain stops soon,” Rachel panted as the girls entered the barn. “We had enough rain when summer first began.”

  “Think how nice and fresh the air smells after it rains.” Mary scampered up to the hayloft, and Rachel followed. If the storm got any worse, she didn’t want to be alone.

  “Sure wish I didn’t have to wear this dress,” she complained. “It would be a lot easier to climb if I could wear trousers like Jacob.”

  Mary grunted. “You wouldn’t really want to dress like a boy, would you?”

  Rachel shrugged. “Have you ever wondered how God dresses?”

  Her cousin smiled. “Maybe He wears all the love everyone gives Him.”

  “You might be right.” Rachel looked around the hayloft. “Say, where’s your cat? I thought Stripes liked to sleep up here.”

  Mary flopped onto a pile of straw. “He does, but if he isn’t tired, he could be most anywhere.”

  “He wouldn’t be outside when it’s raining, would he?”

  “Probably not. He might be here somewhere, trying to catch a mouse.” Mary tugged Rachel’s hand. “Have a seat, and we can talk while we listen to the rain hit the roof.”

  Thunder boomed again, and Rachel trembled. “Maybe we should go back to the house.”

  “Aw, come on. Don’t be so naerfich. We’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not nervous. I’m just a little bit afraid.” With a gusty sigh, Rachel sank to her knees beside her cousin.

  “What is it about the rain that makes you so scared?” Mary asked.

  “It’s not the rain, it’s the dunner and wedderleech I don’t like,” Rachel replied.

  Mary lifted her hands toward the ceiling. “God made the thunder and lightning, so why be afraid?”

  “I know the dunner won’t hurt me. It just sounds bad when it echoes through the sky.” Rachel plucked up a piece of straw and twirled it around her fingers as she fought the urge to bite off a nail. “It’s the wedderleech that worries me.”

  “How come?”

  Rachel frowned. “Pap told us the other day that he heard abou
t a man who had been struck by lightning.”

  Mary’s eyes grew wide. “Did he—”

  “No, the man didn’t die, but he had burns on his body, and all of his hair turned white.” Rachel touched the side of her head. “I don’t know what I would do if my blond hair suddenly turned white.”

  “Rachel! Mary! Where are you?” The voice interrupted the conversation.

  “We’re up here, Nancy,” Mary called to her sister.

  “The ice cream is ready, and Mama sent me to get you.”

  “Okay, we’re coming.” Mary and Rachel stood and brushed the hay stubbles from their dresses. They carefully went down the ladder and hurried out of the barn.

  In the house, the girls and their families gathered around Aunt Irma’s kitchen table, eating creamy homemade ice cream with chocolate topping and fresh strawberries.

  Then Pap pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “This has been a most enjoyable evening, but I think it’s time for us to go home. The rain isn’t letting up, and it’s getting dark.”

  “Do you have to go so soon?” Mary asked with a groan. “I wanted to take Rachel to my room and show her the doll I’m making.”

  “You can show her some other time,” Mary’s father said.

  Everyone said good-bye, and as Pap hitched up the horse, the rain pelted the ground even harder.

  By the time Rachel’s family had pulled onto the highway, lightning filled the night sky. Thunderous roars shook their buggy.

  Rachel shivered as she thought about the day she had been trapped in the Millers’ root cellar. It had been thundering and lightning then, too.

  Esther reached under her seat and grabbed a quilt, which she wrapped around Rachel’s shoulders.

  “Danki,” Rachel said gratefully. She hoped the warmth of the quilt would help her stop shivering.

  “Isn’t the storm exciting?” Jacob shouted in her ear.

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. And don’t holler. It makes me more nervous.”

  “Aw, you’re just an old scaredy-cat. You’ve always been that way, but it’s been worse since you got locked in the Millers’ cellar.”

  Rachel didn’t understand why her brother chose a time like this to tease. Bad storms were no laughing matter. She looked at him and squinted her eyes. “Maybe someone should lock you in a cellar, and then we’ll see how brave you are!”