A Big Year for Lily Read Online Free PDF Page A

town and back with Papa.
    Papa was just tucking the tie rope under the seat as Lily hopped on the buggy. He gathered the reins in his hands, clucking “giddyup!” to Jim as he guided the horse out of the driveway and down the road.
    It was a beautiful morning. Lily watched birds flit from branch to branch in the trees along the road. Leaves were starting to turn from green to orange, a hint that summer was ending and autumn was coming. The trees were so filled with heavy leaves that branches seemed to touch overhead. It seemed as if Lily and Papa were driving through a long tunnel. Sunlight peeked through the branches to light their way. A few squirrels darted around with nuts in their mouths. They were trying to find the perfect spot to bury them. Once winter came, if they could remember where they buried their nuts, they would dig them up. If they couldn’t remember, a new tree would grow. Lily grinned.She wondered how many trees along the road were once forgotten nuts.
    As Jim trotted down the road, Papa started to whistle. The buggy went past neighbors’ farms. Lily looked at the lazy cows, grazing or laying under trees, chewing their cuds. One or two would look over to watch them pass by, then go back to chewing. Horses were more interested in who passed by their fence. They would neigh to Jim, then canter alongside the fence, as if they had challenged him to a race. Lily knew that Jim would ignore them. He wouldn’t even neigh back. I have more important things to do today and don’t have time to play your games, Jim must have been thinking.
    Lily sighed happily. She was sure there was no better place in the world to be than right there on the front seat of the buggy beside Papa. He asked about her first week of school. She told him everything: all she had learned, and even the part about Cousin Hannah thinking Aaron Yoder was so wonderful. “She doesn’t know yet that he’s the worst boy in school.”
    An amused look danced in Papa’s eyes as she described her dilemma with Hannah and Aaron. But he didn’t scold her for complaining about Aaron, or take Hannah’s side. He just listened carefully. He was a fine listener, Papa was.
    Too soon, they reached town. Papa guided Jim to the hitching post. They would walk to the stores and carry their things back to the buggy. Papa’s first stop was the feed store to buy feed for Pansy the cow. For Jim, too. The clerk behind the counter added up the bill. As Papa counted out his money, the clerk told Lily she could pick out a lollipop.
    Lily looked at all the lollipops and chose a purple one. She slipped it into her dress pocket hidden under her apron.She hoped it would taste as good as it looked. Purple things usually did not disappoint.
    Papa hoisted the bags of feed onto his shoulders, as if they were light as feather pillows, and walked back to the buggy. He set them in the back of the buggy and drew a shopping list out of his pocket.
    â€œNext is a trip to the fabric store,” he read. “Mama needs half a yard of denim to patch the boys’ pants.”
    â€œI think boys have knees as hungry as their tummies,” Lily said. “They always seem to have holes in their pants’ knees. Mama says they have hollow tummies.”
    Papa laughed out loud. “Here I thought it was the grass they crawled on to play with their toys. All this time they had hungry knees. We’ll have to tell Mama when we get home.”
    Lily was so pleased that Papa had laughed. She hadn’t even known she was making a joke, and Papa had laughed! She couldn’t stop grinning as she followed him inside the store. She stopped abruptly as her eyes took in the rows and rows of fabrics. All sorts of beautiful fabrics with flowers and other designs. She had never known there were such beautiful patterns. She spotted a pretty cream fabric sprinkled with tiny purple roses. Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a dress in