A Surprise for Lily Read Online Free PDF Page A

puppy was nothing but trouble and more trouble! And he was strong. Fast, too. Joseph had thought Dozer would be a good name because it sounded like a bold dog, but Lily could think of other names that would have fit him. Names like Rascal, Scamp, or Pest.
    She walked back to the basement with one end of the towel in her hands. The other end was held by Dozer, still making deep growly sounds in his throat. Joseph tried to distract Dozer by throwing a ball. Dozer dropped the towel and bounded after the ball. Lily picked up the dirty, chewed towel with two fingers. It was disgusting. She took the towel into the basement to show Mama. “Dozer ran away with the towel,” she said. “I think it needs to be washed again.”
    Mama sighed. “That little dog still needs a lot of training.”
    Lily agreed.

    All week long, a heat wave had Cloverdale in its grip. By afternoon, it was too hot to be outside, so garden work needed to get done in the early morning. As soon as breakfast was over, Mama announced that they would be picking cucumbers this morning. “I want to can turmeric pickles,” she told Lily, “so pick every cucumber that is over an inch long.”
    Turmeric pickles were some of Lily’s favorites. She liked them much better than the salty-sour dill pickles that Papa liked so well. Picking cucumbers was always fun, easy work. She hurried to find several five-gallon pails to take out to the garden.
    As Lily reached the garden, she set the pails down. Mama was peering over a cucumber vine, a puzzled look on her face. “How strange,” she said. “I never saw anything like this.”
    Lily parted a cucumber vine to see what Mama was looking at. One bite was taken out of the cucumber. What kind of animal would do such a thing? Raccoons liked to eat sweet corn. Sometimes mice or moles liked to nibble on a few tomatoes and robins always liked strawberries, but she had never heard of any creature that took one bite out of cucumbers.
    Mama and Lily spent the morning picking every single cucumber. They filled one pail with the unbitten ones. The bitten ones filled a second pail. “What a waste,” Mama said sadly as she looked at all the ruined cucumbers.
    It didn’t take long to clean the pail of unbitten cucumbers and pack them into jars. It didn’t take long because there weren’t very many. Mama poured the turmeric spiced brine over the cucumbers and put them into the canner so the lids would seal. They were done by lunchtime, just as the heat of the day was in full force.
    During lunch, Mama mentioned the mysterious half-eaten cucumbers. Joseph became very interested in the food on his plate.
    A funny thought crossed Lily’s mind. “Oh no! Was it Dozer?”
    Joseph gave a slight half-shrug of his shoulder.
    Papa saw. “Joseph, do you know anything about this?”
    Joseph looked miserable. “I was hungry the other day, so I went to the garden and ate a cucumber. Dozer saw me eating it so he took a bite out of one, too. I thought it was funny but I didn’t know he was going to take bites out of other cucumbers.”
    Papa finished chewing a slice of apple. “I’ve never known a dog to eat a cucumber.”
    Mama frowned. “That pup is more of a nuisance than any dog I have ever known.”
    Joseph’s eyebrows shot up. He sent a pleading look to Papa. “He’s only a puppy,” Papa said, trying to reassure Mama. “We need to be patient while he learns how to become a good dog.”
    Mama didn’t have much patience for mischievous animals, like goats or a bad puppy. Papa had all kinds of patience.
    Lily thought she might be somewhere in between Papa and Mama. At times, Dozer could be fun, but she was getting tired of the trouble he caused. Especially when Mama pointed out that there wouldn’t be many pickles to eat this winter.

5 The Magazine Article
    P apa brought the mail into the house and handed a