A Surprise for Lily Read Online Free PDF

letter to Mama. “What do you think, Rachel?”
    Lily’s ears perked up. Something interesting was in that letter. She watched carefully as Mama’s eyes scanned the letter. She hoped her parents would discuss the letter now and not wait until they were alone.
    Mama put the letter down. “Is it something you’d like to do?”
    Do what? Lily wondered, but she knew she shouldn’t ask. It wasn’t her business.
    â€œWe don’t have to make a decision right away,” Papa said. “But it certainly is an offer to consider. It could help our business to have an article about our little woodworking shop in such a well-known magazine.” He scanned the letter again. “I’m a little surprised Bill never mentioned he was a magazine writer when he was here with Ira and Tillie.”
    Now it made sense to Lily why that driver named Bill keptcommenting on Papa’s business. He was thinking about writing an article about it.
    The next day, Lily was happy to hear that Papa had decided to let Bill interview him about the woodworking shop. In the letter Papa wrote to Bill, he reminded him that the family would not pose for any pictures, but he was welcome to take pictures of the furniture Papa built and the workshop.

    A few days later, Bill drove up in his green minivan. A big camera hung around his neck and a pad of paper was in his hand. The family was excited. That morning, Lily helped Mama bake cookies and make a special pudding of whipped Jell-O, cottage cheese, and fruit. The pleasant hum of machinery from Papa’s woodworking shop in the basement filled the kitchen as they worked. Bill said it would take all day to gather information for his article so Mama invited him for lunch.
    Lily placed the bowl of pudding in the refrigerator, floating it in a bigger bowl filled with ice water. Everything was ready for lunch, so Mama said she could watch Papa show Bill around the shop. Lily ran down the basement stairs, through the room filled with shelves of canned goods, and out to the shop. She didn’t want to miss a moment of this special day.
    Lily stood by the doorjamb and watched for a moment. She was surprised to see Bill take pictures of Papa as he cut out chair backs on the band saw. At one point, Papa noticed, too. He stopped his work and reminded Bill to not take pictures of him.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Bill assured him. “I’m being very careful. All that I’m photographing is your hands while you’re working.”

    Satisfied, Papa pulled the lever to start the band saw up again. Lily liked to watch as he guided the curved chair back. The band saw blade sliced easily through the wood. Somehow, Papa made his work seem as easy and effortless as play.
    But the more Lily watched Bill, the more she was sure he was taking pictures of more than Papa’s hands. She could tell his camera was aimed at Papa’s face. Bill noticed Lily by the door and asked her to stand closer to Papa. Did he think she was dumb? She knew he wanted to take pictures of her, too.
    Lily went upstairs to join Mama in the living room. She was sitting next to the window, sewing patches on Dannie’s trousers in the afternoon sunlight. Dannie was hard on his trousers. His pants’ knees were always needing new patches.
    â€œDo you have something for me to sew?” Lily asked.
    Mama tried to hide her surprise. Lily never, ever asked to help with sewing. Normally, she avoided sewing, but she’d rather be next to Mama, patching clothes, than be in the shop with Bill and his sneaky camera.
    â€œThere are several shirts that lost a button,” Mama said, pointing to a pile of clothes on the chair next to her. “But I thought you wanted to spend the day in the shop with Papa.”
    Lily got the button basket from Mama’s sewing machine desk and dug through the basket to find buttons that matched the shirt. Then the truth burst over her. “I don’t