A Surprise for Lily Read Online Free PDF Page B

trust Bill. He is taking pictures of Papa.”
    Mama’s head snapped up in concern. “But Papa told him we don’t want our pictures taken.”
    â€œI heard Papa tell him that just a little bit ago. Bill said he was only taking pictures of his hands,” Lily said. “But I don’t believe him.”
    â€œLily, if Bill said he is only getting Papa’s hands, you should believe him,” Mama said gently. “We should believe the best in others.”
    Yes, it was nice to believe that, Lily thought, but not when your eyes told you to believe something else.

    A few weeks later, when the mail arrived, Lily carried it to Mama. In it was Bill’s magazine. Lily stood right next to Mama as she looked at the cover of the magazine. Mama opened the magazine, looked at the index, and gasped. There was a picture of Papa working in his shop and a short caption underneath it: Discover the simple way craftsman Daniel Lapp builds beautiful furniture on page 43 .
    Mama skimmed through the pages till she reached the article. Above the article was a big picture of the sign Papa had painted for their business. Behind the sign was a big white barn with red trim and a horse and buggy. Lily had never seen such a barn. It certainly wasn’t the barn at Whispering Pines.
    This hand-stenciled sign leads you to a hidden gem nestled in the mountains of Cloverdale, Pennsylvania, where an Amish family, Daniel and Rachel Lapp, have a woodworking shop in the basement of their rambling home.
    They don’t drive a car because their religion forbids the use of engines of any kind. When asked how he powered the machinery in his shop, Daniel took me outside where four draft horses were plodding in a circle, turning a handmade apparatus of gears and pulleys.
    Daniel and his family have only recently moved to the Cloverdale area, but already he has built up a very successful business. “People like good, honest businesses,” Daniel said, grinning ear-to-ear. “They like to know everything is made by hand.” Like the chair seats. Each is made to fit perfectly as Daniel painstakingly whittles each seat to perfection with a draw knife.
    Lies, lies! All lies. And Bill had, indeed, lied about taking pictures of Papa’s hands. There were five pictures of Papa and one of Joseph and Dannie.
    Mama tossed the magazine on the kitchen table. Her face looked drawn and tight. “Well, what do you think of that, Lily?”
    â€œI wish Bill would never have come,” Lily said. “He lied about everything.”
    Mama nodded. “He didn’t get much right besides our names.”
    â€œDo you want me to go show it to Papa?”
    â€œNo,” Mama said. “It’s not worth interrupting his work. Let’s put it aside for now and get supper ready. We’ll talk about the article with Papa before bedtime.”
    As Lily peeled potatoes for supper, she felt sick to her stomach. She wasn’t at all hungry. She wanted to run down to the shop and give Papa a big hug. He would feel awful about all the lies Bill had written about him.
    Later that night, Papa sat in his chair with the magazine. He flipped through the pages until he came to the article and read it aloud so everyone could hear it.
    The more Papa read, the more uneasy Lily felt—almost as if bugs were crawling all over her. Bill made the Lapp family sound silly and stupid. Imagine having draft horses walk in a circle to power a band saw! Ridiculous! She wondered how Papa could stay so calm as he read all of the lies.
    â€œFor more information about Daniel’s furniture, write to: Daniel Lapp, Cloverdale Route 2, Whispering Pines, PA.”
    Joseph snorted. “Even the address is wrong!”
    Papa paged through the magazine. “Makes me wonder how much of this entire magazine is true,” he said to no one in particular. He closed the magazine and looked at Lily and Joseph, gathered around his chair.