Growing Up in Lancaster County Read Online Free PDF Page A

stared outside. Everything still looked blurry, but if Mom thought the window was clean enough, she wouldn’t say anything more. “Now can I go outside and play?” Rachel asked hopefully.
    Mom shook her head. “We still have more cleaning to do.”
    “Like what?”
    “I’d like you to shake the living room rugs while I mop the kitchen floor.”
    “Is that all you need me to do?”
    Mom’s glasses had slipped to the end or her nose, and she pushed them back in place. “I believe so; unless I think of something else.” She smiled and left the room.
    Rachel bent down and grabbed the small braided rug in front of the sofa. She hauled it to the porch. Pretending the porch was a trampoline and she was jumping on it, she gave the rug a few good shakes. Then she draped it over the railing. She went back to the living room to get the rug in front of Grandpa’s rocking chair. She gave that a couple of shakes, imagining again that she was bouncing up and down on the trampoline. When her arms grew tired, she draped the rug over the railing and returned to get another rug near the front door.
    When Rachel stepped onto the porch again, she gasped. Buddy had one of the rugs in his mouth!
Grr
. He growled and shook it for all he was worth!
    “
Absatz
[Stop]! You’re a bad
hund
[dog]!” Rachel tugged on the dog’s collar, but he didn’t let go of the rug.
    Grr…Grr
…Buddy continued to shake and growl.
    Rachel gritted her teeth and tugged Buddy’s collar again. “If you tear a hole in that rug, you’ll be in big trouble with Mom!” She thought about the towel Buddy had stolen from the laundry basket and ripped in two. Mom hadn’t been happy about that at all!
    Grr…Grr…Shake! Shake! Shake!
    Rachel let go of Buddy’s collar and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Jacob Yoder, you’d better come get your dog,
schnell
[quickly]!”
    No response.
    Rachel figured Jacob must still be in the barn helping Pap and Henry groom the horses. She thought about going to get him but was afraid if she left, Buddy would tear the rug.
    Suddenly, an idea popped into Rachel’s head. She ran down the porch steps, raced to the water spigot, and turned on the hose. Aiming it at the porch, she sprayed Buddy’s face.
    Buddy let go of the rug and howled. He leaped off the porch, circled around Rachel, jumped up, and—
slurp!
—licked her face.
    “Yuk! Get down, you big hairy mutt!” Rachel shot Buddy with another spray of water.
    Woof! Woof! Woof!
Buddy circled her again, bounded onto the porch, and darted into the house.
    “Oh great! I should have shut the door!”
    Rachel raced into the house. When she heard Mom scream, “Ach no!” she knew Buddy must be in the kitchen. She ran after him.
    “Look what this dog has done!” Mom clucked her tongue as she pointed to the muddy paw prints on the kitchen floor. “Now I’ll have to wash the floor again!”
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” Rachel panted, “but that flea-bitten hund grabbed one of the rugs and wouldn’t let go. He kept growling and shaking the rug.” She gulped in a quick breath of air. “So I turned on the hose and sprayed him with water. He let go, but then he ran around the yard, got his feet dirty, and ran into the house before I could stop him.”
    Buddy circled Mom, barking and chasing his tail.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
    When he made the next pass, Mom bent down and grabbed his collar. “Rachel, take this hund outside and put him in his dog run! Then hang the rug on the clothesline, because I’m sure it got wet from the hose.”
    “Okay, Mom,” Rachel said as she led Buddy out the back door.
    Woof! Woof! Woof!
Buddy’s tail swished the skirt of Rachel’s dress.
    “You’re nothing but trouble,” she muttered.
    By the time Rachel had put Buddy in his dog run and hung the rug on the line to dry, she was tired. She trudged up the porch steps, wondering what other chores Mom had for her to do. At this rate, they would never get to take that walk, and she would probably