a mug of steaming hot chocolate over it. Shoofly pie was one of her favorite foods. Mam’s shoofly pies were almost as good as Mommy Glick’s, with a thick brown sugar and molasses goo on the bottom and a soft crumb cake on top.
When she was finally finished eating, Lizzie pushed back her plate.
“But, Dat, you have to admit it. A cow is not nearly as pleasant as a horse. They swat you in the face with their smelly tails every chance they have. They step on your toes without even thinking about it. They … they take a huge slurp of your hair if they think it’s hay!” She started laughing.
“What?” Mandy squealed.
Dat started choking and sputtering, pointing a finger at Lizzie.
“So that …,” he coughed, before he resumed speaking, “so that is what happened to your head and your hand this morning, Lizzie!” He laughed so hard Mam raised her eyebrows.
“Oh, my!” Dat sighed. He was still chuckling as he told the others about how Lizzie had hopped around the aisle with a sore hand.
“When I asked her what had happened, she said ‘Nothing!’ so loudly and so angrily, I knew something had happened,” he said.
“So … the cow reached back and tugged at your shtrubbles with her tongue, thinking it was hay, right?” he asked.
Mandy squealed, holding her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Jason guffawed loudly. Mam threw back her head and laughed with Dat.
“Ewww!” Emma said. But she started laughing with everyone else.
The whole table was in such an uproar, Lizzie started laughing as well, because there was nothing to do if everyone else thought it was so funny.
“That will teach you to comb your hair before you go out in the morning!” Dat sputtered, wiping his eyes.
“Oh, my, Lizzie!” Mam gasped.
“Your hair does look a lot like hay!” Jason said. “It always does.”
The morning sun shone through the kitchen windows, casting a soft, yellow glow into the kitchen. Lizzie smiled. Everyone thought she was hilarious, and she felt the glow from Dat’s eyes. She was so thankful for Mam’s health, for Dat’s laughter, for this old house which they were continuing to clean up, for Mandy, for dear, proper Emma, and for Jason’s curls.
She smiled straight into Jason’s eyes and said, “Just be glad my hair doesn’t look like yours. Then the cow would probably have eaten my whole head!”
Jason punched Lizzie’s arm as Mandy slapped the table and laughed again.
“Alright,” Dat said. “Enough now.”
Dat was like that, Lizzie thought happily. He was so full of fun and jokes, and then he would remember that he shouldn’t be too silly and he would say something serious. But family was such a grand thing, Lizzie thought. Cows and old farmhouse or not, having family around her was one thing that was utterly safe and dependable. Together, she believed they could conquer any troubles they would meet.
Even if life handed them disappointments, like Mam’s pneumonia and moving here to the old farm, their loyalty to each other would see them through. Mam would correct her if she said that, insisting that God would stand beside them, which Lizzie knew was true. But the thing was, God seemed so undependable to her. Family you could see and actually touch. God was so far away. He just seemed a bit harder to figure out.
Chapter 16
E MMA WAS THE FIRST one to go away to work as a maud and stay all week. The man who came to the door looked a bit weary and very anxious to have one of the girls come to help his wife with a new baby and all that goes with it. The family had also just started milking cows, so the man would need help with the milking in the morning and evening, too.
Lizzie held her breath, desperately hoping that Emma would offer to go, and, of course, she did. Emma sat at the table crocheting a blue and white afghan, the crochet hook flashing in the gas lamplight. She looked perfectly calm and poised, her cheeks flushed to a delicate shade of pink.
She looked up and
When she was finally finished eating, Lizzie pushed back her plate.
“But, Dat, you have to admit it. A cow is not nearly as pleasant as a horse. They swat you in the face with their smelly tails every chance they have. They step on your toes without even thinking about it. They … they take a huge slurp of your hair if they think it’s hay!” She started laughing.
“What?” Mandy squealed.
Dat started choking and sputtering, pointing a finger at Lizzie.
“So that …,” he coughed, before he resumed speaking, “so that is what happened to your head and your hand this morning, Lizzie!” He laughed so hard Mam raised her eyebrows.
“Oh, my!” Dat sighed. He was still chuckling as he told the others about how Lizzie had hopped around the aisle with a sore hand.
“When I asked her what had happened, she said ‘Nothing!’ so loudly and so angrily, I knew something had happened,” he said.
“So … the cow reached back and tugged at your shtrubbles with her tongue, thinking it was hay, right?” he asked.
Mandy squealed, holding her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Jason guffawed loudly. Mam threw back her head and laughed with Dat.
“Ewww!” Emma said. But she started laughing with everyone else.
The whole table was in such an uproar, Lizzie started laughing as well, because there was nothing to do if everyone else thought it was so funny.
“That will teach you to comb your hair before you go out in the morning!” Dat sputtered, wiping his eyes.
“Oh, my, Lizzie!” Mam gasped.
“Your hair does look a lot like hay!” Jason said. “It always does.”
The morning sun shone through the kitchen windows, casting a soft, yellow glow into the kitchen. Lizzie smiled. Everyone thought she was hilarious, and she felt the glow from Dat’s eyes. She was so thankful for Mam’s health, for Dat’s laughter, for this old house which they were continuing to clean up, for Mandy, for dear, proper Emma, and for Jason’s curls.
She smiled straight into Jason’s eyes and said, “Just be glad my hair doesn’t look like yours. Then the cow would probably have eaten my whole head!”
Jason punched Lizzie’s arm as Mandy slapped the table and laughed again.
“Alright,” Dat said. “Enough now.”
Dat was like that, Lizzie thought happily. He was so full of fun and jokes, and then he would remember that he shouldn’t be too silly and he would say something serious. But family was such a grand thing, Lizzie thought. Cows and old farmhouse or not, having family around her was one thing that was utterly safe and dependable. Together, she believed they could conquer any troubles they would meet.
Even if life handed them disappointments, like Mam’s pneumonia and moving here to the old farm, their loyalty to each other would see them through. Mam would correct her if she said that, insisting that God would stand beside them, which Lizzie knew was true. But the thing was, God seemed so undependable to her. Family you could see and actually touch. God was so far away. He just seemed a bit harder to figure out.
Chapter 16
E MMA WAS THE FIRST one to go away to work as a maud and stay all week. The man who came to the door looked a bit weary and very anxious to have one of the girls come to help his wife with a new baby and all that goes with it. The family had also just started milking cows, so the man would need help with the milking in the morning and evening, too.
Lizzie held her breath, desperately hoping that Emma would offer to go, and, of course, she did. Emma sat at the table crocheting a blue and white afghan, the crochet hook flashing in the gas lamplight. She looked perfectly calm and poised, her cheeks flushed to a delicate shade of pink.
She looked up and
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