Free Running Around (and Such) by Linda Byler Page B

straight to the woodpile. Lizzie trailed behind her, admiring Emma’s blue dress and neat hair. It wouldn’t be long until Emma had a boyfriend, she thought.
    The sight of the stacked wood sent Lizzie right back to a long-ago afternoon, when she had played Mrs. Bixler with Emma. “I’m going to see if I can find some wood to make me some high-heeled shoes,” Lizzie had told Emma. But Emma ignored her and continued to pick up wood.
    “Hello!” Lizzie yelled in what she imagined to be a stylish, grown-up voice. “How are you, Emma?”
    Emma turned to look at Lizzie’s feet. Sure enough, she had securely tied a block of wood with baler twine to the bottom of each foot.
    Emma extended her hand to shake Lizzie’s. “Why, come in, Mrs. Bixler! I’m just fine. And where did you get your new high-heeled shoes?”
    Lizzie held her head up high, and in a genuine, English-lady imitation said, “Oh, I just bought them at the store!”
    Both girls collapsed on the floor in a fit of giggles. When Lizzie hit the floor and her high heels fell apart, they laughed even harder.
    Emma sputtered, “L-L-Lizzie—your shoes!”
    Lizzie gasped, “Well, they did feel like high heels a little bit.” She picked up the blocks of wood and twine, trying to reattach them to her shoes.
    She looked at Emma. “There’s hardly any use, is there? These aren’t really high heels, and I’m not really English.” Lizzie squeezed Emma’s hand and loved her so much she thought her heart would burst.
    Dear, bossy, big sister Emma. And now Emma had turned 16. Tonight the family gathered around the dining room table to celebrate Emma’s big birthday. Each person had a lovely glass dish filled with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream while Emma opened her gifts. The birthday cake had two layers covered with vanilla frosting—everyone’s favorite—and they enjoyed every last morsel of it with spoonfuls of creamy vanilla ice cream.
    Emma opened the largest package and found a pair of candleholders with blue candles for her bedroom. Another package contained fabric for two new dresses, a robin’s-egg blue and a light dusty green material. Emma was quite overwhelmed, and her cheeks flushed a beautiful pink color as she gasped, exclaiming over the pretty fabric.
    After they finished celebrating, the girls washed the dishes while Mam bathed the twins. Jason went out with Dat to finish up the chores, making sure the barn doors were closed properly against the approaching chill of the night.
    Suddenly Mam appeared at the kitchen door, looking at the girls and listening for a sound she thought she heard.
    “Did someone knock?” she asked.
    “No,” the girls answered.
    But now there was a decided knocking on the kitchen door.
    “I thought I heard someone,” Mam said, hurrying to open it.
    “Come on in,” she said, stepping back to let a young Amish man into the kitchen.
    “Hello. Sorry to bother you so late in the evening,” he said, smiling apologetically.
    “That’s quite all right. It isn’t late yet,” Mam answered.
    “Looks like you have plenty of help,” he said, nodding toward the girls who were clustered around the kitchen sink.
    “Oh, yes. My girls are growing up so fast I can hardly keep up with them,” Mam laughed.
    “That’s good. We need mauda here in Cameron County.” Lizzie’s heart sank way down, leaving her stomach feeling all hollow and helpless.
    Mauda ! Oh, no! I’m not going. Emma can. Mam and Dat can’t make me be a maud . I’m not going to do it. I’ll run away, she thought. She had a wild impulse to run upstairs and hide under her bed where no one would be able to find her and make her go be a maud , or maid. Sometimes being a maud meant staying for weeks at a time in a family’s home, which really, Lizzie thought, was much like being a slave.
    She had told Emma that one evening when they were discussing the fact that eventually they would probably need to be mauda , with so many young families moving