Rachel by Mary Christner Borntrager

Author:Mary Christner Borntrager [Borntrager, Mary Christner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8361-3539-8
Publisher: MennoMedia
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

That evening after supper, as Rachel and Grandma were doing the dishes, Rachel brought up the subject of the wasted pineapple Grandpa had mentioned earlier.

“Rachel,” began Grandma, “some people don’t believe in telling about things they did while growing up, especially if they were naughty. But I think you can learn from our mistakes, and thus I can teach you.”

“Yes, Grandma,” answered Rachel, “and I want to learn what is right.”

“Well, I love pineapple,” said Mammi. “It’s my favorite fruit. My mother used to can pineapple, but since we were a large family, I never seemed to get enough of it.

“One day a naughty plan popped into my head when I was sent to the basement for something. I decided that when mother would lie down with the baby for a nap, I would take a spoon, open a quart of pineapple, and eat it all by myself.

“I made sure none of my brothers or sisters saw me go to the basement. I opened a jar and ate as fast as I could. When I had eaten half of the contents, I was full.

“So I placed the now half-empty jar back on the shelf. I decided to come back another day and eat the rest of the pineapple. But, ach, my! I forgot about it.

Then one day Mother had me help her in the basement just as we did today. Suddenly I heard her ask, ‘Was ist des (What is this)?’

“As I turned, I saw her holding a half-empty jar of green, moldy pineapple. I’m sure guilt was written all over my face, because she said, ‘Ellie, what do you know about this?’”

“Oh, Mammi, what did you do?” asked Rachel.

“I told the truth!”

“Then what happened?”

“I had to take that smelly jar of pineapple, show it to all the family, and tell them what I had done.”

“Were you ashamed?” asked Rachel.

“I certainly was. I had to wash the dishes by myself that night, and there were stacks of them. It was hard to clean that jar. For a long time, I couldn’t eat pineapple.”

“But you like it now, don’t you?” asked Rachel.

“Oh, yes,” answered Grandma.

“But only a dessert dishful at a time,” laughed Dawdy, who had been listening from his place in the living room.

Rachel joined in the merriment, and everything seemed right with the world again.

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