Soon he wasn’t going to be able to stand it anymore. That is how Joe Yoder felt in the days after he discovered that stream-bank home. He thought about it constantly. He wondered who lived there. More than anything else, he longed to tell someone. Finally he decided to tell Lydia. She would enjoy sharing a secret. She often complained that he never played with her anymore. Maybe she’d feel better if he let her in on his big secret. Lydia was outside carrying a pail of water from the well to the garden. The women seemed to be doing that a lot of the time. Practically no rain had fallen since the garden had been planted, yet Mother was determined to keep the garden thriving. And the only way to do that was to carry water. “Here. Shall I carry that?” Joe made the offer after coming up behind Lydia. She jumped and spilled some water. “You scared me! Look at the water we lost.” “Sorry. Water’s precious, isn’t it,” he said, taking the pail. “Mother is afraid that the well will go dry.
