A New Home for Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher, Mary Ann Kinsinger

get rid of them. They’re nice and tame, but I can’t keep them. My wife doesn’t like them. She said either the goats go or she goes.” He spit another long brown wad into the grass beside the road.
    Lily was shocked. How could a wife say such a thing? She hoped Papa would buy the goats. It would be terrible if the man had to go home with the goats and his wife would goaway. But maybe, Lily wondered, if the man stopped spitting, his wife wouldn’t be so mad at him.
    Papa looked at each goat for a long time, thinking and thinking. Then he jammed his hat back on his head. “You back the truck up to the barn while I go get the money.”
    The man jumped into his truck. The whole truck shuddered and lurched forward when he started it. Lily and Joseph ran into the house with Papa to hear him explain to Mama that he had just bought four goats. Mama looked stunned. Papa hurried off to pay the man.
    â€œGoats?” Mama said as the door slammed shut behind Papa. “You bought goats?”
    After the truck rumbled away, they all joined Papa outside to look at the goats.
    Papa had tied the goats outside of Jenny’s pen. He gave them several handfuls of hay to eat. Lily liked to listen to their sharp little teeth crunch the hay with quick, fast bites. It sounded so different from the slow, contented way Jenny munched her hay.
    â€œI think I’ll have to spend the rest of the afternoon making a pen for these goats,” Papa said. “And it looks as if I’ll need to milk one of the nannies tonight.”
    â€œCan I milk the goat?” Lily asked. “She’s just about my size.”
    Papa hesitated. “I guess you could give it a try.”
    Lily was excited. Chore time would be even more fun if she could milk a nanny goat while Papa milked Jenny. Joseph could hold Jenny’s tail for Papa. No one would have to hold the goat’s tail because it was too little to swat anyone in the face.
    By chore time, Papa had finished the goat pen in the barn. He put the three nanny goats in the pen but tied the billy goatnear the back of the barn. Lily felt a little sorry for the billy goat, but Papa said that he didn’t want that goat anywhere near the nannies. Lily thought that might be a good idea. If they were going to get kids soon, she didn’t want the billy to hurt them with his big horns. But she thought she might gather fresh fistfuls of grass every day to feed to the billy. He might not feel so lonesome if he were given fresh grass to eat.
    Papa handed Lily the milking stool. “Here, Lily. You can try milking the goat first. I can milk Jenny after you’re done.” He tied the nanny so she wouldn’t walk away while Lily was milking her.
    Lily sat down beside the nanny. She placed a little bowl on the floor under the goat and tried to milk her. Instead of nice long streams of milk like Papa got, she was able to get only a few drops into the bowl. Plink, plink, plink. Papa tried to help Lily, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get the milk to stream. Her hands just weren’t strong enough.
    â€œWe’ll wait until you’re a little older,” Papa said. “I’m sure you’ll learn how to be a good milker when you get bigger.”
    Lily was crushed. Papa finished milking the goat and handed her the bowl of milk to take to the kitchen. Mama strained the milk into a quart jar and put it into the refrigerator to get cold.
    The next morning, Mama poured milk into a glass by each person’s plate for breakfast. “Can I have goat milk this morning?” Lily asked. She’d been wondering what it would taste like.
    Mama looked up, surprised. “You can if you want to.”
    Lily ran out on the porch and got the goat milk from the refrigerator to fill her cup. Papa and the boys decided they wanted to try the goat milk too. Lily took a sip and made a face. It didn’t taste like milk was supposed to taste. It