Read Online A Simple Song by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online Page B

songs?”
    â€œ Ja . Tell her to come on over. I’m usually out here in the afternoon.” Bekka let out a yawn, and Katrina realized how late it was. They began putting things away, and with everything turned off, they tiptoed into the house. Once they were in bed, Katrina listened to the sounds of the night. Bekka’s even breathing signaled she was asleep, but Katrina was now wide awake.
    So many thoughts and emotions were rushing through hermind—guilt for singing, concerns for the family farm, curiosity about Mammi’s past and the money, dreams of someday becoming Cooper’s wife, worry that marriage would take her far from her family—it was like a herd of wild horses had been set loose inside her head. Finally, she slipped out of bed and retrieved her little radio from her bag, slid in the earplug, and eventually began to feel drowsy as she listened to the comforting sounds of music from decades past.

    Katrina knew that Daadi might already be asleep by now. It wasn’t that church was physically tiring, since they mostly sat, but the three-hour service did make for a long morning. Then there was the social gathering afterward, along with a light lunch. By the time Daadi got home, he was usually ready for a nap, but Katrina had asked Aunt Alma to keep him awake until she got there. Now she was hurrying along the fence line with seven hundred dollars pinned inside of her camisole, where it had been since this morning before church.
    Aunt Alma greeted her on the porch. “Katrina, I told Daed you wanted to take a walk with him.”
    Daadi smiled as he emerged from the front room. “I would be honored to walk with you, Katrina.”
    â€œThank you.” She linked her arm in his, and together they went down the steps. As they strolled away from the house, she made small talk about the weather and the crops. Once they were a safe distance away, she began to speak more openly. “Daadi,” she began, “I helped Aunt Alma clear away Mammi’s things.”
    â€œJa.” He nodded. “She told me. That seems fitting. I know I can trust you, Katrina.”
    â€œ Ja . Of course you can.” She pointed to a log bench. “Do you want to sit?”
    He seemed unsure but then agreed. “You would think after sitting all morning in church, we would be tired of sitting.”
    As he eased himself down, she turned from him and unpinned the envelope of bills from her camisole. “There were interesting things in Mammi’s box,” she told him.
    â€œI figured there would be.”
    â€œYou mean you didn’t actually know what was in there?”
    â€œDidn’t know . . . and don’t want to know.” He looked directly at her. “I don’t mind that you know. You’re like her in so many ways.”
    â€œSo you don’t want me to tell you about what was in the box?”
    â€œThat’s right. When your mammi asked me to make her a box to put the things from her past in, she told me I could look if I wanted, but I said, ‘No, thank you, everything I need to know about you is right in front of me.’ So after she filled the box, she hammered the lid down tight, and that was the end of it.”
    â€œBut you still didn’t want anyone else to know about her past?”
    He nodded firmly. “That’s right. Her past was hers and hers alone. No one else needs to know.”
    Katrina bit her lip.
    â€œWell, excepting you and Alma. I don’t mind that you two know.” He adjusted the brim of his straw hat to keep the afternoon sun out of his eyes. “But don’t tell your father. Your mammi never wanted Frost to know about her past. He was her only child, and I think it was her way of protecting him.”
    â€œWhat if there was something in the box that would be useful to you?”
    He looked doubtful. “Useful to me? Something that was nailed in that box all those years ago? I