A Promise for Ellie Read Online Free

sunflower did, not the dank darkness of a soddy.
    At least the ground had dried enough that the gumbo no longer weighted down his boots. He kicked off any dirt on the store steps and scraped his soles over a scraper by the door. Tapping on the window, he caught Tante Penny’s attention as she rearranged the window display.
    “How come you’re not in school?” she called back.
    “Finished.” He pushed open the door, setting the bell above to jangling. “That looks right nice.” His compliment made her smile widen.
    “Andrew, you always say the nicest things.” Penny climbed over the small picket fence made to protect her window display and gave him a hug. “I can’t believe you are really graduating—so soon. I close my eyes and you’re still a little guy dragging after Thorliff or down playing with whatever animal babies there were.” She stared up into his eyes. Bjorklund blue eyes, they were called. “You and Paws.” She sniffed and locked her arm through his. “Here I go getting all weepy. It’s not like you are moving away or anything.”
    “Just from one house to another.” He squeezed her hand against his side. “You have any mail for me to take on home, and did my house come?”
    “Sorry, no house, but do you think that dear Ellie would let more than a couple of days go by before writing to you?” She went behind the counter to the wall of cubbyholes and pulled out a newspaper and several pieces of mail. “I’ll bet half of these are cheese orders.” She held one envelope back. “Except for this. What am I offered?”
    Andrew shook his head. “Have to pay for my own mail?” He scrunched up his eyes. “What would it take?” He opened his eyes and shook his head. “Please don’t say you need wood chopped.”
    “Now that you volunteered . . .” She laughed and handed him the letter. “I’d be truly grateful if you’d fill the woodbox for me. I’m baking something special for Hjelmer so that he remembers how good things are at home.”
    His onkel Hjelmer, youngest of the Norwegian-born Bjorklund brothers, had been elected to the state assembly and now spent more time on the road than he did at his blacksmith and machinery sales businesses. Old Sam took care of the one and Mr. Valders the other, as well as being the bank manager when needed.
    “I will.” He folded the letter carefully and put it in his breast pocket, right over his heart, where he usually carried Ellie’s latest letter. Never would he have dreamed that he could be such a faithful correspondent.
    “So when are the Wolds coming?” Penny asked.
    “Tomorrow.”
    “They going to stay at the boardinghouse?” His grandma Bridget ran the boardinghouse just up the street.
    “I doubt it. Mor offered them a room upstairs.” He headed out back to bring in wood. Instead of being stacked neatly against the woodshed, it was tossed in a pile, and there was not much of it. Should he split some now or come back later? Like his mor had said more than once, it was great having Onkel Hjelmer helping run North Dakota, but when his family needed him, he wasn’t often around. Like now to chop wood. Andrew took off his shirt and hung it on the clothesline so he could be free to chop. He set a butt up on the block and brought the ax down right in the middle.When it took a second swing, he shook his head. The ax needed sharpening. His pa had been a lumberjack before coming west to help his relatives and had drilled into his sons the necessity for a sharp ax.
    Keeping one’s ax sharp was a good metaphor for life, one that Andrew understood clear to his heart. He took the ax over to the blacksmith shop and sat down at the stone wheel to grind an edge on it again. Haakan always set a good example, taking care of his tools and machinery, fixing anything that came loose or cracked or showed wear. Sparks peppered Andrew’s bare chest as he peddled the wheel and held the ax bit against it until the edge was sharp enough to shave with. Or