A Simple Song Read Online Free Page A

time for evening chores, and took off toward Bekka’s house. Once again, she cut across the fields, carefully walking the fence lines to avoid stepping on the tender sprouts that werejust coming up all over. In a month’s time all this acreage would be lush and green with produce, and by summer’s end, it would be ready to harvest.
    Although Daadi owned this acreage, they all called it the family farm. But because Uncle Willis, born to Daadi’s first wife, was ten years older than Daed, he had taken over managing it years ago. Still, they called themselves partners, and up until the tractor accident several years ago, Daed had always worked hard. Now he felt sorry that he was unable to do his “fair share,” but fortunately Katrina’s two older brothers, Drew and Cal, were strong and fit and both seemed to love agriculture. Much more so than Uncle Willis’s only son. Thomas had no interest in farming and was currently trying to start a business. Because Drew and Cal did most of the farm work, Katrina expected that Daadi would make them partners in the farm someday—hopefully in the not too distant future because Drew, who’d been baptized a few years ago, wanted to ask his girlfriend, Hannah, to wed. Hannah taught school but would gladly give it up to marry Drew. Especially if Drew inherited part of the farm.
    Katrina could see Bekka’s house now. It had once been a farmhouse too, but their land had been divided and Bekka’s father had taken the smallest parcels. Now instead of growing produce like his brothers did, Bekka’s father grew mostly herbs and flowers that the family dried and used to make candles and soaps. They’d started out by selling their goods to local shops but had eventually expanded into a larger business that shipped candles and soaps all over the country. As a result, Bekka had learned how to run a computer, and she handled most of the orders herself.
    Katrina suspected she’d find Bekka working on thecomputer in the office, which was actually just an old root storage room attached to the back of the house. A few times Katrina had helped her print mailing labels, but most of what Bekka did, Katrina didn’t fully understand. Sometimes she wondered if Bekka wasn’t just pretending to work.
    â€œHello?” Katrina called as she tapped on the door. “Bekka?”
    â€œOh?” Bekka looked startled as she turned off the monitor, concealing whatever she had been looking at on the screen. “Katrina, what are you doing here?”
    â€œI need your help.” Katrina glanced around the small, crowded room. One wall had a shelf full of car batteries that Bekka used to power the computer. Another wall had the printer and paper supplies against it. The third wall, where Bekka worked, had a small desk with her computer and a telephone that was only used for business.
    â€œHelp with what?” Bekka eyed her canvas shopping bag. “What have you got there?”
    Katrina closed the door. “Something I don’t want Sadie to see.”
    Bekka came closer, peering curiously into the bag.
    â€œI don’t even know what all of it is.” Katrina began to unload the contents, setting the various items on a cleared-off space next to the computer. “This all belonged to my grandmother.” She told Bekka what had happened upstairs in her grandparents’ house, perhaps making it seem more exciting than it was—if that was even possible.
    Bekka’s eyes were huge now. “Your grandmother was a singer in a band?”
    â€œWell, I’m not sure that it was a band exactly.” She held up the record cover. “But it seems she was musical. I mean, this is a record, after all. That suggests music.”
    â€œWillow Tree?” Bekka got a thoughtful look. “That does sound like the name of a music group.”
    Katrina frowned. “How would you even know?”
    Bekka’s fine brows arched