Read A Simple Song for Free Online

behind the box of paper to make sure her bag was still there. “But if you’re busy, I can come another—”
    â€œNo, you can keep me company while I enter these into the computer,” Bekka told her.
    â€œIf you don’t mind, I’d like to go through Mammi’s things,” Katrina said.
    â€œI was wondering when you were going to get back here to do that.” Bekka chuckled. “I was about ready to go through them myself.”
    â€œI couldn’t get away the first week,” Katrina said as she opened the bag. “Then you were gone.” As she pulled out the record, she told Bekka about how she’d been listening to the radio. “It’s as if I can’t stop,” she confessed. “Sometimes when I know Sadie is asleep, I sneak it into my bed and listen there.”
    Bekka laughed. “You are worse than me and this computer.”
    â€œAnd I’ve been learning songs,” Katrina told her.
    â€œReally? What kinds of songs?”
    â€œMost of them are from the sixties and seventies,” she explained. “The station only plays old songs. But I love them.” She sighed. “I love them so much I could just sing and sing.” She stopped herself. “Except that I know it’s wrong.”
    â€œWhy don’t you sing one for me?” Bekka asked as she plucked away at her keyboard.
    â€œSing one?” Katrina felt self-conscious now.
    â€œCome on,” Bekka urged. “I want to hear an old song.”
    Katrina tried to think of a good song. “All right, there is a group called Peter, Paul and Mary, and—”
    â€œI think I’ve heard of them.”
    â€œReally?” Katrina was doubtful. “How do you happen to hear of all these singing groups? Do you listen to music too?”
    Bekka gave her a sly look now. “I’m sure you’ve never heard of a TV show called American Star . . . have you?”
    Katrina just shook her head. “No, of course not. Have you seen it?”
    Bekka pointed to her computer. “I watch it on here.”
    â€œI know you watch movies, but the computer is a TV too?”
    Bekka giggled. “Sort of.”
    â€œOh.” Katrina was surprised. There was a lot she didn’t know about computers.
    â€œThis TV show is so great,” Bekka told her. “Ordinary kids like you and me—well, except they’re all English—anyway, they compete in singing. The winners get all this money. And sometimes they sing songs from groups like Peter, Paul and Mary.”
    â€œReally?” Katrina tried to imagine that but couldn’t.
    â€œSo anyway, ja , I do know who Peter, Paul and Mary are. American Star did a tribute to them last season. They even showed old films of them singing.”
    Katrina just shook her head.
    â€œAnyway, you were going to sing one of their songs.”
    â€œ Ja . The reason I’ll sing one of theirs is because the way they sound—the way they sing—reminds me of Mammi’s group Willow Tree. But I’ve only heard Willow Tree a couple of times on the radio. Maybe three.”
    â€œYou heard your mammi on the radio?” Bekka seemed truly impressed.
    â€œJa,” Katrina said with enthusiasm. “It was so amazing.”
    â€œGo ahead and sing.” Bekka turned back to her computer. “I won’t even look.”
    â€œAll right. I’m going to sing ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon,’” Katrina told her. “It sounds like a silly song, but it’s actually a bit sad. I’m not sure if I got all the words right, but sometimes I make them up if I can’t quite remember.”
    With that, she began to sing about the dragon that lived by the sea, the boy who loved him, and how the boy grew up and left the poor dragon all alone. She wasn’t even sure if Bekka was listening or not. By the time Katrina finished, Bekka’s fingers had quit flying over the