Promise to Cherish Read Online Free Page B

than human kindness to do this kind of work.” The man grinned a little. “We have detached units all over the country working in hospitals like this and reports are saying that not only are the hospitals appreciative of the service, but the campers are feeling useful. They say that the job is very rewarding. This is an all-Mennonite unit, so you’ll be fine in that regard. You have proven yourself here and you are a very strong young man.”
    “Strong?”
    “Yes, apparently they are really looking for people who are tall and strong to help with the unruly patients. When I read that, I instantly thought of you.” As if handing Eli a compliment, his smile grew wider.
    Eli’s shoulders sagged. They only needed his brute strength? Was that all he was good for? The fact that he’d been asked to head up some of the building projects came to mind. He inhaled, and for the first time in his life he found his mind and heart longing and praying for God’s peace.
    “When do I leave?” he sighed.
    “April.” The director stood and put a hand out to Eli.
    Eli shook the director’s hand and after signing a form turned to leave.
    “Oh, Eli, here’s a letter for you. It was missed earlier.” The older man’s furrow lifted momentarily as he smiled and handed Eli the envelope. “Looks like pretty handwriting—sugar report?”
    Eli nearly rolled his eyes at the mention of sugar report . Simply any letter from a girl did not make it a sugar report, which, in the CPS, were letters from wives and girlfriends. Matilda did not fit into these descriptions.
    “Not quite,” he answered back as he grabbed the letter and stuffed it into his back pocket. “Matilda’s just a friend.”
    After his duties and their evening meal, he retreated to the barracks. There were several conscies setting up a Monopoly board and a few others writing letters or reading. He went to the sink in the corner of the room and washed his face and hair. The cool wind that coursed through the broken window nearby chilled him. His wet hair was icy.
    “Hey, Eli, you coming?” One of the men he worked with held up some Monopoly money.
    He shook his head. “Not tonight.”
    The group moved on with the game without him.
    He reached his bottom bunk and pulled out Matilda’s letter. She’d been true to her word and written him faithfully. He’d also been true to his word and barely wrote her back; in both letters he’d written in the two months he’d been away he closed it with Your Friend hoping it would remind her that there was nothing special between them. Her letters always covered all the district’s news. One letter even described his brother Mark and Sylvia’s wedding down to the sliced almonds that decorated their cake. It wasn’t a month after he left for the CPS that they were quickly married. He’d always known that Sylvia wasn’t the girl for him, but dating her made Mark angry. Why had he done that? Of course Mark hated him.
February 4, 1945
Dear Eli,
Hello in the Name of our Lord! How is the camp treating you? I wish you could visit home. I saw your mom at church and she said they all miss you. Norman Hershberger came home this week from your camp. His mother already looks healthier now that he’s home. Norman said you are well-liked there. I am not surprised. He also said that letters from girls are called sugar reports. How sweet. I think I quite like that.
Your brother and Sylvia look real happy and their little house is so nice. They make such a nice pair, don’t you think?
    Eli stopped reading and stuffed the letter back in the envelope. He did not want to read about Sylvia and Mark. He’d gotten his fill of hearing about his brother after his mother first wrote him about their wedding. A wedding after the fall wedding season came as a shock. When it was clear the families rushed the wedding because of an expectant child, the awkward timing became understood.

CHAPTER 3
    T he winter passed in slow motion. By the time April