“My land—” began Sunny for the third time, but the red automobile of the postman came to a sliding stop beside the box, and fortunately interrupted him.
“Hello Blue Jeans!” called the postman, who found a new name for Sunny Boy every day. “How do you like farming now? Am I to give the mail to you, or put it in the box?”
This was an every day question. The postman pretended to be very much surprised when Sunny Boy said he would take the mail, and he always handed it out a piece at a time, so that Sunny never knew how much was coming.
“There’s two for your grandfather,” counted the postman, handing them to his small friend standing on the running board. “And that’s for your grandmother. Here’s the Cloverways’ weekly paper for the whole family. My, my, one—two—three—five seven letters, all for your mother. And a box, too. Is that all? Yep, guess that’s all to-day.”
Sunny Boy got down from the running board and the postman started his car slowly.
“Oh, Mr. Corntassel!” the postman called suddenly. “Here’s another. I declare, I must be getting old, or need glasses, or something. If there isn’t a letter addressed to you and I came within one of taking it back to the post-office with me!”
He gave Sunny Boy another letter, and this time drove off without stopping.
“My land of Goshen!” said Sunny Boy, who was using Araminta’s pet expression far more often than she did. “Such a heap of letters. Maybe mine’s from Daddy.”
He found Mrs. Horton in the porch swing, sewing. She had to kiss the seven new freckles on his nose before she could read her mail, and then Sunny Boy had to trudge about and find Grandpa and Grandma and deliver their letters to them. He felt quite like a postman himself, though it is doubtful if real postmen have sugar cookies and peppermints paid to them for each letter they bring. So by the time Sunny Boy got around to having his own letter read to him, Mother had finished hers and had opened her box.
“See what Daddy sent us,” she said, holding up the package for him to see. In the box were two balls of pink wool and four of dark blue.