The Orphanage - Part 3

The days all flow together after awhile.  We go to school, we go home, we do homework, we eat, we sleep and it starts all over again.

We do get tiny snippets of time, stolen moments of fun. And there are the weekends, when we can have some fun.  Working our bake stand, going to the local pool, playing with toys or games.  I was looking forward to summer holidays, all the kids at school talked about what their plans were. Weeks of just play, no homework and no school.  It sounds so wonderful.

Then the massive letdown.  Turns out Miss Polly has some special deal with the school.  No summer holidays for us, just more school.  I was so disappointed when I found out we'd spend the summer in school too.

Miss Polly's not actively cruel, but she's far from kind.  She does provide a meal a day, and pretty much ignores us most of the time.  We have rules, bed times etc. The main rule seems to be, don't bring home any trouble and it's all fine.

I heard that Theodore came from a different place where the kids were locked in dorms unless it was school time or meal time.  That was it.  It could explain a lot about him.  I can't imagine being locked in all the time like that.

I worked up my courage and asked AJ and Sam why they think they weren't adopted.

AJ told us how she ended up at the adoption centre a bit older.

"Neighbors dropped me off at the centre after my parents completely and utterly vanished.  It was like they had never been.  By that time, I was not the cute baby or just barely a toddler. I was one of the bigger toddlers and..." AJ sighed. "Far too pale.  The babies that were green, brown, or blue were snapped up quickly.  Pale skinned toddlers with different hair colours were taken to new homes fairly quickly.  But not a blonde girl with pale skin. Only a few of the prospective parents even glanced at me."

Then I asked Sam.  He knows exactly why he wasn't adopted.

"The system wasn't set up in for someone like me.  I was always grumpy by the time the prospective parents arrived.  Either they got you up from a lovely nap or they took your favourite toy from you.  Then they put you in the 'good' clothes.  The fancy things that don't fit and are really uncomfortable.  Most toddlers recovered pretty quickly and looked cheerful when the parents arrived.  I was still screaming my head off. No one ever looked in my direction."

I told them my tale of being regarded as hot-tempered because I'm a red head.  Sam laughed, he thinks his little finger has more of a temper than I do.

Ending up here has made AJ wistful, Sam tough and me as soft as a sponge.

Days turn into weeks turn into years. Filled with drudgery but also companionship.  Sam, AJ and I stuck together through it all.  Sam has decided that my nickname is Red, AJ is White and we are to call him Blue.  He's noticed in geography that many flags feature those colours and we three stand as a nation against the rest of the world.

Then one day

Sam became a teen.  Will he behave like the other teens now?