Green Eggs and Ham: Extra Bit(e)s - Sam

Orphanage Days

Today was his birthday. At least that's what the caretakers say. Also, they claim that today he's seventeen. Which means that he has only one year left before he legally becomes an adult and has to go out into the world on his own.

Sam-I-Am felt mixed about that fact.

On one hand, this meant that he could go out to look for his mom, wherever she may be. Every night, he keeps having dreams about trying to reach her, but she was just too far (and he's pretty sure that a twenty one pilots song was playing along with it). The only thing he definitely remembered was how she cooked green eggs and ham. He needed a break from ones they make here.

On the other hand, he couldn't pick an exact spot to start his search. He also had to make money if he wanted to travel, especially if she was in another country. But even that sounded a bit too far-fetched.
——
"Happy birthday, Sam!", said Molly O'Malley, his friend at the orphanage.

"Thanks", he says with a smile. He drops his smile as he turns his head.

Molly turns his head with her hand to look him in the eye again. "Something eating at you?"

Sam lets out a sad sigh and closes his eyes, holding back tears. "It's just... I'll be leaving here in another year, you know no one would adopt a 17 year old just to have to say goodbye so soon after, and..." A tear rolls down his cheek. "I keep having dreams about my mother."

Molly gives him a heartwarming smile. "You know what I believe, Sam?"

"What?", he asks.

"She probably misses you just as much as you miss her. Something tells me she's looking for you at this very moment."

Sam blinks and grins at Molly. He touches her hand resting on his cheek. "I'd like to believe that. But what if I never see her again?" More tears were starting to brim his eyes.

"You'll always have me, Sam. I'd never abandon you."

He burst into tears at that moment. Molly held him close. "Always?"

"Always. That's a promise."
——
Too bad fate doesn't care about promises.

A few months later, on the bus ride coming back to the orphanage from school, a tire blew out on the bus and it fell sideways on the road. Sam fell from one side of the bus to the other and hit his head pretty hard and he went unconscious. When he woke up, he was on a hospital bed and his head was bandaged. Ms. Davidson, the head caretaker, was talking to the doctor right outside the door. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he saw Ms. Davidson was wiping her eyes and he could just hear her say, "No, I'll tell him."

Tell me what?, Sam said to himself. He leaned up in his bed and a sudden wave of nausea washed over him. He let out a groan, holding his temple. The doctor and Ms. Davidson noticed this and walked in the room.

"Sam, are you feeling okay?", the doctor asks.

"A little", he says. "What happened? Where's Molly?" He wanted to stand up, but he didn't have the strength to move even one of his toes, let alone his legs.

"You got into a bus accident. You're not in too bad a shape. Just need more rest and to drink more water."

"But where's Molly? I need to know if she's all right."

Ms. Davidson takes a deep breath and hesitates for a second. "Sam, I don't know how to put this. Molly's...in a better place now."

It felt like the world had ended. Sam wanted Ms. Davidson to say "By that I mean, she's okay, she just got adopted", but he knew exactly what she meant. Sam threw himself back onto the bed and started sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I know you two were very close. But, if it helps in any kind of way, Molly said that she wishes nothing but absolute happiness and good luck for you", Ms. Davidson told him.

Admittedly, that did make Sam feel a bit happier, but he still felt totally destroyed, like a building with a faulty foundation that just collapsed.
——
Five years later, Sam had been living in a trailer all by himself. He really wanted a new friend, not to replace Molly, of course, just to have someone to lift his spirits. He still hasn't found his mother (he tried green eggs and ham at every restaurant he went to) and Snerz insisted that he not form attachments to the animals he smuggles so doesn't try to keep them for himself. What's more, he had another job from Snerz that he had to carry out: bring him a Chickeraffe. That was the rarest and most valuable animal that Snerz didn't yet have in his collection. He was even sure enough to tell Sam to get some accomplices since the Chickeraffe was apparently the most dangerous in addition to being the rarest.