The Red

Chapter 2

All of the lights in the building turn florescent, and cheerful, old fashioned music blares. The children are alerted to head to the Dining Room for a birthday party.

Twenty-one more kids rush through the kitchen, and into the Dining Room. The dining room has three tables. One is a childish plastic picnic table for the four toddlers, the "tots", as Jill and I began calling them two years ago. The other table is mahogany, and it's very long. It's for the sixteen kids (who Jill and I call "juniors") who are aged five to ten. The last table is where I sit. It's about five feet long, and three feet wide. It's for the kids from age eleven to seventeen. It consists of me, Jill, Preston, and these two eleven-year-olds named Donovan and Charlene. Jill and I mainly call this table "us".

We all take our seats, and Cathy sets up the cake on a counter that stretches across the front wall. It's where we set our food before we eat it.

"Hello, everyone!" she says, "This afternoon, Natalie is celebrating her birthday! Can we sing to her now?"

My face heats up as the whole orphanage sings our original birthday song.

Happy birthday friend
Have a happy day
You're one year older today
Lets celebrate with cake!

It's a pretty sketchy song, but it feels special to us.

"Okay!" Cathy says, "Natalie's table can come get cake first!"

My table rises and walks to the front of the room, where Cathy cuts a slice of cake for each person. We head back to the table to eat it.

Next, half of the juniors get up to get their cake. Then the other half, and finally the tots get theirs.

The cake is vanilla, my favorite, as remembered by Cathy. The frosting is white and creamy. Cathy knows how to make cake.

"This is great!" Jill says, starting a conversation.

"Sure," Donovan says, "Teenage girl parties. If I had parents, I probably wouldn't be going to those until I was older."

I smirk a little.

"I remember when you came to the orphanage, Natalie." Charlene tells me. "I felt so bad. I don't remember my parents much, but you must remember them well, being older. Does that make it harder to lose them?"

I scrunch my eyebrows. Charlene sometimes doesn't think about her words.

"I would guess," I tell her, a little sourly, "But I have no other parent losses in my life to compare it to."

She just smiles and returns to her cake. Charlene is friendly enough, but she really ought to comb out her thoughts before verbalizing them.

There is a quiet chatter among the children until Cathy says, "Children, should we let Natalie open her present now?"

Everytime there's a birthday, Cathy uses a little money to get the child something nice. It's never too pricey, and there's never multiple gifts. Because twenty-six orphans with birthdays can get pretty expensive.

Cathy beckons me to the front of the room, where she has set a square, five inch red box where the cake used to be.

I'm rather excited as I remove the lid, because I don't have a clue what it holds. I do the action slowly enough to note the sparkly red bow atop the box.

Inside is white tissue paper. Piece by piece, I pull it away, until a silver something catches my eye. I am shocked as I pull it out. Cathy - she couldn't have.

My eyes are tearing up. "A camera?"

She has given me a small digital camera, with a dominant black screen and a series of buttons to the right and on the top.

Cathy's eyes sparkle. "I know how observant you are, so I tried to find something that would accompany that talent." She smiles.

"Oh, Cathy, thank you!" I reach over and hug her.

There is a groan from the tots as Cathy explains how they should never touch my new gift. They are always eager to get their hands on new toys, which is why they never got too excited for my birthdays.

I walk back to the table and sit beside Jill.

"Oh! Take a picture of me!" She says, and poses with her best smile on.

I laugh as I turn the camera on, aiming it at her face. I click the shutter button, and take a look at the final picture.

There's Jill, looking lovely but a little conceded. Preston is in the background, blue eyes staring wonderingly through the screen. On the other side of the table is Donovan, leaning over the table with his fingers pulling his mouth apart, making plenty of room for his tongue to slip out.

I try to give him the evil eye, but end up laughing instead.

Cathy clears her throat and looks at her watch.

"Okay, kids, I have a couple coming in to talk to me in an hour, so as long as your chores are done-"

She doesn't get to finish her instructions. The room bursts into excitement. It's not everyday someone comes in looking for a child.

But my table and I sit forlornly. We all know we have no chance.