quaint [h.s.]

nine

"Some of these teens are out of hand. They run away at night and get pregnant, can you believe that?" Nancy scowls. "We separate all twenty girls into two large rooms. Ten beds in each. Ages 5-11 in one and 12-17 in the other."

"Okay," I say as Nancy stops in front of one of the rooms.

"Girls! Room one!" Nancy bellows.

The door squeaks open and ten girl scurries out of the room and into the hallway. They have no shoes on their feet and they look frightened.

"Girls, this is the newest staff member, Miss Baker. She'll watch over you tomorrow of course right along with I. Now be polite and say hello," Nancy says.

A small brunette speaks up. "Hi! I'm Lucy!"

"Hello, Lucy. I'm Doris." I sweetly smile as the rest of the girls remain quiet.

"Well since you're all rude, go back inside. Now!" The girls jump and dash back inside the bedroom.

"Lucy is such a sweet girl. Joan finds her annoying however. She has a younger sister who won't be in this orphanage until two years later."

Nancy walks across the hall and opens the other bedroom door. She introduces me to the older girls the same way she did to the younger ones. These seem a bit more sassy and rude.

That's just on how they're presenting themselves. They go back to talking amongst themselves.

"Speak! Now! I'll just get Joan in here!" Nancy hollered.

With the mention of Joan, all the girls stood up quickly from their thin mattresses and stared at mr before smiling.

"Hey girls," I smile and they send a fake smile back.

Wow, this is going to be harder than I thought.

-

I spent the rest of the evening fixing up my bedroom and just staying in there. I glance at the clock that reads 9:30. We've already eaten and some other women has told the older girls to clean the dining and the kitchen.

This place looks brand new--except for the third floor. I would like to get to know the girls more, but I can't if its not exactly my job yet until tomorrow morning.

I think the women who work from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. has it easier. Because, the entire day is to themselves, but they probably sleep all afternoon as well. I wonder what Harry is doing at this moment. Eating, sleeping? Talking to Mary? William?

Well I just hope that he's doing better now. Maybe without Mary he's still not exactly happy, but me being present in the house certainly wasn't helping.

From boredom, I call Shirley on the telephone, haven't spoke to her in awhile.

She answers soon. "Hello?"

"Hey Shirley. It's Doris."

"Doris, hi! How are you?" She asks brightly.

"I'm great!"

"And how about being engaged? How's that going?"

"Oh..things really aren't working out. I'm taking a break.." I pretended to be saddened and broke.

"Oh Doris! I wish I was there to comfort you! Are you at your home?"

"No. I work at Caroline's Orphanage. They give us rooms to stay in but it costs money from our pay," I replied.

"Caroline's Orphanage, huh. What are your hours?"

"Eight in the morning to eight at night. I start tomorrow and I'm free on weekends."