by Zoe Matthews
****
When she arrived in the large room where all the children ate their meals, she quickly found her place between Anna and Serena. She learned that they too were to meet with Mrs. Young as soon as they were done with lunch. Katrina breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it wouldn’t be bad news if Mrs. Young also wanted to see Anna and Serena.
Soon the three girls were on their way to the director’s office. They walked down a long hall that led to the front of the orphanage. Katrina noticed that someone had just mopped the floors because she smelled the strong disinfectant and she saw small puddles of water in various places. The three girls had to walk carefully around them in order to not step in some water and slip.
The hallway was dingy and dark. She hated this particular hallway that lead to the director’s office. It always made her remember the last time she saw her father as he walked away from her.
Katrina noticed that neither Anna nor Serena said anything and she knew that they were probably as nervous as she was. No one was asked to visit Mrs. Young unless there was a specific reason.
When they arrived at the office, the door was closed. Katrina heard Anna take a deep breath.
“I’ll knock,” Serena offered and she hit the closed wooden door with her small fist a few times.
“Come in!” Katrina heard Mrs. Young call through the door and Anna slowly opened it. Katrina followed her friend, with Serena beside her. As they entered, Katrina saw a heavyset woman she had never seen before sitting next to Mrs. Young’s desk.
“Girls,” Mrs. Young stood and greeted them. The woman stood as well. “Come in and let me introduce you to Mrs. Carver.” She gestured to the girls to move closer to her desk.
“These are the girls I was telling you about,” Mrs. Young spoke to the woman. “This is Anna, Serena and Katrina.” She pointed to each girl as she said their names. “Girls, this is Mrs. Carver. Why don’t we all sit down and I will let you know why I wanted to talk with you.”
Katrina sat down on a chair that had been placed in front of the desk and Anna and Serena did the same. She glanced at her friends for encouragement, but neither looked at her. They were looking at the woman.
“Mrs. Carver and her husband are planning a trip. They want to take some of the children from this orphanage on a train ride to a town in the state of Texas,” Mrs. Young said as she pushed some papers around on her desk. “They want to take some older children as well as younger ones. When the train reaches Texas, it will stop in stations of various small towns. All the children on the train will be given an opportunity to be placed with families that live in these towns. The idea is if a family agrees to take a child, they will treat them as part of their family. They will be able to continue their education and have an opportunity to have a family life.
“I am sure you girls know you will need to leave the orphanage in a few months. I want to give you the opportunity to go with Mr. and Mrs. Carver and have a chance at a new life.”
“Do you mean we could have a family?” Serena asked as if she could not believe her good fortune. Katrina knew it was Serena’s greatest wish that she be adopted into a good family.
“We can’t promise that the people who offer you a home will be like a family, Serena,” Mrs. Young responded.
“I want to go,” Serena announced excitedly.
“Do we have to decide right now?” Katrina asked, feeling very unsure about this new opportunity. She was not sure she wanted to go from living in this orphanage into what could possibly be a worse situation.
“No, but we would like you to decide by tomorrow evening,” Mrs. Carver requested gently. “You girls are old enough to decide for yourselves which direction you want your life to go, but we would need to know soon. We can only take a certain number of children. If you decide not to come, we would need time to extend this offer to some other children.”
“When would we leave?” Serena asked, still excited about the idea.
“One week from today,” Mrs. Young said firmly. “If you don’t have any more questions, you girls may continue your duties,” she said, dismissing them.
Katrina could tell that Anna had many questions, and actually, she did herself. The biggest question she had was, what if she went, and then the family who chose her decided they didn’t want her, what would happen then? Would she be able come back to the orphanage? However, she could tell Mrs. Young wanted them to leave, so she stood along with Anna and Serena and they left the office.
“Wow,” Katrina breathed as the three girls walked down the hallway. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I want to go,” Serena said unnecessarily.
“We need to go to class,” Anna said. “Let’s see if we can talk about this later.” They soon went their separate ways.
Katrina left to attend her afternoon classes, but for the first time, she had a difficult time focusing on the lessons.
She was not able to talk to Anna or Serena about this new opportunity until that evening right before bedtime. Serena was already in the large room where all the older girls slept when she arrived and both girls quickly changed out of their gray day dresses into their nightclothes. They talked about other things, silently agreeing not to discuss what Mrs. Young had told them until Anna came. When Anna finally arrived, it was almost time for lights out and Katrina knew they needed to talk quickly since there was a strict no talking policy once the lights were turned out for the night.
“We need to talk quickly,” Katrina said as she helped Anna fold her dress at the foot of her bed as they were expected to do. “What do you think about what Mrs. Young told us? Do you still want to go, Serena?”
“Yes,” Serena said. “I want a family.”
“I am really scared about going. But I think we should all go together, then probably it won’t be so bad,” Katrina said. “Maybe we can all be adopted in the same town with families that live close to each other.”
“I agree,” Anna nodded her head. “I just hope it works out like we want it to.”
“What if we can’t stay together?” Serena asked.
“We will just have to make sure we do, or at least stay in touch somehow,” Katrina stated firmly.
The next day, the three girls let Mrs. Young know they wanted to go on the train. Mrs. Young looked relieved that all three had decided to go. She promised to talk to Mrs. Carver about trying to keep the girls together, but she could not promise anything. The girls needed to understand that things might not work out exactly the way they wanted.
CHAPTER 2
2 Weeks Later
“Children, please listen to me,” Mr. Carver called over the noise that children tend to make. He waited a moment for things to quiet down, and then continued. “We will be arriving in Maple Grove, Texas in about ten minutes. Please make sure all your belongings are with you. Older children, please help with the younger children.”
Katrina jerked her head away from the grimy train window when she heard Mr. Carver’s words. She knew that in a matter of hours, she would know the direction her future would hold. She had been able to talk to Mrs. Carver on the train a few days ago. She asked her what would happen if a family did decide to take her in, but then the situation didn’t work out. What if they were mean to her? What if they didn’t like her or she didn’t like them? Mrs. Carver encouraged Katrina to make sure she gave the family that chose her a chance, and Mr. Carver would be sending a representative in six months to Maple Grove. If the situation wasn’t to her liking, they would remove her from the home. When Katrina heard this, she had felt better about her decision on coming on the train.
She was worried that she might not be chosen by a family. What if Anna and Serena were able to find a family and she did not? When she had expressed this concern to Serena, she had smiled.
“You will be chosen by someone,” Serena had stated firmly. “With your curly blonde hair and blue eyes, someone will take you just for your beauty. I bet you will be chosen first out of the three of us.”<
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Katrina knew Anna and Serena had always felt she was the most beautiful out of the three of them. Katrina hated it when she was told she was pretty. She felt Anna and Serena were equally beautiful in their own way. Anna’s hair had been red when she was younger, but it was starting to darken to a beautiful auburn color. Serena hated the color of her hair. It was brown and her eyes were the same color, but Katrina liked how Serena’s hair had some red highlights in it when the sun shown on it.
She started to gather her small amount of belongings which consisted of her night dress and apron rolled up into a ball, along with the Bible she had been able to keep that belonged to her mother. She then scooped up a baby girl she had been caring for and held her as she felt the train slow and then stop.
Mr. Carver instructed the children to wait until all the other passengers left the train. Then Mrs. Carver led them off the train and had them stand in a group on the platform of the train station to count heads. Mr. Carver instructed the children to follow him and then led them to a nearby hotel to wait until it was time to go to Maple Grove’s town hall.
Katrina followed Anna as she held the baby and looked around. She liked what she saw. She could not believe how small the town was. She had never left New York City before. That city was so large, she knew it would have taken her days to walk from one end to the other. She could see the edge of Maple Grove as they walked and noticed there were farms and fields just beyond the town’s boundaries.
She quickly caught up to Anna. “Are you as scared as I am?” she asked her friend, hoping for some reassurance.
“Probably,” Anna confessed. “I sure hope this works out.”
“It will,” Serena said confidently. Katrina smiled at her words. Serena was still very excited for the opportunity to get a new family. It was all she had talked about the entire train trip. Katrina wished she felt as confident.
****
Katrina followed the other children as Mr. Carver led all of them into the town hall and into a large room. She noticed a number of chairs set up in rows with people sitting in them. She followed everyone onto a stage where another row of chairs had been placed. She sat down next to Anna still holding the baby girl in her lap. The baby started to fuss and Katrina bounced her, hoping she would be able to keep her quiet.
A man introduced Mr. Carver who then stood before the large group of people and started to speak. At first Katrina ignored what he was saying as she looked around at the large crowd. There were so many people. Was everyone here to adopt a child? If so, she knew there were not going to be enough children. She knew only 18 children had been in the group.
Suddenly she heard Mr. Carver talk. “We are allowing the children eight and older to make the decision whether they want to go with a specific family. If they feel uncomfortable in any way, we will not force them to go. The final decision is theirs. There will be a one-year waiting period between child placement and legal adoption. We will be sending out a representative a few times in the next year to check on the children. If at any time we feel dissatisfied with the child’s care, we will remove the child from the home. Please be aware that even though this is rare, it has happened.”
Katrina felt relief at his words as she watched him pull a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. She was glad that she paid attention enough to hear his words. For the first time, she felt good about her decision to go on the train. She knew she would have some say in which family took her.
Katrina watched as a man started to pull pieces of paper out of a hat and call out a name. A teenage boy walked right up to a small girl and started to talk to her.
Soon other names were called. A woman walked right up to Katrina and almost snatched up the baby that she held. She felt alarm until she saw a beautiful smile form on the woman’s face as she looked down at the baby girl even though she started to fuss at the sight of an unfamiliar face. Katrina knew the baby had found a family.
A well-dressed man and woman stopped in front of Serena and briefly talked to her. Serena gave a small shake of her head and they moved on to talk to Katrina.
“Can you tell me your name?” the man asked her.
“Katrina,” she answered quietly, half hoping the couple would move on and half hoping they would keep talking to her.
“She has blond hair and blue eyes, just like me,” the woman told her husband, looking delighted at the discovery.
The man nodded at his wife’s words, but did not look at her. “My name is Mr. Richard Porter and I am the mayor of this good town. This is my wife, Mrs. Margaret Porter.”
Katrina smiled at his words, but kept her eyes on his wife. Mrs. Porter was looking her up and down as if she was under a microscope.
“I was hoping we would find a much younger child, Richard,” the woman complained, but she continued to inspect Katrina. Katrina thought she saw the eyes soften a bit when the woman looked at her hair. It really was uncanny that her hair color was exactly the same as Mrs. Porter’s.
“Well, I think Katrina will do fine. And like you said, she looks like you,” Mr. Porter responded to his wife. “Would you like to come home with us?” he asked Katrina.
When Katrina hesitated, he continued. “The good Lord has not seen to bless us with children. We would do our best to treat you as our own.”
Mrs. Porter chimed in. “You won’t have to work. We have a large home and people who work for us. You will be able to go to school and we can give you many advantages that most orphans would never get.”
Katrina did not dare let them know that she did not care about what they could give her. All she cared about was the last sentence Mr. Porter had said. They would treat her as if she was their own child.
“I will come with you, as long as I am able to stay friends with Anna and Serena,” Katrina agreed as she gestured to her friends beside her.
“Of course,” Mrs. Porter agreed quickly. Katrina noticed that the woman did not even glance at her friends. “Come, let’s sign the paperwork and then we can show you our home.”
Katrina followed Mr. and Mrs. Porter, looking back once and saw that a woman with a large bird on her hat was talking to Anna. She hoped she would be able to meet with Anna and Serena within the next few days.
The paperwork was quickly taken care of after Mrs. Carver made sure Katrina was comfortable being taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Porter. She followed a few steps behind her new family as they left the town hall. She noticed people often stopped to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Porter. Katrina started to see that they were very important people in Maple Grove.
When they finally left the town hall, Mr. Porter guided them to a buggy that was nearby, with a driver sitting in the front seat ready to go. Mr. Porter helped his wife into the back seat. He then helped Katrina into the buggy. She sat next to Mrs. Porter and Mr. Porter sat in the front seat with the driver. As the buggy moved down the street, Katrina looked around at her new town and surroundings until she felt a firm hand touch her arm.
“A young lady does not stare at her surroundings,” Mrs. Porter declared sharply.
Katrina looked at her in astonishment. She did not understand what Mrs. Porter meant.
“I understand that you have been brought up in an orphanage and have missed out on the standard training that a young lady should have. We will start your training immediately,” Mrs. Porter informed her.
Katrina nodded her head at Mrs. Porter’s words, but she did not understand what she was saying. Why was it wrong to look around at the people and buildings as they passed by? She noticed that Mrs. Porter did not look around, but kept her eyes looking straight ahead, with her back very straight as if a rod had been placed along her spine.
The rest of the drive was short but quiet. Mr. Porter spent the time looking over the papers they had received from Mrs. Carver. He then folded them carefully and put them in his coat pocket.
The buggy stopped in front of a large Victorian home. It was the most beautiful home she had ever seen. To her, it seemed like
a mansion. It had two stories. It was painted white and had light blue shutters around each window. There was a wrap-around porch in the front. The grounds were beautifully cared for. There were two large maple trees on either side of a white-stoned walkway that led to the front door. Colorful flowers surrounded the edge of a green lawn. After the driver dropped Mr. and Mrs. Porter and Katrina off in front of the home, he urged the horses to pull the buggy around to the back of the home. Katrina could hardly wait until she could explore the grounds around her new home.
When they entered the home, Mr. Porter immediately disappeared into a room that Katrina later learned was his office. Mrs. Porter introduced her to a woman who came to greet them with a huge smile on her face.
