Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Okay?
The orphanage director took her hand and looked straight into her very blue eyes. “We think you should take him, not her. He needs you more. That’s what truly matters. Don’t you agree?”
She was incredulous, silently hysterical. She’d come all this way for that girl, the one playing by the window. Her picture had been on the refrigerator for months, anchored by a magnet from the adoption agency. They’d been told that once the orphan’s picture goes on the fridge, it’s a done deal, the child becomes part of your family. Everyone mills around making dinner, talking about their day, and there’s the to-be adopted child’s picture on the fridge, being present, being accounted for. And now it wouldn’t be true.
Everything was pink. Nothing was blue. They had a name and dresses, friends with little girls who promised play dates; life was laid out for them with their new little girl. Their special girl, the girl no one else wanted, the girl who’d been left at the front door, the girl made precious and perfect by their wanting her so much.
“He’s been here much longer. It’s very hard for a child. It will be very bad if he doesn’t have a family soon. We would have to wait months for the next family. So it’s best you take him, don’t you agree?”
She didn’t want to but she dared look at him, just the slimmest sliver of a look through the crack of the orphanage wall. “That’s him right there. Rocking in the chair. He’s always rocking. We think it reminds him of his mother. I don’t know. What do you think?”
Maybe he needed her more. But what about what she needed? She needed that little girl. She had been promised. And now they were breaking their promise and expecting her to be a good sport, as if completely changing her life plan was okay, as if leaving the little girl here was okay. Was it okay?
____________________________
This post written in response to a writing challenge to use the word ‘crack’ in an essay. Well, there’s more to it than that. You can see at Trifecta Writing Challenge.
18 Comments on “Okay?”
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
 | Deb on The End of Mean Charlie |
 | beth on The End of Mean Charlie |
| beth on Old Beautiful Debts |
| beth on Sisterhood |
 | Mary Jo Hultman on Sisterhood |
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
what a heart stopping post!
What a hard choice! Can you imagine?
No! I cannot!
I can’t imagine this happening in real life … unless it was in a country with no regulations. It definitely pulls on the heartstrings 💕
It’s fiction but based on a real story from many years ago.
Whoa!!!
Faced with such a situation, I would hope that I would take both children. It would be a leap of faith to take both but usually those big leaps reap huge rewards.
Reblogged this on Red's Wrap.
find a way to take both. they both need her.
What a tough situation. How could the orphanage do that to her?! My goodness, I wouldn’t be able to stand it.
And now I’m stuck trying to figure out what happens next. 🙂
Between a rock and a hard place!
Gah, this was awful! On the one hand, adoption is such a personal issue and I felt all affronted by the woman pushing the other child on her. But then, if the boy is older and has been there longer he obviously has no one to champion him but this outspoken woman. You’ve left us in quite the standoff, here…I thought that your line ‘silently hysterical’ was totally evocative of what a person’s reaction would be in this situation
What a terribly difficult choice! I’m anxious to see what she does…! Thank you for linking up. ~Mary Beth
So sad … I hope you let her find some solace ! Some peace … pleaseee ! She needs that !
Yeah….now I have to figure out what’s next. ???
This is even more heartbreaking than the first part. I really hope she just takes both of them.
I’m stalling for time.