Chapter 1

On a dark, wet and windy night two figures walked hand in hand, illuminated by the street lights.  One was tall, with a long overcoat and a hat pulled low over his head.  The other was very small, a young boy dressed in an ill-fitting jacket and long baggy shorts which reached well below his knees.

They stopped at the front of a sandstone building. A sign over the front door read, “Opera Orphanage for Unwanted Children”.  The tall man put a small suitcase on the front step and knelt down stiffly beside the boy.

“Now do what I tell you.  I want you to count to sixty and then knock on the big door. Remember sixty, not a second sooner.”

“Are you coming back?” asked the boy.

“Of course,” said the man. “Just as soon as my ship comes in.”

With that he turned and ran swiftly into the darkness.  The boy counted carefully but stopped in frustration when he reached the thirties.  Somehow, he got muddled and wasn’t sure what came next so he debated whether to start all over again. When he again reached twenty, he decided that was enough so looked up at the shiny brass knocker on the door.  With his arm stretched up he still couldn’t reach it, so he looked around for something to stand on.  A small rock beside the step gave him an idea.  He picked it up and threw it at the door.  It made a loud, resounding thwack which echoed down the empty street.

Almost immediately the door opened.  A woman wearing a white uniform and a starched white hat on her head stared at him in astonishment before pulling him inside and closing the door.

“You poor wee thing!” she exclaimed. “Let’s get you warm and dry in the kitchen.”

Soon he was wrapped in a blanket and sitting by the heat of a large, black fuel stove. In his hand was a cup of hot chocolate.  After eating some bread and honey he was taken to a bathroom where he enjoyed the luxury of a steaming hot bath. Warm pyjamas were waiting for him on the chair and then he was lying in a narrow bed alongside many others.  He was vaguely aware of children breathing gently around him but soon sleep descended like a soft warm veil and all the drama of the day’s events was forgotten.

He woke to the sound of boys chattering. Looking around he saw eight beds in a row.  The other boys were pulling up the sheets and folding their pyjamas.  At the sound of a bell, they stood to attention at the end of their beds. The woman in white appeared and checked each boy and bed carefully.

“Biff, your shoelaces are undone.  Tom, look at your shirt buttons. Jack, straighten your blanket.  Right boys, off to breakfast.”

She turned to the new arrival.  “Quickly, put on these clothes.  Just this once I will make your bed because Matron wants to see you straight away.”

She led him along a corridor and down some stairs.  Reaching a large green door she knocked twice and paused until she heard a voice call, “Come in”.

Inside the room was a large desk.  Behind it sat a woman dressed in black. On her head was a magnificent black headdress with three pointed cones. She indicated the two chairs and commanded, “Sit”.

“You will call me Matron.  This is Nurse Smiley,” she said, waving her headdress in the direction of the woman in white.  And you, young man, do you have a name?”

“I..I don’t know,” he stammered.  “They always called me Step.”

“What sort of a name is Step?” Matron huffed.

“When my Mummy went away my Daddy brought home a new Mummy who called me Step for so long we all forgot my real name. She didn’t want me around so Daddy brought me to this place. He said he would only leave me here until his ship comes in.”

Matron shook her head crossly before she began to talk.

“Well, we will do what we can to find your real parents but, in the meantime, we have to find you some Foster Parents.  We only have room for eight boys and eight girls so now you are here we are full.  Every Saturday morning you are to present yourself for the Inspection.  The Foster Parents will come in and choose the most well-behaved children to take home for the weekend.  If they like you then you might stay with them for much longer.  Sometimes they keep children until they are grown up and ready to go out to work.”

“After breakfast you will go to the classroom where you will have lessons from 9 o’clock until 12.  After lunch you will be given a job to help with the running of the orphanage.  Do you have any questions?”

Step had many questions running around in his head but couldn’t think of one single thing to ask of Matron so decided just to wait and see what happened next.

Nurse Smiley took him to the breakfast room.  The other children had already gone so he sat alone, eating his bowl of porridge, and wondering what lay ahead.  He was glad to have a warm bed, good food and clean clothes.  Nurse Smiley seemed kind.  On the other hand, what would the other orphans be like?  And even more scary that that, what would the Foster Parents be like?  Would they choose him and if they did, would they be kind like Nurse Smiley or cruel like his Stepmother.

“You have to go to the classroom now,” said Nurse Smiley.  “Come with me and meet the other children.”

END OF CHAPTER 1