Chapter 12

The horizon was streaked with pink and gold although the sun had not yet appeared when Sad and Step dumped their backpacks in the Land Rover.  They had the same driver as before because he knew where the Scout Hall was.  Matron had asked that all orphans be returned there and not to the new house.  She very wisely decided to keep its whereabouts a secret.  

The driver was alone and not at all chatty, so the two boys sat in the back seat quietly brimming with excitement.  Every now and again they looked at each other and a big grin would spread across one of their faces.  Then the other would burst into silent laughter and they would both shake with shared joy.

It took two hours to reach the Scout Hall.  They could see other cars pulling in and driving out.  Foster parents and orphans were carrying bags into the hall and Nurse Smiley stood at the door greeting each group.

Step looked around for Tear.  He was worried that she might not come back, that some Foster Parent would take a liking to her and keep her.  He couldn’t see her anywhere and began to shiver with the thought that she might be gone forever.

He eventually plucked up enough courage to ask the dreaded question.

“Excuse me Nurse Smiley, but do you know if Tear is coming back?”

Nurse Smiley turned to Step and answered “Tear will be meeting us at the new house as her Foster Parent lives nearby.  It was because of Tear that we were left this beautiful mansion.  She made friends with the old lady who owned it and told her all about our dilemma. The old woman made us the sole beneficiaries of her estate.  She was very, very old, over 100, and one morning, sitting in the sunshine, after drinking a cup of tea, she fell asleep and didn’t wake up.  She had no other relatives and her last days had been brightened up by Tear’s company.  I’m sure she imagined how excited the orphans would be to live in her huge house.”

Step thanked Nurse Smiley and rushed to tell Sad the news.  Everyone was given a brown paper bag with sandwiches and an apple.  There was also a colourful drink bottle of water with each bag.  They were told to keep the bottles so they could refill them when needed.

A small bus pulled into the driveway.  The orphans climbed on board, eager to see their new accommodation.  They travelled along a busy road, turning eventually into a narrower, quieter road where they caught glimpses of a shimmering blue sea between the trees. Halfway down a steep hill they turned right up a winding driveway.  Everyone gasped at what they saw.  Even Nurse Smiley, who had been there before, stared in renewed wonder.

Before them they could see a mixture of chimneys, arched bow windows, carvings, striped bull nosed verandahs, intricate lace balcony railings, rusty iron roofs and tiled terraces.  The overall effect was one of crumbling grandeur. The children eagerly entered the large front door and looked with curiosity at the broad staircase leading to the rooms where they possibly would sleep.  Nurse Smiley ushered them into a large room at the front of the house where sun streamed in through numerous arched windows.  There were no chairs so the children sat on the floor, faces turned to Nurse Smiley in anticipation.

“First of all I would like to welcome all sixteen orphans to our new home.  It is to be named after the kind woman who left it to us, the Zipporah Magillacuddy Childrens’ Home.  Our first job is to work out where everyone is going to sleep.  We won’t be having dormitories any more so there will be four children to a room.  Some of the older children will share with one other and some can even have a room to themselves.  I will read out the groups and you can wait with your roommates to be shown your room.  First girls’ room will be Tear, Cherry, Rose and Wattle, first boys’ room will be Step, Biff, Mark and Sad. The older children can discuss with me if they want to share a room or be by themselves.”

The orphans were astonished at their new-found freedom and looked at each other in amazement.

“I just want to let you know that we are following the wishes of Miss Zipporah Magillacuddy.  She wanted this house to feel like a home, not an orphanage, so she has decreed that certain instructions must be followed.  For example, you will all go to the local schools, primary and high school, and if anyone wishes to continue with their education past the age of 15, they may stay here until they have their Leaving Certificate.  We will no longer have the Saturday Inspection Day but we will still encourage members of the community to take children out for the weekend and in school holidays.  There will be jobs for you all to do but we will have a proper Cook who will take care of all the food preparation.  We will need all of you to help with the garden and some of the easier house renovation but there won’t be anything that is too difficult for you.  I think you all want to do your best to make this house a home.  Is that correct?”

The children all answered with a fervent yes and stood up, eager to find their rooms.  Nurse Smiley led them up the staircase and stopped at the first door to the left of the landing.  Inside was a large room with four beds. French windows opened onto a wide balcony and through the glass could be seen glimpses of shining sea.

“Tear, Cherry, Rose and Wattle, here are your sheets and blankets.  You can make up your beds now.”

The group continued to the end of a long corridor where Nurse Smiley opened the door into another large room.  It also had a door leading onto a balcony but this one was at the front of the house.

“Step, Biff, Mark and Sad.  Please make up your beds and I will return in ten minutes to check.”  Nurse Smiley moved off with the older children who were already choosing friends with whom to share their rooms.

Nurse Smiley poked her head in each room. “I want to see all of you downstairs in fifteen minutes, at exactly 3 o’clock.”  With that she turned on her heel and scurried downstairs.

Tear put her backpack on one of the beds and thought about her roommates. Cherry was a friendly girl most of the time although she could be influenced by the others and say nasty things. Rose was very self-centred and seemed not to care about other people or their feelings.  Wattle was very quiet and she didn’t feel she knew much about her at all.

“Well, we’d better get these beds made,” said Cherry.  “I don’t know about you, but I think we are going to love living here.”

“As long as I get the bed near the window,” said Rose quickly.  “I want to see the sea when I wake up.”

Wattle said nothing so Tear chose the bed furthest away from Rose.  The less she had to do with her the better.  Beside each bed was a small wardrobe where they could store their clothes.  On the other side of the bed was a bedside table, complete with a reading lamp and a small vase of yellow daisies.  Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make them feel welcome.  Tear wondered if Aunt Ella had anything to do with it.  She was going to miss Aunt Ella and was looking forward to visiting her sometimes on weekends and holidays.

Meanwhile Sad and Step chose beds side by side.  Biff and Mark claimed the other side of the room.  After they made their beds Nurse Smiley checked on them, making clucking sounds as she straightened blankets and pillows. “Now off you go downstairs.  The others are already there.”

Peter was the oldest orphan.  At fourteen and ten months he had expected to be leaving the orphanage soon but as he was quite good at his lessons, he had been told he could go to the High School and get his Leaving Certificate.  Who knows, he might get a scholarship to Teachers College or University!  He was excitedly telling the other orphans about his own room up in the top of the house.  It was circular, with windows all around and a vaulted ceiling.  Here he could study away from the noise of the younger children. The other children had found rooms for two and happily shared with friends.  Only one person was not happy.  Tom was not popular as he had a habit of throwing angry tantrums when he didn’t get his way. None of the older children had wanted to share with him so he was by himself. Peter told him how lucky he was to have his own room but Tom just felt more alone and isolated. Step watched him shouting and crying but felt he couldn’t help. Eleven year old Tom would not want the friendship of a seven year old boy.

Nurse Smiley and Matron stood at one end of the room and raised their hands for quiet.

Matron spoke first.  “Welcome everyone to the Zipporah Magillacuddy Childrens’ Home.  We hope you will be very happy here as you will find it very different to the last place you lived.  One major change will be school.  Mr Scott has retired and is having a well-earned rest living with his sister down the coast.  All the children up to 6^th class will go to the local public school, Cliffside Beach and the three children of High School age will catch a bus to Middlemount High School.  You will all need uniforms so we have some mothers here from the school to measure you up so that on your first day you will blend in seamlessly with the other students.”

Nurse Smiley continued. “When you have been measured would you please go through this door to our dining room.  You can wait in the lounge chairs around the room until it is time for dinner.”

Step, Tear and Sad were interested to see the uniforms.  The boys would be wearing grey shorts and a green shirt with a green and white striped tie.  Tear would be wearing a grey box pleated tunic over a green shirt, with the same tie as the boys. They would be wearing grey socks and black shoes.  For sports days the boys had green shorts and yellow T-shirts while Tear had a green wrap-around skirt with yellow edging.

There was a lot to talk about as they sat in the comfy armchairs of the dining room. Step wondered how big the school was. If it was a small school, having another thirteen students would make a big difference. He hoped they would be accepted by the other school children.

Nurse Smiley reappeared.  “Dinner time!” she called out cheerfully. “Please take a tray over to the window at the end of the room and you will be given your meal.”

Step, Tear and Sad sat together.  They were so excited they couldn’t stop talking.  Rose walked past them with her tray. “Sitting with the boys, are we Tear? Girls not good enough for you?”

“You’re welcome to join us,” said Tear, but Rose walked off with Cherry, Wattle following indecisively a few steps behind.

“Hey Wattle, come and join us,” Tear called out. 

Wattle looked perplexed.  She looked at Tear and then at Rose. Rose looked back. “You’re with us,” she hissed, and Wattle scurried to join her.

After dinner the children walked in single file, carrying their plates.  There were four bowls of hot, soapy water in the kitchen so it wasn’t long before they had all washed and dried their dishes.  They returned to the lounge chairs and listened attentively to Nurse Smiley.

“Before you all go to your rooms tonight, I want to tell you one more of Miss Magillacuddy’s wishes which we intend to carry out as soon as possible.  She wanted the children here to have experience with animals so in time we will obtain some chickens, some ducks, dogs, cats and even goldfish.  You will be responsible for looking after them so I would like you to write down what sort of animal you would like for a pet and we will see what we can do.  You may have to share some animals because we wouldn’t want sixteen cats if you all asked for one, whereas we could have sixteen chickens.”

There was excited buzzing of voices as slips of paper and pencils were passed around.  Step wrote down “dog” on his paper, Tear wrote “cat” and Sad put “chickens”.  Sad thought no-one else would put chickens and he liked the idea of feeding them night and morning and collecting the eggs each day.

Sad’s wish was the first to come true as there was already a chicken pen in the garden.  It was empty but the next day he was asked to supervise the arrival of the new inhabitants.  They were to live in a large rectangular yard fenced with high chicken wire.  Inside, at one end, was a hen house where they were to sleep at night on perches. Sad had to lock the door each night so the chickens would be safe from foxes and other predators.  He also had to unlock the door in the morning, collect the eggs and feed pollard mixed with water to the chickens. As well he had to clean the water dish and refill it with fresh water. It seemed a lot of work for one person and as no one else had asked for chickens he could choose a friend to go with him each time.

There were six very annoyed hens delivered in flour bags with their legs tied together. Sad, Tear and Step were wary of the noisy birds, but  Fred the gardener swiftly cut the ties on their legs and let them run around.

“Just leave them to settle down and then tonight we’ll see if they go into their house so we can lock them in,” said Fred. “Meet me here at six o’clock.”

As if by magic the chickens scuttled up a ramp and into their new home.  Fred had already fed them wheat so Sad was relieved the chickens were not his responsibility alone.

It was a few days later when Fred met Sad in the morning as he was looking for eggs.

“They probably won’t start laying for a while.  They had a big fright moving here.  Listen, Sad, I have to go away today but will be back tomorrow.  Would you make sure the chickens are fed and locked up tonight.”

Sad nodded his head enthusiastically.  He liked being put in charge of the chickens without any adults around.  He decided he wouldn’t even ask Step or Tear to help.

At five o’clock he fed the chickens and at six o’clock he came back to lock them up.  They seemed upset and wouldn’t go into their house.  He poked his head inside to see what the problem was.  Surely there wasn’t a fox in the hen house! On the floor he could see a mound covered with a tartan blanket.  Funny, that shouldn’t be there. He was a little bit scared but decided that it couldn’t be an animal.  He grabbed the blanket, pulled it away swiftly and gasped in astonishment.

Curled up on the floor was a girl.  Sad was sure he had seen her before.  Suddenly he knew who it was. It was Ruth, their friend from Jehovah’s Children.

END OF CHAPTER 12