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The only thing that was different in the day was the afternoon.
Being the first Saturday in the month, Michelle was told, she was to report to the auditorium, where parents were going to look at the orphans and talk to them, then decide if they wanted to adopt one.
To most of the children, this was a little glimmer of hope.
But Michelle's heart sank.
She left her hair uncombed, put on her most worn clothes and tried to look her worst. She didn't want to be adopted. Her concept of a family was not a happy one: she pictured many punishments, daily punishments, and no love. She thought she was happy at Green Meadows Orphanage, and she was. There were always meals, she had a clean bed, and many other children to play with and talk to. In theory. She had only befriended Sammy, whom she saw on her way to the auditorium.
They were to stand in line, and at five o' clock parents would come in. It was a moment that Michelle dreaded. She didn't want to be adopted: thanks, but no thanks!
She stared in despair as parents piled into the room: eight or nine fathers and their spouses, and some came with other children.
Michelle started crying. The small tears glided down her cheek and she was seeing blurry- until a certain blond man knelt next to her. He smiled, as if she wasn't crying.
"Hello." he softly said.
"Hi." Michelle said. She didn't want any parents to like her, but she didn't want them to think she was rude, either.
The man smiled more widely, and so did his wife and the little blond boy that was with them.
"What's your name?"
"Michelle." she answered, feeling that the conversation was not going the way she wanted it to. They seemed to be genuinely interested in her, which was, to Michelle, a warning sign.
"How old are you?"
Michelle held up a hand and three fingers.
"Eight, huh?" the man grinned. "What's your bear's name?"
Michelle looked down. She had not realized that she was holding Sammy's bear, hugging him close. Sammy, who stood next to her, noticed at the same time.
"Hey, that's my bear, give it back!" Sammy yelled, tugging at the big, soft brown bear.
Michelle let go. "You can have your stupid bear, for all I care, Sammy!" she bitterly said, hoping that when these people saw how mean she was to the other children, they would lose interest in her.
It had the opposite effect.
"Look at her, she's terrified." said the woman, talking for the first time, though not to her.
"Poor thing." said Brian, as if Michelle wasn't there. "If you become our little daughter, we'll get you a bear just like Sammy's." he sweetly directed his attention to Michelle again.
"I don't want one, and I don't want to be your girl either."
Brian looked overwhelmed. "Why not?" he asked.
"Because I try to be good, I do, but I can never be good enough and I don't like to have the owies, here they don't hit me." Michelle explained, not realizing what she had said.
"Did your daddy hit you, Michelle?"
"Yes, and mommy did, too." Michelle whispered.
"We would never do that to you, Michelle."
"That's what they all say." Michelle bitterly explained. "They said that too, and they said that they wouldn't do it if I was a good girl, but I could never be good enough. I'm sorry. Find a better girl."
"We like you, Michelle. We're sorry you think that you're not good enough for us, but I think you are. Now, I'm going to talk to Matron Joanne right over there, and we'll see if we can see each other again and maybe you change your mind and decide you do want to be part of our family, after all."
Michelle looked up into the blond man's kind face. She had never talked to someone like that, so nice, and she was afraid that it was a fake. But the look on his face gave no indication of that, nor did the wife's nor the boy's.
Maybe they were nice, after all? Maybe they were one of those families that the psychologist had talked about, families that really were nice and didn't hit their children if they were bad?
She didn't know whether she could trust them, and time was running out to decide.