The Orphanage

Adoption:

As we all heard the door shut upon Cassandra's departure we both looked back at Mr. Renee. "Lovely girl, isn't she." he said a warm smile on his face. as he walked over to the chair that his niece had occupied. "she'll actually be going to the same school as you." he said as he eased himself in to the chair. "Mrs. Pova isn't it." he said to my case worker. "I'm sure mary will be fine in my house, you just led her to the door for her safety as you both have on some level a fear that i am a pedophile, sex offender or just have a sexual fetish for girls of her type." he said plainly like he was telling someone what the weather was. "Mr. Renee, i am here with mary to make sure that your demeanor has not changed since i last met with you about adopting her. " Pova said almost angrily, "give me the papers that need to be signed that haven't already been signed and i will sign them now." he said to my case worker. Pova opened her briefcase and pulled out a paper, Mr. Renee took a pen off the table next to a crossword puzzle and signed his name after he seemed to simply glance at the small text of the document."here you go, and thank You." he said. Pova took my arm and pulled me into the foyer. "call me if anything happens." she said to me and walked to the front door looked back almost longingly and walked out closing the door behind her with a soft click. I looked at Mr. Renee, his demeanor didn't seem to change when my caseworker like my other foster parents had, if anything he looked and seemed the same.

"to be honest i'm surprised that either you or your caseworker didn't press for more information about Cassandra." he said a smile on his face. As he got up and walked past me and back into the foyer.

"she is pretty i said. to him as i followed him as he walked up the stairs to the second floor. "yes she is." he said waiting for me at the top of the stairs. "my nephew is a lucky man." he said, i was surprised at his words. "you looked surprised." he said to me his voice edged into laughter. " i am." i said as i put my hand in front of me to reach for the next part of the railing. "i don't know anyone who has gotten married at sixteen." i said, "how old is your nephew?" i asked him. "he's nineteen." he said, "and finishing his medical degree at harvard this spring." he said to me. "well she is a lucky girl then." i said to him as i got to the top of the stairs. " more like he is lucky, she almost said no." He said to me as he walked down the hall to the right of the landing where it branched into right and left. There were four doors in the hallway that were spaced rather far apart and were made of the same dark wood on the front door. There was a window at the end of the hallway surrounded by the same dark wood of the doors and the wall was a dark green color. He opened the last door on the right side of the hall. I followed him into the room. I was taken aback by it. it was on the larger side, there was a full sized bed pressed against the wall to the right of the door with a white bedspread and quilt on it and a long antique white desk with gold trim was pressed against the wall with the doorway i stood in and a door was next to the bed on the left of the bed. There was a dormer window with a small ledge and the other wall there was another door. here he said, here is your room he said to me. i put my duffel and backpack at the foot of the bed.

I looked at the man who could legally be called my father. he eyes for a second looked red. "Mr. Renee why did you adopt me?" i asked me.

He looked unfazed by the question. "i have never had children, i was married once but it was not meant to be and we separated." he said to me calmly. "and i am at an age of almost diminishing return with the oddity of adoption still being possible." he said his voice still oddly calm as was his demeanor. "but enough of my life i am on the other end of the house at the end of the hall, you start school in two days he said to me and left. I stood there surprised, i mean most foster parents disliked me instantly for some reason but this one seemed to be different, maybe it was because he didn't know about my criminal record. I thought as i began unpacking and walked over to the door next to my bed and opened it only to find a large walk-in closet. i started unpacking as there was really nothing else i could do, my friends didn't want to talk to me after i got put in juvie and the friends that will are in juvie. so i am all alone i thought as i unfolded a crimson red shirt, again i thought.