The Perfect Gift

Chapter 18

"Pa, you're home!" Mary shouted, racing down the stairs. She ran towards him, and hugged him tight.

"Hi, honey," his response was.

"How did everything go? Did you drop Samuel off like planned?"

"Yes, everything went according to plan. We can talk more about it during supper. I'm sure it's not just you who wants to hear how it went. Speaking of your grandmother, where is she? How is she doing today?"

"I haven't seen her all day. I assume she's just in her room. Probably knitting," Mary responded.

"All day? Where have you been?"

"Just, you know, here and there, and in my room."

"I see. Well, I'm going to go check on your grandmother. Could you run along to the kitchen and turn on the stove burner? I'll be there in a minute. I'm making hoover's stew again tonight."

"Oh, alright. Can I help make it?"

"I suppose. Why not? We haven't spent any time together in a while."

"Yeah, we haven't," Mary said, but her father hadn't heard because by that time, he was talking to her grandmother.

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They were all sitting around the table now. It felt different without Samuel. Just as boring as ever. With Samuel, everyone had been on their best behavior; they had been polite, and had struck up a conversation, but now, everyone was quiet. Mary, remembering her father had promised to talk about how his day trip was, broke the silence.

"So, Pa, how was your day?"

"Well, it went well. I'm glad Samuel has a suitable home now. I'm exhausted from the trip though."

"Well, that's to be expected, my son." Mary's grandmother said.

"Yeah. So, what did your day look like? How did you get to the orphanage?" John asked, actually interested.

"Well, for starters, we got a hold of a carriage and we took it all the way until we reached the orphanage outside of town."

"What was the orphanage like?" Mary asked. She was still concerned about the living environment of the orphanage. She knew they could be old and dirty, and be led by cruel orphan keepers.orphan keepers.

"It looked relatively clean," Mary's father said, as if he knew exactly what Mary had been thinking. "We walked up to the front desk and found a petite lady sitting on a chair with wheels, her forehead barely visible over the counter. I told her..."

"Hello there! I'm here with a young boy, in need of a place to stay."

Mary's father started to explain using a higher voice to act out the lady.

She looked pleasantly surprised, and said, "Why of course! Who is this boy, and how old?"

"Samuel, age 10."

"Okay! Perfect! Where... is he?" she asked.

"Oh, he's here. It's just hard to see him I bet..."

"Because I'm short? Yeah, I know."

"Sorry, no hard feelings intended."

"Uh-huh. Okay, shall we talk business now?"

"Business?"

"Oh my mistake. I mean, make arrangements, sign the agreement, that sort of thing."