ANNIE

10 ☼  Down, But Not Out

A N N E T T E

The ride back to the Mansion from leaving the hospital had been anything but quiet. I was excited about Granny coming to stay with Ms. Kenslee and I.

"Are you sure it's not too much trouble?" Though it was Ms. Kenslee's idea, I still felt like I was being a bother by putting my troubles on her.

"Of course not. I just figured that you two haven't seen each other in a while and you would want to make up from lost time?" the woman grinned. "Once she's settled in we can talk about 'guidelines' again. Yeah?"

"Yeah," I smiled, the reminder that Granny was coming to stay with me lifted my spirits significantly and I went back to talking Ms. Kenslee's ear off.

Back in the mansion, the first thing I did was request a cup of chocolate milk.  It had been a while since I've had any and I downed half of the glass in one breath before stopping to question the woman standing beside me.  "What's for dinner?"

Coming out from the back room, Mrs. McGee, the head chef, heard my question and spoke up first. "Creamy risotto rice with free range chicken and beef tomatoes. Crumbly biscuits made with dried coriander and pecan, and fresh juniper berry and little gem lettuce served on a bed of lettuce. Any objections?"

I didn't quite understand half of what was said but during my stay here I found that the woman knew her way around the kitchen.

"No ma'am" I hummed into my cup, finishing the last of the milk and setting the cup on the serving tray held by a female servant.  "Sounds yummy."

Then Beckham soon entered the dining room with a silver tray in hand that carried a telephone as he held onto the black handset.

"Miss Annie, there is an urgent phone call for you from the St. Hudson Orphanage."

I looked over to Ms. Kenslee who shared the same confused look on my face as I slowly took a hold of the phone, placing it to my ear. "Hello?"

My eyes lit up and a smile spread across my face once the girls' voices invaded my ear. Ms. Kenslee knew exactly who it was without having to ask and motioned for the man to follow her out of the room so I could  talk to my friends.

"Girls!! How did you get into Miss Haggins' office?!"

"Easy," Henna said, no doubtlessly with an eye roll. "We waited until the woman had her evening bottle and had passed out on one of the couches before sneaking down. The twins are on lookout duty, though just to be sure we'll have to make this quick."

"Hey Annie, how was Washington!?" Nina asked, taking over the phone.

"It was amazing. We weren't there for too long so we mostly just stayed in the hotel. Though that's not even the best part. I finally got a chance to see my grandmother! Ms. Kenslee's even letting her stay with us for the time being. How's life there? Anything interesting happened while I was away?"

"Ugh, don't ask," Laken grumped.

"Just the usual, mop buckets and brooms," sighed Marlinda.

"You know, the fun stuff," Kacie added sarcastically.

"When do you come back?" I smiled at the tiny voice, knowing well enough who it belonged to.