23 January 2013
Rrrinng! Rrrinng! Rrrinng! I roll over and smack my old-fashioned alarm clock, then roll over again and close my eyes. Ahh... That's better.
"Kiela...? Kiela! Wake up!" A voice screams. I flip over.
"Ugghhhh..." I moan.
"Kiela! Everyone else is awake- except you!" A hushed voice whispers. My eyes snap open. Ack- why do I have to be so tired?
"Thanks Laynie." I whisper back. "I'm up!" I yell to Quinn, who is probably downstairs making breakfast. I grab the outfit I layed out the night before and quickly throw it on. Laynie keeps glancing at the clock as I change.
"Hurry up! It's almost 7:00!" Laynie urges. I throw on my beige tank top and grab a hair tie. We run down the stairs together, me slowing us down as I rake my wavy hair into a high pony tail. We make it to the kitchen right as the creaky old grandfather's clock strikes 7:00.
Laynie and I sigh in relief. Quinn scowls her gross scowl. She's really ugly- curly platenum blond hair in a pixy cut, way larger than most people(well, all people), and has a gravely, rough, deep voice.
All the other girls smile when they see us, then they return to eating their lumpy, soggy gruel. Quinn swears it's oatmeal, but it tastes a lot like gruel.
Laynie and I smile at each other and grab cracked, stained bowls. Quinn shakes some gruel into them.
"You're lucky, you know. If it wasn't today, then you would be getting kitchen duty in an instant." she scowls at us. I see Laynie wince. "You, Kiela... You would get bathroom duty." I smile and walk over to our usual seats.
"How can you like bathroom duty?" Laynie asks, choking down her greul.
"I don't." I reply.
"Then why do you-"
I hold up my hand, signaling Laynie to stop. "You know the answer." Laynie sighs.
Tayla laughs from across the table. "You two do this bit every day!" she giggles.
"But today's different." I point out.
"Why- because a couple is coming to adopt someone today?" Tayla smiles.
"Bingo." I snap my fingers and glance down at my gruel. I make a face at it and look up. I spot Gabby shoveling down her gruel like it's ice cream.
"Hey, Gabby, how can you like that stuff?" I call across the counter. Gabby looks up, gruel dripping from her mouth. Gross. Her gray eyes are wide, and she shrugs.
"Wow." I shake my head. "Can you believe her?"
"You're always picking on Gabby. Why?" Tayla asks.
"Cause it's fun. She deserves it." Tayla shakes her head and looks down at her gruel. I turn to Laynie.
"So, what do you think this couple will be like?" I ask.
Laynie snorts. "No better than the last one." I laugh, thinking about the memory. The last couple that came to adopt us was crazy. The mom had a beehive hairdo and wore 70's clothing. She called everybody 'Darlink!' in a fake French accent. She was 19 years old.
The dad was no better. He had his hair in a neon pink mohawk and had a scraggly blond beard. His breath smelled like alcohol. Ack.
I laugh. "Maybe."
Quinn claps her hands together. "Okay, girls, clean out your bowls. This instant. That means now!"
We run to the sink, bowls at tow. I haven't touched mine at all- who cares?
I rinse mine out, and Laynie and Tayla do, too. "Okay. Want to go outside until the new couple comes?" I ask them.
"Yeah!" Laynie smiles. Quinn gives us an hour of free time before a new adopter comes. She says it makes us happy, so the adopter thinks good of us. Whatever, Quinn, it's just good to go outside!
"Come on." Laynie pulls us out.
"Wait- should we be going outside?" Tayla asks. Leave it to Tayla to ruin this.
"Free time, remember?" I shake my head.
"Oh yeah..." Tayla was new to the orphanage a couple months ago, so she's still learning things.
"Well, come on!" I pull both of them out the heavy, steel doors that lead into the crummy, dump town, Seemin.
Tayla looks behind us at the cracked, worn letters on the building behind us. "Ms. Evinich's Home for Girls..." she reads.
"Fine, Quinn, call it home if you want..." I laugh.
"Home!" Laynie scoffs. "Come on."
We walk through the old alleys of Seemin for a while, chatting about random stuff like cats, dreams, and Gabby.
I spot a flashing light up ahead. "What's that?"
"I dunno." Laynie looks closer. "Let's look."
Tayla pushes her glasses up on her face. "Is that a good idea?" she whispers. "It's sorta creepy out here."
"Of course it's good!" I cock my head. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"I don't know. Maybe because-" Laynie grabs hold of Tayla's arm and pulls her along with us. Tayla can be so worried sometimes!
We run down the alley as the light grows brighter. I make out letters in the light. 'G... O.... I...A...C...F'
They get more ledgable as we arrive in front of the building. 'GLO IA' CAFE' It spells in neon green lettering. The 'R' and the 'S' are out.
"I'm hungry." I say.
"Let's go." Says Laynie.
"But-" Tayla interjects. It's too late. Laynie and I are already in the hole-in-the-wall café.
"Hellllo sweetie pies! Welcome to Gloria's Café, the finest in all of Seelam!" I hide a laugh as this Southern waitress speaks to us. It's Seemin, not Seelam. "Would you like a table?"
"No, I want a lamp." Laynie whispers to me. I giggle.
"Yes please." Tayla answers, shooting us a mean look. I make a face.
"Well then, come right this waaay."
The waitress leads us to a booth in a corner of the café. The café isn't all that bad- dim lighting, coffee scent, and decent (fairly-decent) people scattered around, reading newspapers or eating breakfast.
I look through my menu. So manu choices! South Platter, Full Breakfast, Egg Plate... What to choose?
A waitress with a nametag 'Deedra' comes over to our table with a pen and notepad. "And what would you ladies like to eat this morning?" she asks.
"1 omelet and a glass of apple juice, please!" Tayla shuts her menu. I gape at her. So little, so plain!
"Pancake Buffet." Laynie slams her menu shut. I ponder the choices.
"Eggstravagant Brunch, extra bacon." I hand Deedra my menu.
"Coming riight up." she leaves.
"This is a nice place." Laynie says, looking around.
"It is." I agree.
Tayla looks at us like we're crazy.
"You're kidding!" She shakes her head.
"Uhh... no." Laynie tilts her head. Tayla shakes her head in disbelief.
"Wow..."
"ANYWAY, can you wait until the new couple gets here?" I ask my 2 friends.
"No!" Laynie sits up straighter. "Do you want to be adopted this time?"
"Only if you two get adopted with me." Tayla answers. Laynie and I smile.
"Aww...! Thank you!" Laynie and I chorus.
"It's true!" Tayla replies.
"Wait- what if it's a foster couple?" I point out.
Laynie makes a face. "I hate foster people. They hate actually having kids- they just like temporary ones."
"I know!" Tayla sighs. She was at 7 foster homes in the past year, ever since her dad died.
"Foster parents suck." I agree.
"Definatly." Tayla makes a face.
I look around the resturaunt and spot our waitress bringing our food.
"Wow, that was quick." Laynie says.
"It was." I agree.
"One Pancake Buffet,"Deedra hands Laynie a plate stacked with a million pancakes. Laynie's mouth waters.
"One omelet with apple juice..." Deedra puts a plate down in front of Tayla. She smiles.
"And one Eggstravagant Brunch with extra bacon!" She slides a plate filled with scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, and hashbrowns to me. Yum!
"If you need anything, just ask."
"Okay!"
We dig into our plates.
"This is sooooo good!" Laynie says with her mouth full. I just nod my head, because my mouth is stuffed.
Tayla looks at us and laughs. She's only eaten a bite of her omelet. How can she not be hungry?
We eat in silence for a while. I hear bells jingle, and I look over to the door, where a girl about our age just walked in. She's with two adults, who are young enough to be newly weds. How did they have her?
The couple (and girl) talks to a woman at a counter. She hands them a large, rectangular, white cardboard box. The parents hand the girl the box, and she stumbles under the weight. The parents do nothing to help, just stack another box ontop of it, which makes the girl almost collapse now. The couple starts to walk out the door, but stop to yell something sharp at the girl, who keeps running into tables, since the boxes are blocking her view.
I point over to them as they leave the café. "Something look strange there?" I ask my friends. Tayla's face twists.
"Huh." She says. "Weird. Those parents are using her... like a slave."
"Yeah." I agree.
"What if the girl is adopted?" Laynie suggests. I snort.
"Fat chance if that happened."
"Here's your bill. Feel free to pay it anytime you want." Our waitress, Deedra, slaps a recipt on our table. My eyes widen. Laynie flicks her head to look at me. Tayla buries her face in her hands.
"We didn't bring money, did we?" Tayla groans.
"Nope." I moan.
"Great... How are we going to pay?" Laynie sighs. I look at the receipt. $37.00. How can brunch be that expensive?
"Hey... you know what?" I say, a smile creeping on my face. Tayla groans, knowing this can't be good. Laynie sits up straighter, ready for anything.
"What?" she asks.
"Deedra said we can pay anytime we want.... Right?"
Tayla sinks her head into to hands. "No, Kiela, we're not-"
"Yes, we are!" Laynie stands up, plate empty. "Let's go."
I grab the recipet and finish my last bite. "Done. Coming, Tayla?"
"Not until we-" I'm halfway out the door. "-Coming!" Tayla gets up and scurries after us. We step out into the stale air.
"Hey, what time is it?" Laynie asks, suddently worried. My face turns ghost-white.
"It's been more than an hour..." Tayla whispers. I turn my head from Laynie, to Tayla, and back again. Than I take off, running.
Tayla and Laynie race after me, through the dark allies. Precious seconds tick by...
You do not want to see Quinn when we're late back from rare free time. We only get an hour, and if we are a second too late... It's horrible.
Grandfather's Clock Chapter 1 • Opuss № I