“Here they are.” Miss Mayberry said.
“We were told that there are three.” The woman said.
Miss Mayberry made a sour face and turned towards the stair where Adrian was standing and saw him. “Adrian! Get in here.”
Adrian quickly followed, Miss Mayberry was not in a good mood, and it wasn’t wise to disobey her when she used that tone. He entered the living room, and sat on the couch alongside Mary who was thirteen years old, and Greg who was nine.
The man and the woman sat on the couch opposite them and looked at them closely. Adrian was aware that they sent all the younger children away, so he felt his hopes rising again, maybe they wanted to adopt an older child.
The man turned towards Miss Mayberry. “Thank you, that will be all, we will notify you when we are done.”
Miss Mayberry opened her mouth as if to say something but then stopped herself and left the room.
The pair looked at the children for a moment before speaking.
“Hello, my name is Andrea, and this is Rodney.” The woman said pointing to the men sitting beside her.
“Let me start by saying that we are not here to adopt you, well not exactly.” She said, and Adrian felt all his hopes shatter, he could see that it was the same for the Mary and Greg.
“We are from a company called Olympus.” She said, but Adrian barley heard her, all he could think about was how he would never be adopted, he would spent his next eight years in this house, and then he would be thrown out, with nothing but the clothes on his back. He knew that the children with parents got to go to school, and then they got jobs afterwards, but here they had very little in terms of schooling, and he knew the stories that were told at night by other kids, that those who don’t get adopted by age of eighteen usually became homeless, living on the streets.
“We are here to offer you something. We are making this offer only to those children who are older than seven, and who were labeled as, well troublemakers, as you must know by now that few get adopted past that age, and with your records there really is a very little chance of you ever getting adopted.” Adrian looked down at his feet, he knew that she was right, but what could she offer them if they weren’t going to adopt them?
“We have been granted permission by your government to take any child that was willing to go with us, we have many programs that would give you a better chance at life than what you could get here. If you choose to accept. I know that you are young, but I assure you that you would have a better life with us then what you would have here. Your country can do very little for you, they simply don’t have enough funds to get all of you sufficient schooling and care you need to be self-sufficient after you leave the orphanage. But if you came with us, you will never be adopted, you would live with other children your age, go to school with them, and you will have teachers but no parents. You would be able to become whatever you want, and your family would be your friends and classmates.” She said.
Adrian looked up, they were offering them to go to school, but at a price of not having a family, he knew that there was little chance of him getting adopted, but even so there was a chance that he would, no matter how small.
“And when we turn eighteen?” Mary asked.
“You will stay with us as long as you want to study, and when you are finished you will be able to choose whether to stay and work for Olympus or come back here to United States and find a job on your own. During the time you stay with us everything you need will be provided by us.” The man, Rodney said.
“But what do you get from this? Why do you want us to go with you?” Mary pressed.
“Because we hope that you will stay with us when you finish your studies.” Andrea said.
The children remained silent. Adrian didn’t understand why he would be of value to them even if they gave him schooling, but this was a chance to get out of this house, to go to school, to make something of his life on his own, not just to stay and wait for fate to make something for him.
Adrian didn’t know a lot about Olympus, only what he saw on TV and that was very little, the news said that it was a big company, and that its founder was the wealthiest man on the planet, Adrian remembered that he was an orphan just like Adrian, and yet he managed to become the wealthiest man in the world. Adrian raised his hand.
“I want to go.” He said.
Mary raised her hand as well. “Me too.”
Greg looked at them and then at the woman. “I don’t want to go. I want to get adopted.” He said, Adrian heard in his voice the same conviction that Adrian himself had before he realized that it will never happen. Adrian knew that he was smarter than the other kids, more “grown up” than those close to his age even older, but being smarter in an orphanage was a quick way to get bullied by bigger kids, so he learned to hide it. Greg still believed that he would get adopted one day, just like most other kids here, but Adrian knew it would never happen, the last of his hope died minutes ago. But he was also smart enough to know that these people were offering them something that he would never have otherwise, and he thought that perhaps the way they gave them the choice was a kind of a test, maybe they only wanted kids smart enough to see the opportunity they were offering.
Andrea nodded and smiled softly at Adrian and Mary, and then turned to Greg. “No one will force you to go, but if you change your mind, people from Olympus will come again next year, you can say yes then. And I truly hope that you get a family.” She said warmly then told him that he was free to go. Greg stood up and went upstairs.
She turned to Mary and Adrian and said. “What are your names?”
“Adrian”
“Mary”
“It’s my pleasure to meet you Adrian and Mary, you will come with us now, as soon as we inform your caretaker, you have five minutes to get anything you want from your belongings, but only something you can carry, and you won’t need any clothes, everything will be provided for you, take only something you have sentimental value for.” Andrea said, while Rodney stood up and went in the direction of kitchen presumably to find Miss Mayberry. Mary got up and ran up the stairs, while Adrian stayed seated.
“You should hurry up and take anything you want, you won’t be back here any time soon.” Andrea said.
“I don’t need anything.” Adrian said, and there was not a thing he wanted to take with him, his time here will soon be left behind, he didn’t have anything sentimental, he was left at the doors of the orphanage as a baby, he didn’t have anything from his parents, and everything else he had was provided to him by the orphanage, mostly clothes that the other kids outgrew, and any toys he had were passed on to him and he passed them down as he grew older.
Andrea looked at him for a moment, and then smiled, she motioned him to get up and come closer. He walked to her and she put her hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the front door, Miss Mayberry and Rodney came through the kitchen door at same time Mary walked down the stairs holding a wooden box.
Rodney motioned her to him and they started towards the door.
“Other kids could use those clothes.” Miss Mayberry said as they moved away.
Andrea shot her a look that could scare any of the smaller children and Miss Mayberry held her glare.
“We’ll send them back.” Rodney said. Miss Mayberry nodded and then turned away.
And then they were outside. That was it, the closest person Adrian had to a mother just turned her back without so much as a goodbye, they didn’t say goodbye to any of the other kids, they were done with this house, with this life. Adrian knew that Miss Mayberry wasn’t all that attached to them but she had took care of them for years, he expected at least a wave, maybe a hug. She always hugged children that got adopted, was that because then there were new parents around, was it just posturing, or was it him and Mary that she didn’t like. It didn’t matter in any case. They were on their way toward a new life.