Oddfellow's Orphanage (2 page)

The man looked down at his feet and grumbled, “This is no
time to worry over shoes, Professor Stella!” With that, they both raced down the dark and quiet hallways of the orphanage and burst outside into the cool night air, followed only by their flickering shadows.

On the cobblestone driveway, a carriage waited. Like everything else in the orphanage, the carriage was rather unusual. Waiting in front of the carriage, where horses would usually be, were two large black bears. A young man stopped fiddling with the bears’ harnesses and opened the carriage door for the professor and the headmaster.

“There’s been another, I presume?” the young man asked.

“Yes, Hank, the message just came through,” the lady replied as she and the headmaster climbed into the carriage.

Hank spoke quietly to the bears. They nodded their great furry heads and padded down the drive. As they got closer to the road, the bears’ pace quickened, until off they bounded into the inky night.

Hank watched the carriage become smaller and smaller as it wound down the road.

Inside the carriage, Professor Stella nestled into the collar of her cape, pulled it snugly around her, and closed her eyes. The headmaster looked out the window into the twinkling night.

WHEN
the bear-drawn carriage returned to the orphanage, the sun was creeping over the hills. Inside the carriage with the headmaster and the professor was a lump wrapped in a faded patchwork quilt. The lump shook off the quilt. There sat a little girl with white hair in two braids and pale blue eyes.

The girl looked around. In the seat across from her was a big man with a blue-black beard, a scarlet overcoat, and shoes that didn’t match. Beside her was a lady with red hair and a fur-collared cape of the deepest blue. Both grown-ups were breathing gentle sleep breaths.

The little girl peered out of the carriage and saw two bears lumbering quickly ahead, pulling the carriage through patches of twisting trees and over hills dotted with early blooms. The bears slowed to a loping walk as an enormous house appeared.

The enormous house was made of brick and was surrounded by a garden of monsters. The little girl grabbed Professor Stella’s shoulder and shook her awake.

“What is it?” the professor asked sleepily, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light.

The girl waved wildly at the monsters going by outside the carriage.

Professor Stella laughed. “Oh! They’re not real, don’t worry. They are made of bushes and trees.”

The girl looked carefully out the window. She saw that each monster was, in fact, a plant trimmed to look like a creature. There was everything from a sea serpent rising out of the grass to a towering mermaid.

The carriage came to a sudden stop in front of the steps to
the great house. The bears let out small roars to announce their return. These awoke the headmaster. He stretched his arms and said drowsily, “Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.”

The door to the orphanage swung open. Hank came out as the professor stepped from the carriage. “Welcome back, Professor Stella,” he said.

“Thank you, Hank,” replied the professor as she held out her hand for the white-haired girl.

The girl took the professor’s hand and jumped lightly onto the cobblestone drive.

“And welcome to you …” Hank paused, looking down at the small girl, who was shyly fidgeting with her white braids.

She didn’t speak, but fished a yellow pencil and a scrap of paper from her pocket. She wrote on the paper and held it up.

Hank smiled. “Welcome to Oddfellow’s Orphanage, Delia.”

The headmaster jumped down from the carriage. Delia looked up at him. “And I am Headmaster Oddfellow Bluebeard,” he said. “We are happy to have you with us, Miss Delia. I hope
you will find that you belong here.” He held out a hand that was really more like a paw.

Delia took his hand in her own small white one.

Hank unharnessed the bears and led them away. The headmaster, Professor Stella, and Delia climbed the steps to the orphanage. Inside, they had a breakfast of tea and toast before anyone else was even awake.

A DAY OF INTRODUCTIONS

F
ull
of toast and jam, Delia fell back to sleep right at the big wooden table. The three grown-ups didn’t wake her, knowing that she’d be awakened soon enough.

They were right. Delia awoke to the sound of dozens of feet running overhead. She looked up nervously as the footsteps grew closer and closer, until the dining room was filled with a noisy parade of new faces. The parade soon sorted itself into separate children in painted chairs at the long table.

The dining room had smooth wooden floors and cream-colored walls. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows. Cooks in striped aprons carried in trays of fruit, little cups of eggs, baskets of breads, glasses of milk, and pots of tea.
The moment was so busy with the business of buns and buttered toast that no one noticed a new person at the table.

Then, all at once, they did.

Orphans and grown-ups alike stared at Delia, and Delia stared back at the peculiar group. There were more people than Delia could take in, but seated around her was a group she couldn’t help but notice. A little hedgehog wearing a vest, who was attempting to eat an apple and a muffin at the same time.
A girl with shiny black hair, who had a yellow bird sitting on her shoulder. A girl whose arms and legs were covered in blue tattoos. A boy with acorn-brown hair, glasses, and a great many badges covering his sweater. And, strangest of all, a small boy who had an onion for a head!

The onion-headed boy politely said, “Hello.”

Delia was looking for her scrap of paper on which to write “Hello” back, when Professor Stella appeared with a pocket-sized
red notebook on a long loop of string. Delia put the string around her neck, then fished the yellow pencil from her pocket. She turned to the first page of the notebook and wrote on it.