• Explaining Chris


    Chris set down her book and turned off the small light in the orphanage. She was thinking about how so many stories started with ‘Once upon a time...’ and ended ‘And they lived happily ever after!’ But she was also thinking how the people in those books were never sent to an orphanage, and never had to eat wet, mostly water, instant oatmeal everyday. They didn’t have to live on the streets like the people she saw outside sometimes. They didn’t have to fall asleep wondering if tomorrow somebody would come for them and think that they were nice looking and pleasant. And adopt them even though they were thirteen. But then she lost her train of thought and fell asleep.
    When Chris was four her house was ram sacked by robbers, one who was only sixteen. He had a gun and didn’t intend to hurt anybody but when Chris’s parents walked in, laughing about how their wonderful daughter had loved the dogs at the pet store so much they might get one, he got so scared and shot twice. And since he went hunting often he was a very good shooter and neither of them lived. Only little Chris, still clutched in her dead mother’s stiff arms survived. Nobody had said ‘Once upon a time a little girl named Chris lived with her mother and father in a little house in 2043 but then one day somebody robbed them. The robbers were caught and they lived happily ever after.’ because that's not what happened sadly.
    After that Chris was passed between her Aunt Wino, Uncle Poras, and Cousin Yalah, who all didn’t want her. She was sent to a boarding school for three years and attended sleep away camps every break. But then when they Aunt Wino, Uncle Poras, and Cousin Yalah were carpooling together for a play that they wouldn’t let little Chris come to, they got in a car accident. And so Chris packed up her meager belongings at the age of seven and went to the orphanage. Which, by the way, Cinderella never had to do, Snow White never had to think of, and Sleeping Beauty never had to dream of.
    But that wasn’t the end of it. The first orphanage was burned down which actually made Chris quite pleased because she hated the lady who owned it and the place was horrid, the second ws attacked by flying ninjas which made Chris at the age of ten laugh so hard she had to sit down, and the third was torn to shreds by a tornado. So now Chris was at the fourth orphanage which she hated almost as much as the first three. She wished sock monkeys would attack it because she liked them very much. There were some on the too-big pajamas Save Out Kids had donated. It was funny, Chris thought as she stirred the soupy oat meal, that she had been thinking about flying ninjas attacking the orphanage and pulling the headmistresses hair for about a week before they came. Something else that was funny was that people she hated at the orphanage were adopted or sent away first. She used to think that if she hated herself then she’d be sent back to her parents but she’d grown out of that a few years ago. Now all Chris could think about was getting out of here.
    Suddenly the great doors at the end of the hall burst open and out walked Mr.Sonan, the owner of the present orphanage, walked out with his head held high as always. Mr.Sonan was a short, fat man with little to no hair (sometimes it grew at night and fell out when he was yelling at the orphans) that was a silvery gray. He had a long nose that was very strait so when he put his head up it looked like a flesh colored flagpole was sticking up and sometimes it waved which, at such times, the orphans would cover their mouths and giggle under their breath. He only wore greasy and browns and sometimes black. He was very orderly and very, very old fashioned as in hit-people-with-rulers-on-the-hands old fashioned. So Chris hated him to the very last gray hair that had sprouted up like a flower. But It was to her that he turned and waved to, and to him who she had to walk to and go into his office. His office had white washed walls and a gray furnace and desk. There was a filing drawer that was gray too, and a row of books, all of them varying colors of black, gray and brown. If Chris had to give three words for Mr.Sonan, they’d be dull, boring, and neat-freak (which might seem two words to some people but to her it was only one)
    “Chris, dear, I’ve got some great news to tell you, please have a seat right there.” He pointed to the only chair in the room that was unoccupied as he was already sitting in his nice, comfy, gray chair. He had a nasal voice that sounded like a pig being choked and singing opera at the same time. Except when he was very happy, as he seemed now, it sounded more like a horse being choked and singing rap. And he had called her ‘Chris, Dear.’ which he only did when he had a what he called ‘pleasant’ surprise for one of the orphans. He motioned at the door and two people walked in. One was female and the other male, and they both looked around the age of twenty-five. The woman was wearing a pink blouse and a pair of old blue jeans with a faded blue color. She had beautiful blonde hair that flew down her neck and seemed to move with grace whenever she moved her head. Her eyes were shockingly bright blue with black eyelashes and blonde eyebrows. The man wore a black leather coat which was half way unzipped and showing a shirt that was green and brown. He, too, wore jeans, although these looked brand new. He had hair to his ears which was a beautiful light brown and had green eyes that reminded Chris of when she went on a picnic to a green forest full of trees with her parents on her fourth birthday, the day they died.
    “Chris, these people want to adopt you, and I think its a wonderful idea! Why, look at them, you’ll have a wonderful life and be well taken care of, what do you say, Chris?” Mr.Sonan piped up, looking pleased probably because he’ll have more money to lay out on his belly then to spend on another person at the orphanage. But Chris felt faint and dizzy. This was the first time anybody had wanted her since her parents died. She expected them to laugh as soon as she answered ‘Yes!’ but was also sure they would smile and nod happily. Chris tried to picture herself in a photo with these people smiling and holding her hand. And then she remembered today was her birthday. Maybe this was a gift from her parents, who wanted to see her smile. Chris turned up to Mr.Sonan and smiled a little.
    “Yes, I think Id like to, very much.” Now she expected them to laugh as soon as she said it, because as soon as the words were out of her mouth she felt funny. Why would these gorgeous people want her? Her hair was red and brown, with blonde and white high lights that in the winter turned black. And her eyes were a mess, they were green and blue and gray and black, and it seemed every day they were another color or had lost a color. She had exactly thirty-nine freckles, and freckles had the word ‘Freak’ in them so wasn’t she a freak? But they also had the word ‘Les’ would could also be said as ‘Less’ so maybe she was ‘Freak-Less’ and therefore, not a freak. So she thought her mind was funny too. But instead of laughing the couple just turned to each other and smiled widely, and so did Mr.Sonan.
    “We’re so happy! For some reason I just cant seem to have a child (she looked around twenty-five as Chris had thought, she couldn’t have been trying for more then four or five years at the most, right?) and we just think you seem so nice. My name is Santhem but you can call me almost anything you want!” Said Santhem, the pretty lady. The man just smiled, and introduced himself as Justin. What an odd name, Chris thought. Then they all turned their attention to Mr.Sonan as he coughed a little, as that was his way of saying ‘Listen up or I will his you whack my mighty-ultra-give-you-a-bump-on-your-head-ruler!’
    “Well, since business has been slow lately (last person adopted was two years ago...) and since you have already filled out the papers,I suppose you can take her now as long as she signs.” He handed Chris a thick yellow paper, more like parchment, and she signed with his pen that he let nobody touch. No sooner then Chris had signed the couple grabbed her and rushed her out to a carriage like vehicle, (gas had run out around 2018 and now people used carriage like vehicles that ran on solar, water, fruit oil, and air current electricity) opening the back door for her and half pushing her in. But Chris didn’t notice their fevered moves, as if they wanted her away fast so nobody could have her or take her away. She was just floating in a bubble of happiness and surprise, thinking of her old parents and how these people would be so great like they were!

    But later when she looked back on this she realized she had practically signed her soul away when she signed that parchment and was taken away.