Make your own destiny Part II

I always hated this process. It sounded like this was nothing more than a business transaction, ‘please insert your preferred characteristics and the computer will calculate your perfect child’. I knew that it made sense, sort of, because it would take forever to talk to every child in this orphanage, but it still made me mad. It made me mad for the other orphans, the ones that never even had a chance, because they didn’t fit the appearance and personality traits the family was looking for. Usually, I was one of them. But not this time.

“We would like it if our child had dark hair”, the man said. I looked down at my dark brown hair. Lucky with that one. “Other than that, we don’t care about the appearance.” “We would, however, like to adopt a girl”, the woman chimed in. I almost couldn’t believe my luck. Now the rest was entirely up to me.

“We’re a very artistic family, so we would like it if our daughter loved to paint. It would also be good if she had the same deep connection to God as we do. And, most importantly, she needs to have a good heart. Be friendly, be patient, help without being asked to. You know, that sort of thing.” “Of course. I know just the children to introduce you to.” I heard a chair scrape back and I quietly sprinted across the hallway, ducking into the common room just as the office door opened. I knew exactly what I had to do.

Thirty minutes later, I was exiting my room on the third floor, a satisfied smile on my face. I was wearing a light pink dress, the only nice thing I owned. I held a sheet of paper in my hand, swinging it as I walked across the hallway and down the staircase. Once I got to the first floor, I heard the voices of three adults, two female and one male. I walked closer to the voices, trying to appear demure. When I reached them, I fixed my eyes upon Anneliese.

I smiled. “Here, Anneliese, I made this for you!” She took the sheet of paper from me, frowning. It was a drawing of the orphanage and in front of it four children and Anneliese in the middle. It wasn’t very well done, after all, I wasn’t a great painter, but I had tried my best. Then, I turned to the couple, pretending to just notice them.

“My name is Julie, it is very nice to meet you both”, I said in the politest tone I could muster. They smiled at me and introduced themselves. Knowing that I had done everything I could, I smiled again, clasped my hands in front of my body and said: “Well, then, I am going to go pray now. Have a wonderful day.”

And with that, I turned around and walked away, proud. I was done accepting my fate if I didn’t match a family’s description. I would just make myself into whatever child they wanted. And then, once they got to know me, they wouldn’t care that I wasn’t really religious or that I found drawing about as interesting as watching paint dry.

I was going to get adopted by this family, I was going to be loved and I was going to get a proper education. I would graduate and I would become someone important. A scientist or CEO of a company or maybe a lawyer. But the world was going to be my oyster.