Dear Majesty
It is time to write another letter from the west of the new land. You would never believe how the Western USA is compared to my homeland. At times I miss the green fields and even the rain. I miss our manor house and my dear parents. It does not help that I am all alone in this dusty and warm desert town. I do not understand why my aunt just left the town. She must have known that I was coming.
I told you that I met this child celebrity and helped take care of her as she lost her parents. She is the one girl that can annoy me so that I cannot help grinding my teeth and saying an extra prayer for patience. She talks non stop and her singing is just like ghosts shrieking. She does not even look pretty. As I wrote to you before, she looks like a boy. On top of this, she thinks she is God's gift to mankind. She only thinks about herself.
I could clearly see that when she left the orphanage with Doctor Devon. Shirley was smiling all the way out of the orphanage, as she had someone that would take care of her. She had a new mother and father! This was hours after we promised that we would always stay together and take care of each other. Now she hardly even said bye as she was walking out with her new mother.
I will be honest. I do not know if I was mad at Shirley or not. I did know that I was sad and felt so lonely. I would have loved to be mad at Shirley, but there was something about her personality that I liked. She was everything I dared not to be. She became like a sister that was born to annoy me to insanity. I was relieved that it was me that was alone in the world and if anyone should have a new mom and dad, it should be her.
I sat down by the candlelight and wrote a short letter to father telling him that his plans for me coming to the USA have not worked. I explained that my aunt was nowhere to be and I was all alone in an orphanage. I suggested to my father that he allow me to come back to Ireland and rejoin my family there. I felt very satisfied when I wrote this short letter. Life has presented me with a problem and I did not panic or have self-pity. I found a solution that would make everyone happy.
The next day, the woman came with some food for the orphans. She asked me where I came from. I told her about Ireland and the privileged life I had there. I assure her as I would not be taking the orphanage space for too long as my father would be sending money any day now. The lady just glared at me and told me to visit the doctor as I needed an injection.
I was a bit sad about going to the doctors. I would be meeting Shirley's new mother. I was happy that Shirley found a family, but also jealous. Doctor Devon told me to come in. She was a nice doctor and was very gentle. I did not even notice the needle. It was all over before I knew it.
She smiled and told me I was so brave. She explained when she talked about the injections to Shirley, she would change the subject or run out of the house. This made me smile as I thought it was typical Shirley. I asked how Shirley was.
“Shirley is something special,” Doctor Devon explained, “ She is like a firecracker. You never know what to expect next. I never met one girl that can talk so much about nothing. However, at times she can be so quiet and sad. She would ask if people still love her or are they mad at her because she is not on stage. Poor Shirley only knows the world of being on a stage and making people happy. She cannot accept that she is now an ordinary child. On top of all this, she has dreams about when her mother and father were killed. She calls me momma, but there is sadness in her eyes when she calls me that.”
Doctor Devon told me that they lived in a small cottage. However, they would be moving into a larger house, as a one-room cabin was not good for a family with a girl, a son and an older daughter. Then she looked at me and told me that Shirley talks a lot about me. I was asked how I was coping and if I needed a place to live, as Shirley really could use someone her age.
I declined and said it would be wrong if I was adopted. I was expecting news from my family any day and I would soon be traveling back to Ireland.
I walked around town after and wondered where all the children were. They were most likely at school or doing chores. How I missed school or just reading a book. As I walked, I could not find any school. I will be honest and admit that I was lonely. I would even put up with Shirley's constant drama. I must have been very lonely that I would accept this curly head hanging around me and annoying me to my limits.
I tried to convince myself that I do not feel sorry for myself. However, I found myself in an alleyway wondering how my parents were and did they miss me. I was sure that Father would waste no time in sending me the ticket so I would go home. This would be a bittersweetness as I would be back in my beloved country and be with my parents, but I would miss the new friends that I found here. That included Shirley.
As I was feeling my worse, a small kitten came to me and snuggled against me. You remember my dear Queen that I have an affection for cats. They are the best friends you can have. In fact, I consider cats like angels from God. They always seem to try and make sure I was happy. This kitten was no different. It just snuggled and rested beside me. I stopped worrying about my fate and decided that God is always at my side.
Lila, the orphan girl that wonders around came and sat beside me. She had some cupcakes that she found at the Library. She asked me if I was still alone in Tombsville. I told her that I was at the orphanage but my Dad would be helping soon. Lila told me that I should travel around the west with her. There are so many people to meet. There are so many experiences and I would learn a lot. I smiled and said how can anyone learn anything without a good school, a good teacher and a good book.
Lila went and I decided that I could explore while I was waiting for father to respond. I decided I could ask Shirley to come along. As I was going by the doctor's office, I heard a huge scream that probably could be heard as far as your palace on the other side of the world. I rushed into the doctor's office and seen Shirley laying on the bed. She was moaning and telling everyone she was dying.
“Its nothing serious,” her mother explained, “I had to give her a check-up. I think that Shirley's behavior is because of trauma in losing her parents. However, I never experienced any child that screamed so much when she has seen a needle than this child. She is resting now, so things should get better.”
I smiled at Doctor Devon and wondered if trauma caused Shirley to be such a brat and diva. I am only 8 years old, but I could only imagine that Shirley is a confused girl. She was so famous and her job was to make people happy in theaters. She only knew fame and people who adored her talent. Now she did not know her place in the world. This was enough to confuse any girl.
I asked Shirley if she wanted to come exploring. She glared at me and snapped at me asking me did I not notice she was dying? Then she did her act again as the girl moaning and groaning and suffering so much. It was then she said she could see an angel waiting for her, that I told the doctor that I had to go. Shirley asked me if I would come to her funeral.
The next day, I was sleeping in the orphanage when the lady came with a telegram. It was from father. He wrote that they missed me so much, but it was far too dangerous to come to Ireland as the rebels were dangerous. He told me he would send a telegraph to his lawyer in New York that would help me find a good home while I could not go to Ireland.
This was bad news and it made me think what was more dangerous, being in an Irish manor house surrounded by rebels or being all alone here.
As I walked that day, I met Doctor Devon and told her about the telegram. She gave me a hug and invited me to their cottage that night, as I could be with Shirley and get some homemade food.
The cottage was small and reminded me of the tenant's homes on my father's land.
There was chaos as Doctor Devon was called away because a woman was given birth. She told me that Doctor Glen, her husband would take care of us.
The homemade food was prepared by their maid called Mary. After a long time with mush from the orphanage, it was so nice to eat something nice. Doctor Glen was also nice and chuckled a lot as he smoked his pipe.
I told them that I was stuck in the wild west while the rebels were dangerous in Ireland. Shirley was quiet. You could nearly hear her brain thinking as she was trying to think about what should she say. It was the first time that I have seen that she had some compassion towards another human. I could see that she felt sorry for me and wanted to make me feel better. Maybe I was hoping too much, as the only answer she could think of was that I could work as a maid,
I thought she would get in trouble when Doctor Glen caught Shirley pushing her vegetables on my plate. He just chuckled and said that she will not get strong if she does not eat vegetables. Vegetables are good for her. Shirley just sighed and asked why do all the good things for her taste so bad?
Shirley told me she would walk me home. She was surprised that the kitten I met earlier was still following me. She told me I should give the kitten a name. After I thought a bit, I decided to call the kitten Pinkleton. It sounded like a good British name. Shirley sighed again thinking the kitten had a strange name. She changed the subject and said she would help me find a good home. She said she remembered our promise to be together and take care of each other.
I accepted her offer thinking she would forget it 5 minutes after. I told her that I only had one requirement. I did not want to live in a place that had an outhouse. I was civilized and could not understand why people did not have a toilet in the house. Shirley laughed at this and told me she was so happy I was still her friend.
After Shirley went, I was all alone in the orphanage. I could not find any book which was also bad. I decided that I needed some rest, so I said my bedtime prayers and went to bed. I was not alone. Pinkleton snuggled up against me.
A few hours must have gone when Doctor Devon woke me up and asked where Shirley was. I said she must have gone home. Doctor Devon looked worried and said that she had to find Shirley. I got out of bed and decided to help her find her. She could have been kidnapped and now forced to work in the mines. We searched all over town and could not find her. I could see that Doctor Devon was getting very worried.
We found her at last. Shirley was sitting outside Sherrif Mavericks' office and singing a song for him. I am sure that her voice was keeping the whole town awake. Doctor Devon called Shirley by her full name and asked why she was not home?
“Don't you know tomorrow is a busy day. We are moving to our new house!”
“ I was walking on my way home,” Shirley explained, “and I got lost. I was worried that our house sunk in the ground as I could not find it. I was walking in the middle of the road and singing a song, where the Sheriff's horse got afraid and nearly trampled me down. The Sherrif is a nice man and explained that I should not be walking in the middle of the street and I should not be alone. He told me we could wait here until you came.”
I couldn't help to stop laughing thinking that even a horse got afraid when Shirley sang. Doctor Devon was not impressed. Shirley got a huge speech. The two adults then started speaking while Shirley asked me what did she do wrong?
A few days later, I visited them at their new house. It was a bit outside the town and was a big house. Shirley had a new dress on which made me wonder when that lawyer would help me. I needed new clothes as well! We had some warm chocolate and Shirley was boasting how big the house was. It even had a toilet inside.
I was very jealous. Shirley showed me all the books she had. She had her own desk and even a huge dollhouse. These things were wasted on curly top, as she never even opened a book. She even used some books under the furniture so they were more steady.
Shirley told me that she was still worried about my situation and she decided that she would help me. She went down to her mother and asked her if I could be her private maid. I must admit, that this did upset me and if this was what she called help, then I did not want it. I also had pride! My parents were landlords and although maids have my utmost respect, my destiny was on another path.
Doctor Devon smiled and said that we would talk about it, but someone was at the door.
She was a Sheriff just like that man that helped Shirley. I could see that Shirley was staring at the woman and the gun she wore. The sheriff told Doctor Devon that she had bad news.
“ I have bad news Doctor,” she explained, “ You took Shirley from the adoption home and did not follow the regulations. The adoption process takes 6 weeks and in this time, Shirley must be at the adoption home”
“Surely, she would be better off staying here while we wait for the 6 weeks.” Doctor Devon asked.
“ I am afraid the law is the law. Besides that, the agency in New York has contacted us. Shirley may have lost her parents, but she still has a contract with the agency and they say they are losing money because she is not performing. I am afraid that they want custody over Shirley. I will be back in two days' time to take her back to the orphanage.”
When the Sherrif went, Doctor Devon paced back and forth.
Your majesty, I will finish now but I will tell you in the next letter what happened with Shirley and myself,
Your faithful subject
Sarah
ns 15.158.61.6da2
