tying a wildcat down
2. What to Look for in a Family
Another family comes and goes, taking other children with them. Jes can't easily brush the irritation but Elspeth seems content. 'You won't like them,' she says, even though he doesn't ask. 'They look sweet, but they're bitter inside.'
She's right; he won't like people like that, but she sounds so sure they are like that and he hadn't seen any inclination at all. She's always saying things like that, justifying her reasons. It's as if no-one pleasant ever comes to Kinraide Orphan Home… and maybe they don't. With the sort of misfit children who've collected here, it's not so far a stretch to think that there are very few altruistic people in the world.
After all, their parents were burned to death with their house because of a petty plot for revenge. And he hears the stories. Even if the intentions seem innocent, often they're just to fill the empty holes in a family. Sometimes it's to replace dead children, and he shudders at the very thought.
Elspeth doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, but it's one of the reasons she's chase potential families away. Or maybe she doesn't want a replacement for their parents and he's simply overthinking her motives. She's young, after all. Young and tiny and incapable of emoting properly.
The matron always says that, once a good family adopts them, he should consider getting her into a psychologist… but really, that becomes less and less likely.
'What'll make you happy,' he snaps, sometimes.
'Nobody,' Elspeth replies, her wide dark eyes finding his. 'But you want something, don't you?'
And that's their dichotomy.