Annie knew her parents were out there. She could hear their voices in her sleep and see their faces in her dreams. Any day now, the orphanage door would come open and the two most welcoming, beautiful, nicest, loving, happy couple there ever was would pick up their baby and carry her away to peace.
The other orphans weren't so lucky. They had either seen their own parents die with their own eyes or were knowingly abandoned. But the sentiment carried over. Some nights an orphan would have a nightmare crying for their mommy. Some days the orphans would sit around talking about what they wanted their parents to be like. For most of them, the thought of having a loving family brought them to tears, or at least they almost did.
July and Tessie thought of Kate as their mother, but Kate made sure they knew of their real family, and how nice it was to have a real mother and father.
"Where are they!" July asked excitedly. "When will I get to meet them?"
"You won't July. They passed away when you were a baby." Kate told her. "That's why you came to the orphanage and I raised you."
Kate hugged July and Tessie for a long time, feeling very guilty. She was not what they deserved, they deserved a loving mother and father. They were perfect girls who had not done anything wrong, and yet here they were, living in a depressing orphanage.
One day, when Annie was old enough, she was sitting by a window, looking out at the New York City skyline, and she imagined that her mother and father were somewhere on the streets out there, waiting for her to find them. She knew what she had to do. Annie turned around and let her friends know what she was about to do.
"Hey everybody! I'm going to leave now, my parents are waiting for me. I love you all, and I will write back to you right after I find my parents. Goodbye!"
"But what if Miss Hannigan catches you Annie?" asked Duffy.
"Don't worry, she won't." Annie reassured her.
She then jumped out the window and climbed down the fire escape. And ran away across the city.
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" cried Tessie.
"Maybe she'll find her parents right away. I'm sure we don't have to worry." said Pepper.
Pepper was wrong. Later that night Annie showed up at the door with a policeman holding her ear. Miss Hannigan gave her a sound beating to let her know her place again.
This didn't discourage Annie, and each week she came up with a different plan to escape, and occasionally she went through with them. But she never lasted longer than a day out on the street. Annie was an undaunted, fearless child, with an irrepressible spirit of a saint. Children like her are hard to come by, with only a few every generation. This quickly made her Miss Hannigan's least favorite, which is saying an awful lot, considering the fact that Miss Hannigan viewed all children as the bane of her existence.
The orphans sometimes played tricks on Miss Hannigan. Kate would hide her radio in her room and play it while she was sleeping. Duffy would throw mice down her shirt. July would replace her alcohol with soap. They always stomped on her foot and ran away wherever they could. But Pepper was the best at pranking Miss Hannigan. Whenever Miss Hannigan got close to seducing one of her love interests, Pepper would taunt her saying "Kissy, Kissy, Kissy" or "Mr. Bundles and Miss Hannigan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."