Wednesday morning, Jesse and Becky sat at the dining room table with their family, having breakfast. Both of them felt very nervous about the interview that afternoon. Neither had slept very well, worried about what it would be like; what Sara would be like.
"Jesse, what if she doesn't like us?" Becky asked quietly that morning, so nobody heard her. Jesse had thought of this himself, but gave his wife an answer.
"Well, if it doesn't go very well, we could always set up another interview with somebody else." He offered, but he knew Becky was hoping for exactly what he was hoping for. That they would fall in love with Sara Stevenson and possibly adopt her. Jesse had been thinking more and more about the adoption idea since they had arrived home from the group home the day before. The more he thought about adoption, the more he liked it and now, on the day of their interview, he felt anxious and excited. He wanted to meet Sara, and he deeply hoped the three of them would somehow connect.
Becky was feeling the same way. She wanted a daughter so much, and had grown more excited when she saw all of those pictures and paintings in Ms. Morrison's office. She kept imagining her new daughter coming downstairs with a drawing she had made for her new mother. Becky couldn't wait to meet Sara; neither of them could.
"What time are they coming guys?" Danny asked as he started to clear up breakfast. Jesse looked up, snapping out of his thoughts.
"Oh, the social worker said around 3:00p.m. Is it alright if we use the kitchen Danny? We don't want to have to drag them all upstairs for a short interview." Jesse requested. Danny smiled and nodded.
"Of course that's okay. I can clean the upstairs bathroom while you're having your interview." He said. Danny was a bit of a neat freak, and everybody teased him about it.
"Thanks Danny, we appreciate it." Becky said with a smile.
"No problem. So are you guys excited?" Danny asked. Jesse and Becky looked at each other with huge grins.
"Yeah we are. We really can't wait to meet her." Jesse said.
"What's her name?" DJ asked.
"Sara Stevenson." Becky replied.
"How old is she?" Stephanie asked.
"13 years old." Jesse replied, to which Stephanie smiled, because she was also 13 years old.
"Are you gonna adopt her?" Michelle asked. Jesse and Becky laughed at their youngest niece.
"Michelle, we haven't even met her yet. We don't know if we're going to adopt her yet." Jesse replied.
"We would like to adopt a teenage girl, but it might not work out with Sara. We have to wait and see." Becky added.
"What does she look like?" Stephanie asked, curiously.
"Steph, like I told Michelle, we haven't met her yet. We haven't seen pictures of her or seen her at all. We have to wait until 3:00p.m." Jesse replied. The family stopped asking questions at that, but Jesse and Becky had many questions of their own. Questions they couldn't answer either. Would they get along with Sara? Would they adopt her? What would life be like with a teenage daughter? Would they be able to handle it? And the question that nagged them the most: How was Sara feeling about the whole ordeal?
"Britney, what if I told Ms. Morrison I came down with laryngitis? Do you think she'd believe me?" Sara asked her best friend as they sat on the floor of the dormitory. It was 2:30p.m. and the girls were waiting for Ms. Morrison to come and tell Sara it was time to go. Britney laughed.
"No she wouldn't believe you. You try to pull these kinds of things every time you have an interview. Ms. Morrison knows you too well." She said with a shake of her head. Sara sighed, knowing this was true.
"How 'bout the flu?" She said desperately, but Britney just looked at her.
"I know, I know." Sara sighed.
The dormitory door opened moments later and Ms. Morrison walked in wearing her business suit and holding a briefcase. Sara knew she was ready for the interview, but she certainly wasn't.
"Sara, it's time to go." Ms. Morrison announced and Sara only rolled her eyes.
"Sara Stevenson, don't give me a hard time, we have an appointment we have to keep. Now let's go." Ms. Morrison said sternly. Sara sighed heavily, but got up slowly, walking toward the door. Ms. Morrison stared at her.
"Sara, look at you. You haven't even brushed your hair." She said disapprovingly. Sara shrugged.
"So?" She muttered. Ms. Morrison grabbed the brush off of the nearest dresser and turned Sara around gently, and began brushing through her thick brown hair.
"You want to look nice, don't you?" Ms. Morrison asked as she struggled to brush out the tough tangles.
"No." Sara snapped.
"Sara, I don't want you to give me any attitude today, I mean it." Ms. Morrison finished with Sara's hair and motioned her out the door. Sara turned back and waved to her best friend, who waved back with a weak smile.
The drive to 1882 Gerard Street was silent for about the first half of the ride. Ms. Morrison knew Sara was angry and furious with Ms. Morrison for setting this up. It was true. Sara sat with her arms crossed, staring out of her window at the passing scenery, fuming inside. Why couldn't she have set up an interview with someone else? Even Britney? Britney really wants to be adopted; I don't, so why did it have to be me? Sara kept thinking to herself. Sara let out a deep sigh and muttered something quietly under her breath, but Ms. Morrison heard her.
"This is so not fair." Sara muttered. Ms. Morrison shook her head to herself and turned a corner.
"Sara, I know you're angry at me, but honestly, I was doing what was best for you. I know you don't think that's true, but one day I hope you can look back and see that I was never trying to hurt you. All I want is for you to be happy Sara." She said to the young girl sitting next to her. Sara shook her head disbelievingly.
"If you want me to be happy, then turn around." She said crudely. Ms. Morrison turned her head quickly.
"Young lady, you do not take that tone with me, understand? I realize you're upset, but that gives you no reason to be rude. But it's true Sara. I do want you to be happy, and I think if you just allowed yourself to be loved and cared for, you'd be happy. I think being a part of a family would really help you with that." She said. Sara shook her head.
"No it wouldn't. Families are stupid." She said quietly.
"Why Sara?" Ms. Morrison asked. Sara closed her eyes.
"You wouldn't understand." She replied.
"Well let me try Sara. Tell me. Tell me why you don't want a family." Ms. Morrison tried, hoping that for the first time, Sara would express some of her feelings about the day her parents left her. She wasn't all that surprised when Sara turned her head and stared out the window again, ignoring her social worker's question. Ms. Morrison sighed and continued the drive.
They arrived at the large house at 1882 Gerard Street at 2:45p.m. Ms. Morrison pulled her briefcase out of the backseat and got out of the car. Sara got out of the car, slamming the door behind her roughly. As they walked up to the house, Ms. Morrison leaned over and spoke sternly but quietly.
"Listen Sara, I expect you to be good. They are really excited to meet you and I don't want you to lose your temper or misbehave yourself. I expect you to ignore your anger for the next hour or so." She said as she rang the doorbell. Sara rolled her eyes as she heard footsteps approach the door. For the first time since she had heard about the interview, Sara felt more nervous than angry as the front door opened slowly.
Sara stared at the tall man standing in the doorway and wondered if this was Jesse Katsoppolus. She immediately felt shy, but her question was answered when the man introduced himself.
"Hi, I'm Danny, Jesse's brother-in-law. You must be Ms. Morrison, and you must be Sara." Danny said with a smile at Sara. Sara looked away, feeling uncomfortable, and wishing she were back with Britney doing homework.
"Yes, that's us. We're here for an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Katsoppolus." Ms. Morrison explained as she shook Danny's hand. Danny nodded.
"Of course, come with me." Danny led the way through a very large living room. As Sara followed her social worker and Danny, she gazed around the room. She saw pictures on the walls of three girls, all with blonde hair. She wondered if Jesse and Becky already had their own kids, or if these kids were Danny's. There were toys on the floor; they looked like toddler toys, and she saw a stack of games in the corner. On the fireplace, there was a framed picture of nine different people. She recognized Danny in the photo, with his arms around the youngest blonde girl. She must be his daughter. I wonder if the other two are his too. Sara wondered curiously. In the photo, she saw many other people she didn't know. She didn't have much time to stare at the photo much longer as Danny led them through a door and into the kitchen.
Sara saw a couple sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through what looked like a photo album. Sara guessed this must be Jesse and Becky, and she immediately felt nervous. Danny cleared his throat and the couple looked up.
"Oh hi Ms. Morrison." Jesse greeted, and he looked at his watch. "You're a little early. We were just looking at our wedding pictures." Jesse thanked Danny as he left the room to do some cleaning upstairs.
"Traffic wasn't as bad as I expected it to be at this hour, so here we are. I hope it's not too early for you." Ms. Morrison explained.
"No of course not. Come in. Sit down." Becky shut the photo album and pushed it aside as Ms. Morrison sat down and motioned for Sara to do the same. Sara sat next to Ms. Morrison, clutching her hands together tightly, watching them turn purple. She could feel Jesse and Becky staring at her, so she didn't look up.
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Katsoppolus." Ms. Morrison started as she pulled open her briefcase and placed a notebook in front of her.
"Please, call us Jesse and Becky." Becky said with a smile. Ms. Morrison nodded.
"Okay. Jesse and Becky, this is Sara Stevenson." She introduced. Jesse and Becky both smiled at the young girl, who didn't move.
"Hi Sara." Becky greeted carefully, not wanting to scare the girl. Sara didn't respond and Ms. Morrison was beginning to feel impatient with Sara, so she nudged her gently.
"Hi." Sara said meekly.
"It's nice to meet you Sara." Jesse said. Ms. Morrison looked at Sara, wishing she would say something, but Sara kept her mouth shut.
"Well, the purpose of an interview is to get to know each other, so if either of you have any questions for Sara, fire away. And Sara, you can ask questions too, if you'd like." Ms. Morrison said, knowing full well Sara wasn't about to initiate any conversation. Jesse and Becky waited to see if Sara would ask any questions, and when she didn't say anything, Jesse decided to start.
"Okay, well, Sara. Do you like music?" He asked. Becky rolled her eyes with a smile, knowing of course that would be Jesse's first question. Sara shrugged.
"I guess so." She replied.
"Have you ever heard of a band called Jesse and the Rippers?" Jesse asked. Becky nudged him gently.
"Jess, this is an interview, not a chance to advertise your band." She said with a laugh. She turned and swore she saw a smile cross Sara's face, but it disappeared pretty quickly.
"What do you like to do for fun Sara?" Becky asked, eager to learn more about the girl sitting across from them. Sara shrugged again.
"Play sports." She said.
"What kind of sports? What's your favorite sport?" Becky asked.
"Basketball."
"That's my favorite too. I used to play in high school, but of course that was ages ago. I still go outside every now and then and play with the net out back." Becky smiled. Sara only nodded, as she secretly glanced at her watch, wondering how much longer she would have to sit here.
Jesse and Becky continued asking questions for half an hour or so, as Ms. Morrison took notes. Sara felt exhausted, speaking to strangers for this long, so she was pleased when Ms. Morrison glanced at her watch and began putting away her notebook.
"Well, we'd best be on our way. Sara still has homework to do, don't you Sara?" Ms. Morrison asked as she looked at Sara, who only shrugged again. She stood when everybody else did, and Ms. Morrison looked from Jesse and Becky back to Sara.
"Sara, will you go out and wait by the car? I have some things I need to discuss with Jesse and Becky privately." Ms. Morrison said. Sara didn't argue, she just went without a fuss.
"Bye Sara, it was nice to meet you." Becky called after her, but Sara didn't respond. She just walked out of the kitchen and out to Ms. Morrison's car
Ms. Morrison turned to the couple.
"I'm sorry about that. Sara is so reserved and shy around adults. Believe it or not, she's like that with me most of the time too." Ms. Morrison explained.
"Oh that's okay. You don't need to apologize." Jesse said. Ms. Morrison sighed.
"She can be a bit of handful sometimes." She shook her head. "So if you'd like, we can set up a different interview with a different girl, if you want to explore some options."
"Well, I guess Jesse and I will discuss some things and give you a call when we decide what we want to do." Becky explained. Ms. Morrison nodded.
"That's fine, my phone is always on. Thank you both." She shook their hands and Jesse and Becky walked her out the door.
Sara was waiting outside of Ms. Morrison's car, leaning against it with her arms crossed.
"Oh sorry, I should have given you the keys." She apologized as she unlocked the car door. Sara sunk into her seat and slammed the door shut. Ms. Morrison sighed and got in the driver's seat and began driving back to the group home.
"Sara, I didn't find you were very polite to the Katsoppolus's. They just wanted to get to know you better." Ms. Morrison pointed out, as Sara's eyes remained fixed on the passing scenery.
"So what if I wasn't polite?" Sara snapped.
"Sara, don't give me attitude. You've been snappy all day. Jesse and Becky are very nice people; you should have been nice to them." Ms. Morison replied.
"I didn't feel like it."
"Sara, why won't you just talk to me? Why won't you just tell me why this whole idea of adoption bothers you so much?"
"Why won't you just leave me alone?" Sara said cockily. The rest of the ride was silent, especially after Ms. Morrison had given Sara a detention for the evening for her bad attitude.