A/N: For more of Hattie, see Unending Trust. A note at the end of chapter 3 shows what inspired her. "Just Thinking About Tomorrow" has more early orphanage scenes.

Chapter Two – Flashes of Brilliance, Flashes Back & Forward, Too

"Look, I don't know what she's doing, but Miss Hannigan's bound to slip up sometime. Maybe Annie will tell Mr. Warbucks and he'll find a way to stop her. Or, maybe he'll tell Bert Healy about our skits, especially that 'Hard Knock Life' one. Miss Hannigan might be made to think we can make it big and she can control our money, and then he'll stop that," I explained lowly as we walked toward her office. We quieted down on purpose, lest she hear us. She'd likely have the radio on and be drinking while reading some trashy novel, but we wanted to be sure. "But, when Annie tells them how grueling this place is, I'm sure Mr. Warbucks will do something."

"What if she doesn't, though? What if she's too busy thinking about her family?" Tessie fretted. July and I each passed her a reassuring smile. She worried so much about things.

"Annie won't forget about me," Molly piped up. July assured her she was right.

"What if Miss Hannigan thinks she can let us try and we'll fall on our faces and have to beg to come back and sew for her?" Pepper chimed in.

"Why can't that be part of his plan? To make her think it'll happen. But we will not let that happen,' I declared softly. We discussed this for a few more minutes before Bert Healy's Hour of Smiles came on.

He began the show the same way he ended it. And, while we'd been bickering a bit and missed much of "Never Fully Dressed," you could bet I'd be ready to grab a broom or something, use it as a microphone, and start singing, with confidence instilled in me by my beloved Nona.

Then, we heard a familiar voice. "Annie's on the radio!" several cried out in surprise.

Annie not only spoke – as did Mr. Warbucks – she sang. Her voice was better than mine. Us three oldest each claim some credit for raising her – Pepper for her toughness, July for the sweet, caring parts of her. But I did just as much, if not more. Even when I first arrived, she'd copy my singing with her baby babbling. And, she was my partner when Miss Kathy asked us to organize the girls in singing or dancing when we had free time; and, till she left our group of younger girls didn't sew much, though Miss Kathy was always our only teacher. There were other kids who would age out throughout the '20s, even into 1930.

This story from those earlier orphanage years really illustrates this. Because, I can still remember, over two decades later, the pride I felt when Annie sang "Tomorrow" – that song she'd made up while locked in the cellar by Miss Hannigan.

Miss Kathy had complimented her on a great song and on her vocal ability when Annie sang it for us the first time.

Annie replied "That's 'cause Duffy's a great teacher." She was seven and a half, maybe eight. I was three and a half years older.

"I'm glad all you girls are good teachers for the younger ones now that I'm working as a schoolteacher, too," Miss Kathy had begun working that job the previous September, and at that point still volunteered at the orphanage on weekends and many evenings, as she would till August of 1931.

"That's right. We still have fun 'cause I lead them in singing and dancing," I said. We were sewing more, but not quite as much as we would. I knew, at that point, to help Annie with her singing. She got to where she was outshining me in that area.

"That's great. Keep encouraging them," Miss Kathy said. "It's like I've always told you girls – the more compliments you give, the more you'll get, and you'll keep each other built up."

Miss Kathy knew I wasn't as tender and compassionate as July, but she also knew how to encourage us to build on our strengths. It's like I told Hattie, my oldest, years later, when she asked why I wasn't the mother figure. I could have been if I'd had to be. I just would have done it differently. Although perhaps if I'd been trained by Miss Kathy from the start, maybe I'd have learned to be less forceful and pick my battles better at an early age. July had been there for around three years before I showed up, so Miss Kathy was her mother for all intents and purposes, hired to work with little ones, then kept with our group as our teacher.

Anyway, we were enthralled as we heard Annie on the "Hour of Smiles." "Everyone in the country can hear her," one of the little ones cried out.

We cleaned, talking and half-listening, when Annie wasn't on. After the show ended, I quickly grabbed a broom and – once again – thought of my Nona. I had scant memories of her, but I could just imagine her sweet smile as I sang, "Hey, hobo man …." Her memory lived on in my heart, just like we'd helped Molly remember her parents, writing things down about them and giving them to someone to keep. It was a shame that Pepper, who had known hers the longest, had so few good memories of them, given her life on the streets at times.

The other joined in – even Pepper did so pretty fast. I felt proud as we all performed "Never Fully Dressed" without a hitch – I felt like we were ready.

We weren't all super talented, but we all had fun doing it, no matter how we did it – simple chorus-line or using Miss Hannigan's clothes, which we did on occasion. "You're the best teacher," Molly would say at random sometimes. I'm glad I was good enough to have others follow me while doing it pretty much correctly. When we broke into that final chorus line, it felt to some of them like we were really on Broadway. Even if it was just in our minds. Hey, that's where it would have been anyway, except for really talented kids, right? I'm sure there were kids on some farm in Kansas or beach in California doing the same thing.

Molly and Kate, the two youngest, felt confident enough to proclaim, "Annie was on the radio" and shout out the call letters when Miss Hannigan approached us, not quite drunk, from her quarters upstairs.

Miss Hannigan griped about us being up. It was past the youngest's bedtimes, and she usually wanted us all in our dorm area by eight, but she didn't mind if we were up cleaning while listening to something special. At least then we were useful to her. Well, didn't mind any more than she did with anything else, given that she didn't like having orphans around, period.

Tessie began to say something, but she stammered as she sometimes did.

'Oh, come on, just say it," Miss Hannigan screamed in her face.

I put my foot down – literally – as the others ran off; Tessie and I followed. I liked to make it look like an accident, but I think Miss Hannigan got the message each time – don't mess with us. We put up with a lot of dull drudgery, cruel words, and angry threats from her, but we let her know when she was close to crossing a line. We wanted her to know if Tessie was scared or nervous, it wasn't a good idea to make her feel worse.

Hattie asked me something interesting about that early in our relationship.

See, I left Broadway early in '42 as a "wartime replacement," so to speak. Ballplayers went off to fight or whatever – and, boy, what a "whatever" Pepper was doing, unbeknownst to us. So, as a Broadway performer – not necessarily a 'star" yet - I did my part by filling in for three years at Warbucks Homes for Girls and Boys. I was one of those filling in for many men – including my future husband - and women who had left to fight or work in wartime industry.

Yes, even the boys' section had mostly female workers by the war's end. Though I still have this great mental image of Drake, a butler, remaining stoic as a less-than nimble runner plowed into him as he was officiating a football game pitting some of our boys against another group early in 1945. When the lad said "Sorry," Drake smiled and replied: "That's quite all right. Were I helping the girls, they would probably have forced me into a tutu for their impromptu ballet." No, somehow I can't see Drake in a tutu.

Anyway, Hattie came early in 1943. She was a fierce battle herself at first. She'd come, at age 7, from a very rough home. And, she reminded us of Miss Hannigan right away with how mean she was to the other orphans.

We tried our best to catch Hattie being good and praise her for it. We distracted her with music and dance – which is perhaps why she bonded with me right away. But sadly, we ran out of ways to discipline her a couple times in the first few months when she was really wild.

So, I wasn't too surprised when, as I was reading, Hattie crawled into my lap. I figured she needed another big hug. We tried to hug a lot, even when she was being really naughty.

As we embraced, she whispered in my ear. "I know why you put your foot down on Miss Hannigan's so much," she spoke with a small blush.

"Why?" I thought I knew where this was going. Hattie and I had bonded right away. So, I'm the one who was called on to watch her when… Well, let's just say that the rudest, meanest orphan we ever had was treating one of our few black orphans as a slave, after having been disciplined for something similar very recently. So, I had already gotten a lump in my throat and begun weeping as I pulled Hattie away and another worker comforted Lucy.. Soon, Hattie and I were having a long, hard cry together as we hugged. We'd stopped and begun talking about it after she started feeling better, and finally she'd left for a few minutes.

Now, we were hugging again. I was right about what she was thinking as her cheeks really turned red and she whispered: "'Cause it was easier than usin' your hand like me."

"We talked before about how you sounded just like Misss Hannigan, and how bad that was, huh?" And how mean she'd been to some of the others, though Hattie hadn't made the threats she had just now, and other things that I didn't bring up. Hattie nodded and sniffled. It had still been a lot better than the way she'd been treated before being placed with us. She'd sensed there was something different about us, and that we loved her no matter what.

In fact, Grace Warbucks had even suggested that Hattie was testing us. She'd talked to some of the experts of the day, and they suggested that Hattie might be trying to see not only if we would always love her, but what the worst that could happen to her was. Most of the kids just got sat in the corner or had privileges revoked or – if it directly related to the misdeed – had to do extra chores. A few times an orphan got a light slap on the rear or two, but that was quite rare.

"Now you're going to listen and let us teach you how to be kind, right?" I asked Hattie sweetly.

She nodded again and said something that floored me. I wasn't even beginning to think of adopting her till months later. But she blurted lowly: "You make a nice mommy." I still wonder – did she somehow sense that possible bond long before I realized it?

"Thanks, Hattie," was all I could think of to say. I waited till I sensed she was done needing that hug and asked, "Do you want to play some now?"

"Yeah," she said, now seated on my lap and smiling. "If Lucy really forgives me, you think we can try to do that chorus line you taught us?"

"Sure."

We found her in the play area. Knowing what Lucy probably felt like saying, I whispered a reminder not to bring up Hattie's punishment. I knew Lucy was still mad at her.

"Okay," Lucy said. "I'm glad you stick up for us and stop the bullies." We hugged.

"We had plenty of practice with Miss Hannigan's insults." I knew Hattie was going to try to be a lot nicer. And, while she would get in that much trouble one other time, she would generally behave well enough she reminded us less of Miss Hannigan after that. And she would start to improve even from that toward year's end.

Had I been actively thinking of stomping on Miss Hannigan's foot to punish her back when I was an orphan in that awful place? I don't think so. It's easy to see how a girl who we thankfully stopped from becoming another Miss Hannigan could think that, though.

Stepping on Miss Hannigan's foot was really more just to stop a bully. Thankfully, she never followed through on the worst of her threats, but I knew Tessie was such a worrier that Miss Hannigan made her even more nervous than Molly, who still thought it possible that she'd be fed milk from a saucer and forced to catch birds for food.

I could see why Tessie was often such a worrier, even if I had grown immune to Miss Hannigan's insults. Tessie and I hadn't bonded quite as much as Annie and Molly or July and Kate had, but she still liked having me protect and help her. Still, she was beginning to be able to express herself well verbally, like when she'd complain about the time if Miss Hannigan made us work late or get up early.

Yeah, Annie was nuts relying on parents who hadn't come in over a decade. But Annie inspired us, too. We all had to rely on each other for inspiration – and the youngest two seemed to bond closely with one in particular, though July was still very important to Molly, too, especially with how often Annie had left to find her parents and ended up in the cellar.

Things got weirder the next day. That's when Miss Hannigan suddenly changed her tune about those invisible parents of Annie's.