A/N: It's a bit of a long story, so please bear with me...

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"And just what do you think you are doing?" boomed Miss Jensen, the fat temperamental matron of the orphanage as three pairs of running feet abruptly came to a halt.

"Uh, nothing Miz J, we were just running to see Tina, we heard she was sick and we being good friends of hers, well, we were concerned!" said Mila, with the practised ease that comes with being a very convincing fibber. Add to that the innocent wide-eyed look flashed by her and the fervently nodding heads of Mosca and Manni, you'd think Miss Jensen would be crazy not to believe them.

But sadly, it was not to be so. She had a shrewd mind which could not be easily deceived, "Do you really expect me to believe you, you little punks? I know you can't stand Tina. Why, Wheezy told me that he saw with his very own eyes how you tried to slip a lizard under her sheets the other night. Ha!"

"No kidding Miz J!" exclaimed Mosca, "But we weren't even in the dorm that night! Honest! Ask LaPointe if you want! All three of us were scrubbing the kitchen floors with him that night because we were all of us mighty sorry about dropping those stink pellets in the hall last week!"

"Exactly Miz J! Now as talented as we may be, we still can't be in two places at once, can we now?" said Mila as Manni nodded solemnly beside her.

Still not convinced, Miss Jensen turned to Manni, for she trusted him, and for the life of her couldn't figure out why he spent his time with those two hoodlums. "Is this true, Manni?" she asked.

"Yes it is Miss Jensen, they're telling you the truth. We were praying to the Lord in the prayer hall for the good of everyone at this orphanage when we were interrupted by Juliet, who said that Tina was ill and needed company…as soon as we heard the news we simply went rushing to see her and were on our way to see her when you hailed us," explained Manni.

Satisfied with his explanation, Miss Jensen turned to the other two and said, "You're lucky Manni was here to clear up everything. Now don't you two be getting him into trouble, be off!" She looked darkly at them as they hastily walked away.

"Manni, you darling little angel, we're ever so grateful to you for saving us!"

"Yeah! You couldn't nearly imagine how lucky we are to have ya! We're sorry though if we gotcha in trouble"

"Oh shut up you two," Manni said absently, "We have to be more careful next time, she won't always believe my calm demeanour you know"

"Yeah, I know, can't believe how close we got to being punished!" said Mila.

"Yeah," Mosca agreed, "But it wasn't our fault, just how were we supposed to know that Wheezy would pop into the kitchen while we were whacking cookies? He's normally losing bets at Poppy's at that time…we're darn lucky though…it's almost as if God wanted us to steal cookies, 'cos He knows we deserve them."

"Absolutely! I mean, do we have a raw deal or what? And it's not like we ever did anything terribly wrong," said Mila.

"Except maybe the time we tried to unscrew that ugly chandelier in Miss Jensen's office…or maybe when we slipped that lizard in Tina's bed…….and oh yeah when we stole Wheezy's wig and tossed it on the oak tree outside where the birds made a nest out of it..." Manni observed.

"Hmm, and we did start that food fight the day before yesterday 'cos Frankie called me a…a boitserus…uh botserus…umm…whatsit?"asked Mila.

"Boisterous brat?" Manni offered.

"Oh yeah! I mean, just who does he think he is talking to me like that?" said an agitated Mila.

"Well, at least we gave him what he was asking for…"Mosca trailed off.

They walked into the dormitory where children either smiled or saluted in greeting, for the three of them had earned a place of respect among those aggrieved by life at the orphanage. Most of the children looked upon the Formidable Three (as they called themselves) as the leaders of an honourable cause; a cause whose very thought ignited flame in the little hearts of the children, a cause that tested their resolve and determination. What was this cause you ask? To make life hell for the cruel staff of the orphanage who took sadistic pleasure in terrorizing the innocents they were supposed to cater to.

"Guys! I just heard how you escaped from Miss Jensen! Great job!"

"You were awesome!"

"How come she never believes us when we lie to her?" demanded a bewildered fan.

"Because," drawled Mosca, "We're professionals."

As the tiny crowd oohed and aahed over their daredevilry, the three of them piled onto Mila's bed in the corner of the dorm.

"I'm s-so tired," yawned Mila as she curled up with her small ragged brown teddy bear Pookey.

"Winnie was taken in yesterday," said Manni, "By a family from Isen. I heard they were nice."

"I would never wanna go live with some family in a dump like Isen. Imagine that! Isen! The only interesting thing about that place must be the name." declared Mosca.

"Yeah, I mean why would anyone want to be adopted anyway? You'd have to listen to others telling you what to eat, where to go or what to do," responded Mila.

"It's such an awful bore having to live by such rules. But it's not like we'll have to worry about being taken in," said Manni.

"Yeah," snickered Mosca, "We're way too good for some stuffy and boring old family to handle."

And they all fell into a thoughtful silence, defiantly thinking that they were above such rules and needs. But deep within their hearts, they were a bit sad, even though they didn't know it.

Every time a new couple or family came in to adopt a child there, they were always neglected or ignored because their reputation as mischief makers preceded them. Initially they would be hopeful, they weren't as bad as some of the kids there, like Roy, the snotty little kid who always ratted on them if he was lucky enough to see them doing something they shouldn't be doing. But after even he found a home, their hopes dimmed considerably. It hurt them, the little stab of rejection, the disappointment and the feeling that they weren't good enough. They wouldn't admit it, but there were times when they wished that they too would find a nice new home, away from the stuffy orphanage, away from all the loneliness.

Strangely though, this sadness only sought to bring the three closer together as friends. While they were together, their woes seemed to fade to something small and insignificant. They revelled in each other's company, pretending to be superheroes with amazing powers battling the evil monsters' gang led by Miss Jensen. You would never see one of them without the other two nearby. They were, as LaPointe liked to say, 'three pods in a pea'. Before you jump with outrage at the blasphemous mix up of words and point out that the phrase is in fact 'three peas in a pod', I will just say this: LaPointe had his own style, a bit eccentric at times, but still, unique. Of all the people who worked there, they liked Lapointe, the maintenance man, the best. Because he was kind to them. And understood their needs and reasons for acting out, and was yet wise and compassionate enough to treat them with the respect they demanded without being patronising. But the real reason why they liked LaPointe so much was because he neither winced nor grew tearful with false sympathy on seeing them and so they used to spend some of their free time helping him fix everything from broken taps to fused bulbs to shattered chandeliers.

Their day started out at 8 in the morning when the twenty-seven children at the orphanage would all be woken by Miss Jensen's loud grating voice. As the undeclared heroes of the orphanage, Mila, Mosca and Manni always had the opportunity to brush and bathe first; but since they weren't in the habit of flouting their authority, they never took advantage of that chance but always waited in line like the other children. At 8.30 sharp they had their breakfast of oatmeal and bananas on weekdays and eggs and bacon on weekends. At 9.30 they would have lessons with Mr. Pambry, a sour old man who taught with the enthusiasm generally found among those grieving at a funeral. He may not have been a very good teacher but the books he gave them to read were quite interesting. And the three loved reading them, for in them lay the doors to different worlds and times. They would look at geography books and wonder where they would live when they were older. The history books were even better, full of stories about powerful empires, brilliant conquerors and amazing strategies that won wars. All they needed then was their imagination to transport them through those doors to other realms.

At 12.30 they would have lunch, simple fare consisting of bread, soup and meatloaf or chicken. When Wheezy, the cook, was in a good mood, he would surprise them with something like lasagne, which was always devoured with overwhelming enthusiasm. After that, the children were free to do as they wished. Most took a nap but not our three little friends. They would huddle together in a corner and play board games or discuss ingenious new ploys to harass Miss Jensen and Wheezy. At 4 o' clock was teatime. They would have milkshake and cookies after which they would go out to play in the small backyard on the rusty swings and slides. Sometimes, they played dodge ball, and Mila almost always won. At 7 o' clock they had dinner, which was generally the same as lunch. Finally, at eight, they were all ushered into bed by Miss Jensen. It was dangerous to cross her at that moment when she was already tired and cranky with the day's effort. She was supposed to be assisted in her duties by a ditzy, young girl Rhea who had a brain the size of a peanut and the three-second memory of a goldfish, but she often ended up doing more harm than good. She wasn't as unpopular among the children as the rest of the staff (excepting LaPointe who was universally loved) but she was the sort who thought of children as cute, cuddly little toys who incidentally had the gift of speech. Thoroughly patronizing in her attitude towards children, little did she realise that each one of those tiny kids was smarter than she could ever be.

By 9 o' clock, most of the children fell asleep. But Mila, Mosca and Manni would pile onto Mila's bed in the corner and talk about anything and everything. They would discuss life at the orphanage, exchange notes on how best to carry out deceitful activities right under Miss Jensen's nose and plot and scheme about the next day's adventures. Often they wondered aloud about how the world would be outside the walls of the orphanage. A part of them knew it would be scary, but mostly they just thought that it would be amazing for them to be able to explore the fascinating streets and locales of the city. The one place that they always dreamed of going to was Sera, a beautiful, vast city known for the opportunities it had to offer to people from every part of the world. A city which welcomed everyone: young and old, rich and poor, hopeful and weary, with open arms.

"I just can't wait to get out of this dump and go to Sera," Mila said.

"Yes," agreed Manni, "I heard that there are houses in Sera, which are almost as big as the town square here, some even bigger! And that the people who live there have enough money to fill a ship!"

"Really?" asked an incredulous Mosca, his eyes filled with wonder.

"Yes!" Manni said.

"I wish we could go there," Mila went on, her voice feverish; "I'll even work if I have to if it means I can get to stay some place that beautiful. Anywhere has to better than Aria. And there'll be no one there to tell us when to play and when to eat and when to sleep..."

"I heard two people talking about Sera in the market the other day; when we had to get the groceries, remember? Well, one of them said that the streets there are paved with gold! Imagine that!" exclaimed Mosca.

"You're joking! You mean the streets there are made of gold?" Mila asked incredulously.

"You're both silly, when he said the streets are paved with gold, it was a metaphor which implied that people are very well-off in Sera and that there are many opportunities there," Manni explained.

"What's a meta-for?" Mila asked blankly.

"Never mind that, I knew it was too good to be true anyway," Mosca sighed.

All three of them lay on the tiny little bed as their eyes lit up with the dreams and hopes of escaping to a better place filled with beauty unparalleled. They thought about tiny side streets covered with cobblestones, vendors selling exotic wares ranging from the practical to the fanciful, jugglers and singers and magicians earning their living by performing on the streets, huge spectacular mansions owned by the rich and famous, lavish fountains with exquisite marble sculptures, tall spacious cathedrals with thick pillars and heavy and bronze bells which clanged every now and then as the birds fluttered across the stained glass windows of the ancient buildings.

With these lovely thoughts running through their heads, they started to doze off one by one and dreamt of a rich, comfortable life being pampered in one of the magnificent houses in Sera.