Chapter Two – A Legend Is Born – How "Tomorrow" Began

The seven-year-old deftly avoided the crowd – who were generally trying to avoid her, too. Many had been waiting around, even sleeping in the diners around there in some cases, which was why more lights had been on early than usual.

Still, she tried to get a word in somewhere. "Hey, anybody leave a girl at an orphanage? Anyone seen someone who looks like me but older?" Those were among the things she tried to ask the people, but the crowd was too distracted.

She pulled some candy out of her picket that she'd bought with a nickel she'd found on the sidewalk. The penny candy still left her with a few pennies.

Finally, she saw a very distressed man walking around. "Won't anyone buy these? Please? I have three children," he said, almost in tears.

"What are they, Sir?" Annie asked. "And, did you ever leave a child that might look like me in an orphanage?"

"We'll all be in the poor house if I don't find a buyer. Someone? Anyone? I'll take a quarter… hey, brother, can you spare a dime for these?" he asked a passerby.

Annie didn't know what they were, but she pulled her last few pennies out of her pocket. "Here, Sir. I have three pennies left. Don't cry. It's gonna be okay."

The frantic man ran up to her. "Oh, thank you; these were worth so much just a few weeks ago, and now…" he trailed off. He's been trying to sell to anyone, but nobody was bying. Indeed, everyone was trying to sell who had rushed intot he building.

"Go buy some candy with them, for your children, Sir." Annie took the worthless pieces of paper and the man ran off after taking the money. "You're welcome, Sir," she remembered to say.

She read the papers. She read well enough to know they were some kind of stocks – whatever those were. Maybe that would help her – she could start a conversation about them.

"Hello, Sir," she said as she walked up to someone else.

"Little girl, those things are worthless, I'm afraid. If your parents sent you out thinking you might be able to sell them…"

"I'm looking for my parents, Sir."

"Well, when you find them, tell them it's no use. Morgan saved us last Thursday when it was like this, but there's no hope now," the man said.

"Who's Morgan?"

"Sorry, I know, you're a little young to understand. Morgan is the bank, the big banks propped up the market when it took a big hit last Thursday, and they promised they could help again yesterday, but they couldn't. The market lost over 10% of its value in one day! And the way things are going, it might be worse today! I'm afraid your parents are going to be broke."

Annie realized the man didn't understand her – but, that was okay. She really didn't understand what he'd said, either. "Sir, my parents are missing. That's why I'm looking for them. Do you know anyone who might have left a redheaded girl like me in an orphanage seven years ago?"

"Seven years? I thought you meant just in the last day or two." He shook his head, not quite getting that she'd said "orphanage." "Young lady, there's a lot of children who are going to be poor after this."

"What happened?"

"What didn't happen? Lots of people borrowed money to buy even more stock… like you have there. Where did you get it?"

"A man needed to sell it to help his family," Annie said. "Noone else would buy them. And, I had three cents."

The man smiled proudly. "That was so kind of you, Miss. But I don't know how you can help all of them." He turned and walked away, despondent.

"It's okay, Sir. At least I helped one." When he didn't reply, but kept walking, she called out: "Keep watching for my parents, please." Then, she turned and headed back toward the building.

She saw a man who she didn't realize was a reporter after a few minutes. He was talking to a colleague; she listened in. "It's a madhouse. Full days' worth of activity in the first thirty minutes today, and it shows no signs of letting up."

"I know… yes?" he said to Annie, who tugged at his sleeve.

"Excuse me, do you know anyone who left a girl in an orphanage almost seven years ago."

"Sorry, kid, I don't," the man said before turning back to his friend. "I know; it's like everyone's lost their bottom dollar. Who knows what this will turn into; what can they count on anymore?"

"They can count on sunshine." Annie explained as the men glanced at her. "The sun's gotta come out sometime, right?"

With a polite chuckle, one of them said, "Yeah, sure, kid. Someday."

"Sure. There's a whole bunch of tomorrows after today," Annie said.

She went around looking a little more before one of Miss Hannigan's "connections" found her.

Some time later, Annie wiped tears from her eyes as she thought of Miss Hannigan's screaming. "…And while you're down there, you get all the coal into piles so we can put it in the furnace!" she had finished.

"Y-yes, Miss Hannigan. But, M-Miss Hannigan." A pause. "Wait… where are you going with that shovel?"

"I'm taking it upstairs; maybe you'll learn your lesson if you have to do it by hand!" Miss Hannigan snarled.

Now, as she examined the small piles of coal, Annie recalled the conversations earlier and smiled. "Bet your bottom dollar there'll be sun," she told herself. Then, she slowly began to come up with a tune.

That evening, Miss Kathy was tucking her into bed. "Thanks for saving some supper for me," Annie said.

"And for getting Miss Hannigan to leave the shovel down there next time, right?" July asked as she sat beside Miss Kathy on the edge of Annie's bed. Annie nodded. "You know, it really scares us when you go missing like that."

"I know. I looked both ways all the time."

Annie felt July's look – a kindly, mothering one July had learned from Miss Kathy. Yet within that look was still a reminder, "We were still very scared for you, and that hurts." Annie knew July – and all of them - were proud that she knew how to walk the streets from the small number of outings they had with the other workers; Miss Hannigan would never take them on one. But, she also knew she should stay there, too.

"I just keep wishing I could find them. They've gotta remember yesterday was my birthday," Annie said emphatically.

"Yeah. In the meantime, you can help feed the poor while you fight bad guys." Pepper laughed as she showed Annie the picture and little story she'd drawn. "It's like a joke from what you did today. Tessie drew you. But she doesn't like eyeballs," Pepper teased.

"I don't know how to do them right," Tessie whined.

Miss Kathy stood and walked over to where Tessie lay. "It's all right, Dear. You know, that can be a signature. That means something you're really well known for." She told Pepper, "I think you and Tessie need to figure out how to work things out. She'll accept a bit of joking around in fun more if you compliment her, too."

Pepper thought a moment and sighed. She hated being in that place. She secretly wished she could run free like Annie sometimes. But, she did so through her stories, at least. And, Tesie was a fun partner in that.

"Okay," Pepper said grudgingly. "I am glad you draw the people when I do my stories. It is fun. I don't hafta worry about that part, then," she admitted.

"That's good, Pepper. Oh, Annie, you said you came up with a song down there. Duffy told me about it. Would you like to sing it for us?" Miss Kathy asked.

"Sure." Annie began singing. "The sun'll come out tomorrow…"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Back in the present, Annie Stacks' mouth flew open. She was amazed. "I love that song! Boy, it's been covered by a lot of people. Is that how it really got started?" she asked in wonder.

Molly got a twinkle in her eye. "Like Paul Harvey would say, 'Oh, yes. An orphan forced by a cruel headmistress to shovel coal by hand, inspired by something she'd heard at the start of the Depression, wrote one of the most famous songs of optimism in history. And now you know… the rest of the story.'" Molly chuckled. "From doing Bert Healy in the early '30s to Paul Harvey almost a century later."

"I remember that one," Liz said.

"Wow," Annie said, mesmerized. Even at age eleven, she knew, "Pepper had to have help getting published, right?"

"Oh, yes. Daddy Warbucks knew quite a few people who would help, and Duffy got plenty of connections. I think all of us have written something, counting the comics. Maybe not all of us on our own, but with help. Like July and Kate were among a bunch of people that helped create Sesame Street in the late '60s."

"I bet they had a lot of practice teaching you younger kids. What did you write?" Annie asked.

"I helped with a short lived Western on TV – we had more radio success beforehand – called 'You're Days Are Numbered.' Would you like to see how much you can read of the start of Duffy's book?"

Liz thought of trying to remind her grandmother Annie was still just starting, but to her surprise, Annie agreed. "I'm glad to see you wanting to try," Liz remarked excitedly.

"Well, I figure if your grandma was in an orphanage like that, she understands some of what I've gone through," Annie admitted.

The next time they met, Annie relaxed, leaning against Molly, as Molly opened o the introduction. Annie was beginning to feel more content and trusting, which pleased Mr. Stacks as he walked in.

"Take your time, Annie. I know it's gonna take a while, but I want to hear you try."

"Okay." Annie took a deep breath.

She would very slowly sound some words out as Molly ran her finger under them, the elderly lady amazed at the helping a girl named Annie so long after Annie had helped her. Of course, giving children the middle name of Annie had become common now, but it was still lots of fun to have a girl with that first name around.

"This is from that Miss Kathy's introduction. It has some big words, I'll help you with those, but I want to see you try."

"That's right; don't be afraid to fail. Because each time you go back and try again, you get a little bit better. I didn't get my phones right till a whole lot of failures, after all," Will Stacks said.

Annie needed help with most words, but except for a few, she at least made the first sond or two.

"Part 1. Foreword - Yet Opening Night, And There You Are," Annie read, glad to have a sentence with some nice, short words in it.

"I couldn't speak for a moment. Why me? Why not Annie, the spunky little girl, now grown up and seeing her likeness in the funny pages? Okay, Pepper and July were both good friends, and I could see not wanting to choose… but surely Annie. Or even Oliver Warbucks, now retired, or his wife Grace.

"'No, Miss Kathy, I want you,' Duffy insisted.

"As I wiped a tear away, I got to thinking. April, 1947 had been special to Duffy Duncan – a last name you'll learn about as you read – and a few others who had been in Miss Hannigan's orphanage, which later became Warbucks Home for Girls, with one for boys next door. Yes, for me, too, it was special. So, at least I knew what to put in this Foreword.

"By 1947, I hadn't been part of their lives for 16 years, except as a pen pal starting in 1934 and for a visit that year; Oliver Warbucks had paid for my travel. The girls had hoped I could come to his and Grace's wedding. They had all wanted to see me, and had begun to write again.

"Suddenly, in 1947, I was travelling to New York again – and Duffy was getting a little frantic.

"The school district had let me take a few days off, so I'd be arriving with my husband and kids on the 12th. And, with everything going on, Duffy acted like the world would cave in if one very important event didn't happen soon.

"It's normal when you're pregnant. Duffy's first natural child was due March 29. Yet as days passed, the time crunch caused lots of anxiety. But, when had she ever had it easy?

"Duffy was always the loudest orphan. And, she'd turned that confidence into a career that had seen her do all sorts of things

"So, here she was, waiting to have a baby just before our reunion and before one of the most anticipated days in baseball history – the worst kept secret in sports.

"Sorry, I'm way ahead of myself. A Foreword shouldn't be as long as a good-sized chapter. It should just introduce important elements. It should set the tone for the book. In this case, a book about overcoming obstacles. About beating the odds. About how someone managed to take a sad existence and be happy despite it. Because happiness is a choice. Even if your life isn't a happy one, you can always choose to look at the positive.

"That's what Duffy did. And that attitude has allowed her to go through her experiences, happy, sad, and in between, Dancing Through Raindrops.

"Miss Kathy, orphanage house mother, 1918-1931." Annie let out a huge "whoosh" of air and slumped back against the couch they'd been sitting on.

"That was a lot," Will said. "You did a great job."

Annie shook her head after a moment. She had only read a small percentage of those words by herself; and some she hadn't even tried. "Some of those words toward the end, all in a row, were crazy. I'll bet that thing on the teleprompter you showed me before I told you I couldn't read wasn't that tough."

"Mmmm," he considered, "it might have been close. Some of those sentences were longer. I did try to make those shorter."

"Okay. So, you were at Jackie Robinson's first game?" Annie asked.

"Tht's right." Molly prepared herself for all kidns of questions about that.

"So, how did you finally get used to, you know, having a family?" Annie asked instead.

"She's getting used to it; sometimes I wonder if we should have more people here. I just got married, but, well, were were both sort of used to being loners, and yet we realize we need each othe. So, we're both trying to get used to having a lot more people," Will explained.

"For me, it was the opposite," Molly said, "lots of people around. But, I was young enough I needed the attention, too. And, I knew how to get it."

"Nothing real bad, I hope," Will said.

Liz shook her head. "Aunt Annie used to tell how Molly remembered doing this same thing always got a big rise out of her parents."

"Right; I don't remember that. But I kind of remember, just a little, back in the orphanage," Molly shared. "And, I guess it probably helped me bond later."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Molly had finally begun to feel comfortable after a few weeks in the orphanage. She still wished she could get that lone adult, Miss Hannigan, to like her, though. Having not been there for that long, it still seemed weird to her that an adult would hate orphans.

Sure, Annie and July were wonderful; all the other girls were, even bossy Pepper. Pepper was kind in a weird way sometimes. For instance, she'd had a nightmare about sea monsters once. Pepper told her in great detail how, if Molly just thought about it, Pepper would come by in a ship if that monster – or any monster – appeared again and destroy it. Because Pepper had been so vivid, the plan had worked, and now Molly didn't have dreams about that monster.

Mr. Bundles was nice. But, as Miss Hannigan came into the dorm area to inspect the clothes that had been piled up for him, Molly began giggling.

"Wat are you doing in there?" Miss Hannigan scream. "Get her out of there!" she commanded before turning back to Molly as the girls helped her out of the pile. 'Do you think you're a cat, Molly? How would you like it if I fed you milk from a saucer and made you catch birds?" Molly was starting to get a little used to it, but she fretted; Mill Hannigan always seemed so mean!