That night, I said, "What are we doing for dinner before Jenny arrives?"
"We can have Chinese," said Dad.
That's what we did. We had just finished dinner when the phone rang two minutes later and I got up to answer it.
"Hello? Hi, Mrs. Prezzioso. Okay, we'll watch out for you. Bye," I said as I hung up and went back to Dad. "Mrs. Prezzioso and Jenny are on their way now."
We cleaned the table and the kitchen right away before the doorbell rang. I opened the door.
"Hi, Jenny," I greeted her with a smile. "The members wished you luck and hope you would feel better soon."
"Tell them thank you," said Mrs. Prezzioso.
"I will," I promised. "We just finished with cleaning the attic. It's a bedroom now. We're adopting an orphan boy on Sunday. Dad said she can be with us that day."
"She can share Mary Anne's room. All the new beds came in today," said Dad.
"That's good," said Mrs. Prezzioso.
On Sunday, it was Adoption Day! I am so excited!
"What time do they have lunch?" asked Dad.
"No idea," I replied. "I haven't visit him in a while."
"That can allow us time to have lunch after church," said Dad.
Mrs. Prezzioso told me Jenny doesn't behave in mass sometimes.
"You just need to be a big girl and behave in church. We whisper during mass," I said.
"Okay," said Jenny.
"You'll be sitting with me," I said.
I can tolerate with her. Luckily, she was good today. We went out for lunch before we went to Stoneybrook Children's Home for Orphans. It was HUGE! Jenny was holding my hand.
"Remember now, you need to be good in there. If the ruler's talking and you want to say something, you'll need to wait your turn or say 'excuse me'," I told her.
The orphans had just finished with lunch. Jenny did behave in there especially in the office.
"How old and what gender would you like to adopt?" asked the ruler.
"What age do you have?" asked Sharon.
"A few 13-year-olds," said the ruler.
Then, she spotted me. "I remember seeing you here, Mary Anne."
"Yes," I said.
"She told me that she and Carlos are good friends," said Dad.
"Oh, yes," said the ruler. "In fact, let me go get him. He's out in the back playing basketball."
"May I go see him? I know my way around here," I said.
"Sure," said the ruler. "I have no problem. He's going to be excited to see you. You can see him in a minute."
"No problem," I said.
"There's a few things you need to know about Carlos. First, he lost his family when he was eight years old. He doesn't talk about it much," said the ruler.
"I remember hearing that," I said.
"And, he knows how to handle bullies. If they tease him or threat him, he would walk away to tell a grown up right away," the ruler continued. "Also, he loves pets of any kind. He likes Superman, race cars, Batman, and Spiderman. He's a good boy, so you'll have no trouble with him. He talks about what happens at school. He doesn't like to swear or fighting. He just ignores people who swear."
"I don't blame him," I said.
"That's it now. Carlos may visit here anytime he wants to," said the ruler. "You can get him now and bring him in here."
"May I tell him why we're here?" I asked.
"Sure," replied the ruler.
Then, I went off from the office to the back.
"Hi," I said.
That was when he spotted me. "Hi, Mary Anne."
We hugged.
"What are you up?" asked Carlos.
"My family came here to adopt you," I said.
"Really?" asked Carlos who was getting excited about it. "This is where I practice."
"I remember," I said. "Anyway, Linda said I can bring you back to the office."
"Okay," said Carlos as he put it away.
And, we came back to the office.
"Hi. You must be Carlos," said Dad.
"Yes," said Carlos.
"I'm going to have your friends help you pack," said Linda.
"Can Mary Anne help me?" asked Carlos.
"Sure she can," said Linda. "I told them you can stop by to visit anytime."
"Alright," said Carlos.
"You can come to say good-bye before you leave," said the ruler.
"Okay," said Carlos.
We went off to his room.
"I have two suitcases. We can use that for my clothes. We travel a lot, too," said Carlos.
"That's nice," I said.
"We can get bags for my other things," said Carlos.
"Good idea," I said. "When you're done, I'll help you bringing them to Dad's car."
"Okay," said Carlos.
It took us 20 minutes to pack. We brought to Dad's.
"Thanks for helping me, Mary Anne," said Carlos.
"No problem," I said.
We went back to the office.
"I'm going to say bye to my friends," said Carlos.
"That's fine, sweetie," said the ruler as he left the office while she was having Dad and Sharon sign adoption papers. "Just sign here and have the judge do the same."
"Okay," said Dad.
That's what they did.
"I'll call the judge tomorrow," Dad added.
"Is he nervous?" asked Sharon.
"Probably, but I'm sure he'll make out fine since he knows me," I said. "He comes to me when he wants to talk about anything. It helps him."
"He tells me about that," said the ruler. "He says that you're a good friend."
Carlos came back about a minute later.
"Bye," said Carlos.
"Bye," said the ruler.
"Okay," Carlos said. "Can any of my friends sleep over?"
"That's fine by me as long as it's okay with your new family," said Linda.
"They're welcome to do that," said Dad.
"Can Mary Anne and I sit together in the back? We haven't seen each other very often," said Carlos.
"Sure," said Sharon.
In the car, I was sitting with him while Jenny was with us.
On the way home, I said, "You must be glad to be with us."
"Very excited," Carlos admitted. "But I'm nervous at the same time."
"That's normal," I said. "I felt the same way when I moved to Burnt Hill Road not long ago. Dad got remarried."
"Wow," said Carlos.
"It took me a while to get used to my new house," I said. "It helps that Dawn and I were already best friends before becoming stepsisters."
"That's cool," said Carlos.
At home, I led him to the attic while helping him unload the van.
"This is it, your new room," I said.
"I like it," said Carlos.
"I knew what you like," I said. "Would you like me to help you unpack your stuff?"
"Yes, please," said Carlos.
That's what I did and were done
"Thanks for helping me," said Carlos.
"No problem." I said.
At dinner, Carlos was getting a tired.
"I'm getting a little tired. May I please leave the table?" asked Carlos.
"Yes, of course," replied Sharon.
"Thanks for dinner," said Carlos as he got up and went up to his new room.
After dinner and cleaning the kitchen, I went up to see Carlos. I knocked on the attic door and came in to sit with him. He was looking at something. I like spending more time with him.
"Are those the pictures of your family?" I asked.
"Yes," replied Carlos. "Would you like to see them?"
"Sure," I said.
"This is my family. That's my mother, Monica, and my father, Carl, whom I was named after," said Carlos.
"And, that was my house," he added.
"Wow," I said.
"That's me at age eight, my older brother, Alexander, who was 11 and my older sister, Alexandra who was nine," said Carlos.
"You look just like your brother," I said.
"People tell me that," said Carlos. "Did I tell you on how it happened?"
"I don't recall, but you don't have to talk about it if it bothers you," I said.
"I don't mind," said Carlos.
I listened quietly while he explained everything on how he lost his family.
"I came to the orphanage shortly after that. I have been suffering depression since I lost my family. They were everything to me," said Carlos.
"I bet they were," I said.
"But I know I'll be okay since I have a new family," said Carlos. "And, I know you."
"That's good," I said.
A week later, it was adoption day at the court. The judge signed the final papers. It was all done after that. He already started calling them Mom and Dad before this day. They didn't mind at all.
Four weeks later, when Mrs. Prezzioso was fully recovered from her surgery, she was able to pick Jenny up.
"We had a nice time," I said.
Carlos came by.
"This is my new brother, Carlos and this is Jenny's mother, Mrs. Prezzioso," I said introducing them to each other.
"Hi, pleasure to meet you," said Carlos.
"Same here," said Mrs. Prezzioso.
"Here is her stuff," said Dad coming down to give it to Mrs. Prezzioso. "She was well behaved."
"She have been good for us in mass," I said.
"Good," said Mrs. Prezzioso. "Thank you for everything."
"Yeah. Thanks," said Jenny.
"No problem," said Dad.
They left two minutes later.