A/N: Wikipedia's "Sweden in World War Two - humanitarian efforts" lists things mentioned here, especially the rescue of Danish Jews. With numerous heroes involved, it's easy to imagine one more. For young "Annie" fans who are curious about what was going on in Europe then, "Miracle at Midnight" is a good movie about the rescue of Danish Jews. There's also a great book, "Number the Stars," by Lois Lowry.
"To The Rescue" started my idea of the orphans doing the comic strip in their world, but a couple others also cover this. As noted in other stories, I use the musical & '99 movie timeline & American Warbucks, lean '99 Miss Hannigan personality over '82 but as in the musical she drinks (which Disney usually ignores, though she might not cook sometimes another worker would have taught someone, hence I have Pepper cook in these scenes), well you'll see how I have her, mostly '82 orphan personalities as they're developed (though Pepper more of a collage, maybe bit more bossy than bully), & the musical splits difference between movies or answers questions like age.
Unending Trust
Chapter 1 – Pepper's Purpose and Home Front Headaches
Molly Warbucks, sixteen, walked up to Annie and Tessie as they watched children from Warbucks Home for Girls - and Home for Boys next door - play outside the window.
"Can she still be alive? It's been months since we heard," the teen heard Tessie ask worriedly on that September afternoon, just after the mail had come,
Molly spoke with confidence she'd learned from Annie. "Long as we don't know, there's hope."
Duffy sniffled a little as she came inside and overheard. "Still no telegrams or anything?" They shook their heads. "It's been a long time other times."
"Her luck's gonna run out sometime," Tessie fretted. "She's tough. But, there's monsters over there. Real ones. Not just comic strip bad guys or what she'd promise little ones she'd beat so we wouldn't have nightmares. Even if it was so Pepper could sleep, it worked. Now…?"
"She's fighting or dodging," Duffy said as she looked at Hattie, a little girl who – along with a couple others – had just asked Annie to tell them about Pepper. She gently stroked the hair of the girl, who had just turned eight. Hattie drove her nuts at times yet, but she loved the challenge. "She's your favorite from those old stories, huh?" Pepper had been a bully, while Hattie's mischief came through scheming. "I hope you get to meet her."
"Me, too! Is she a soldier?" Hattie asked.
"We don't even want to guess. 'Loose lips sink ships,'" Molly said, using an oft-repeated phrase.
Hattie looked at Duffy's sad eyes. She lifted her arms and Duffy picked her up and squeezed her. "John's okay. He lost an arm, but he's alive." she said, speaking of Duffy's fiancée.
Hattie loved Duffy's smile. She hadn't known such unconditional love before she'd come there. She was so grateful for it. She enjoyed testing them, but she also liked how she'd been encouraged to care for others. She felt rewarded when she did.
"Thanks, Hattie." Duffy let Hattie think that was the reason for the tear inching down her cheek. She had learned soon before that John would be home for good in a few weeks.
However, Duffy's sadness came from the memory of a very sad telegram they'd gotten from Pepper – who had been… somewhere – in 1942. It had said, "H7;even T couldn't guess how bad." They didn't need a code book to know that meant Pepper, one of seven friends from Miss Hannigan's orphanage, was safe – H6 would have come from another source had she perished - and the situation was worse than even Tessie, who could still be a worrywart, could imagine. Pepper had gotten hints of what would become a report in November of that year which would say 2 million had already been killed, the first hint of the extent of the horrors of the Holocaust.
"Pepper said she'd volunteer," Annie said as if it were just another enlistment. Pepper had said this off the air during a 1939 interview. "You remember a few orphans are Jewish, right?" Hattie nodded. Almost all of those Daddy Warbucks had brought over early in '39 had been adopted, but a few older boys were left. "Having to bring them over made her want to go, like Pearl Harbor made John want to go," Annie said as her mind drifted back a little under two years….
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"My mind is made up," Pepper had insisted as she stepped into the front door of the orphanage now partly run by her friends. "I told my adoptive parents. And you won't change my mind!" She enjoyed seeing even the ever-confident Annie Warbucks momentarily deflated.
"I know we haven't declared war, but Annie's Daddy Warbucks said Roosevelt might push for it to protect Britain early next year. Churchill thinks he will," Tessie warned her. Pearl Harbor was a week away. "You won't get out then."
"Last time I was there, as a war correspondent, I learned the kids Daddy Warbucks snuck over back in early '39 are all orphans now." Pepper pointed at Annie as she went on. "My mind was made up when your dad had to change their names so nobody would know th-" She stopped her tirade as Jacob, a boy of fifteen from the boys' annex, walked over with a tool belt.
"It's okay," Jacob said with a frown. "I know why he had to. I'm just glad Britain took some Jewish children in then, and my siblings and I are safe here." He went inside, and the others followed. "At least we can laugh about how a couple of you changed names, too."
"True; Katherine went by July for years," Annie said. Miss Hannigan had called her July, but Miss Kathy, a house mother, had called her Kate. When another Kate had come, she'd switched to July, but once they got out, she didn't want to use her "Miss Hannigan name." Still, July had been such a mother figure, young Kate took the middle name July and now went by it.
"Pepper wants to go back to Europe," Tessie said for Katherine, twenty-one, as she showed Jacob where the leak was in the sink.
"Something smells like week-old rotten eggs in Germany. Nobody gives a straight answer. I said I'd join the Army if women could be on the front lines," Pepper reminded them. "I'll help people if I can't fight. I have a plan and connections."
The teen looked with a flashlight. "I think I found the problem. It should be easy." Jacob began to work on the plumbing as Katherine thanked him and the others spoke.
"It's awful there," Pepper said gruffly, "Those people make Miss Hannigan look like a saint, and make my life on the street before look like a Sunday School picnic."
"Remember when Daddy Warbucks found us all good homes?" Tessie warned Pepper. "Your adoptive mom said you cried for two days straight when you finally talked about what all you went through, and how bad it felt here with Miss Hannigan's insults and threats."
"I'd held everything in. I finally got to mourn my parents, which Miss Hannigan never knew how to let me do. Miss Kathy tried, but my home life wasn't great, so between that and life on the street after they died, I was fighting everyone. But, I'm tough. I can handle myself now."
"You remember our Jewish refugees telling us some awful stories. You won't just be locked in a cellar. Those people over there could really hurt you," Katherine warned Pepper tenderly.
"It's okay. I know my real home is in Heaven. I called on Jesus, trusting Him to save me from my sins, months after we got out. But here, evil exists because good men do nothing. Right now, I write a comic strip, with all of your help. Little Orphan Annie might help sell war bonds if we would go to war, but I can do more," Pepper said resolutely. "I've got years of back comics and more ideas written. Duffy has them to revise a bit and send in when she's not in a Broadway show or out with John. Tessie's got the drawings. If I don't make it back-"
"Pepper, don't say that! You have to believe," Annie demanded.
"I'll try. I never felt as confident as you. So, I made fun of you and made you the main character in Little Orphan Annie, though we all worked on it even then." Pepper blinked as she lowered her head. "I know you'll say 'don't compare yourself.' But, I need to do this." She anticipated the next comment by saying: "I don't want a big farewell. I leave tonight for Britain. That's all I can say." She didn't know how to express a desire to prove herself, or help those she knew were hurting, or other feelings. She'd actually been a small part of a few rescues before, which was how she'd made her connections – "war correspondent" was just her cover. She still held some things in, though she prayed, and that relationship with God helped a lot, even if she didn't tell other people what was on her mind.
Tessie began to weep even more than the others. Pepper hadn't even made her usual joke about Tessie not drawing eyeballs in their comic strip. "We'll pray for you, Pepper."
Annie nodded slowly. As they all prayed briefly with Pepper and wished her well, she thought about the grave danger Pepper could be getting into.
Twenty-one months later, Pepper let out a "whoosh" of air. She looked across the strait between Sweden and Denmark as her best Swedish friend Alva asked if she was going back.
"I have to,. We heard the Germans made the Danish government vanish since they didn't bow down. They're under full German control. We both know what that means," Pepper said solemnly. They were similar – Alva a bit older, Pepper in her early 20s but looking several years older. Both were determined to do what was right and not afraid to put it all on the line. They'd met late in 1939 during Pepper's first visit to Europe. "Send the message."
Alva sighed heavily. Pepper's broken Swedish wasn't great. At least she'd immersed herself in German for a long time, forcing herself to become fluent in it – some Danish, too.
She frowned as Pepper reassured her. "I'll hide till any order to take them comes. I know enough Danish to help when it's time to Hide the Jewish people. You just make sure the Swedish government will accept them," Pepper demanded, not wanting to hear about backing down. She knew they needed all the help they could get.
"The Germans took you in once for questioning when you went back after you and others got children from Austria here. You were lucky they let you go without intense interrogation."
"I'll stay up North. We changed names for them. Now, we've helped Finnish and Norwegian children, gotten German and Austrian ones to safety – and I know I can't know how for safety reasons - you name it," she added. Alva knew some were snuck into Sweden in crates. "I know it isn't like the little adventures I write – escapees can't exactly say the hills are alive with the sound of music," Pepper said - an ironic joke given the story of the von Trapps they'd heard about. "I can't put it into words. Maybe that's always been who I am."
"If I tell you the Danish Resistance can't promise to get you out, nor can our partners here… it won't matter, will it?" Pepper shook her head. "Good luck. I will send it. Please be careful. I do not want to have to tell your parents or those friends you are missing – or worse."
"Thanks." Pepper got on board the small boat and headed back to occupied Europe. Denmark had been left in relative peace during the occupation, but things were getting worse.
Alva hurried back to her parents, who were waiting some distance away from the dock.
"As a mother, I feel for the children we have to help, but I feel for Pepper's mother, too, and wish Pepper would stay here to help the children," Alva's mom said. "I wonder if being an orphan makes it harder for her to understand what her adoptive parents are going through."
"Perhaps, Mother. But, in another way, I think she understands all too well."
Alva's father spoke. "Alva is right, Dear. It may not be mere envy that she didn't have the ability to be the emotional mother figure in that orphanage, nor the positive spirit of the one girl, Annie. None of us can fully grasp what is going on. Perhaps this is the only way she can deal with it."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
A few days after that conversation, back in New York, the laundry man, Bundles McCloskey, was done with his rounds. He pulled up to the orphanage and got out in a much more joyful manner than he would a decade earlier. "Hey," he said as he got a bag out of his front seat. "My neighbor gave me some old kids' bats and balls and ball gloves. Would your orphans want them?" he asked as he jogged up to the door.
"I'm sure some will," Duffy said merrily as she put Hattie down. "Thanks, Mr. Bundles." She handed the equipment to one of the orphans who had been playing out front. "Make sure the girls get some, too," she called as he took it into the boys' home.
"I love getting things for the orphans. Your kids always look cared for and happy as they can be given the lack of family. Seeing this place thrive – seeing you girls thrive – it means a lot. I knew it was rough here. I'd always glance to make sure, you know…" He saw Hattie wasn't listening. "I'm glad it had to be once a week for a few years. I watched out for you. At times you all looked unkempt Miss Hannigan's last years. Thankfully, I never saw marks or anything I questioned. I had someone check the sheets, too, for blood – they had to for lice anyway." Now sure none of the children could hear, he asked: "I heard a rumor. Is one of you girls fighting? Overseas?"
"We've been reluctant to have Little Orphan Annie do certain things because it could jeopardize safety. Beyond that, I can't say. So, squelch it, just in case," Annie muttered.
"I will." He wondered what Annie might be hiding. "I understand. I'll be praying I don't pull up to see a… gold star like at the family that gave me the baseball equipment," he said. Those were hung in the window when a loved one died in the war.
Annie agreed as Bundles left and Jacob came up to them. He'd been visiting Nancy, an orphan who had come three years earlier and who looked up to him, after finishing some work. "Nancy got caught lying again," the teen said. "Katherine and July are dealing with her. They wanted you to know. It sounds like Hattie put her up to it." Hattie ran inside guiltily.
Duffy and the others thanked him. Duffy put an arm around Jacob. She knew he still mourned his family at times. "It's rough. But, we're a family here. We'll get through this together."
"Thanks. I remember when Nancy came." Her mom had died in childbirth, and her dad had died in a workplace accident. "I was already learning handyman skills. She saw her dad a lot with a toolbelt. Makes you wonder, is that why she looks up to me?" Duffy thought it was possible. "If I get on my feet with trade school after the war… could your dad pay a lawyer when I try to become guardian of my brothers? It'd only be for a year or two, but…" he asked Annie.
"It'd be his pleasure. He's really proud of you," Annie said.
"Thanks. I always laugh at that confusion with names, and Miss Kathy trying to keep it straight before she got let go because of the Depression; I guess she was still part time for a year?" They said "yes." He chuckled. "It sounds like it should be an Abbott and Costello routine."
Molly agreed. "Hattie's lying is the biggest problem. Of course, she ran off when you said that. We need to tell her that one story from our time here," she told her friends.
"You feel up to it? I mean, it is kind of embarrassing for you," Annie said.
"You're the one who kept sneaking out," Molly said in a slightly teasing manner.
Annie confessed: "You're right. That's a big part of this. And, you were still four, maybe not even four and a half."
As the others gathered, Duffy caught Hattie after some dashing around. "Gotcha. You little rascal," Duffy said playfully. "You know you're gonna hear about your lying, don't you?"
"Can I hear about Pepper, please?"
July, seventeen, heard as they entered the living room. "Our story about lying has the part that shows how she cares about others, too."
"Hattie, we heard you've been lying again. And, encouraging others to do it, too," Molly began.
"We need to be able to trust you. Right now, we can't. Do you know why we need to trust you?" Annie asked.
Hattie frowned. "Why does it matter? Nobody's gonna want me."
Katherine put an arm around Hattie. "Hattie, you are loved by everyone here. I know it's hard to believe, because of your past. You go through spells where you don't feel worth it. But, you deserve the respect that comes from being truthful and honest with people."
"You lie to friends, too. You shouldn't lie to them or us. You've heard how mean Miss Hannigan was, scaring us into behaving even though she never did the stuff she said – of course we were literal enough when little we believed it – or she'd make fun of us or put us down. But, believe it or not, she always taught us one good lesson – never tell a lie," Annie said.
"Didn't she lie a lot?" Hattie wanted to know. She didn't mind hearing about someone else lying.
July spoke. "Yeah. She had the scheme to get money by saying she had more orphans, for one." July had been next youngest and it had been plausible she would wet the bed till Molly came, but with only Molly arriving – at age four – in the last five years Miss Hannigan was head of it, the city had started asking questions. So, they went back to once a month. By then they had enough extras they could wash them if Molly had an occasional accident. "Miss Hannigan kept her word about a few important things, though."
Jacob interrupted. "I know it's Nancy's own fault for lying; she should never have taken your advice. But you influence her. I'll stand up for Nancy if I have to. And tell you not to go near her till you can behave," he scolded the girl. Hattie looked hurt and glared at him. Nancy, who had been quieter after having been scolded and come from the corner chair, lowered her head. She liked Hattie as a friend, but knew she shouldn't have taken her advice.
Annie knew she could use the interruption to her advantage. "People will stick up for you like Jacob just did if you're honest. Maybe not everyone, but the right people."
"You'll both listen as we talk about that." Molly saw others wandering in or going out to tell their friends. They knew it was story time. "And, so will others. We want you to learn the same lesson," she insisted. She put arms around Nancy and Hattie.
"This," Annie said, "happened after Miss Kathy left. It was just Miss Hannigan and us…"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Little Kate was five and a half. She went by Kate then, and it showed as she scrubbed part of the floor and sang. "The word key starts with K. The word key starts with K. Here are some other words that start with letter K." She thought for a moment before she remembered her named started with K, not C – and why she knew that. "Kind and kick and kite. And keep and the name Kate. C often sounds like K so try to keep them straight."
July, eleven, smiled. "Very good, Kate!" She wondered what her name would have been. Miss Hannigan had named her in July in the early 20s when she'd been left on the doorstep. A former worker named Miss Kathy had at least given her a name, Kate, not just a month. Miss Kathy had worked for free at times for over a year before she'd left for good late in the summer.
"I have to laugh at our 'X' song," Pepper, a preteen, said. "We start with x-ray, then say 'At least a few more words will end with letter x. Box, ox, mix and fix, Ax and the name Tex.' And except for a word I won't say around the little ones, we could only rhyme, 'X starts a xylophone, but other words it wrecks.' And then there's the one for my letter. We have the word 'please' and end with, 'If Pepper's President, she'll use a lot of P's.'" She was tough and didn't always laugh like the others, but she enjoyed singing "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile" with them. She also loved the release of creating with the comics. Pepper felt free then. And, even they'd begun as a way for her to make fun of Annie sneaking out.
July smiled at Molly, four, while scrubbing the floor. Molly had sidled up to her for a hug. The orphans had hugged before, but did much more since Molly had come. Molly was a lot less shy than little Kate, who was almost eighteen months older. Given her mom's tenderness and how old she'd been when her mom died, Molly liked to hug. It seemed natural and was a good way to express herself.
"Hi, Molly." July gave her a squeeze. "Where's Annie?"
"With Miss Hannigan. She looks sad," Molly said.
Which one? July wondered. Miss Hannigan seemed miserable at times, after all. The director was mindlessly listening to the radio, with Annie scrubbing the floor around her.
"Molly, go join Kate and the others and sing a little. You can learn your letters better then," July said. They had a song like what Kate was singing for each letter of the alphabet, to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." Each girl's name was in the song with the first letter of their name.
Once Molly did that, July entered the office to clean and to see Annie. She wanted to make Miss Kathy proud of her in everything, which meant that she tried to be as much like a mother as possible. Even if that meant a lot of pressure at times.
Annie sighed and muttered, "I wonder if my parents are listening to this radio show."
Miss Hannigan took a swig of something she'd told the younger children caused monsters to appear. Miss Kathy had said they likely appeared to Miss Hannigan when she drank a lot. "And I wonder if I can meet a guy through the radio. Maybe I can pretend to be Clara, Lu, or Em," Miss Hannigan muttered. The three were lead characters in the first daily radio serial.
"I don't know if they're listening," July told Annie, who had just turned nine. Annie hadn't snuck out to find her parents since Molly had come in late summer, but she recognized that look in Annie's eyes. She joined Annie in scrubbing. "Molly really looks up to you." She didn't know if Annie was paying attention, but she tried to do just what Miss Kathy would. "I mean it, Annie. Ever since Miss Hannigan accepted Molly, you have helped her and loved her so much!"
"You-" Miss Hannigan shushed them, so Annie whispered more. "You love her just as much."
"I'm two and a half years older than you. She looks up to me like a mom. But, till your parents come for you, she needs you," July reminded Annie. She hoped it would work.
"All right, I guess I have to start supper." That show was over, so Miss Hannigan walked partway out of her office.
"Pepper, start supper! Don't burn it! And if you're making that navy bean soup, the ham shouldn't taste like Army boots," she demanded. That was her way of doing it – ordering the kids around if she didn't feel like doing something, often making a snide comment if she could; Pepper was becoming a good cook.
Pepper shouted "Yes, Miss Hannigan" back at her. She dutifully went into the kitchen to starttrying to put something together for them.
Duffy stepped up beside her at the stove. "You're a good cook." Pepper was silent. "I mean it. When they laid the cook off, Miss Kathy saw Miss Hannigan didn't cook supper a couple times. Miss Kathy did but gave us older girls crash courses. You always did well."
"Yeah. It's something I can do." Pepper became quiet. She felt so trapped there. Miss Kathy had tried to teach her to think of others. But Pepper really responded to Miss Kathy when she was given important tasks – not the drudgery of cleaning or sewing. Pepper had helped with letter songs, been made official Fire Drill Girl later, and so on. She didn't have Annie's positivity. But Miss Kathy had always said if she couldn't escape – like she could with the comic strip - she could make others' lives bearable. Pepper wasn't great at that, and could be very bossy about it. But, at least she was doing something positive.
Duffy wasn't sure what to make of Pepper's silence. Finally, she went and told the others, "Make sure you compliment Pepper a lot on her cooking." And, they would. She really was good, as much as Miss Hannigan like to make wisecracks.
Meanwhile, back in the office, Annie tried her best to be positive. "Thanks for letting me listen to the radio, Miss Hannigan," Annie said.
"I can read your mind. I want to keep an eye on you so you don't go off looking for those parents who are supposedly going to come for you," Miss Hannigan scoffed.
"My parents are going to come for me. They left a note saying so."
"That was when you were a baby. If they haven't come by now, they won't!" Annie looked defiant. "And you better not sneak out again, or Molly will follow. Next thing you know you'll be responsible for a kidnapping. Though why anyone would want a rotten orphan is beyond me."
"My parents want me!"
"Then why haven't they come? You'd think they'd know your birthday was a couple days ago."
July knew Miss Hannigan's comment had grated on Annie. Her birthday was why Annie was thinking about them. July tried to be a quiet, calming voice. "We're all tired. People don't have the money like they did before the Depression. We all need to be patient and help each other."
"That's your job. You want to be house mother like Miss Kathy, make Annie behave," Miss Hannigan griped. "Haven't I had less sewing projects since Molly came?"
July knew Annie was upset that they now had to sew their own clothes – even undergarments. So, she held up a hand to silence Annie. "Yes, Miss Hannigan. I've told Annie Molly needs to trust us to love and help her. That means Annie needs to stay here."
"Molly doesn't trust me?" Miss Hannigan asked. "If she plays in the laundry, all I do is yell at you girls to get her out." Molly did this when they washed clothes, too.
"Do you want her to trust you to dry her tears and hug her and say 'I love you' and all the other things a mother would do?" July asked pointedly yet respectfully like Miss Kathy had taught her.
Miss Hannigan thought for a moment and took another swig. "You're right. I want her to trust you. I don't like orphans. It's bad enough you girls show me a dead mouse if you're out 'cause it's warm. Are you gonna start meowing next? At least I'll save money, I can feed you saucers of milk and you can chase birds for food," she cracked, shivering since mice scared her. "I told Annie when I yelled and she got overprotective that time something broke, I'm not stupid. I wasn't going to touch Molly then. I never expected her to warm up to me. I don't want orphans hugging and kissing me and being sweet." She pointed at July. "You should thank me. Staying away from you unless I'm telling you what to do is a reason for Molly to say 'I love you.'"
July didn't know what to say to that twisted logic. Miss Hannigan had actually spit on Annie the time in question, and while Annie figured it an accident, July suspected it had been purposeful. "Yes, Miss Hannigan," she said tiredly. "I'm glad you let us take care of her. Come on, Annie, let's see how our younger charges are." July gently pulled Annie away, though Annie clearly wanted to argue. She recalled what Miss Kathy had said: Say your piece calmly and leave. She'd actually earned a smidgen of a victory, just like she had the last months – the last year-plus since Miss Kathy had been there full time.
That evening, Annie was done cleaning the kitchen. She peeked into the office - Miss Hannigan was still listening to the radio. "Miss Hannigan… never mind, you're drunk."
"I'm not as think as you drunk I am," Miss Hannigan said in an obvious state of intoxication. . If Miss Hannigan didn't have a date, or at times if she did, she often drank. When she left them alone, Pepper made them do fire drills. She was quite bossy about it, but Miss Kathy had shown them how before, and also taught them the importance of them. So, they would be safe there.
Annie looked on the bright side. Miss Hannigan was a quiet drunk who left them alone if she drank a lot. She might push them a bit or get in someone's face, but that was it. She wasn't violent. She was a schemer, like her brother Rooster. She was more risk averse when sober, which was a large part of it, like with her fear of dead mice and a few other things.
"Miss Hannigan, I'm going to help put the younger girls to bed." Annie heard a muttered "sure.".
Duffy and Tessie enjoyed singing to Kate and Molly with July and Annie, but Pepper was aloof.
"Come on, Pepper," Duffy insisted. "Didn't you like this when you first came here?"
"Nah," Pepper said. She barely looked up from the story she was writing. "I was six. It's too simple for me; all you change is the name."
"Maybe we'll say you write, write here and write, write there." July said.
"And draw. Tessie doesn't like eyeballs," Pepper cracked. She knew Tessie drew people in general better than her, but Tessie struggled to make eyeballs, always worrying about getting just the right size for the face, so she just didn't draw them. Pepper was better at landscapes and other things which would be helpful for a comic strip.
"We don't need her to do this. Come on." Tessie, eight, still liked having it sung to her.
The lyrics had changed with the sewing and cleaning since Miss Kathy had introduced it as a bedtime song six years ago. "We live in an orphanage, E-I-E-I-O. And in this place we have our Molly, how we love her so. Though we clean, clean here and we sew, sew there, here we work, there we work, everywhere it's work, work, in this place we have our Molly. And we love her so." They sang the same for Kate, and July tucked them in, as she would Tessie a bit later.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
(I put that there just to clue readers in that the next chapter starts back in the present, 1943)
