A/N: The idea came of orphans aging out as I wrote. Miss Hannigan flies under the radar far better with fewer orphans. So, I figure the play's 7 (up to 15 with extras) or 15 or so of the '99 film ('82 had it like a factory with dozens, but that means more people can blab when they age out, plus it's closer to the comic strip as I show in my other fics.) A few former orphans may need jobs from 1930-1933 to pay room and board elsewhere. Some could earn pennies an hour with the girls still sewing; no minimum wage till '38. It lets Miss Hannigan have dates, the 2 weeks she claims to Grace are coming, etc.. Pepper leads fire drills as I share, but if the oldest is only 10 once Miss Kathy goes to part-time work, would Miss Hannigan leave them alone at all, let alone plan to leave with Rooster… Okay, she would. :-) But, aged out ones are the ones I mention.
Chapter 2 – Troubling Times
"That Miss Hannigan sounds mean," one of the newest orphans said as they finished that portion of the story.
"She was. But she was smart enough not to expect us to love her like you love us. I don't think she ever felt love. She said her mom hated her. We love and care for and help you. I relied on July and Annie to tell me what was safe, what I could and couldn't do, and so on," Molly said.
"Tell us about your first night again, Molly. How Pepper said she'd beat any bad guys in your nightmares. That's so cool," Hattie pleaded.
Lucy, a black orphan – Daddy Warbucks had integrated his homes when no others in the city were – looked squarely at Hattie. "Oh, Hattie, even the babies can tell you're stalling." She smiled at Molly. "But, if you want to tell us about your mama, Miss Molly, I love that."
"You're right, Hattie. Looking for her was the only kind of nightmare I really had. What Pepper did like with the others, the first couple times I had a bad dream, she asked about it and told me in great detail how if it – or anything like it – happened, I should think of her coming in if I heard or saw something creepy. Then, she'd take care of that baddie. It worked, but I pictured Annie helping in them, too. Sure, that was mostly so Pepper could sleep, but yeah. The only bad dreams I had where they woke me up were the ones where my mom vanished," Molly said.
"Pepper was jealous of both Annie and me," Katherine, July back then, said. "Me since I could be the kind, tender mother figure, not afraid to deal with emotions, Annie for how positive she was no matter what. Pepper struggled to let her emotions show, but she helped in other ways."
"I don't remember my mom, Lucy." Molly explained. "But I told them then – especially July, now Katherine, asked - so I have a nice image from what they told me I said. She was always positive and really bold if she had to be, like Annie. And, so gentle and tender and caring like Miss Katherine. Like both, she insisted on doing what was right and making sure others did."
"Molly won't remember this, but when Miss Hannigan greeted her, Pepper and Duffy saw her as they cleaned after lunch. They saw Molly clinging to her doll and suitcase. Miss Hannigan said that could be the two things she had nobody could touch. Like only she could tune the radio - by then they could turn it on and off - or touch her so-called medicine. She made them get our dorm area ready while she asked Molly if she could sew and took her to Annie," Tessie said.
"You had the book, Tessie." July, then Kate, said. Miss Kathy would read them "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" that someone had donated. "We practiced our writing by copying the letters – she taught the older ones how to do the small a and g." July laughed as Hattie stalled again by asking why they looked different in books. "Printers need to have them look a bit different to tell them apart from other letters."
"Miss Hannigan had taken her hand and walked her to me and told me she was my charge, to keep me from running away. I'd tried to sneak out to find my parents quite a bit. That's why she didn't send whoever brought Molly to a different orphanage, so maybe I'd stay. She might have needed a new one to make the city think she still needed all that money, too," Annie speculated. "She was using aged-out orphans to the hilt. She tried to con some into signing sharecropping agreements – well, it would have been sharesewing. They'd have always been in debt if they had signed, but they knew better. They knew her. Yeah, Molly stuck to July and I like glue and copied us in everything. And, yeah, once we got out Pepper admitted she'd been jealous."
"When we put Molly to bed that night, Pepper jumped in and said: 'We can't sing our normal song Molly's first night.' Pepper pulled out one she'd scribbled and sang it for Molly. She ended by saying: 'That's creative. Not just changing the name.' It ended nice, too - 'Now we've got Molly, too, we love her all the way.' To that 'Farmer in the Dell' tune like the other letter songs. Pepper picked on us, though she stuck up for us and so on. In return, she didn't want bothered. Like Molly said, helping us overcome nightmares let Pepper sleep. She never bothered with Molly's dream about her mom, though, just yelled or pushed her awake. Just a guess, but I wonder if Pepper knew she could never rescue her in that dream, and hearing Molly cry 'Mama' hurt her more than she ever wanted to let on," Tessie concluded.
"I can see that." Jacob wondered if Miss Hannigan had always asked the orphans to say "I love you" to her. "That seems odd. Why would she care about love? Could she have heard the song and thought 'If they say it to each other, they can say it to me'?"
Katherine spoke up. "I was too little when Miss Kathy started that bedtime song; it's too far back. It might have just been her twisted logic, that she wasn't as mean as she could be, but it's possible since we sang that at night, she wanted to hear it in the morning."
"Right; she never abused us physically, but she could get messed up mentally. If I complained 'It's 4:00 in the morning' she'd whine it sarcastically and sometimes hold her fists to her eyes and make like they were tears. Pepper never acted like that. Saying 'I love you, Miss Hannigan' would have made more sense if she hadn't made fun of us," Tessie noted.
"I'm glad we say 'I love you' and mean it with all of you all the time," Duffy said.
"Even when I'm a little stinker," Hattie murmured. She knew she was really difficult at times. She'd been so mean to Lucy her first weeks there – America still had race problems in the 1940s, but her taunts seemed awful even by those standards. She was glad they'd understood she'd never been shown how to be nice to anyone. Hattie was a lot nicer to all of them by this time.
Duffy gave her a squeeze. She'd volunteered here as a teen, but had spent much time honing the dance skills she'd experimented with as an orphan - improving enough to reach Broadway about a year before Pearl Harbor. She'd returned in early 1942 after training an understudy – she'd had to help with the comics more as well as filling in for workers who would be leaving. It wasn't just the typical duty ballplayers and others spoke of leaving their games, though. It was a joy, even with the challenge Hattie had been since coming about half a year ago.
"Right," Duffy told her and the others. "No matter what you do, we'll always love you. We taught the younger ones saying 'I love you, Miss Hannigan' was only a tradition back then. Miss Kathy even told us saying it kindly would make her feel worse; though I got a bit ornery with things like stepping on her foot like it was an accident." She chuckled. "Maybe that helped me learn precise dance steps better. Anyway, we girls said 'I love you' to each other, especially with the youngest, because we meant it. And, it encouraged us to try to mean it with her."
"This is why I say, as crazy as it sounds, her teaching us the most important rule was never to tell a lie was so important. It helped us trust each other. And, that's what this story is about," Molly told Hattie and Nancy as they continued the story.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
July put an arm around Annie once the youngest were asleep and sang lowly. "In this place we have our Annie, how we love her so."
"July, please," Annie said, a little frustrated. "I'm nine years old now."
"I know at just two and a half years older I'm a lot less of an authority than I was years ago. But, I still care about you, Annie," July reminded her affectionately. "And, I was around Miss Kathy enough to have a little bit of instinct."
"You do a great job singing Molly to sleep. Pepper might even be nicer to her if I leave to find my parents," Annie suggested, knowing what July was leading up to.
"I have trouble with Pepper picking on Kate, too," July reminded Annie. "She's been really stern in a few fire drills. Kate was just worried about Pepper. There was no reason to sound mean."
Pepper overheard as she walked past. "She hasn't seen a real fire or been on the street. I want her to know never wait for me. I'm Fire Drill Girl. Her job is to follow you and be safe. I go last."
"Okay." July didn't feel like arguing; she was worried enough about Annie. But it seemed like Pepper was holding something in – why mention life on the street? Oh, no, had her parents…? "Pepper, if that's how-. I'm sorry," Odd, she thought, she wasn't acting like that was how they died. Although Just did think at least one was violent. "Look, just explain it kindly now while we're here instead of just being bossy," she persisted, trying to sound friendly.
"Oh, all right. I'll try," Pepper sulked away silently.
July continued. "I push back if Pepper pushes someone and she doesn't apologize. We've gotten in shoving matches till I proved my point."
"True. But you do prove it, July. And Molly would trust you with anything. She knows how Miss Hannigan scares us and all that." Annie thought for a moment. "She did ask both of us a lot of questions the first few weeks, didn't she?"
"She did. Miss Hannigan knows how to scare us without hurting us, yet we know exactly how far we can go because we wonder what she'll do. I remember when Miss Kathy had to take that teaching job a year ago and just start working part-time here, before she left for good when Molly came. I'm sure you remember too. Miss Hannigan handed me a ping pong paddle in front of everyone and said if Miss Kathy trained me then I should use it. Of course, like Miss Kathy I only ever hit with the palm of my hand - that could sting bad if I wanted," July said sadly.
"And you'd hug so much if it stung real bad, just like Miss Kathy," Annie said, ignoring the fact July would probably always just give a light slap to get the kid's attention if anything.
"Sure, because I know it's rough. I want to be just like Miss Kathy. Miss Kathy wasn't totally like a mom – though she was close for you and especially me, and I try to make her proud," July said. "But even if Molly is ready for anything, I know it's been months, but you remember how hard it is when Miss Hannigan locks you in the cellar. It's so dark down there, it's kind of spooky," July finished.
"My parents have to be out there. Maybe they think someone adopted me. Maybe they don't know I'm still here," Annie said, brushing aside the possibility of getting caught.
July had to admit: "If someone came to adopt a nice girl who never gives up, who can be brash but who uses it for the right things, Miss Hannigan would probably let you go."
Annie got a little defensive and asked what July meant saying she was brash.
"Sneaking out is brash, Annie. Plus, sometimes it hurts when you brag about having parents."
Annie hadn't thought of that. "I'm sorry, July. Molly loves to hear it, though. In fact, she loves it when I read that letter my parents left with me."
"She loves being around you. You care about her and spend time with her. You remind her of her mom a little," July said.
"She told me you remind her of her mama. You'll be there for her," Annie said.
July imagined Molly's mom from what she'd said. Thankfully the loss hadn't been right before, but Molly had still grieved some. July – like Miss Kathy had taught her – had had to explain to Miss Hannigan why the girl needed extra care. Of course, Miss Hannigan then expected July to provide it all, on top of her other chores. She still remembered Miss Hannigan getting her most drunk ever, disappearing before supper and only reappearing after breakfast the next day with the world's worst headache. Miss Hannigan had realized that – in bringing in such a young orphan to keep Annie from running away – she'd created more problems for herself. No wonder, finally starting to realize that, Miss Hannigan had backed off when Annie got overprotective of Moly right before that. Miss Hannigan was a schemer, and her scheme had backfired.
July thought she was pretty clever herself. She just wished there was a way to convince Annie not to run away. Annie seemed to need to learn some lessons the hard way, though.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Asking about her parents is one tradition we couldn't do with the others. So, when we can we always tell you children what your parents were like," Katherine said back in the present.
"We could have with Pepper, but… she fought a lot. She had it real rough and didn't want to talk about hers. Her home before was kind of bad," Duffy said.
"I had a few bad dreams at first about Annie being missing, but after a couple weeks I was okay. I still remember Pepper and her adoptive parents coming back in mid-January for a sleepover with her friends; she'd just turned thirteen. She was up to go to the bathroom, and I heard her. So, I got out of bed and was so excited to tell her I hadn't had a bad dream. She had kept whatever in my dream from happening. It got silly from there," Molly shared.
"Yea, Mr. Warbucks and all of us were up by the time they got done talking loud. He asked who called the meeting, and when they explained, I said, 'But it's four o'clock in the morning," Tessie said with a laugh. "But, at least Pepper was up then."
Katherine was glad attention had been drawn away from Pepper's behavior. She'd improved a lot after a few months, but had still been very bossy, to the point of bullying at times. "Drake brought us all warm milk – we woke others up with how loud we were talking – and Pepper took her milk back to the room she was in with her parents. She met them at the bedroom door, and she had a look I'll never forget. It's like when we played in the snow so much the days after Christmas. It's like she was finally starting to feel normal. She'd already let go of a lot of pain talking to them, but we'd just had all that impromptu fun and she was probably thinking about how she was finally free to do that," she finished.
"Yeah. She could do whatever she wanted," July, who had been Kate then, said. "There must have been part of Miss Katherine that knew she still wanted to. Just like you wanted to be adopted with me," she told Katherine, who nodded and hugged her.
"I'd been there since I was two months old," Katherine said. "Miss Hannigan named me July after the month I came, and Miss Kathy called me Kate. Miss Kathy always trained me from an early age to be motherly; to take after her. Mine was a different type of freedom, I didn't have to be the mom, but I loved it, so I felt like I had to have at least one younger sibling. She was too young to think about whether she felt trapped." Katherine nodded as Tessie said that worries had led to her feeling trapped there. "Sure. Molly was so young Miss Hannigan wouldn't threaten her as much. If she caught her hiding in the laundry even near the end, Miss Hannigan wouldn't even pull her out herself. She yelled at us to; we were responsible for her. Maybe one reason Pepper picked on her, too. She felt like Molly wouldn't feel trapped. But, that's why Pepper responded so well when Miss Kathy made her the boss of stuff."
"I was brash about things," Annie spoke with regret. "Duffy was loud and confident, even then. She refused to feel trapped, but in a different way than I did."
"How come you weren't the mom for all of them?" Nancy asked.
"I probably could have toned down any mischief and been the leader; but I didn't have to. I just would have mothered differently. Like Annie said about how I refused to feel trapped. Where Pepper needed to be shown how, to see there were things she could do," Duffy replied.
"That makes me curious. Did she ever try to run away?" Jacob asked.
Duffy shook her head. "No. She told me she knew what the streets were like. She did her escaping with the comic strip and something like a book she started with a lot more orphans."
"It's scary. It makes me wonder what she went through. And is going through now," July said.
"So, did Annie manage to sneak out this time?" Hattie asked. "Maybe Pepper can get out of Europe the same way."
"I hope not, I kept getting caught," Annie reminded the girl in a somewhat comical, Groucho Marx-type voice. In her normal voice, she said, "But, I was very determined…"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Annie chose to gather her things right after breakfast, when the others were cleaning the kitchen. Her last words to Pepper were: "Be good to Molly, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. You know me. She's mine to pick on, and nobody else's. Guess who that means won't get at her?" Pepper patted Annie's hair once, then gave her a little shove. "So long, dumbbell. Good luck."
Annie supposed that would have to do. She knew Miss Hannigan was freshening up herself, so she snuck out the back way, where the office door was. Miss Hannigan was more likely to expect her to sneak out the front, as she'd tried before.
She was in a neighborhood with a number of small shops, in addition to homes. She'd been on outings with Miss Kathy and others, so between that and Pepper's tales, she knew how to navigate streets. Once on a busier road, she started asking people on the street, "Have you seen any adults who might look like me?" One thing which would only be apparent later that showed there hadn't been physical abuse was that she had a great trust of adults.
They paid little attention to her, but after about 45 minutes of walking, counting when she'd snuck out, a man called out from a pharmacy, which had a soda fountain as well. "Little girl, is your name Annie?"
"Yes!" She almost forgot to watch for cars, but she remembered and crossed the street quickly. "Do you know me?" The man looked young, but she was young enough and naïve enough to figure it could be one of her parents.
"I think so. Do you know a Miss Kathy?"
Annie said "yeah" before wondering why he would be asking about the former house mother.
"Come in. I'll buy you a soda." She followed, sticking very close to him like she would Oliver Warbucks later. She really wanted a parental figure who was nice.
Annie pondered when he asked what she wanted. "I don't know… Miss Kathy took us all to a small soda fountain a few times; at least the ones who were good." If this man knew Miss Kathy, she should be able to tell him this.
"Black cow for Annie here," the young man said. It would later be called a root beer float.
"Thank you, Sir. Now, about my parents?"
The young man turned on his stool and looked Annie square in the eyes. "I'll watch out and let you know if I see them. I'll tell then you're still here. Now, there's a reason I asked about Miss Kathy." He paused as the older man poured her black cow. "How is Miss Hannigan doing?"
"How is she doing what?" Annie was really perplexed at his questions, so she didn't realize at first that he meant her general state. She quickly backtracked, though. "She's fine, I guess."
The older man – who had a mild Eastern European accent – said, "Look, we know she drinks alcohol." The end of Prohibition was still two years away.
"She does. Last night I saw her in her office as I was done cleaning. She said 'I'm not as think as you drunk I am.'" The three of them laughed as Annie consumed her delicious black cow. Ice cream tasted good no matter what the weather. The older man saw another customer come in with a prescription and waited on him; one of the first customers of the new day.
"Is she ever violent when she's drunk? Does she ever punch or kick any of you or just go off on a rage against someone?" the man asked evenly.
"No, sir! Sometimes we worry about it, because of what she says. But, she never does it. It can be funny, too. Like yesterday she complained about a dead mouse someone brought her a few days ago and said she'd feed us milk and we could chase birds for food"
The young man smiled and nodded. "Good. Annie, I'm very glad that you were honest with me," he said very cheerfully.
"Oh, I always try to be. Miss Hannigan always teaches us, 'Never tell a lie.'"
"Good. My name's Boris, by the way. Annie, we know Miss Hannigan drinks…" He looked to make sure the customer couldn't overhear. "We know because she buys what she calls medicine here. And at some other pharmacies. Now, she told my father and I that we were to watch for you in case you tried to run away. This was maybe a couple years ago. She said we'd never miss your bright red curls. Now, what I'm going to say might disappoint you. But I want you to listen. Because it's very important."
"Are my parents okay?" Annie asked, her mind still on her purpose for running away as she consumed the last of her soda.
Boris shrugged. "I don't know. But, I have to take you back-" He suddenly decided to ask: "What will Miss Hannigan do to you, by the way?"
"Lock me in the cellar, yell a lot," Annie said lowly.
"Okay. Again, I'm proud of you for telling the truth. Because we need Miss Hannigan to trust us. Because Miss Kathy also told us about Miss Hannigan drinking. And again, after she left her job there. She told us to watch out, to make sure if we deliver Miss Hannigan's so-called medicine, that there's no black eyes or really bad bruises. You seem to understand that if you lie about Miss Hannigan doing something bad, you won't be believed if it does happen."
"Wait… start from where you said you need Miss Hannigan to trust you. I don't quite get it," Annie said.
Boris smiled apologetically. "Okay. If Miss Hannigan trusts us to take you back when we catch you, then she will trust us to be on her side. So, if we would ever see something is wrong, and hopefully there never will be, she would not hide it. She'd also trust us to stay if we have to. And somehow, we would call the head of the Board of Orphans and tell him, so they can see the evidence and protect you. The same is true of suppliers if she makes alcohol, I'm sure. Miss Kathy said she did this with anyone who would have the chance to see you girls. Because Miss Kathy is right. The way Miss Hannigan is now, she may be mean, but she's not a violent drunk. And there is no place for a violent drunk in an orphanage."
"And… that's why I need to tell the truth," Annie said as she finished her soda. "So, if she does get that way, you believe me."
"Right!' He extended his hand, and Annie shook it. "We have a deal?"
"We have a deal." She would keep to it; if a policeman brought her back and thought Miss Hannigan was nice, she would correct them, but would never say any more than that she yelled a lot. And some, like Boris, knew she wasn't nice but at least wasn't violent. Annie put her glass back on the counter. "Are you sure you didn't leave a baby on an orphanage doorstep late in 1922? 'Cause you sound like a good dad."
"I am sure. I would have been only fourteen. But, if times were not so tough, maybe my new wife and I would consider adopting," Boris said.
Annie sighed as she got off the counter, resigned to the fact she was going back to the orphanage. She flapped her arms at her side. "I guess I'll meet my parents some other day."
Boris' dad approached. "Annie? Make sure you don't tell anyone what my son told you unless you know you can trust them never to lie."
"Right. I'm not sure about Pepper. I'd trust Tessie, but she worries a lot. She might think it's gonna happen for sure. Kate and Molly might not understand. I'll tell July. She's eleven. Miss Kathy taught her to be kind of like a house mother," Annie said.
"Good." Boris' dad wrote their address – they lived upstairs from the store – on a napkin and gave it to her, and then bade them farewell.
Boris and Annie talked as he drove her back. Once outside the orphanage office in the rear, he let Annie out. He bent down once more and said, "Remember what we talked about. I know you might not like it there. But, you know if it gets really bad, you have help. But only if it's so bad there's clear evidence."
"Yes, Sir." He patted her on the head.
Boris opened the door. "Miss Hannigan, it's Boris from the pharmacy," he said. He was glad to see Miss Hannigan looking clean and sober.
"Oh, thank you for returning Annie, Boris." Miss Hannigan gave Annie a fake hug. "You're sure your new wife doesn't have any older brothers?"
"Yes, Miss Hannigan, and mine are all younger. I was first born and probably came about on the boat to Ellis Island," he said, repeating it for what seemed like the third or fourth time. He'd seen her in the pharmacy a few times. She always seemed to be flirting with men. He decided to let her try to woo him or find out about the family since he saw July approach. He didn't leave till Annie had passed the napkin to July and July had concealed it.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Jacob said Boris sounded like a nice guy as another worker left to answer the phone. "I remember a soda fountain you've taken us to with an Eastern European owner… I don't remember a son named Boris."
"Another son helps his dad run it, you're right. Boris and his wife had moved when we started running the place, but he remembered me when I went and introduced myself. He'd been telling the truth. I asked his dad if Boris would mind my asking a few years later, once we learned you were all orphans. Boris and his wife adopted two of the youngest children Daddy Warbucks brought over," Annie said.
"That's nice. I remember, once you learned, a number of families – some Jewish, some not – coming to visit. I believe some got adopted out of state last year. I knew my brothers and I, at our ages, were not likely to be chosen, as we wished to remain together. But it was wonderful to see so many being adopted over the next year or so. Did he deliver to the orphanage?" Jacob asked.
"Yes. So did others," Katherine said. "Thankfully, Miss Hannigan was never violent. She knew her limits. Annie and Molly like to think she was grateful she was given lots of rope as long as she stayed away from physical abuse. I wonder if it was more she knew how much more they could get her on if she ever did get that way."
Duffy explained how drugstores worked during Prohibition. "People could still get medicine that had alcohol. Well, there were specific instructions on what not to do so it didn't ferment – of course people did just what they said not to do. And, they would make money on the side selling extra so-called medicine, though it was really booze."
"And, if she made her own," July put in as the worker returned, "we still had Mr. Bundles, the milkman and mailman, and those young ladies who were so overworked and underpaid. I think Miss Hannigan knew they knew their jobs weren't worth it and they'd talk. Plus, suppliers of raw materials would have delivered to make sure once in a while, given what Miss Kathy told them."
The worker had come and whispered in Annie's ear while July spoke. "Excuse me, it's Pepper's mom," Annie said in a concerned voice. Annie rose to tend to the phone in the office, with Molly by her side. "You can finish the story for me," Annie told her sister.
"It's better with you. Besides, I want to hear about Pepper."
Annie smiled and closed her eyes for a moment before she walked to answer the waiting phone call. She thought of where Pepper might be, and if anyone could reach her. Daddy Warbucks and the Swedish envoy to the U.S., Wollmar Bostrom, had become friends in the '20s when he first arrived, and had played some fun, friendly tennis matches. Bostrom, a few years older than Warbucks, had won a bronze medal in the 1908 Olympics. Annie chuckled as she recalled in 1939 - after Warbucks had brought the Jewish children over - that Pepper had wanted to visit after Annie had said Bostrom would be coming. Pepper had had a long conversation with the man about who knows what. Sweden wouldn't officially take Jewish refugees till a couple years later, but unofficially, and with the people Bostrom probably knew back home…. Forget relying on him as an intermediary since Sweden is neutral. Not only would that be a huge longshot, for all I know that might be how her few messages have even reached us. Yes, it's probably best not to let on that she could be there, just in case.
Given the war raging and some of the stories which had come out even in September of '43, it was hard to be totally confident at times. Annie prayed: "Lord, let Pepper still be alive. And thanks for Molly's concern. I'm so glad she cares just like I do about Pepper." She wished there was something she could do to help during this time when there was so little information. "I see why she felt she had to do something. If there's anything I can do to help her, I will."
She picked up the receiver, not knowing what to expect, but knowing they would get through it, with confidence there were brighter days ahead.
