Chapter 2 - What A Concept! - Squared

Their wonderment became great confusion when Pepper blurted: "Sweden is a neutral. It has been since 1815. Now there's something I can actually use from history, Annie. I want to know if I can go there, but I need to know Swedish to do it."

Annie and Molly were quite confused. Annie's comment about names had simply been something where she'd thought out loud, not really considering how something would work. Pepper, though, seemed to have something on her mind which was far more developed - and, considering she was talking about Europe, perhaps dangerous.

"Wow, Pepper," Annie said. "You never cared about foreign languages the year you had to take one in high school."

"I didn't think Europe would be such a dump. I'm glad my mom told me about some family she had from Bavaria so I would decide to take German." Her adoptive mom had a grandmother who had come over from there.

"Well, we were planning to play tennis tomorrow afternoon, while he's up this way, I suppose you could meet him then - or even later today," Oliver said, a bit confused about Pepper's line of thinking.

Grace placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder and tenderly remarked, "You know you don't have to do… whatever it is."

"Well, I'm going to!"

Molly looked a bit startled at how Pepper had snapped at Grace. Still, it reminded her of something. "Annie, remember how Pepper got whenever she did a fire drill? That's just how she talked."

"I know," Annie muttered. She knew Pepper wouldn't admit to being scared, let alone grasp the idea of coping that led her to act like she had. Yet, she and Molly both had the same types of memories come to mind.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Pepper was ten and a half. Miss Kathy had long since taken a teaching job because of the Depression, and now had been laid off from the orphanage entirely, the last of the other employees. Now, it was only Miss Hannigan there - and that woman could be really mean.

Miss Kathy had always taught them to pick their battles. Pepper hated all the sewing they were forced to do, and battled with July sometimes over putting up with it. But, even that quiet July loved and fully supported how Pepper was at times like this.

One more screaming rant in the sewing room. So things hadn't been folded perfectly the last time - they had still accepted the order. Miss Hannigan was just complaining because she was drunk. And while she knew better than to touch any of them while drunk, memories of her life on the streets caused anxiety to well up in Pepper until…

"Fire drill! Everyone out, NOW!"

The cry from Pepper surprised everyone, but also spurred them to action. Annie got Molly off her lap and took her hand; July did the same for Kate. Kate tried to signal for Pepper to come with them, but Pepper scowled at her while Tessie ran down the stairs of the fire escape

"What… what are you doing?!" Miss Hannigan screeched. "There's no fire!"

"It's a drill!" Pepper snarled. "You're the one always telling us about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire! We have to be ready!" Pepper declared. She could see Duffy looking back nervously as she left the room as the next to last orphan. But, only now did Pepper follow. "Come on," she told the drunk lady.

Pepper had seen something. Maybe a movement toward one of the smallest two which Miss Hannigan hadn't even known she'd made. Maybe it was a word Miss Hannigan had used. Whatever it was, as Pepper marched down the steps, she knew what she was doing was vital. If Miss Hannigan ever was violent, she was going to stay back to protect them. She'd explained to the others - and would have to repeat it a few times - that she valued their safety above anything.

"All right, we're really getting fast at this," Pepper shouted with glee as she met the others outside, with Miss Hannigan slowly following. When Annie said that at least they could do something fun during these, Pepper got in her face. "You better hope that's all it ever has to be! Remember what I told you about how to protect yourself when you sneak out trying to find those parents who dropped you off nine years ago?" She let the thought hang so the little ones didn't get too scared. They didn't need to hear those kinds of warnings. But, she did say: "That 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strip we do seems like fun. But there's real danger, too!" She meant, of course, the threat of MIss Hannigan going berserk, as well as bad guys on the street.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Back in the present, Annie continued. "You were afraid of how Miss Hannigan might get if she ever got really drunk. I guess I always figured it'd turn out okay. But, part of that might be because of what you did. Thanks," she finished.

Pepper was glad that Annie and the others understood and were grateful. Pepper now did the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" - with Tessie helping, along of course with professionals making it newspaper ready - totally for fun as her job. But Grace sensed that - along with poking fun at Annie for sneaking out to find her parents in the beginning - some of what Pepper had done had been to escape herself.

As they and Pepper's adoptive parents had explored this in talking with her, they realized that - while there hadn't been physical mistreatment when Miss Hannigan was the only adult there - Pepper had been quite afraid of it and had prepared herself emotionally to fight to protect the other girls. That had been partly from when Pepper lived on the streets for a while before she was placed in the orphanage, and partly from Miss Hannigan's attitude.

"Yeah, thankfully, Miss Hannigan never got violent - especially not drunk violent," Pepper said in frustration. "Sometimes it sounds like there are people over there who are far worse, though."

They noticed a reporter from a black newspaper who had come in a few moments ago. They heard Oliver Warbucks giving a brief statement about how glad they were to have Lucy and how they'd help her, like others, recall her birth family. He added something Annie had learned, that Lucy was named after Lucy Craft Laney. Then he said: "If you have questions, ask Annie, she's the best interview."

It was true, too. Oliver never liked interviews; he wanted to be in control of the statements he made and worried that he might get surprised by a question. Annie, however, was very quick on her feet with any question.

"Well, Sir," Annie explained when asked about the "fire drills" they had just been discussing, "we were in that orphanage that was also an illegal sweatshop. Miss Hannigan always taught us to never tell a lie, though. So, we knew we could get away with fire drills because they had to be run. Pepper just had other reasons for having them."

"You're the one who started 'Little Orphan Annie,' aren't you? I'm glad she plays with black and white children in the comics. You know, there's complaints in the South about that," the reporter said.

Pepper didn't like long interviews, either. So, she gave a pat: "That's the way kids play. If they don't like 'em, they can just leave us alone. Or, better yet, leave the country. If they want someplace that's all white, tell them to go to Iceland," Pepper said in a huff.

"That would be a lot of snow and ice," Annie said with a laugh as she saw a couple bringing a small child in. "Hi, you must be Lucy. I'm Annie," she said with a smile.

As the couple introduced themselves, the husband looked at July. "Hi, I just wanted to come because… well, when I heard my wife, who is with the Childrens' Bureau, was coming here, I wanted to see you." He blinked once. "I don't know if you remember, I was the public defender for Miss Hannigan in the sweatwshop trial…" He didn't know what else to say.

July interrupted her conversation with the little three and a half year old - Miss Rose was busy getting information, as was Miss Grace, and Annie and Molly were there.

She looked at the man and held up her hand. "Look, I know you had a job to do. You said something very nice to me on the witness stand. You kept trying to get me to say there wasn't really any danger because Miss Hannigan never became violent. And, I kept insisting that we had no way of knowing that, and that… I had to agree to not fight her on the sewing in order to gain in other areas, to keep the girls safe. I said I was doing what any good mother would do. And… you said because of my compassion and mothering attitude, you'd be very proud to have me as a daughter. And, I think that's a great place to end it."

"I meant it, too. Your birth parents, if they knew you, would be very proud," the man proclaimed.

"Thanks." July didn't think about how she'd been chosen as the key witness among the girls because Duffy and Pepper could seem less sympathetic to the jury for being too combative with Miss Hannigan and Annie for sneaking out so much. She simply chose to look at it as a time like when they'd called Miss Kathy and Oliver had reversed the charges. A time to hear that she'd done a good job.

"You're welcome." He knew July had to get back to helping the orphan they had brought over, but he had wanted to make sure she knew that it hadn't just been something he'd said to be nice and appease the jury.

Oliver felt a little more at ease. A reporter from the Times had shown up now, and not only was Annie giving a very well-crafted interview, Pepper's comments about the South and Iceland had given the Times reportEr such a sensational quote that he didn't feel the need to ask the billionaire for a quote.

"Hey," Sophie said as she entered the office, "before you show Lucy around, I'm ready to mix the frosting for a cake. I figure she might want to lick the spoon with the others."

"We'll be back later," Grace told Oliver. She sensed that Molly - who had begun playing with Lucy and talking with her while Annie did the interviews - would want to stay.

"Good, we have some other business to tend to." Oliver, Annie, and Pepper left as Lucy went back to eagerly lick the spoon with the frosting along with the other girls. She had been in all black orphanage for a while so the three-year-old was focused on just having fun.

Back at the mansion, Pepper and Annie stood alone in the main living room while Oliver checked his messages and also called the ambassador.

"I guess I never realized how much you inspire me, Annie," Pepper told her. "You were nuts about those parents, but you showed me it was possible to escape. I just didn't sneak out to find two people in a city of millions, who even if they had been alive could have been anywhere."

"Thanks, Pepper. You helped me, too. I always remembered what you said about what to watch for with people, and how to protect myself. I'm glad I could count on you, even when you laughed so hard at me about that note."

"I'm glad I can count on you, too," Pepper said as she and Annie shook hands and Oliver returned to announce that the ambassador had time to swing by in a few minutes and stay for a moment, anyway.

"Great. Now, what are we going to do about getting some of those kids here?" Annie asked.

Oliver smacked his lips. "Annie, the president just… feels like he can't do anything. I don't want to say he won't… . When I reminded him how tough of a road Hull would have to the nomination in 1940 as a Southerner - let alone that blasted Jack Garner - he told me he understood. He knows I'll endorse any Republican who won't go full-blown isolation. I became a friend of his cousin Theodore as a youth."

"I remember you said he was Police Commissioner and you got an emergency contract from the city transporting people to hospitals during that record heatwave," Annie recalled proudly, considering how Oliver had already been making some money, and that was part of the domino effect that led him to be a millionaire less than a decade later.

"Precisely." Franklin Roosevelt hadn't yet decided to run for a third term, and wouldn't till late spring of the following year for sure. Hull, his Secretary of State, was said to be FDR's choice to replace him if Jim Farley couldn't do it. FDR wanted Farley, but feared that Farley, a Catholic with no prior experience, might have an impossible hill to climb. Al Smith had at least been Governor of New York in 1928 before losing decisively.

The discussion went on about what that would mean for a few minutes, with Oliver still a bit flustered. And yet, he also sensed that Annie was right. Something had to be done - even if it was only 50 boys and 50 girls.

"Ambassador Wollmar Bostrom to see you, Sir," Drake announced.

"Ah, wonderful, Drake, show him in." He told Pepper: "Wollmar competed in the 1908 and 1912 Olympics in singles and doubles tennis. He and I met when he was appointed during the Coolidge Administration. We loved to play tennis often at first; we haven't had as much time lately, of course, and we're both well into our 50s now, but we still enjoy a good dose of it. Ah, Wollmar, hello, my friend," he said as the men shook hands. "You remember Annie, of course. This is her friend Pepper, another of the orphans we rescued. Pepper, this is Ambassador Bostrom."

While he was actually called a Minister, Oliver didn't have time to get into the differences, and he'd learned that most people preferred just calling him "ambassador." Besides, Pepper would probably just call him "Mister."

"I was just telling Pepper you competed in the Olympics as a young man."

Pepper took Oliver's cue - this was the type of organized, formal thing Oliver was great at, just as Annie was great at ad libbing and answering unexpected questions in interviews. "That's great. Did you win any medals?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, I won a bronze in the doubles in 1908," Bostrom replied. "I don't know how long you've been out, MIss Pepper, so my apologies if I misspeak, but were you able to follow the most recent Games?" He thought she would have, since he'd met Annie in 1934, but wanted to be sure, so he hedged his bets a little.

"Oh, yeah, I heard all about it. I hear Hitler has that mustache because he admires Charlie Chaplain. If he's that fond of a silent film star, why doesn't he do the world a favor and shut up?" Pepper asked. Bostrom chuckled politely.

"Pepper has become rather interested in European affairs recently, just as the two of us have," Oliver said, not sure of how delicately to put it. He wanted to clue the ambassador in to what Pepper might be thinking about, but he wasn't quite sure himself.

It didn't matter, though. There was no way he could have hinted at what Pepper said next, because there was really nothing he could do to diminish the shock.

"You're from a neutral country," Pepper spouted. "How would I get into Sweden and then sneak over to Germany and rescue Jewish kids once they stop letting them go to Britain?"

As a stunned silence hung over the group, even Annie found it hard to come up with something to say right away. And, if Annie was silenced, the shock on Warbucks' and Bostrom's faces showed they had really been stunned speechless.