Chapter 3 A Journey's Beginning
Meanwhile, at a certain orphanage, some young children were looking out the second floor windows, waving goodbye to their two longest members.
One of them being a familiar redhead wearing a green overcoat over a tattered brown dress, stockings, and worn boots, along with a dark blue hat, purple scarf, gloves, and a necklace that read "Together in Paris" on it.
The other was a certain chestnut-haired girl wearing a dark brown jacket over a tattered brown dress with patches on the skirt, a white shirt underneath, stockings, and brown shoes, along with a dark gray hat, a blue scarf, and a necklace with a purple stone attached to it.
Having spent half of their lives in the orphanage, Anya and Katya were finally being forced out now that they were adults, and following them outside was Phlegmenkoff.
"I got each of you a job at the fish factory," The crabby caretaker said as she escorted Katya and Anya out the door. "All you do is go straight down that path, and when you get to the fork in the road, you go left…"
But Anya and Katya were too busy waving goodbye to the other orphans.
"Goodbye!" Anya called out to the other orphans inside the building.
"Bye!" Katya called out as well.
"Are you ladies listening?!" Phlegmenkoff snapped.
"Bye, everybody!" Anya called out before she and Katya looked at the caretaker.
Anya's smile then faded when she noticed Phlegmenkoff glaring at her, and gave a bored and disgusted look. "We're listening, comrade Phlegmenkoff."
Katya just sighed as Phlegmenkoff took Anya by the scarf.
"Oh, Anya, you've been a thorn in my side since the day you got here!" The carwaker groaned as she dragged Katya and Anya towards the gate, nearly choking her. "Waltzing about and acting like the Queen of Sheba instead of the nameless, no-account you are!"
"Bye!" Anya called out again while continuing to wave goodbye as she and Katya tried catching up to the caretaker.
Phlegmenkoff then looked at Katya with disgust as she went forward to unlock the gate.
"And as for you, ungrateful brat, you've been an even bigger thorn on my side, since I have to listen to you read those nonsense fairy tales to your podruga, here! For the past ten years, I've fed you, I've clothed you, I've educated you, and I've kept…"
"Kept a roof over our heads." Anya finished with an uninterested tone as she mocked the caretaker.
"Agreed, comrade." Katya added with a bored expression.
As Phlegmenkoff opened the gate, she narrowed her eyes as she began to wonder about something. "Why is it that you don't have a clue as to who you are before you came to us, but you can remember all that?"
"Well, I do have a clue to…" Anya started as she pulled out her necklace from her coat.
"I know!" Phlegmenkoff grunted as she yanked Anya's necklace and read it. "Together in Paris! So you want to go to France to find your family, huh?" She asked with a sarcastic smile.
"Mmm-hmmm." Anya replied with a nod and smile.
"Ha!" Phlegmenkoff laughed before turning to Katya. "And what about you, little girl? Do you have any more hopes and dreams about your brat'ya i sestry left?"
"Of course!" Katya scoffed as she remembered her older siblings in America. "I've been writing letters to them at every possible free moment I've had, and I still have their letters in my coat pockets, and how about my passage money?"
Phlegmenkoff just faked sympathy as she shook her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, my dear Katya. But I must've lost the money somehow." She then gave a smirk while adding, "But I will admit, I had wonderful nights drinking vodka and eating blinis!"
Katya gasped with shock and anger while Anya gave a disgusted look since both of them were still angry that the caretaker had embezzled Katya's passage money sent from her brothers and sister on food and vodka.
Phlegmenkoff then pulled out some crumbled up money and handed it to Katya. "I do have ten rubles to help you get by for food and such, though."
Katya reluctantly took the money from the caretaker, and put it in her pocket, knowing that it wasn't going to be enough for a passage to the United States.
"Now, you and Little Miss Anya must learn it's time to take your places in life! In life and in line!" Phlegmenkoff laughed while pushing both Anya and Katya out the gate. "And be grateful, too!" Phlegmenkoff added as she threw Anya's scarf in her face.
"Together in Paris and going to America!" The caretaker laughed before slamming the gate shut, and going back to the orphanage.
And with that, Anya and Katya made their leave down the road.
After about a mile of walking, Anya and Katya came to rest at the fork road Phlegmenkoff had told them where to go.
"I can't believe that klutz of a witch embezzled all my passage money!" Katya complained with a frown.
"Be grateful, Anya!" Anya said as she mimicked Phlegmenkoff. "Katya and I ARE grateful! Grateful to get away!" She shouted down the path she came from.
"Yeah," Katya agreed with a smirk before making a disappointed expression. "I guess the only way I'll get to see my siblings again will be working in a smelly old fish factory," She muttered before she and Anya made it to two signposts.
The sign on the left read "Fishtown Market" while the other one pointing to the right said "St. Petersburg" on it.
"Go left, she says," Anya remembered. "Trouble is, I know what's to the left. I'll be Anya the orphan forever."
"And I'll just be a street rat wandering the streets for money that I'll never find since I'm all alone." Katya said sadly.
"I'll be with you, Katya." Anya told her with a small smile before wondering something. "But, if we go right," She gestured down the path to St. Petersburg, "Maybe we can find…" She then looked at her necklace. "Whoever gave me this necklace must've really loved me."
"I'm sure they loved you more than anything in the world." Katya said with a sad smile as she looked at her own necklace. "My mother gave me my necklace, I wonder how my siblings are doing in Boston?" She then looked over at the sign, which was pointing to St. Petersburg to the right, and she began thinking.
But Katya's thoughts were interrupted when Anya scoffed, "But that's just crazy! Me? Go to Paris?"
"Anya, what's going on?" Katya asked as Anya took a seat on a log.
"Oh, Katya, I'm in a big pickle," Anya answered as Katya sat next to her. "I can't decide if I should take my job at the factory or just go to St. Petersburg."
Katya looked at her with sympathy as Anya called out in air, "Send me a sign! A hint! Anything!"
Anya then knelt down by the signs, feeling hopeless.
Just then at that moment, a little gray spaniel puppy appeared, and saw Anya's long scarf. The puppy tugged at her scarf, getting the girls' attention.
"Cute little guy!" Katya giggled.
"Hey!" Anya said when she saw the dog. "Hey, hey, hey!"
The puppy looked up at her as the redhead said, "Look, my friend and I don't have time to play right now, okay? I'm waiting for a sign."
"What are you talking about, Anya?" Katya asked with a smug grin as the dog barked. "He just wants a little attention."
The dog barked again, and tugged harder at Anya's scarf.
"Hey!" The redhead cried as she grabbed the other end of the scarf, pulling it away from the puppy. "Would you give me that?"
Katya giggled as Anya kept telling the dog, "Could…could you just leave me alone? Hey, give me that!" The puppy ignored her as he kept pulling on his end of the scarf.
Anya became more stern as the puppy pulled on her scarf, and then put her to the ground on her abdomen.
Katya giggled at the puppy taking away the scarf in its mouth, and going onto the road to St. Petersburg.
Anya cleared her throat with a frown, and then Katya went to help her friend up.
"You okay, Anya?" Katya asked as she helped Anya back on her feet.
"I'm fine," Anya grumbled. "I'm just wondering why you didn't help me!"
"That little dog is so funny!" Katya laughed before calming down and clearing her throat. "I think he wants you to go to the city." She told Anya while looking at the perky dog.
"Oh, great," Anya muttered. "A dog wants me to go to St. Petersburg, okay…"
She then looked up at the sky, and wondered something. Maybe Anya really could go to St. Petersburg to find what she was looking for.
"I know it sounds crazy," Katya began. "But maybe this dog is smarter than you think?"
Anya looked down and smirked at her friend, who gave her a smug smile in return.
"Hmmm," The redhead said. "I can take a hint."
"Okay, Anya. Maybe I'll come with you, and find a way to earn extra money in either St. Petersburg or Paris?" Katya thought with a smile.
"Paris it is." Anya softly told her friend with a smile.
As she looked down at the path ahead of her, she took Katya's hand, and started singing as a small gust of wind blew some snow along the path.
Heart don't fail me now,
Courage don't desert me,
Don't turn back now that we're here,
People always say,
Life is full of choices,
No one ever mentions fear,
Anya began to feel more hopeful and confident as she picked up the little dog in her arms, and then Katya gave her a happy grin as they started their journey.
Or how a world can seem so vast,
On a journey to the past,
A troika of horses pulling a sleigh went past the girls as they happily walked and skipped through the snow as Anya kept singing.
Somewhere down this road,
I know someone's waiting,
Years of dreaming just can't be wrong,
Arms will open wide,
I'll feel safe and wanted,
Finally home where I belong,
Well, starting now I'm learning fast
On a journey to the past,
The two friends and their new puppy walked by a hut where a family was working in the snow. The two children ran over to play with the puppy for a little while, and then Katya indicated that it was time to go.
Everyone waved goodbye as Anya kept singing:
Home, love, family,
There was once a time I must've had them too
Home, love, family,
I will never be complete until I find you!
Some squirrels and rabbits watched the girls and dog happily walk through the forest, and back onto the road to St. Petersburg. Katya smiled brightly, thinking about older siblings in America as Anya kept singing.
One step at a time,
One hope, then another,
Who knows where this road may go?
Back to who I was,
On to find my future,
Things my heart still needs to know,
Yes, let this be a sign,
Let this road be mine,
Let it lead to my past,
And bring me home,
At last!
Anya held the last note of her song as she, the dog, and Katya stopped before the edge of a hill, where a magnificent view of St. Petersburg stood before them.
Anya was finally off to discover her past, where she had come from, and return to her long-lost family.