Storm Blown Over

Finally the storm came to an end in the wee hours of the morning. The other girls had long since fallen asleep, but Samantha's thoughts still keep sleep at bay. She knew she should have at least tried to get a little sleep. Today would be another full day of chores. The building was run down and never seemed clean, but they were on their hands and knees scrubbing it every day. 40 little girls could make quite a mess, with meals, and laundry, and tracking mud in from the little yard out back where they gardened and raised chickens. There also seemed to always be an endless amount of weeds in the garden. Of course, London was quite a damp place, especially during the winter months, all that rain made everything grow, not just the veggies. he first tendrils of sunlight started to turn the sky from black to gray and Samantha groaned audibly. Clapping a hand over her mouth she glanced around to see if she had wakened anyone in the still, quiet room. One form rolled over, but nothing else in the room moved. Not that it would have mattered, because seconds later Miss Higgins burst through the door with a shrill "wake up lazy girls." which she delivered in a sing song voice followed by a mirthless laugh as she left the room. She knew the girls would get up without being told twice. She knew that they knew what to do with their day, and she would check on them periodically, but she was up this early for reasons other than watching them all day. After all, what did she care if they didn't clean up, they were the ones that would have to live in their own filth. What did she care if they decided to run away? One less mouth to feed was more money to pay for other expenses. She would be in her office, with the infant orphans, or out running errands, and they would come and get her if they needed something. She had an assistant, a girl that had been a resident of the house when she was a young orphan herself. She was mostly in charge of watching after the babies, thankfully there were just 2 of them at the moment. Miss Higgins generally busied herself with trying to find someone, anyone, that would adopt some of the "wretched little orphans" as she affectionately called them. Sometimes adding a warm and unexpected smile, which let Samantha know that somewhere in there had once resided a very caring and nurturing individual. Those moments were few and far between however. She doubted most of the girls who were currently living here had seen it, but Samantha had studied Miss Higgins over the years. Being the only adult Samantha had every really had much contact with, Miss Higgins was somewhat of an anomaly in the life of a person who was only surounded by other children. Which brought Samantha to the other human interest subject that had been plaguing her of late. Boys. She hardly knew a thing about them. There wasn't anyone here who did besides Miss Higgins, and maybe not even her. Samantha certainly was not bold enough to find out what Miss Higgins did or did not know about the opposite sex. So Samantha was forced to concede that she would just have to find out for herself one day. It wasn't as if she had never come into contact with one before. She had "run away" once or twice, but it wasn't as if in her short adventures she had sat down and had a conversation with one. Just words in passing, and some fleeting observations. They were the most current mystery that intrigued her though, and she was deciding whether or not to go out for another little adventure. Shaking her head in aggravation at herself, she realized her mind had been all over the place during the time in which she would have been sleeping. If she had slept, maybe she would be able to think and make decisions more clearly.