Spirited Away
Portion Four
I heard the bell chime from downstairs, it signified that dinner would be ready in a few minutes and that everyone should get his or her buts downstairs.
I sighed, I was reading one of my books, you know, the ones I had read a million times before and all the plots were the same? Well one of those. I had only just sat down; I had been outside with the other guys playing tiggy (I know it’s childish but it’s just so much fun), when it had started raining so Nurse Greenfield made us come back inside.
I closed the book, marking my place and played it on my bedside table. Then I headed downstairs to join everyone for dinner. When I reached the dinning room there was a huge crowd to the side of the room.
Everyone had his or her noses covered, “What’s going on?” I asked someone. Then I smelled it, the stench was foul and couldn’t be anything else but vomit, “Eww,” I muttered.
“Little Billy Bobby just threw up,” a girl said to me.
I poked my head in between people, there lying on the floor was Little Billy Bobby, I only new who he was because he was constantly getting into trouble with the nurses.
“Move along move along,” Nurse Carter came bustling in with a mop and bucket, followed by Nurse Murphy, who took Billy away from the scene.
“Poor kid,” Sheldon, whispered to me.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Everyone,” Nurse Carter announced, “Dinner will be delayed a few more minutes, go back to our rooms.”
Everyone moaned. “Erin, Saffron and Lydia. I’d like you to stay and help clean up,” Nurse Carter told us.
Now it was my turn to groan, I had to clean up someone’s puke! You’ve got to be kidding me!
I took the mop and bucket from Nurse Carter and looked at the other two girls who I would be working with. These were the same girls who helped me clean the dishes after dinner.
I laughed, “So on top of the dishes we have clean up Billy Bobby’s mess to.”
One of them sniffed, “I miss my parents, we never had to do chores.”
“Yeah,” the other agreed taking the mop from me.
“Well you better get used to it,” I told them, walking towards the cupboard and talking out the vacuum, “Well we better get to it, or else we’ll never eat.”
I heard a groan, but that’s life huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes later we had the floor clean and smelling beautiful if I do say so myself. I talked with Saffron and Lydia while we worked, it turned out that they had had very interesting lives. Their parents traveled for a living so they were always on the move. They had been home schooled their whole lives and never lived in a real house. The car crashed that their parents had died in turned out to be their R.V, Saffron and Lydia had been inside.
“That must have been so hard for you,” I sympathized. I wondered what it would be like to know your parents before you lost them forever.
“Yeah, it was. I mean it still is, but it must be hard for you too. I mean you never even knew your parents, at least we have memories of ours,” Lydia said to me. She was the eldest of the two and just a few months younger than me.
I nodded, yeah.
“We better go tell the nurses that’s were don e so we can finally eat,” Saffron came and told us. She went and put the vacuum back into the cupboard and we walked into the kitchen.
Little Billy Bobby had gone up to his room and was too sick to eat, so we all got a bigger portion of food. Everyone was a lot happier then, so what if we had to wait twenty minutes extra, we got more food! Nothing beats more food.
Once again I was first to finish, I guess I had always been a fast eater, I wonder who I got that from?
After everyone had finished eating I helped clear the table. I hadn’t had a kitchen chore in so long that I had almost forgotten what it looked like. But it was the same as ever, small and cramped and… small and cramped. But I suppose that someone would call it cozy.
Washing the dishes turned out to be a lot of fun and very time consuming, I never mentioned how many people there were at the orphanage. Well there are twenty of us and we all eat a lot. By the time we had finished with the dishes the whole kitchen was a mess of bubbles, so we then had to clean it as well.
By the time we were done the room was sparkling and we were experts at cleaning. “See you tomorrow guys,” I laughed.
They both joined me, “You know I thought this place was going to be a real drag, but I don’t know, it kind of grows on you. Doesn’t it Lydia?”
“Yeah,” Lydia agreed, ascending the stairs.
Yeah it does. But no kid ever stops wishing that they never knew it existed. I sighed and followed them upstairs.
I sighed, I was reading one of my books, you know, the ones I had read a million times before and all the plots were the same? Well one of those. I had only just sat down; I had been outside with the other guys playing tiggy (I know it’s childish but it’s just so much fun), when it had started raining so Nurse Greenfield made us come back inside.
I closed the book, marking my place and played it on my bedside table. Then I headed downstairs to join everyone for dinner. When I reached the dinning room there was a huge crowd to the side of the room.
Everyone had his or her noses covered, “What’s going on?” I asked someone. Then I smelled it, the stench was foul and couldn’t be anything else but vomit, “Eww,” I muttered.
“Little Billy Bobby just threw up,” a girl said to me.
I poked my head in between people, there lying on the floor was Little Billy Bobby, I only new who he was because he was constantly getting into trouble with the nurses.
“Move along move along,” Nurse Carter came bustling in with a mop and bucket, followed by Nurse Murphy, who took Billy away from the scene.
“Poor kid,” Sheldon, whispered to me.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Everyone,” Nurse Carter announced, “Dinner will be delayed a few more minutes, go back to our rooms.”
Everyone moaned. “Erin, Saffron and Lydia. I’d like you to stay and help clean up,” Nurse Carter told us.
Now it was my turn to groan, I had to clean up someone’s puke! You’ve got to be kidding me!
I took the mop and bucket from Nurse Carter and looked at the other two girls who I would be working with. These were the same girls who helped me clean the dishes after dinner.
I laughed, “So on top of the dishes we have clean up Billy Bobby’s mess to.”
One of them sniffed, “I miss my parents, we never had to do chores.”
“Yeah,” the other agreed taking the mop from me.
“Well you better get used to it,” I told them, walking towards the cupboard and talking out the vacuum, “Well we better get to it, or else we’ll never eat.”
I heard a groan, but that’s life huh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes later we had the floor clean and smelling beautiful if I do say so myself. I talked with Saffron and Lydia while we worked, it turned out that they had had very interesting lives. Their parents traveled for a living so they were always on the move. They had been home schooled their whole lives and never lived in a real house. The car crashed that their parents had died in turned out to be their R.V, Saffron and Lydia had been inside.
“That must have been so hard for you,” I sympathized. I wondered what it would be like to know your parents before you lost them forever.
“Yeah, it was. I mean it still is, but it must be hard for you too. I mean you never even knew your parents, at least we have memories of ours,” Lydia said to me. She was the eldest of the two and just a few months younger than me.
I nodded, yeah.
“We better go tell the nurses that’s were don e so we can finally eat,” Saffron came and told us. She went and put the vacuum back into the cupboard and we walked into the kitchen.
Little Billy Bobby had gone up to his room and was too sick to eat, so we all got a bigger portion of food. Everyone was a lot happier then, so what if we had to wait twenty minutes extra, we got more food! Nothing beats more food.
Once again I was first to finish, I guess I had always been a fast eater, I wonder who I got that from?
After everyone had finished eating I helped clear the table. I hadn’t had a kitchen chore in so long that I had almost forgotten what it looked like. But it was the same as ever, small and cramped and… small and cramped. But I suppose that someone would call it cozy.
Washing the dishes turned out to be a lot of fun and very time consuming, I never mentioned how many people there were at the orphanage. Well there are twenty of us and we all eat a lot. By the time we had finished with the dishes the whole kitchen was a mess of bubbles, so we then had to clean it as well.
By the time we were done the room was sparkling and we were experts at cleaning. “See you tomorrow guys,” I laughed.
They both joined me, “You know I thought this place was going to be a real drag, but I don’t know, it kind of grows on you. Doesn’t it Lydia?”
“Yeah,” Lydia agreed, ascending the stairs.
Yeah it does. But no kid ever stops wishing that they never knew it existed. I sighed and followed them upstairs.