More Books

 

How Emma's Dream Came True.
by Eva Hackett

HOW EMMA'S DREAM COMES TRUE.
INTRODUCTION
Hi I am Emma Walsh. I am 12 years old and I have a story to tell. I was 10 years old in this story. I was in an all girls orphanage of twenty in Cork called Lota. I was in the orphanage since I was two and a half because my dad ran away from mum when she was having me. My mum didn't have enough money to mind me and she was going to school anyway. She was about fifteen. I hated the orphanage. It was a tall, stone building it was three stores high and had a basement. Inside the paint was chipped off the walls and they were damp. The orphanage was up a winding lane with a wood beside it. There was a big iron gate that was always creaking at night. There was no heating except for a small fire in the dining room also there was one long table for all of us. The light was dim and you could barely see in the long hall ways. Our rooms were dormitories. There were four dormitories with five beds in each. There was only a curtain between each child. All we had was a bed and a small locker. We had one small window with bars across it. Mrs. Beatrice Burns was our headmistress. She was tall, thin and had a long nose. She also had a sour face. We had a nickname for her Sourpuss. Mrs. Burns was awfully strict. She made us wear a long brown torn dress and a white apron that went cream with dirt, and also big heavy leather brown boots. Mrs. Burns had a leather strap and if we were very bold she hit us with it across the hand. On weekdays she came in to each dormitory at 7:00am and rang a loud bell to wake us up. When she came back again, if we were not up she would take the blankets off us. When we were up we went to the wash room and washed ourselves. Then we got dressed in our school uniform. Our uniform for school was a navy gymslip, light blue blouse, dark blue tie and black worn shoes. Then we make our beds, had our breakfasts and then went to the church for morning prayers. After that we got our own lunches and lined up at the door. It took us a half an hour to walk to school. When we arrived back from school we had to do our chores that would be written up on the wall. We got different chores every week, (we got our chores every Sunday night). By the time we were finished it was 5 o' clock. We had to do our homework for two hours and then at 7 o' clock we had our dinner. Bridget Murphy was the only really kind girl in the orphanage. She was very nice to me and she helped me with my homework. My enemy was Jude O' Hara. She was mean, bossy and always knew what to say whenever she was in a fight. Jude was Mrs. Burns' pet.
CHAPTER 1.
Ding ! Ding ! Ding ! Ding ! Oh no that's the bell to get up. I jumped out of bed before Mrs. Burns could take the blankets off me. I stumbled down the hall with my eyes half open with the tiredness . I washed myself, got dressed in my rotten uniform and ran down stairs earlier than usual because it was my turn to help with the breakfast . When I served breakfast everyone was complaining to me about the food. Then Jude started a food fight, and I got in trouble for it. I hated being on breakfast. It was so boring. We then lined up in front of the door to go to the church . Some girl forgot to put on her coat so she had to stay at the orphanage. I know this didn't sound like much but if you didn't go to church you would feel awful . A while later, off we went to school feeling better because anything was grand once your weren't in the orphanage . At 11:00 the bell rang. Time to go for lunch. My morning went OK because I did all my homework ( you see usually I don't get them done but I stayed up nearly all night ). After break I have Maths, Irish, Latin, History, and Nature. " Hey orphan you're sitting in our place now go away and sit somewhere else" . I walked away before they said anything else. Emily, a really nice person who also shared her lunch with me, rushed over and said "Don't mind them they're bullies, come and sit with us."
I sat down at the table and Emily introduced me to her friends: Amanda, Lucy and Sandra. They all seemed very nice. They opened up their lunches and Emily's friends started complaining about what their mothers put in their lunch boxes for lunch. I was about to say that I wouldn't complain, it was better than my lunch - sour milk and stale sandwiches. Anyway I didn't have my mum around to complain to. Then I thought sure they don't know so I'II just ignore what they said. We finished our lunches. We had a really nice chat . Emily asked me did I want to come and play with her and her friends but I said "No thanks I'm Okay. "
I felt I might be in the way. I decided to go to the library and do my lessons I had been given so far. Break time was over in ten minutes so I headed for the Maths Room.

CHAPTER 2
I jumped on the bed, lay down and thought to myself "What a bad day." As you heard the morning went well for me but definitely not the evening. I got extra Irish homework for daydreaming and extra Latin homework because the teacher was in a bad mood. I had loads of Maths to do because we had a test the next day. Well at least I didn't have Nature and anyway I got a lot of my homework done at break time. I ran down stairs to help cook dinner. It took me a long time to do it because only Sourpuss was helping me. While dinner was being served Sourpuss had an announcement to make. "This Sunday the health inspector Mr. Rogers is coming so no one will have to do any chores that day but there will be a big clean up on Saturday. I must warn you that your good dresses better be clean or else you'll get no dinner."
This was great now that Mr. Rogers was coming we'd get a gorgeous dinner . After dinner I played solitaire. Jude came along and knocked cards off the table and tore some of them up. I was upset because it was the only thing I could play with. I told Mrs. Burns. She just called me a liar just because I said it was Jude who had done it . I stormed off. I couldn't be bothered listing to Sourpuss going on about what happens to liars. I went off up to my room (or so I thought ). It was so dark that I went into the wrong dormitory and out of all the dormitories it had to be Jude's . Jude had her chin in her knees sitting down on the bed with tears rolling down her cheeks and was making gentle sobs now and then . I knocked on the door and walked slowly in and sat on the bed next to Jude. She told me to go away but I knew she didn't mean it . I asked her what was wrong. She forgot we were enemies. She told me that her parents died in a car crash when she was young and she still got really upset and was always thinking about them. Jude only pretended that she was strong, just to hide her feelings. She asked me not to tell anyone and I said I wouldn't . "Why did I have to tell you?" Jude sighed.
"It's OK Jude don't worry," I said reassuringly.
It worked because Jude relaxed a bit . She then said "Listen , I'm sorry I tore your cards and sorry for being mean to you."
" It's OK ". From then on we were very good friends and Jude even bought me a pack of cards for my birthday. We played cards the whole time. Jude and I became better friends every day and told each other everything.
CHAPTER 3
Two Years Later
"Emma there's someone here to see you ". As I passed Mrs. Burns then whispered "Don't stay talking too long ". I wondered who it could be. It was visiting month so anyone could come to see you but no one used to come to see me . It could be.. No ! it couldn't, she'd never come. "Hello Emma".
Oh my God! it was, it was her. I felt like jumping around. Instead I tried to cool down and instead of screaming I said quietly "Hello Mum".
My mum was tall, pretty and had the same long hair as I did. During the year my mum (Caroline) and I got really closer and closer. She brought me out to lovely little restaurants and she told me she had a steady job and a nice small house about half an hour from the city . We even went to see it. It was cool. It had two bedrooms and she told me the second bedroom was for me. My mother said she was going to adopt me in a year or so, but we had to get to know each other better. Every night from then on I kept thinking that I was actually going to live in a house . Finally it happened. After six months my mother told me she was going to adopt me. I had been waiting for this day, it was the best feeling ever .The day came that I had to move out the orphanage. I had hardly nothing to bring with me . I had to say goodbye to Bridget and Jude. Mum promised that I could invite them over whenever I wanted . All I said to Mrs. Burns was goodbye. Even though I hated the orphanage, when I walked out and knew I wouldn't walk back there again, I felt as if there was a part of me missing . I held my mother's hand and took one last look at Lota.
CHAPTER 4
A week later I was settled at home (I stayed at the same school). Last Saturday I had Jude and Bridget over. We played all day and had great craic, but they said they still missed me in Lota even though they come down a lot. Next day myself and mum went to a cafe and had ice- cream. We then went shopping because I needed some clothes. I love my new home and I feel sorry for those who are still in Lota. I am really looking forward to my new life with my mother.
The End