Shades of Gray

7. A Day at the Orphanage

Something roused Carmen from her sleep. Whether it was a small noise the intruder made, or just an instinctive sense of danger, she found herself wide awake. She could make out the silhouette of the interloper at the end of her bed.

Carmen tensed all her muscles and unexpectedly leaped at the figure, tackling them to the ground. She couldn't see the person's features in the dark, so she hissed, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

To her surprise, the intruder burst out in laughter.

"Oh, mija, I didn't mean to scare you!" they gasped before falling into another laughing fit.

"Amá?!" Carmen replied, shocked. She hurriedly got off of Carlotta and helped pull her mother to her feet. "I'm so sorry, I thought-"

Carlotta waved the apology away, finally calming down enough to speak. "It's perfectly alright," she said, laughing again. "You've been trained to react that way. Ah, I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while."

"Are you hurt?" Carmen questioned anxiously.

"No, I'm fine," Carlotta assured her. She stepped over to the window and pulled back the blackout curtains, allowing light to flood into the room. "I came to wake you up for breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Carmen now realized how hungry she was, having missed dinner last night. "I didn't mean to sleep for so long."

"I considered waking you up for dinner, but I decided to leave you alone. You seemed pretty exhausted." Carlotta explained.

"I was," Carmen nodded. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Plenty of medialunas and coffee," Carlotta told her. Medialunas were basically croissants, and their name meant half-moon. They were a common breakfast food all across Argentina, and the ones Carlotta made were delicious.

"Sounds great," Carmen replied. "Give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll be there."

"Of course," Carlotta said, exiting Carmen's room and closing the door behind her.

Carmen picked out a warm white romper from her closet, fastening a simple brown belt around her waist and slipping on some sandals. She quickly brushed her teeth and ran a comb through her hair, deciding to leave it down. Within a few minutes she was sitting at the table enjoying breakfast.

"Thank you for the medialunas," Carmen said as she stood to put her empty plate in the sink. "They're amazing."

"Aww, I'm glad you like them so much," Carlotta replied. "Well, now that you're done eating, we can go down and check on the orphans. I left Matias and Laura in charge of their breakfast this morning, but they won't be able to get thirty orphans dressed and packed for school alone."

Carmen laughed. "That is true; the orphans are a handful. A lovable handful, though, no doubt."

Carmen and her mother descended the stairs that connected Carlotta's living and office space to the orphanage below. Carlotta pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairwell, which led into the eating area, where thirty orphans were currently eating breakfast. They were scattered around at different tables situated throughout the room, chatting and laughing with their friends. But they all turned to greet Carmen and her mother.

"Hola, señora Carlotta!" they called. "Buenos días, Camila."

"Buenos días," Carmen smiled. "How are all of you this morning?"

"We're doing good," one of the orphans piped up. Her name was Natalia, and she was only nine years old. "But I had a hard time sleeping last night because Isabel was snoring really loudly."

Before Carmen could reply, Isabel said indignantly, "I don't snore! Besides, even if I did, it wouldn't be enough to keep anyone awake."

Isabel was the same age as Natalia, and the two of them were good friends. They argued a lot, but it was just for fun. There were no hard feelings between the two girls.

Natalia nodded vigorously. "Yes, it is! You should hear yourself, you sound like an elefante!"

Isabel crossed her arms. "Oh, really?" she said. "Well, you sound like a flock of periquitos chattering away and interrupting everyone's sleep just as much as my snoring supposedly does."

Natalia opened up her mouth to shoot back a reply, but Carlotta cut their bickering short. "Well, Natalia, if Isabel sounds like an elephant when she snores, I can always get you some earplugs. And Isabel, what did you say Natalia sounded like? A flock of parakeets? I bet earplugs could block that out, too."

"No, it's alright," Natalia assured Carlotta quickly. "Isabel's snoring isn't that bad."

"Yeah, Natalia really only sounds like one or two periquitos. I don't need earplugs." Isabel added.

Carmen hid a smile behind her hand. "I'm glad that's settled, then." She spoke a little louder so that everyone could hear her. "Now, you'd better hurry and finish your food so you can get ready for school. I'd hate for you all to be late."

The rest of the orphans, who had stopped eating to watch Natalia and Isabel's quarrel, hurriedly finished eating their food and began to file out of the dining area to go get dressed.

Carmen caught sight of Laurel pushing her way out of the kitchen, followed a few moments later by Matias. They walked over to where Carlotta and Carmen stood.

"Buenos días, you two," Laurel smiled pleasantly. "I'm glad to see you back home, Carmen."

"Thanks," Carmen replied, returning the smile. Laurel had become a close friend of hers during the time she'd spent in Argentina, and she knew Carmen's entire story. "What have you guys been up to this morning?"

"Oh, we just finished cleaning up the kitchen," Laurel answered. "It took us a little longer than usual, because somebody-" she inclined her head to Matias, "dropped a gallon of milk on the floor and it burst open."

Matias held up his hands. "In my defense, Laurel bumped into me while I was trying to put it back in the refrigerator. So it wasn't completely my fault."

"I didn't even touch you," Laurel rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. She nudged Matias playfully. "You're lucky I love you, or else I would have left you to clean up the mess by yourself."

Matias and Laurel had only been married for a few years and weren't much older than Carmen herself, but it was obvious they cared deeply for each other. The lighthearted banter between them always put a smile on Carmen's face, and they were great with the kids as well.

"Well, I'll get the vans pulled around to the front." Matais said, interrupting her thoughts. "Julio and Rafael should be here soon, and the three of us can drive the kids to school."

"Great," Carlotta nodded. The orphanage owned three twelve-passenger vans they used to transport all of the orphans to and from school. "In the meantime, Carmen, Laurel and I should probably help the kids, or else we won't have anyone ready to even go to school."

The four of them laughed.

"Fair point," Carmen agreed.