Adopted

Chapter 2

The Matron sighed. She hated telling this part of my story because inevitably the couple would turn to each other in horror, and would suddenly be interested in someone else. I could see her heart break for me every time it happened.

The orphanage wasn't horrible. The staff were all very friendly, the Matron actually cared about us. We got a lot of donations and they all made sure we were well cared for, well groomed, well fed and well mannered. In fact, we all went to a local school, and you couldn't tell us orphans apart from the regular kids. I didn't hate living there, but I hated not having a family.

"Unfortunately, what?" the woman asked.

"Well, unfortunately, because of the accident, Jessica required a lot of blood transfusions."

The woman's hand went to her mouth. I think she knew what was coming.

"At least one of those units was tainted with HIV. Jessica is HIV positive. We have to give full disclosure."

And here it came. I could see it playing out as it had so many times before.

First, she turned to him, and he looked at her. The look of horror matched every other prospective parent since I was nine years old and had been diagnosed.

And here came the next part, where they'd stand up and stammer about being sorry to hear what happened and good luck.

"Oh. Jessica. That's terrible. I'm so sorry to hear about your parents, and what's happened to you." the woman said.

"That's alright. It's been long enough. I'm over it." I said.

"No one gets 'over' tragedy like that. Oh, sweetie."

She gave me a hug. That was a first.

"Can we have a few minutes to talk?" the woman asked, looking at the man. The Matron nodded.

"Of course."

"Well, it was nice to meet you," I said. "I'm sure there's a much more viable choice out in the auditorium."

I turned back to the very bad movie.

I wasn't paying attention when the woman sat down on the coffee table in front of me.

"Jessica, would you like to come home with us?" the woman asked.

The Matron dropped the book she was holding, which she'd been putting on the library cart.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.

"Would you like to come home with us? My husband and I came to adopt a child, and we had already agreed we'd like an older child. My husband travels a lot, and though I travel with him when I can, we thought an older child would be easier to take along."

"Well, thanks, but you don't have to pity-adopt me. Seriously. Jake's a pretty worldly kid. He's nine. If you ask him, he's been to Mars and the moon. You'd probably like him better."

"Jessica, this isn't a pity-adoption," the man said, sitting down in front of me, beside his wife. "We discussed it, and we agree that an orphanage is not a place for a child like you. You deserve a loving family who can care for you when you're... sick. I'm sure the staff does a wonderful job taking care of all of you, but when you get sick, do they really have the time to tend to you when you need them?"

"They just send me off to the hospital where there are people paid to take care of me." I said.

"My job is pretty flexible. If you're sick, there's a good chance I can be home with you," the man said. "And if you do need to be in the hospital, my wife and/or I can be there with you. You don't ever have to be alone anymore."

"You are aware that I'm going to die someday, aren't you? Like, young."

"We are," he said, his brown eyes staring into mine. "It's not ideal, and we weren't looking for a temporary child, but we want to be your parents."

I sighed.

"It's up to you." I said.

"No, sweetie, it's up to you, too. You get a say in all this. I think you're old enough to participate in decisions that concern your life." the woman said.

"You want the dying kid, you can have the dying kid." I smirked.

"You're a very sarcastic young lady, aren't you?" the man smirked back at me.

"I'm fluent in sarcasm."

The woman rolled her eyes.

"What have I gotten myself into?" she asked.

The Matron came over.

"Are you absolutely sure you'd like to adopt Jessica? You are aware she will require expensive medications and hospitalizations? And that there is the inherent risk of contraction if you aren't careful?"

"I do very well at my job," the man said. "I'm confident that we can handle any medical crises both emotionally and financially. I mean, you've gotten our paperwork already, which has all of the evaluations required."

"We do. Although with Jessica, we will have to send her social worker for routine visits for a minimum of six months, and a maximum of a year. At least once a month, unless she feels she needs to intervene or see you all more."

"That's not a problem. We can handle that. However, if we do need to travel, and Jessica is with us, we could be gone for more than a month. Would we be able to connect with the social worker through video chats?"

"I suppose we could make arrangements as necessary. Let's go to the office and fill out the remaining paperwork. I can give you Jessica's birth certificate and other relevant ID, her Social Security number and so on. Jessica," the Matron said, turning to me. "Go get your bag and start packing. You've been adopted."

She came over to me and gave me a hug.

"I'll see you in my office in what, ten minutes?" she said. I nodded.