Trial and Error

Chapter three: A New Home

     The few days that followed the first at the hospital made me anxious. The sounds of chattering and beeping wouldn't stop, but Gretchen didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. She still just stared at the window, sometimes even wandering around with doctors and nurses learning about different tools.

     One of the things that kept me occupied was the piano down in a quiet room that usually had old people in it. I spent quite a while down in that room, even learning to play a few nice sounding songs. Most of the old people seemed to like me, but a few of them yelled at me. They wanted silence, and to sit by the fireplace while they napped.

     The fireplace terrified me, it reminded me of our home aflame, but for some reason, during the few times Gretchen came down with me, she stared at it, unphased. I never understood why she didn't even seem like anything had changed. She didn't understand that everything would be different, that mom was gone, that our house was gone, everything we knew was gone.

     "Gretchen, look," I called, and she looked away from the fire. "I can play Hot Cross Buns!" I said, and turned to play the tune. My tiny fingers pressed each key with care, and even though the song was simple, every note was filled with passion. I turned to my sister with a smile on my face.

     "What?" She asked.

     "Did you like it?" I asked.

     "Meh." She replied and turned back to the golden glow of the fire. My smile disappeared as I turned back to the keys.

     The sound of clicking hooves and Dr. Coast's voice echoed down the hallway. "They really are fantastic kids, artistic and intelligent," he said. Dr. Coast walked into the room followed by a cow woman. She stood on her two hind hooves, holding a few books and wearing a red sundress with white polka dots. "There they are," Dr. Coast said, pointing to me and my twin.

     The lady walked toward me, her hooves clicking on the wood flooring, and held out her hand to me.

     "Hello, Adam, I'm Ms. Burns, and I'm here to take you and your sister to your new home." She said with a soft voice.

     "Hi Ms. Burns," I greeted, shaking her hand. "Are you our new mommy?"

     She laughed. "No, Sweetheart, but you will be living with me and a few other kids and adults until we find you a new mommy or daddy," she said. She looked at the piano and smiled. "You like the piano, huh?"

     "Yeah," I said and turned to the keys once again. "I can play Hot Cross Buns," I said, and began to play.

     I played the song for Ms. Burns, a little more nervous than before since Gretchen didn't like it last time. Once I finished playing, Ms. Burns gave a little clap, like mom had done when she was proud of me.

     "That's very good, Adam! Did someone teach you that?" She asked.

     "No, I learned it myself," I told her.

     "Well, good for you, Honey, that's very impressive!"

     "Thank you," I responded, as mom had taught me to do when I was complimented.

     "He's quite the talented kiddo," Dr. Coast chimed in. "Gonna make it big someday, I'll tell you that much!"

     "I'd say so," Ms. Burns added and looked at Dr. Coast. He was kind of sweaty and fussed with his hands like he was nervous about something.

     "Are you anxious, Dr. Coast?" I asked.

     "What? Oh, no, Sport, just excited for you guys is all," he replied, then glanced to Ms. Burns with a nervous smile. "You're gonna be great, you're gonna do great. You've done this a lot, I'm sure, so you'll be great," he rambled, then cleared his throat. "Well, it's been lovely meeting you all, I have stuff to do, important doctor-y stuff." He took another glance at Ms. Burns before turning to leave the room.