NINETEEN

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO AT OLGA CHILDREN'S HOME

The matron, Ms Meyerton, had just received word that the de Milos had arrived. She quickly straightened her skirt and rushed out to meet them.

"Welcome, welcome, please come in", Ms Meyerton smiled. She and the all the other members of staff were a bit on the edge; it was the first time for the mighty de Milos to visit the children's home. Although the de Milos were the biggest donors to the children's home, they had never visited. For years, they religiously sent their donations every first Thursday of the month without fail. On that special day, it was their very first time to come along as a family to visit the children's home.

The couple, Roderick and Shimmer walked in hand in hand. Their eldest daughter Ciera was trailing closely behind her father, her face expressionless. Just next to Mrs de Milo was Iris, the Housekeeping Manager at the Clear Opal Manor. She carefully held a fan which she occassionaly used to fan Shimmer. The de Milo son, Dylan, was walking on his own, a few steps behind his parents and Ciera. Guiding him carefully, with a hand on his shoulder, was Carl, the butler at the Clear Opal Manor. Dylan walked like he had been forced; one could clearly see that he did not want to be there. It was his twelfth birthday, and although there was a huge celebration scheduled for the weekend, he still felt aggrieved to have to go to the children's home on his birthday. The youngest de Milo girl, Arianna, ran and joined the other children from the home.

All the children from Olga sat down and listened to a short speech. The matron then handed the microphone to a girl who gave the vote of thanks. When they called her up to the stage, they referred to her as 0028. All the children there had number tags pinned just above each child's left breast.

She had shiny bright ice blue eyes and a beautiful button nose. Her lips looked too perfect to be real, and when she smiled, her teeth made her appear like an angel in a fairly tale. Everything about her was proportional, making her face and her whole being just but perfect. Although her clothes looked worn out, and they used only a number to define her, her beauty exceeded the number displayed on her. Her hair was pitch black, with loose curls that ran down to her back.

The girl stood up gracefully, walked up to the stage and started her speech. From the way she said it, it seemed like she had memorised the speech. She spoke a bit too fast, neither giving herself time to breath nor her audience time to digest the words which she spoke. When the girl, 0028, was done with her speech, she immediately started to sing a song, and her voice sounded like an angel's voice. It was sharp and yet not piercing. Instead it seemed to tag at a string in the inner being; it was a voice which would make one want to listen more; would make one add meaning to the words. It sounded as if it had been processed and edited, yet there was no editing going on. It was her natural voice, clear and beautiful.

The de Milos agreed among themselves, that the girl, 0028, was the greatest singer they had ever heard. On their way back home, Roderick commented, "wasn't her voice just like an angel's voice? I wanted her to continue singing. Oh my, she was just too great!" everyone agreed.

"Why is she an orphan, mamma? Did her parents die?" little Arianna asked innocently.

"Yes, my dear. Her parents died," Shimmer responded without much care.

"Will we be orphans too, mamma?" Arianna sounded worried.

"We pray that we will live long, sweetheart. But even if we die, you won't end up in a place like that" Shimmer assured her child. Her voice lacked any love or care for the people which she spoke about; the children at Olga Children's Home.

Back at the Clear Opal Manor, while Shimmer was getting ready to take a shower, her son walked in and asked shyly, "mum, can we please go back to the orphanage every month?"

"Why? You didn't want to go there today! I had to force you, and now you want to go there every month!" she was surprised by her son's response.

"I just like it. It's nice there", the boy smiled and quickly turned to leave.

***.

On the first Thursday of the following month, the de Milos were seated again at the front of the hall at the children's home, facing the crowd. Dylan was anxiously looking around, until his eyes finally landed on the girl, 0028. She looked more beautiful than the last time he saw her. The girl was looking for a place to sit, and she finally sat on a bench next to a baby basket that was placed on the floor just beside the same bench. Immediately she sat, the child in the baby basket started to cry, and 0028 quickly lifted the child up. She whispered something into the child's ears, kissed the child two or three times, and started to rock the child with a smile. She continued for a while, and it seemed like the child had calmed down.

Dylan watched every move that the girl made, and he thought she was the most beautiful, most kind girl in the world. Soon, another child, a boy of about three years old, went to 0028 and whispered something in her ear. 0028 carefully placed the baby in the basket and briskly walked towards the hall windows. There was a huge bucket with a tap on the sides; she took a plastic cup and fetched some water which she handed to the little boy. She then went back to her spot and sat down.

Since there were no more sitting places, she lifted the boy and carried him on her laps. As if that was not enough, there was another toddler sitting next to 0028, and the toddler was falling asleep. 0028 realized it and she pulled the child closer, allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder. She was smiling all the way as she did that.

"Dylan, Dylan stand up!!" his mother nudged him with her elbow. It was then Dylan realized that the speaker had asked all the de Milos to stand up so that the children could see them and offer their gratitude for the donations. Lost in deep thought and in admiring the girl, Dylan had failed to hear the announcement. The girl continued to smile and to accommodate everyone. While she herself was also a child in need of care; her heart was so big that she still had the time to care for and comfort a crying baby, to get water for a toddler and to carry him while offering her shoulder for yet another child to sleep.

Dylan heard nothing of the speech that was offered by the matron. It was mostly about thanking the de Milos for their never-ending support. He looked at the girl, and prayed in his heart that the matron was going to ask her to sing.

As if she was answering his silent prayer, Ms Meyerton called 0028 to come and sing. She carefully placed the baby in the basket and made sure that the toddlers sitting beside her were fine. She smiled sweetly and walked to the front. Without saying anything, no greeting or any introductory statement of any sort, the girl's voice broke into beautiful melody.

It sounded like a solo, but when she was done with the first stanza, the other children joined in on the chorus. They all sang beautifully, but 0028's voice was a cut above the rest. It was too beautiful. Dylan was mesmerized, looking at the girl. When the chorus was over, 0028 sang the stanza again, on her own. Dylan liked the solo parts better. He thought that was the best music he had ever heard.

The music was extremely enchanting. The girl hit the high notes and the low notes, playing around with her vocals with so much control that Dylan did not want the song to come to an end. Her voice rang loud and clear, emphasizing on some notes, going soft on some, bringing life to the song. When the girl was done singing, she gave a slight bow and tip-toed back to her place. Everyone clapped their hands and cheered.

The de Milos were the first to exit the hall. Dylan walked slowly behind everyone else. He stopped in front of Ms Meyerton.

"Thank you for coming", the lady smiled while she held Dylan's hands. The rest of the de Milos were already halfway down the hall.

"What's the name of that girl?", Dylan asked.

"Which girl?" Ms Meyerton stood up straight and looked around the hall. Children were beginning to form a queue so that they could file out of the hall.

"The one holding a baby; in the sky blue dress. The one that you call 0028".

"Oh 0028? That's Anisha. Her name is Anisha Meyerton. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing. It's just that...it's …it's nothing.", Dylan looked away.

"Anisha is a lovely girl. She has been with us since the day she was born."

"So she doesn't know who her parents are?" there was concern in Dylan's voice.

Ms Meyerton sadly shook her head and spoke, "sadly, no. Many children here have no idea who their parents are; but some do."

"She…" Dylan kept quiet. Ms Meyerton smiled and nodded to encourage him to go on. "She seems to take care of others a lot." He remarked.

"Oh yes she does", Ms Meyerton beamed. "We have six girls of her age, and I must admit, she is the most helpful. That girl has a heart of gold, if you ask me. Sometimes the staff gets overwhelmed, especially now that we have a lot of babies. Anisha can do a lot of tasks, including bathing and feeding the little ones. Most of the times we stop her, as we want her to concentrate on her school work, otherwise she might spend all her time attending to the little ones. We can always count on Anisha. She is a child herself, but she even outperforms some of the staff here."

"She, she….she sings well", he stammered.

"Oh yes she does!! Her voice is angelic. I'm yet to meet someone who sings better than her. Anisha is always the one to lead in the singing during our weekly program called An Hour of Praise. Her music touches the heart. She sings with passion. She also….."

"Sir Dylan! Here you are! I thought I had lost you!", Carl said as he took Dylan's hand. "Let's go, sir Dylan."

Dylan did not say anything but just walked away after smiling and nodding to Ms Meyerton who smiled back at him and said, "Good bye!"