The Orphans in the Woods

Rohan washed the dishes and put them away. He was grateful that his sister had cooked dinner. It wasn't as good as Mom's cooking, but for her first try it wasn't that bad. She'd get better. Gertrude had begun looking around the house for money as Rohan had told her. After Rohan was done putting the washed dishes away, he double checked the front door to make sure it was locked. He glanced at the telephone on the wall in the kitchen. No one had called yet and he was glad. He wondered if he should disconnect the phone or leave it alone. He decided to leave it alone for now. He walked through the living room to his bedroom to find his large suitcase. He had to pack the suitcase carefully with his best camping clothes.

Gertrude checked the bathroom. She looked under the sink and found one of her mother's sewing kits and make up bags. She unzipped the bags and scouraged through the items inside looking for money. In the sewing kit, she found a twenty dollar bill. In the make up bag, she found a weird certificate - She wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was foreign money or something like that. Maybe Rohan would know. She grabbed them both and continued to look. There was nothing else in the bathroom, so she went into her room to check her piggy bank. She unplugged the rubber from the bottom of the ceramic pig and shook it out on her bed letting the coins fall. She noticed a few bills stuck at the opening and she pryed the bills out with her little fingers. Two fives, and about five dollars in change. Seven years of birthday gifts and tooth fairies and all she had in her piggy bank was $15. Gertrude knew that if there was any more money in the house it would be in her parents room, but she didn't want to go back in there. How could she be snooping around there room for money while their dead bodies were cold and bloody on the floor? This was all too much. She was only 7 years old. This was not supposed to be her life at 7 years old. It was too much to deal with. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. How could God let this happen?

She walked back out into the living room where she saw her brother sitting on the couch packing a tool bag. She sat next to him and pulled out the money she had found so far.

"From my bank and Mom's sewing kit, $35 and um... this... whatever this is," she said showing Rohan the weird certificate.

Rohan looked at it. Certificate of Deposit. $100.

"Oh, yeah, that's like a savings bond from the bank," Rohan said, "Won't do us much good right now, but we should keep it anyway."

"There might be some thing in Mom's room but..." Gertrude tried to finish her thought and couldn't.

"Yeah," her brother said understanding, "Don't worry about it. I'll look in there later."

Then the two siblings were silent together, just sitting as the sunset had transpired and the darkness of evening had consumed the atmosphere. They kept only a small lamp on. They listened to the sounds of the night - the wind in the trees, the crickets, the occasional car driving by on the county road not far from the house.

"You should get some sleep if you can," Rohan told Gertrude.

"Are you going to sleep?" she asked incredulously, uncertain if it was possible even though she felt as tired as she had been hungry.

He shrugged. He was also uncertain if it was possible, though he knew if it was it would be good for both of them.