Chapter 1

In a town called Milwaukee Wisconsin, there’s an orphanage called St. Joseph. In this orphanage there's a young boy named Ethan Hart. When Ethan was young he lived in a small rundown town called Range with his mother, who was a widow. Ethan was five when he was taken to the orphanage. His mother had left him home alone to run to the grocery store quickly to pick up some milk. On her way back from the store Ethan’s mother had gotten into a fatal car wreck and past away. Ethan had no dad, and his mother never kept in contact with any family, and when social Services had found Ethan after the wreck he had to go to St. Josephs.

In the orphanage, the boys and girls are separated. They do get time to socialize with one another and share the same lunch. Each kid shares a room with another kid, they have the decision to go to school in or out of the orphanage. Ethan is now 13, one of the oldest boys in the orphanage. Ethan must go to public school for part of the day, because the orphanage has no classes for kids his age. It’s harder for the older kids to get adopted, parents like them young. However, some kids aren’t so lucky and have to stay there till their 18. Ethan has short brown hair with blue eyes. He’s always carrying around a notepad doodling random things. Right now Ethan is back at the orphanage eating lunch with his roommate John. John is 10 years old, he’s a bigger fella with curly red hair and chubby cheeks. “How was school Ethan?” asked John.

“It was good. Didn’t do much but take notes,” Ethan replied. Ethan was a quite kid. He never said much but doodle in his notepad.

“Guess what,” John eagerly announced.

“What? Did you catch another one of those gardener snakes in the yard?” asked Ethan.

“No," John giggled, “while you were at school some parents came to visit me. They said they wanted to take me home with them,” he eagerly announced.

“That’s wonderful John, I’m happy for you,” Ethan quietly said.

“I’m sure a smart boy like you would get adopted soon enough,” John hopefully said. The lunch bell rings.

“There’s the bell I better be off to gym. See you back in the bunk room,” John shouted as he was walking away.

At this period of day Ethan is free to do what he wants for the next hour till it’s time to do chores. Ethan moves down the hall from the dining room into a room to the left, with a bird cage across one wall and windows covering the other. The walls were plain, the only color in the room were the parakeets in the cage. There were red ones, green ones, and blue ones.  Ethan sat in a bean bag facing and drawing all the different colored birds. “Maybe one day I’ll be an artist,” he thought to himself. There was a sound of high-heeled footsteps coming down the hall. There stood a tall women with long brown hair, wearing a long black skirt and blouse. A woman Ethan had never seen before. “Hello Ethan, my name is Mitchell. I was told I would find you here,” she explained, “I just have a few questions to ask you. How has school been? Are the kids still bugging you?” asked Mitchell.

  Ethan replied, “No, not much. The most they do is take my notepad and go through my drawings. So I just stay away from the other kids and be by myself.”

“It’s not only good but healthy for you to socialize and make new friends. That’s not why I am here, I’m here to ask if you want to meet someone,” Mitchel explained.

Ethan quietly asked, “Who?”

Mitchel replied, “They’re this nice young couple in their mid-30’s. They have a little boy about your age and looking to take in another boy. Would you like to meet them tomorrow?” Ethan had a big grin on his face. Smiling from ear to ear, with rosy red cheeks.

“Why yes I would,” he said.

Mitchel replied “Great!  Their names are Mr. and Miss. Shelby. You won’t have to do any chores tonight, except to clean your bunk room and get ready for tomorrow. You will be able to show them around your room if you’d like. I will come get you tomorrow after lunch. Have a good day Ethan, tomorrow is a big day.” Mitchel gave Ethan a hug and walked back down the hallway as she came. With the thought of Ethan possibly getting adopted going through his head, he couldn’t sit down. At a fast past Ethan walked back to his bunk room to start getting ready.

During Ethan cleaning John entered the room. “What are you doing? You missed out on chores. Did you forget?” asked John.

“I was told with my good behavior I could have a day off from them. All I have to do is tidy up the room,” Ethan explained.

“I’m going out to the yard to play. Do you want to join me?” asked John.

Ethan replied “No I think I’m going to stay in today.”  John grabbed his jacket and went out in the yard that was north of the building. Ethan kept his cleaning, and making sure every detail was perfect.

The next day Ethan was ecstatic that he finally might have a forever home. Every hour of the day his smile grew bigger. When Ethan saw Mitchel coming down the hall to the dining room, he jolted up and rushed right to her. They went into a little room far off by the entrance of the building. Inside the room was a round table able to fit five people, with pink flowers in the middle. There was one window on the back wall. “Hello Mr. and Miss. Shelby,” Ethan jittered.

“Please call me Stan, and this is my wife Marry. It’s nice to meet such a young gentleman like you,” Stan said.
“As the two of you may know this is Ethan Hart. He is turning 14 on Friday evening. Ethan has some trouble in school with other kids but good grades. He likes to draw and doodle in his notepad that he carries around with him all the time. That’s enough of me talking. I’ll let the three of you connect with one another,” Mitchel explained.

“Tell me about yourself Ethan. What do you like to do for fun?” asked Mary.

“I don’t do much, but draw in my notepad,” Ethan said quietly.

“What kind of stuff do you like draw?” asked Stan.

“Animals or cartoons. I got some hanging up in my bunk room; if you’d like to see,” Ethan added.

“Yes we would love to see them,” answered Mary. The three of them walked down to Ethan’s bunk room. When they entered the room, Marry was amazed at how good of a drawer Ethan was. Ethan had shown Stan and Marry the things he made to his favorite stuff animal. Soon enough it was time for Ethan to say goodbye to the nice young couple. Mary and Stan each gave him a hug, and started to head out. Ethan than sat on his bed with a smile from ear to ear, and started drawing in his notepad. He had a great feeling about them. 

The bell rings, it was time to do chores. Ethan’s job was to go down to the bird room to feed the birds and sweep the floor. Since it didn’t take him very long he would then go out into the yard to wait for John. As Ethan was on the swings he’d seen John running towards him out of the corner of his eye. “Ethan guess what?” John shouted.

“What?” Ethan replied.

“I’m leaving in two days to go to my new home,” John beamed.

“That is good, and I am happy for you and I bet you’re happy also,” Ethan said softly. The two  began to swing and play on the jungle gym; when out of nowhere the tall brown haired lady, Mitchell was walking up behind them with the lovely couple.

“Ethan, Mr. and Miss. Shelby have something they’d like to ask you,” Mitchel hummed.   

“Yes Stan and Mary?” Ethan questioned.

“Would you like to come home with us today?’ asked Stan.

“Yes I would! When can we leave?” Ethan shouted.

“Just after you pack your things,” commented Mitchell. Ethan looked over at John and could tell he was happy for him.

“John I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I didn’t want to tell you until I knew for sure it was going to happen,” explained Ethan.

“Your fine Ethan, I understand. Were both getting out of here and going to our forever home. Besides what did I tell you, I knew a smart boy like you was going to be adopted soon enough,” John cooed. Both boys were happy for one another. To Ethan things couldn’t get any better, this was it, the big moment he’d been waiting almost his whole life for. 

Stan gave Ethan a piggy back ride all the way to his bunkroom. No one had ever seen Ethan smile this much for the quite kid he was. Mitchel gave Ethan one small sized box to gather his things into. Ethan gathered  his drawings into a folder, and put them into the box first. He then grabbed his extra pair of shoes and his favorite stuffed animal. The box was just big enough for the few things Ethan had. He looked over at Stan and said, “I’m ready.” Stan carried the box of Ethan’s belongings and walked him down to the front office.

“You ready to go Ethan?” asked Mitchell. Ethan nodded his head yes, you could hardly see his eyes with how much he was smiling. “Well miss you around these parts. Good luck on your journey and with your new family.” Ethan gave Mitchell one last hug and headed out the door.