I’ve been working as the head of the local orphanage for ten years now. Frankly, it’s hard, really. It’s hard to look into the eyes of children who no one cradles before bedtime and doesn’t take to the water park for their birthday like children who are raised in families. I really want each of the foster children to be able to feel what parental love is, so I always go out of my way to help couples who want to take a child into the family. But sometimes I want to cry because of the way our people treat adopted children.
We have a boy named Kolya. Since childhood he has been very smart, open and easy to contact. I can’t remember a single time when he wouldn’t listen – he tries so hard to earn the love of the adults. Perhaps that’s why he was very quickly adopted by a young couple. Kolya was so happy! His mother was beautiful and kind, always smiling at him, and with his father, the boy loved to ride in the car and play in the railroad in the evenings. The train there was a wow! Red, big! The new parents always took good care of the boy and dressed him well. But one day Dad called Kolya for a serious talk and told him he had to go back to the orphanage because Mom was pregnant and would soon have her own baby.
Kolya couldn’t believe it, he didn’t want to lose his family, begged his parents not to give him up, promised to love his little brother or sister dearly and never hurt them – but nothing helped, the family brought the boy back. They brought him back like damaged goods bought by mistake in a store, by golly! He cried at the window for a long time, hoping that they would come back and change his mind.
And then he stepped back, as if he had forgotten, and was subsequently adopted again. And again not for long – the second mother brought Kolya back six months later:
– You understand, I can’t even feed him, he eats so much! And he eats too much,” she excused herself.
Kolya then said that his mother decided to give him up because he asked to fry potatoes for dinner instead of eating unleavened porridge without milk and salt.
The boy disappointed his next grief-stricken parents by the fact that he had no aptitude for music. They had a dynasty of professional musicians, and he had no ear, he was hopeless. And so four times over the years, four times! They take the child, promise him, give him hope, and then they bring him back – it didn’t fit, they couldn’t.
And at the end of last summer, we started repairing the premises where the children studied, so the local authorities gave permission for the children to attend a regular school nearby. Almost immediately Kolya became friends with his new classmate Misha. Sometimes Misha even invited Kolya to his house and they played, and Misha’s mother fed them fresh dumplings.
I was very happy that Kolya had a real friend, but I was afraid that when I had to go back to school in the orphanage, the boy would lose his close person again, as it had happened before. So I decided to find out everything beforehand and went to talk to Misha’s mother. The woman was sympathetic to my warnings and said the boys could see each other from time to time and walk together sometimes, even when Nikolai returned to the orphanage.
A few months later the repairs were over, the boys began to see each other much less often, and when they met, they were jumping for joy. And a few weeks later Misha’s mother came into my office:
– Galina Olegovna, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, so don’t worry – my decision is weighted and final, I won’t change my mind. I want to adopt Kolya. I got so used to him, as my own! And Misha is always talking about him, he misses him too.
– Do you want to, Kolya? – I asked the boy, calling him to talk.
– I want to! – His eyes were shining with joy and hope for a family.
– Then it’s decided. It’s Nicholas’s birthday in two days, you’ll celebrate as a family, – I said.
How we all laughed when, when asked by his new mother “What can I get you for your birthday?” the boy answered without hesitation: “A big, full plate of fried potatoes!
– Then we have a deal! – Misha’s mother agreed. – The biggest one I could find.
With a calm heart I filled out all the documents and let Kolka go to his new family. And this time something tells me that he won’t be betrayed again, he will have a loving, caring mother and a best brother and friend.
