Orphan Petal

June 2023 - Part 1

Shirley now is at an orphanage where Aunty works. He now will start a new journey. What path will he take?

This is a spin-off to the story "The Teenage Years of Alexander Horten"

Victoria Temple:
Welcome to Part 5. One thing we can agree on is that Shirley has lots of problems. It's hard being a foster child, but it seems that Shirley had lots of problems before he became an orphan. This makes me wonder if his parents knew this dark and sad side of their son when they were alive. Did they just turn a blind eye or were they bullies themselves? Shirley is now being sent to an orphanage, and he has two paths to take. He can continue this path and end in a lonely state of unhappiness and loneliness. Shirley can also melt the stone and hardness in his heart and learn to be part of a group. Now he would be starting at Genesis Orphanage. This does not make things easier.

Miss Hawthorne:
I have been at this orphanage for decades as the Matron. It is my responsibility to make this a well-run place in the best possible way. This was not an easy task. Funds were very small and the building was a very old manor house. You could nearly hear the old ghosts roaming the polished wooded hallways. I was getting old and very tired. My memory was not as good as it once was. I still had years before I could retire. It is good that I have Aunty here as my deputy. Everyone calls her Aunty and although she has some strange methods with children, she is a great organizer. A new boy would be starting today. I could not remember where I put his file. I do not even remember his name. Maybe Aunty has them. I will do my job and welcome him and pretend I know everything I need to know about him.

Aunty:
A new boy would be starting today. It seems as if he is a bitter boy that is against the whole world. I read that he was a bully and disliked his old foster family because they had a trans girl. When I first met Shirley standing in my office, he reminded me of my nephew Allie. Allie was also a pretty boy and very short. The difference is that Allie had a girl inside him and was a nice boy. According to Shirley's papers. He was a rotten boy that was nice to be around. I was a bit cold with him as I thought this was just what the orphanage needed, another child who played the victim role and was mad at the world. Despite I do not like boys, it was my job to give Shirley a home. I am sure he had a good heart. The problem was he could never get the attention that he needed in an institution.

Shirley:
I was not interested in any orphanage. It was like sending me to a prison. When I saw the huge old stone building, I shivered and promised myself that this place would not change me. I was led into an office where a woman was waiting for me. I was speechless when I saw her. She looked like my mother. I was told that everyone called her Aunty. I suppose that was to make her look nicer. She did not seem nice. When she asked me if my name was Shirley, I told her to call me Shirl. Aunty gave me a stern look and said, “Your mom and Dad gave you the name Shirley for some reason and that is what I will call you. I did not know you would be so short. It will be hard to find clothes that an 11-year-old boy would wear when you are so short.” When she said this, it seemed so cold and as if she did not care about me. Who was this woman?

Doctor Mary:
The orphanage asked me to do a test on Shirley. This was a test that would test Shirley’s intelligence as well as his emotional side. It would give us a hint of how happy he was as well as what was going on in his mind. I think this is a wise thing to do as Shirley seems to act tough and put a wall around him. He is quick to judge people and lash out at people that were different. He cooperated during the tests and did not protest at anything. This being said he did not like the ink pictures that I showed. When I showed a picture, he would name someone who was hit by a car and the ink spatter pictures were the person on the road.

Sarah:
Thanks for having me. I suppose everyone knows me from the “Allie” stories. I am Allie's sister and often visit my Aunt at the orphanage. I visited her just as she was showing a new boy around the orphanage. When Aunty and I were alone, she told me his name was Shirley. I asked why he had a girl's name. Was he a sissy? Aunty said that some boys are called Shirley and the boy that just started disliked any feminine boy. I had to tease Aunty that she would do her best to make him think he was a girl. She did this with my brother Allie, so she could convince boys here at the orphanage that they were transgender. Aunty smiled and explained that she just helped Allie express what was already in his heart. As for Shirley, she thought he was just a bad apple and she was not interested in him. He was just like any other boy at the orphanage

Austin:
Hello, my name is Austin. I am 12 and was told that I would be sharing a room with a new boy. When he told me that his name was Shirley, I started laughing. Who would name their child that was a boy with a girl's name? Shirley was mad when I started laughing and told me to leave him alone. I just sat on my bed and watched him as he unpacked. It is hard to believe that he is 11 years old. He looks much younger. I suppose that some people do not grow. Shirley will be my roommate for a long time. This made me think that it was important that we got on. I tried breaking the ice by telling him how the orphanage was. Shirley just sat there and did not answer. I wonder if he knows how to smile.

Shirley:
Austin seems to be normal. At least he does not wear dresses. He does talk a lot. I told him that I wanted to rest. I dreamt once again about the diaper girl. I do not know her name but she is in my dreams every night. She is like a friend. This is even though she is very girly. She wears frilly dresses and of course diapers. She even has a pacifier and other baby things. Would I tease her in real life? What if she was a sissy? She is my age and is a baby in many ways. I have teased people for less. Despite this, I knew that she would be my friend. I love it when she is in my dreams. Sometimes I even take a nap just to meet her.

Susan:
My name is Susan and I have been at the orphanage since I was a toddler. Life at an orphanage can be hard. You do not have parents and the staff here cannot give us the love and attention as a mother or father could. When I do make friends, then they get adopted. I wanted very much to get adopted, but I also knew that the older I became, the less chance there was that I would be adopted. Aunty was very nice to me. I noticed that she was nice to all the girls but a bit more stern and distant with the boys. Everyone heard that a new boy was started. I heard some say that he must be a sissy because of his name. I do not care if he is a sissy or not. I welcomed him to the orphanage. When I first met him, he looked like any other boy. Shirley does have the face of an angel and his hair is longer than other boys. I noticed that he has long eyelashes. I told him that we can be friends. His answer surprised me. He asked why would anyone want to be friends with him.

Shirley:
I met Susan. I did not say much to her. It was hard to get a word in edgeways. She showed me around the orphanage and told me that the orphans all went to the public school in the village. She told me that she wanted to be my friend. This was strange. I never had a friend before. Logan wanted to be my friend but he was so weird. In the old school, everyone was afraid of me. I did not have any friends there. I wondered why I would want a friend. I did not know what a friend should be like. I was used to being alone. The thing was that I never felt so alone as I do now. This place was so big and there were so many children. I felt like I was in a zoo. No one wanted me and this meant that I was now in an institution for unwanted children. I had no parents or foster parents here. Aunty did not smile at me and I had a feeling that she did not want me. How would I survive her?

Aunty:
I spoke with Miss Hawthorne that the new child had been here for some days. Shirley has settled in. He tried to speak with me. I tried to avoid him as much as possible. This was not because I was afraid of manipulating him to become a sissy or a baby. Everyone remembers how I manipulated my nephew (Allie) to start acting and dressing like a girl. That was only one boy and it happened years ago. Shirley was nothing like Allie. According to his papers, he was a brat and evil. Allie was a nice boy. Shirley was not like Allie. In fact, Shirley did not occupy my thoughts. He did not occupy Miss Hawthorne’s thoughts. When I gave her an update about Shirley, she did not even remember him. We have a fool as a boss. Miss Hawthorne is in her dream world and always spaced out. In reality, it is me who runs this orphanage.

Shirley:
I started at the new school today. I got a warning from Aunty that she did not want to hear bad things about me. She wanted me to make her proud. This was the only thing she told me since I started at the orphanage. Susan showed me around the school and explained that the orphans did not have a high status. The children who have parents either feel sorry for us or think we are unwanted elements of society. I know this was my last chance so I will keep a low profile. This will be hard. I know I will have to bite my lip every time I see a weird person. At least Logan did not go to this school. My first day went fine as I did not cause any trouble. The other children seem so nice. The boys even wanted me to play football (soccer) during recess. I was polite and said no. I hate sports, especially football. Kicking a ball back and forth was not my idea of fun. I did try football at times, but could not even kick it. One of the boys at school is Declan. He tried to get me to play football by saying that all boys loved it. I was polite and said that he now met someone who did not like football. I was proud that I did not cause trouble today. I am sure that Aunty will be proud of me.

Susan:
Shirley is a nice boy. He is very quiet and hardly talks. I consider him a friend even though he never asks how I am or things like that. It is me who does all the talking. He is also quiet at school. Maybe he just is a quiet person. Shirley does not appear to be a happy person. He always finds me and hangs around me, so maybe he considers us friends. When he speaks he talks about Aunty. I think he considers her as a mother figure. I told him to be careful about looking up to her or becoming attached to her. Aunty is known not to like boys. She will just end up hurting Shirley

Victoria Temple:
That concludes this part. Shirley is on a new path and it's interesting where his journey will lead him. I hope you will comment on this part. What do you think of Shirley? Is he a child you want to adopt? I hope to see you in the next part of “Orphan Petal”