Cynthia'S New Home

[robehouse]

"That's what happens when you get a lot of dogs together. Wild dogs run in packs and domesticated dogs will do the same if you have enough of them together."

"Where is Fran at? She is our guest, so we should know what she is doing."

[baby_snow_white]

"Well it isn't playing fair if you ask me. There is no way I can outrun or out move a pack of dogs. They are getting way to smart for me. I use to could fake them out. When they would all pounce at once I would hit the ground and they would fly over me. They would collide into each other, but now when I try that. It doesn't work. They seem to stop in mid air and land on me."

Cynthia shrugs. "The last time I saw her. She was hanging upside down in my closet tied up with my jump rope." She laughs when she saw the look on Melanie's face. "I was joking. I didn't tie her upside down in my closet. Infact I haven't seen her in a while. Maybe she packed up her stuffed animal and hit the road."

[robehouse]

"At least they are still playing. I don't think they mean to hurt you when they jump on you, even though I know it hurts."

"Well we better find her. I would hate to lose a child that I was supposed to be looking after. What would her mother say? Do you remember where the last place you saw her was?"

[baby_snow_white]

"Yeah you are probably right mommy. They probably don't mean to hurt me, but they don't know their own strength or that they are getting to big to jump on people."

Cynthia shrugs, "She would probably say oh well. I guess I can start over with a new one. Maybe this one won't be part suction cup. So she won't be so clingy." She nods. "Yes I do. She was laying on the couch watching Sesame Street, but she isn't there now."

[robehouse]

"I don't think anyone thinks that way about their children, Cynthia. Fran is loved by her mother, just like I love you. She would be devastated if we lost Fran."

"Okay, we need to look for her. Turn the house upside down until we find her." Melanie said.

Melanie started upstairs to look for Fran.

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia shrugs. "Maybe not their real children, but from past experiences. They think about their adopted child that way. I have been adopted and returned so many times. I

[robehouse]

"Well I don't think Fran's mother thinks that way and I know I don't think that way about you. I would never stop looking for you."

"Alright then just look everywhere you can think of. We'll leave the house the way it is."

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia giggles. "You make me sound like a lost shoe or a toy that is missing. I'll tear this house apart looking for you. I wish the parents that came before you and daddy felt the same way about me."

Cynthia nods and starts looking though the kitchen cabinet. She looks in the oven, the freezer and then the fridge. "Well she isn't here." Next she looked in the washer and dryer. "Still nothing." Cynthia looked in the living room. By the time she was finished it looked like a tornado hit the living room.

[robehouse]

"No, I wouldn't look that hard for a lost shoe or something else. You are far more important. It's a shame they had

[baby_snow_white]

"Well I would look that hard for a lost shoe. Because I would look silly wearing one shoe or two different ones because I couldn't find the one that matched it." Cynthia nods. "Yeah I think they wanted a girl like Cinderella before she went to the ball, not a girl that leaks at night in her bed."

Fran hears footsteps and giggles quietly as she crawls farther back in the closet to hide.

[robehouse]

"Well maybe so, but I would probably wear a different pair of shoes. It shouldn't matter what kind of problems you have, or even if it is a problem. If they had given birth to a daughter like that they wouldn't have been able to just give her back to the hospital. I never thought of giving you back."

Melanie keeps looking, checking under beds and behind doors.

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia nods. "You are right. The hospital wouldn't accept the little girl back. They would make them keep her. Which might not be good for the girl. They could mistreat her or worse treat her like Cinderella or Snow White was. As a servant. I'm glad you would not give me back. Because I wouldn't give you back either. We are stuck with each other like we are both covered in glue."

Cynthia heads upstairs. "Any luck mommy?"

[robehouse]

"Now that I think about it, They have a safe haven law where you can return newborns and drop them off without any questions being asked. That also goes for firestations as well. but by the time most parents decide they don't want the kid, it's too late and the time period has past."

"That's right we are. Even though I adopted you, I fee like you are my natural born daughter. We are bonded now and nothing can ever change that."

Melanie closes the dresser drawer she was looking in.

"Not yet. There are a couple of closets I haven't checked yet. Did you want to help me?"

[baby_snow_white]

"Why would anyone want to drop off their newborn at a fire station? That place is way too loud for a newborn. They need quiet places like libraries."

"You are more of a mom to me than my real mom is. It like she doesn't even care about me."

Cynthia nods. "The hunt is on. There is a mystery afoot. Which makes it a short mystery. Since my foot is not very long."

[robehouse]

"Because the firemen can take the newborn to where it would be safe. It is better than leaving them with a stranger or at a grocery store or something."

"She does care, Cynthia. She has just been through a lot. She loves you very much."

"Actually it is a foot long. It may not be as big as mine or daddy's but it is the perfect size for you. Now lets see if we can find Fran."

[baby_snow_white]

"Maybe, but I still think a better place would be in a library. Because it is quiet and they have books on everything you would ever want to know."

Cynthia puts her hands on her hips and huffs. "She has been though a lot? I have been bounced back and forth between the orphanage and other people's houses so many times. I thought I was part rubber ball."

Cynthia stands in the room looking around. "If I was a little girl who wanted to hide. Where would I go?" She looks at the closet and hears giggling. Cynthia points at the door and puts her finger to her lips. "Well I guess Fran isn't here mommy. I guess I'll have to go play with the dogs alone. Oh well. It would have been fun to play with them with her. I'll just have to settle for playing fetch with her stuffed animal." Cynthia hears a commotion in the closet and the door come flying open. "Oh no you don't." Cynthia looks at Melanie. "Found her mommy."

[robehouse]

"Maybe so, but babies can't read, and if they start crying, the library won't be so quiet."

"I know you have been through a lot as well, but not of it was caused by your mother. She has been a pawn of her mother, or your grandmother. Like I said before, she would have done anything to find you but didn't know where to look."

Melanie smiles as Fran comes out of the closet and picks her up.

"Next time you want to play hide and seek, tell someone. I thought you had left the house and went somewhere else. You are my responsibility while you are here."

[baby_snow_white]

"Yeah I guess not."

"Well it sort of was. If she had not had me when she was younger. Then her mother wouldn't have had to take the action she did. I wouldn't have bounced from house to house like a rubber ball."

Fran nods. "I did tell someone. That other girl that is here. She was suppose to be looking for me."

[robehouse]

"Maybe that is true, but if she didn't have you when she was younger, you wouldn't have been you. You would have been someone else. I like you the way you are. I don't know if I would have wanted to adopt an Agatha, or Maggie. I love Cynthia."

Melanie looks at Cynthia.

[baby_snow_white]

"I like me too, but I would have liked to done a lot less bouncing around before I found you. I love bouncing, but not that much bouncing."

Fran shakes her head. "Not her. The other one. The one she call annoying and her shadow."

"I think she means the pain in my side Molly."

[robehouse]

"I wish I could have got you years earlier too, but I'm glad I got you when I did. You could have bounced around some more before landing in my lap."

"Molly? I thought she was at Mary's house? Where is she right now? Boy, in a really batting 1 for 3 today. Cynthia is the only one I knew where she was at."

[baby_snow_white]

"I'm glad I stopped bouncing. It was getting to be no fun. At first it wasn't so bad, but each new bounce got to be less fun."

Cynthia shrugs. "I guess not mommy. At least you kept track of the important one. Me."

[robehouse]

"I guess I had the right kind of glue to keep you grounded."

"Yes, but I should have kept track of all of you. Maybe I should put long leashes on all of you so when I wanted to know where you were, I could tug on the leash."

[baby_snow_white]

"Yes you have super mommy glue. It keeps children from bouncing too much."

"I don't know about that mommy. Leashes are mean to dogs and collars are too. It doesn't allow dogs to have any freedom to run around."

[robehouse]

"They aren't mean to dogs. Like children, they need to stay with their owner. Not that children have owners, they have parents. But sometimes leashes are needed. Both on dogs and children."