The Secret Room

The Secret Room — page 7
to the breakfast room The breakfast room was part of the orphanage where Karl and I lived It was a totally normal orphanage or well I don’t really know what an abnormal orphanage looks like Anyway ours was just fine There was a big yard with apple trees a television room a basement where we had parties sometimes and lots of nice little rooms with two or four beds in them And of course there were a bunch of grown-ups who made sure that we didn’t make campfires in the nice little rooms and that we brushed our teeth and got on the bus to school every morning Some of the grown-ups like Maria for instance were really nice But they weren’t parents That’s what we all wanted big strong parents A father who was a pilot a train engineer or a Nobel Prize winner and a mother who baked hot rolls and who could eat any teacher alive Siblings weren’t so necessary That morning Karl shaped a small piece of bread into a little boat with jam portholes and everything and set it into his cup to float in his hot cocoa Achim he announced I’ve decided I’m going to be a sailor A sailor I asked skeptically and watched as the bread boat soaked up cocoa and slowly began to sink Yeah that’s right said Karl And then I’m going to dis cover the twelfth continent All by myself You don’t need parents to do that 2