I don’t know how or what exactly happened but one moment I wanted the pacifier really really badly and the next moment I had it And I was sucking on it as hard as I could Even with Sam’s dribble all over it it was lovely It took my mind off hunger it took my mind off everything It made me start to feel happy and sleepy Of course Sam wasn’t exactly pleased to have lost the pacifier and he started screaming He wouldn’t shut up for a long time he was trying to tell Nurse Harrigan that his precious pacifier had been stolen but she didn’t understand I continued sucking happily and looked at my witch mobile The witch danced about in the moonlight and seemed to smile at me You’d have thought all the babies at Templeton Children’s Home would have been adopted 4
super fast and lots of them were but not me And not Sam either By the time we were five lots of people had wanted to adopt me because I was sweet and cute and lots of people had wanted to adopt Sam too but we didn’t want to be adopted by just anybody We wanted our Forever Families to be perfect and if that meant waiting a little bit longer than everyone else well then we’d wait None of the children were ever asked to go and live with someone they didn’t want to live with that wouldn’t have been fair One day we had a meeting in our den which was the old greenhouse at the back of the children’s home Sam had found it by accident when he was following a ladybug to see where it lived You had to go through a lot of stinging nettles and brambles to get to it and 5
it wasn’t exactly a place many people would want to visit so it was perfect for us The windows were either broken with plants poking through or were covered with green sludge Only the hardiest of plants weeds survived I spat on the palm of my hand and then Sam spat on his palm and we pressed our two palms together and made a pact that we wouldn’t settle for second best I of course wanted a family that didn’t mind me wanting to be a witch Sam wanted a Forever Family who liked worms and bugs like he did Sam was always getting covered in mud or soaked in puddles or dirty pond water in his quest to find a toad or a spider or some other creepy crawly thing Once Nurse Harrigan even found a frog in his pocket he said he was rescuing it 6
Nurse Harrigan had told Sam more than once that he’d have to change his ways if he wanted to be adopted but Sam didn’t listen He was sure there was a Forever Family out there somewhere that would like him just the way he was And if he liked them too then they’d be the people he’d choose to adopt him And I was sure there was a family out there who wouldn’t mind me wanting to be a witch And that would be the family I’d choose to adopt me It was just taking them a little while to find us that was all Remember Sam’s pacifier Well a few other strange things happened over the years that I 7
