Hansen and Gracie

Hansen and Gracie — page 3

Hansen and Gracie — page 4 — We haven’t been here forever That is we’ve had other homes before We don’t remember being born obviously because no one does We do remember several foster homes here in the city out in the country But they blur together so sometimes Gracie believes the family with the big yellow dog was the one who had tuna casserole every Friday when in fact Hansen insists the big yellow dog was in the house with two dads Gracie says none of the homes had two moms and that’s where we couldn’t agree It was all so long ago We’ve been in the orphanage no matter what it reads on the sign outside we usually call it the orphanage for almost ten years Here’s the thing about being raised by the state if foster home after foster home says there’s something strange about you eventually the state stops trying to find you a home They stop trying to find you a family

Hansen and Gracie — page 5 — And they put you in a place like this It’s on this early cold winter morning that Gracie always the one of us most likely to get in trouble is sneaking around the kitchen sticking her nose into cupboards and cabinets She’s looking for the food the grown-ups save for themselves She does this now and then though all she’s ever managed to find worth snatching was a single banana It was the best banana we ever tasted of course But still With the trouble Gracie would get into if she were ever caught Hansen isn’t a huge fan of these expeditions I can’t find anything Gracie whispers into the silent pre-dawn kitchen frustrated She knows there has to be good fresh bread somewhere in here Then get back here Hansen murmurs into his pillow We’re far apart Hansen up in the dormitory and Gracie deep inside the pantry among sacks of buggy flour dusty cans of corn and carrots and evaporated

Hansen and Gracie — page 6 — milk and boxes upon boxes of powdered potatoes But we can still hear each other We can always hear each other For a long time we didn’t know it was a weird thing But we eventually realized that not all brothers and sisters were like us Not even most twins were like us It turned out it was not only a weird thing it was the weird thing That’s why we could never stay long in a foster home All our foster parents were too weirded out to let us stay more than a month or two They didn’t know why we always answered questions the same way They didn’t understand how we were able to tell them what the other was doing seeing hearing and even thinking at that exact moment Once they found out about our connection they threw us out But we can’t be thrown out of the Lakeview Sunrise Group Home for Boys and Girls The orphanage is the last refuge for troublemakers and freaks That's why we belong here

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