The Ape Star

The Ape Star — page 3 — was no such thing as spare time Gerd thought we had enough spare time at night when we were asleep There was a reason for the cleaning frenzy The orphanage was expecting a visitor Someone was coming to pick out a child to adopt Gerd was nervous as she usually was on these days She'd been running around like a giddy hen since early morning

The Ape Star — page 4 — checking the house and the children Dust balls had to be hunted down holes in clothes mended and ears scrubbed thoroughly with soap and water Thank goodness you've all had haircuts at least she mumbled looking at us Every child had a fresh haircut because the photographer had just been at Renfanan to take our pictures He came every year The week before he was due Gerd took out the big kitchen scissors and cut our hair When it was time for the photo we had to line up in front of the orphanage and smile as brightly as we could It was usually fun some sort of break from the neverending cleaning and scrubbing It was almost a celebration because these photos had been taken since the beginning ever since Renfanan was built On the wall in the hall were lots of black and white photos of everyone who'd ever lived at the orphanage Gerd was in a lot of them She'd been manager of Renfanan since she was young Look at that she said now Here comes the mail I glanced over to the bend in the road where a

The Ape Star — page 5 — black car with a golden post horn on its hood had just appeared between the fir trees Gerd rushed out to the gate waving her arms like a conductor Stop she shouted at the driver He rolled down the window We are freshly raked here Freshly raked gravel She reached out for the envelope he was about to put into the mailbox I'll take that The car disappeared Gerd hummed as she ripped open the envelope But as she read the hum fastened in her throat Inspection she muttered and her anxious eyes swept over us all Almost as if she was counting us She didn't need to count I knew that Not a day went by without Gerd reminding us that there were fifty one of us at the orphanage Renfanan was a home for fifty children with not one more allowed Ha ha Aaron hissed raising his eyebrows Some one's gonna be toast I stopped shaking my sheet and wiped my forehead It wasn't especially hot outside but you got sweaty

The Ape Star — page 6 — standing and flapping your arms like that What I asked What do you mean by toast He opened his eyes as wide as two fried eggs Don't you know that Gerd gets rid of the ones she doesn't want Gets rid of I whispered My stomach lurched uncomfortably Has them killed He nodded Maybe not right away he said But haven't you heard what she did once to a kid she had trouble with I shook my head Aaron stepped closer I heard he hissed glancing at Gerd that a long time ago there was a kid she couldn't stand One night she put the kid on the back of her bike and took off Then she left the kid in an old shed where nobody lived and there was nothing to eat It was so little it couldn't do anything Then Gerd came home and never went back And the child died I stared at him He nodded and smiled the whole way up to his ears Ha I said You're lying

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