Last Airlift by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Author:Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pajama Press
Published: 2012-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

6-1 — Tuyet’s adoption order

Chapter Six

Tuyet’s Turn

Tuyet sat at a table alone, clutching the doll she had been given on her first night at Surrey Place.

She pulled off bits from a piece of bread and put them in her mouth. She did not feel hungry. She felt overwhelmingly sad, but Tuyet chewed on the bread anyway. After all, if she no longer had a job to do, they might stop feeding her.

Linh had not been gone for more than an hour, but it felt like forever to Tuyet. The loneliness sat like a weight on her shoulders.

One of the workers said something in English to Tuyet. She looked up.

Standing beside the worker was a woman holding onto the hands of two girls. The older child had a face that looked similar to the woman’s and the younger one had a lovely golden complexion. A friendly-looking man stood beside them, grinning. In his arms, he carried a toddler who was surely Vietnamese. Confused, Tuyet looked back at the woman. Her eyes were brimming with tears. The girls looked as if they could barely contain their excitement.

All at once, Tuyet understood. Each couple had chosen only one baby. And Linh was the only child chosen by the last couple. All of them had found families. But this couple already had three children. What they needed was a helper.

And they had chosen Tuyet for the job.

At first, her heart felt crushed with disappointment. Deep down, she had hoped to be treated like the other children, but when had that ever happened?

Tuyet pasted on a brave smile, but she was still afraid. Did they know about her weak leg and foot? Maybe they wouldn’t even want her as a helper once they saw her foot. All her life, she had worked hard to prove herself useful. She would just have to prove herself once more. Better to get it over with right away.

Tuyet put her bread down and pushed herself into a standing position. With her doll clutched in one hand, she limped to their side of the table and waited, her eyes cast down. She expected them to walk away.

But they didn’t.

Tuyet felt a pair of arms around her shoulders. The woman knelt beside her and held her tight. She said something in English, but the only word Tuyet could understand was Mom.

Tuyet’s memory flashed to the woman who had visited her in the orphanage in Saigon. Had that been her mom—the woman who stopped visiting? Was that woman no longer Tuyet’s mom?

Did this woman really want to be her mom? Tuyet was thrilled at the possibility. But what if this woman changed her mind, too? Tuyet became anxious to leave, now, before anyone had a chance to reconsider.

The care workers didn’t want Tuyet to leave barefoot. It was cold for April, and it was raining. They found her a pair of white rubber boots that were so huge they reached past her knees.

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