Sasha Couldn’t Stand the Days When Prospective Adoptive Parents Visited the Children’s Home—In All Seven Years She’d Lived There, No One Had Ever Chosen Her

Sophie could never stand the days when potential adopters visited the orphanage. In the seven years shed lived there, not once had anyone chosen her.

When she was much younger, she would anticipate these days with hope sparkling in her heart. Shed watch the elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen, mesmerised, imagining them as magical beings who would whisk her away to their castle. In her dreams, a new mother would tuck her in at night with a gentle kiss. A new father would put her on his shoulders and twirl her around. Shed have her very own bedroom. She wouldnt have to see that annoying Charlie every dayalways tugging her plaits and calling her Pip.

Sophie didnt know what Pip meant, only that it stung every time he said it. But Charlie never tired:

Pip! Pip!

Sophie was just five when she arrived at the childrens home. Her parents had died in a car crash. For a long while she simply couldnt understand why her mum and dad werent coming for her, why they had left her behind.

As the years slipped by, she realised they were gone forever. Their faces faded; their voices grew faint and their scents slipped beyond memory. Even the house where they all lived together melted into a blur.

She wished more than anything for someone to pick her. But no miracle came and she began to see she might never be chosen. She could see why: she was a plain-looking girl, not one of those pretty girls with shining bows in glossy curls and sweet, winning smiles.

Charlie kept up his teasing. Now shed learned that Pip was, in fact, a little bird.

That day, once again, prospective parents came to visit. The girls were dressed up, their braids tied with satin ribbons. But Sophie took a pair of scissors and hacked off her hair like a boy. She didnt want to be chosen anymore. From now on, she would be the one to do the choosing in her own life.

When the staff saw her short, jagged haircut, they gasped, and Charlietrue to formshouted after her:

Pip!

Sophie had turned twelve. Charlie was three years older. That day, she wasnt chosen, of course. She looked rather rebellious with her unevenly shorn hair and the stormy glare in her eyes.

Three years later, her old nemesis Charlie left the orphanage. After saying his farewells, he came up to Sophie.

Goodbye then, Pip?

Goodbye, Sophie said coolly.

Take care! Not long to go for you now! Just three years! After that, Ill come and fetch you, Charlie declared.

As if! Who says Id pick you? Idiot! she retorted.

Charlie looked at her with a long, peculiar look and walked away, never glancing back.

When Sophie finally closed the orphanage door behind her, stepping out onto the street, she breathed in the crisp air, full of freedom and adulthood. Over the years, shed blossomed from ugly duckling to graceful swanher hair now falling to her waist, her green eyes huge, her silhouette elegant. She headed for the small flat that had once belonged to her parents. Suddenly, she heard:

Evening, Pip!

Turning, she saw Charlie before her.

What are you doing here? she asked.

I promised Id come for you. So here I am, said Charlie, stepping closer.

I told you, Ill do the choosing! Sophie looked up at him, seeing how hed grown, broader in the shoulders and taller.

Well, choose me, Sophie! he pleaded.

Ill think about it, she replied as she strode towards her new home.

Charlie walked behind her all the way to the front door. He waited until shed gone inside before leaving. From that day on, he came every eveningsitting on a bench outside, waiting until Sophie turned off her light.

Summer turned lush and warm, then gave way to a rainy autumn. With autumn came snowdrifts and the singing winds of winter. Charlie never stopped coming. One chilly evening, Sophie walked out to him.

She sat down beside him.

Havent you had enough? Arent you freezing out here?

Its nothing. I can wait. Just choose me, please! Charlie begged, his eyes soft and earnest.

Sophie leapt up as if scalded and fled indoors. She peeked through the lace curtain, watching Charlie gazing up at her window.

On New Years Eve, Sophie hurried home after work. She still had the table to lay, a new dress to change intosoon it would be midnight! Charlie wasnt on the bench. Her heart skipped a beat. Had something happened?

An hour passedshe finished the last of the holiday chores and poured herself a glass of prosecco. She went to the windowno sign of Charlie. A sick dread twisted in her chest.

What do I do? Go looking for him? But where? I dont have his address, not even his number! Stupid! How stupid I am! Sophie scolded herself.

At that moment, something flashed outside the window.

Fireworks already? the thought flickered through her mind as she shuffled to the window for a better look.

On the snow, in giant burning letters, blazed the words:

CHOOSE ME, SOPHIE!!!

And there was Charlie, sitting on the bench, waving at her through the January night.