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Terry was an orphan.
His parents had both died in a fire when he was a baby. He had been told this by his grandma, who had become both his mother and father for the first eight years of his life.
Then she had also died in a fire.
Adult strangers gathered around him at the time and muttered things like "What an amazing coincidence" and "Poor lad" and "What do we do with him now?"
Which is how he ended up living for the past five years in the Sisters of St. Xavier orphanage with all the other children that had nobody to care for them.
He didn't remember his parents, but he missed his grandma. She had been a very happy and wise woman with a generous heart and a constant twinkle in her eye. Her house had always been neat and tidy, and she was one of those women that always seemed to be cleaning. Terry remembered that in particular she hated cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling, and was always sweeping them away with a long straw broom.
But his fondest memory was that when he was younger she would read to him at bedtime from a big book of nursery rhymes which she claimed had been in the family for generations. It was one of those magical old books with leather straps on the covers and a real brass clasp that actually had to be unlocked with a key. And all the pages looked like they had been written and drawn by hand.
He learned to read with all the strange characters in that book - Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Jack Sprat - they were all so weird and wonderful.
He still had the book, for somehow it had been one of the few things to survive the fire which had raged through his grandma's home. It was his most prized possession, and he kept it hidden under his bunk in the dormitory he shared with five other boys. From cover to cover, he knew every word in that book. Sometimes late at night he would bring it out from its secret hiding place and just enjoy the smell of the pages in the dark. It would remind him of happier times.
For he did not really enjoy life much at the orphanage. Just when he would get to know one of the other kids, they would be adopted and he would be left alone again. Once this had happened a few times, he started putting less effort into making friends and just spent more time by himself. This had the effect of making him appear sullen, which then made it harder for the Sisters to get big people to adopt him.
To make matters worse, a group of five big fat boys with pimples had recently arrived at the orphanage. They were led by the biggest and fattest and pimpliest kid whose name was Mikey, and they started to pick on all the other children behind the Sisters' backs. For the most part Terry had avoided the bullies, but he knew that eventually it would be his turn.
Which is exactly what happened one fateful night when the wind blew and rain pounded against the windows outside. The storm didn't worry Terry and he was humming a little tune as he made his way upstairs after dinner. He always hummed around mealtime. It was a habit he'd picked up from his grandma, who would forever be humming and singing as she cooked or ate.
It was almost time for lights out as he entered his dormitory to find that Mikey and his gang of bullies had found his grandma's book. They were making loud jokes and snorting noises as they roughly looked through the pages.
Terry was angry. "Give that back," he demanded.
Mikey and his mates turned to look at Terry with sneers on their faces. Terry noticed that the bully had developed a big pimple on his left eyelid which was just starting to weep pus. Mikey put on a babyish voice and said "Aww, does widdle Tewwy want his widdle book of nursewy whymes?"
The other pimple-faces snickered. Terry wondered why there was never an adult around when you needed one.
"Give it back," Terry repeated, glad to hear that his voice didn't tremble too much.
Mikey dangled the book in front of him. "Come and get it," he sneered.
Continue...
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