“Castor oil and prunes.” Nola giggled. “It almost made me 'poo-poo’ from my mouth.” After one spoon of Miss Helga’s concoction, Nola started lying about her poo-poo’s color and consistency. “That’s what people in Germany do,” she added.

“I’m never going to Germany. I don’t want people checking my poo-poo. It’s the same way they look at my face.”

“Nothing’s wrong with your face.” Nola crouched in front of her. “You’re beautiful. Like Mommy was. If I didn’t know it, I wouldn’t notice any scars.”

“People look and say that I’m an orphan.”

Nola gasped. “Orphan is not a bad word, and you can’t tell by a person’s face.” Yet, around Nola, the birch, elm, oak and maple suddenly looked like a giant hall of mirrors. There was no way out, except that music awaited her at the mansion. She searched for words.” You’ll have cookies while I have my lesson, okay?”

“I want to play with the cat,” Jenna chanted, and skipped over a tree root. The speed in which the moment was forgotten left Nola reeling. She would forever be “an orphan,” even if no one said they could read it on her face.

At bedtime, Jenna wrapped her arms around Nola's neck, and when Nola tried to rise, the small body clung to her, lifting out of the bed. “Tell me a story.”

“Ten more weeks to Christmas,” Nola whispered. “Ms. Cutter will have presents for us under her tree. We’ll sleep over.”

In the dim light, a smile crawled on Jenna's sleepy features. “I want a doll with a red dress,” she said.

“I’ll tell Santa.” Nola had saved the allowance the old man gave her to have her ears pierced with gold studs, but that could wait. Did Mom have pierced ears? She couldn’t remember. It was worse that there was no one to ask. “Sleepy time.”

Mini-Nazi appeared in the doorway. “Good night!” She flipped the light switch and it was as if the ceiling had dropped. In the sudden darkness, Jenna began to whimper. Nola wished Miss Helga would come over and kiss her sister so that there would be one more person in the world to love Jenna, but Miss Helga had said she was paid to care for the child, not to kiss her. “Out. You’re wasting electricity in the dining room,” she bellowed at Nola, and Nola slunk back to her books. If it weren’t for Jenna, she would have lived with Ms. Cutter. But who was she to complain after the horrible things she had caused?