1.16 What's the point?

Dear Diary, 

I still don't like it here. It's like being suffocated with a warm and fuzzy cozy blanket. Viljo and Catarina want to talk to me about my problems all the time. They just don't leave me alone. I was happy school started again so I could get away from the orphanage for a couple of hours every day. I made sure people there wouldn't start to like me. I even picked fights with some teenagers. 

I have to take out the trash every night. I hate doing chores, it's such a waste of time. There will be new trash tomorrow anyway, where is the point? Why not just put the bin in the kitchen and be done with it?

Ben is too small to understand that this fluffy cloud of happiness Viljo and Catarina are wrapping him in is not real. I try to tell him a bit about the real world now and then but he doesn't want to hear it.

He adores Viljo and wants to grow up to be just like him.

I kind of like this new lady Angela though. She has started hanging out with Catarina, I low key suspect they are in love or something. Angela told me she is married to another lady named Maja though, so I don't know how this is going to work out. I'd like her to visit more often, she is fun.

Mommas trial was on the news. I didn't understand much of it but apparently she's in really big trouble this time. I guess I'll have to stay here a bit longer than I thought.

Charlotte

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1.15 Looking up

All the hard work finally started to pay off. With the orphanage officially registered as a foster home, they got at least some money from the state. The first harvest of the garden Catarina had planted was plentiful and made for some food reserves as well as extra to sell at the local farmer's market.

Catarina didn't even know what to do first. She was glad, Viljo was there and she could at least sometimes get away from the orphanage, just to see some new faces. One of these new faces was Angela Krämer.

The two women just clicked. Soon enough, Angela would come over to the orphanage and help out whenever she was needed or just to keep Catarina company. She sometimes even babysat the kids or helped Charlotte with her homework.

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1.14 Dear Diary

Dear Diary, 

they sent me to live in this new place. I hate it here, hate hate hate. There is this guy Viljo who thinks he's my Dad now and an overly friendly fat lady called Catarina. 

Also a little boy named Ben who was brought here when he was a baby because his parents died. 

What if they never let Momma out of prison and I have to stay here forever, like him? They call this place an orphanage, but I'm not an orphan! The police say Momma is not a good parent and she is not allowed to raise me anymore because of what she did. They also wanted me to tell them where she got her medicine from but I didn't tell them. I know that Momma is not a bad person. She sometimes does bad things but that's only when she runs out of medicine. I hope they give her enough in prison, so she doesn't get cold sweats and itches again. Maybe I should go ask Snoop if he could give me some and I could send it to Momma? Snoop likes me, although I don't like him much. He always wants me to take my clothes off and touch me before he gives me the medicine, he is really weird! I will let you know as soon as I come up with a plan! 

Charlotte

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1.13 Getting to know Ben

Ben was a picky eater. If he didn't like something he would throw it on the floor and demand something else.

Being read to usually calmed him down. 

He managed to make a mess if you let him out of your sight for just a second.

But he didn't fuzz about being cleaned up after. 

He was a quick study. He taught himself how to use a tablet, once he grabbed hold of it, and how to climb up and down stairs on all fours.

With Catarina's help he also learned to use the potty and started to say his first words.

But most importantly, he loved Viljo and Catarina like a child loves their parents.

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1.12 The joys of parenthood

Of course they said yes. The moment they laid eyes on Ben, they loved him. Him being there validated every effort they had made so far. Everything had been worth it. All the pain and frustration of the past couple of years were forgotten, when they held him in their arms.

They took turns sleeping in the tiny nurse's station they had built next to his room.

Life was good.

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1.11 Not technically open

So it was only Viljo and Catarina again. Back to square one. They were shocked when they heard about Daniel's passing. A stroke apparently, nothing anyone could have prevented. They relied on each other now more than ever. 

After a while, everything went back to normal. Until the night Viljo was routinely checking his mails at the front office computer. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Dear Mr. Davis,

although we are well aware that your orphanage is still under construction and not technically open yet, we come to you with a very urgent request. As you may have heard, there has been a house fire in Newcrest last night in which two young adults were killed. What we didn't communicate to the media is that they were survived by their infant son Ben. He is suffering from severe smoke poisoning, but the doctors at the Sim City children's hospital assure us that he will be fine and ready to be released in a few days. As there are no next of kin to be found, little Ben has no home to go to at the moment. Would you and your partner Ms Lynx under any circumstances be in the position to foster this child until a more permanent solution becomes available? Please contact us immediately!

Sincerely,

Annabeth Hornick

Newcrest Youth Welfare Service

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1.10 Expectations dashed

Somehow, having Daniel there didn't work out the way Viljo or Catarina envisioned it, even though they both had had different visions. Catarina liked Daniel's good nature and while she thought he would be a nice addition to the team, she primarily thought he would be a perfect addition to her life. But somehow, the two of them had missed the right moment to take their friendship a step further and now it seemed to late. There had been moves from both sides but never at the right time. 

Viljo had underestimated Daniel's obligations to his kids. He met up with them almost every day. They had to somehow pay his child support and the longer he was there, the less he worked on the project.

 

In fact, Daniel felt miserable at the orphanage. He missed working with the animals and he missed his kids. His daughter Brigitte had just adopted a little boy and his ex-wife had another kid with her co-worker and then got married to a woman. A woman, for god's sake! Had everything been a lie all along? He began to doubt every decision he ever made. The orphanage was financial disaster and there were no kids to be taken care of. Sometimes he drove up to Granite Falls to relax a bit and help the rangers with the wild animals there just to do something useful.

After his birthday, things got even worse. Somehow Daniel misinterpreted something Viljo said and what followed was a very awkward interaction. It was never the same between them after that. He tried to talk about it with Catarina but for some reason she got mad.

So, as always, he went to his daughter Brigitte's place to find peace. And take a shower because there was still no water at the orphanage.

The next day, Brigitte invited him to the park. Little did she know that she would return home alone.

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