Mr. Crawford called that night during dinner and told my parents to watch the news.

“Police took 25 orphans into custody today from Pine Ridge Adoption Agency. As this amateur video shows, the children were vandalizing their own orphanage, spray painting, breaking windows, and attacking officers. All of the children were put into foster care. Police say the manager, a Miss Petunia Hooper, remains missing from the premises. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Miss Hooper, please call….” Click. The TV went dark.

“Honey wasn’t that…..” began Mom.
“I think so,” answered Dad.
“Did Mr. Crawford ever contact her?”
“No. She never answered her phone calls.”
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know, hon,” Dad shook his head.

They cleared the dinner dishes in silence, but before washing them they called a family meeting.

“We need to talk to both of you girls,” Dad began. He wasn’t smiling.
“You know that it takes a mommy and a daddy to have babies, right?”
“Oh, geez” I said, thinking it was THAT talk.