Sirene (Wattys 2014 Entrant)
Chapter 8-part 2

here's the second part of Chapter 8 :)

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***

“She what!!!!” Chandler’s voice was beyond exasperated.

“She said I couldn’t tak' th' child.”

“And why can’t you?”

“Accordin' to her, ye an' I had a terrible influence on th' child an' as such she is not inclined to return her to me.”

“That woman, that arrogant, insolent woman!” Chandler paced the floor of his cell like a caged rabbit. “Why if I had been there, I would have…”

“It’s probably a good thin' ye weren’t there, she has a very a low opinion ay ye as it is.”

“Oh does she?”

“Aye, Miss Morgan is convinced 'at ye are th' primary soorce of th' child’s inability to behave an' as she said, th' reason th' child is a social calamity.”

“A social calamity? Humph, Oceana is smarter than all the other girls put together.”

“That’s whit I told her. An' while she did agree 'at Oceana was smart an' bright, she said her upbringin' was terrible an' 'at there was no way she was *gonnae lit us, lit me, have her.”

“What right has she…”

“Every right I’m afraid. To quote 'her, Oceana has bin placed under her care an' it is up to her to decide to whom Oceana will go. An' if she feels that someone isn’t right fur Oceana, then she will not *allaw them to tak' her. An' we happen tae fall into th' category ay ‘not right fur Oceana’.”

“Did that lady raise Oceana? Did she save her life? Who is she to deny us a child who rightfully belongs to us?”

“I will remin' ye, Chandler, 'at while Oceana may ‘rightfully’ belong to us she doesn’t ‘lawfully’ belong to us. An' that means we don’t have any legal claims on her. Th' children there have bin placed in th' care of Miss Morgan. Which means right now Oceana lawfully belongs to Miss Morgan an' Miss Morgan decides whit happens to her.”

Chandler gave the wall a frustrated punch, then sat down on the bench. “So now what?”

“Don’t ask me, yoo’re th' one wi' th' brains here.”

“It’s a pity you don’t have any persuasive abilities.” Chandler grumbled. “Still, maybe you should go over and try again.”

Callum frowned, he didn’t want to face Miss Morgan another time. “I guess I could try, *mebbe wait a wee bit an' confront her once more.”

“Or…” Chandler’s brain was beginning to turn, “you could just take her and leave.”

“Great, th' lest thin' I need is fur th' polis to start huntin' me *doon as a kidnapper. No thenk ye. We’ve got to bide on th' right side of th' law this time, Chandler, or we’ll lose Oceana fur good.Don’t ye give me tha’ look. I ken breakin' th' law is whit ye bide fur, but this is a different matter. It’s not money or goods we are dealin' wi', it’s not *e'en ye or me, she’s a lassie an' we can’t *jist grab 'er an' run.We’ve got to try an' do this in a way 'at will keep me out of jail, or we will pure lose Oceana forever.”

The look on Chandler’s face showed he understood was Callum was saying, but wasn’t happy with it.

“I’ll go over to th' orphanage in a coople of days an' try again. I’ve jist got to prepare my argument.”

“Come over to me tomorrow and we’ll prepare it together.”

“It’s settled 'en. I should get going. *Cheerio th’ noo Chandler.” Callum shook Chandler's hand and with a frown at the snoring ragged figure of Chandler’s cell mate sleeping on the bunk, left the dingy cell.

***

“Oceana, don’t cry. Crying wont’ do you any good.” Beth was trying unsuccessfully to consol her distressed friend.

“I can’t stop, the sky is weeping with me and I must weep with it.”

Beth gazed out the window at the pouring rain, wondering what to say.

“That horrid woman. Who does she think she is? Why can’t I go with Callum? I don’t want to stay here.”

“She’s not horrid; you mustn’t say things like that.” Beth chided.

“She is too. If your father came and she wouldn’t let you go with him, wouldn’t you be upset?”

“Of course I would, but crying isn’t going to change the circumstances. Come on, dry those tears, the sky is managing just fine without you. The two of you together will flood the area.”

Oceana gave a little giggle at this, but then let out another sob. “Everything is so grey.” She wept, “I hate living here.”

“There, there, it’s grey now, but the sun will come out tomorrow.”

“How do you know? Tomorrow will come and there won’t be any sun, you’ll see.”

“Tomorrow there will be sun, tomorrow there will always be sun. That’s the wonderful thing about tomorrow, when tomorrow becomes today, there is another tomorrow and you can hope maybe the next tomorrow will be better and so on.”

Oceana sniffed as she thought over this strange logic Beth had just presented her.

“Oceana,” Cassandra came running up with a note in her hand. “Miss Morgan asked me to give this to you; it seems Callum passed on a letter for you.”

“And from the looks of it, Miss Morgan has already read it.” Oceana replied with an angry frown as she took the letter. "Doesn't she know that's terribly rude?" She studied the letter for a long time, then her face brightened up and she broke into a smile.

“The sun came out today.” She squealed and hugged Beth.

“What did he write?” Beth peered over at the note. It was a simple letter, stating in so many words that Oceana would have to follow the rules and stay in the orphanage for now. “I would have thought such a letter would have made you miserable."

Oceana shook her head. “The secret is reading in between the lines.”

“And what is written in between the lines?”

A mischievous glint appeared in Oceana’s eyes. “You’ll replace out soon.” She said. “Come on, we’ve got our music lesson.”

Beth and Cassandra exchanged alarmed glances, what was Oceana up too? She wasn’t going to try and pull off something really stupid, was she?