The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

The next morning, I don’t leave my room until I’m fully dressed, blankets folded, hair brushed smooth, determined to make a better impression than yesterday. Mrs. Hawkins greets me in the kitchen with her usual sympathetic look and the most delicious blueberry muffin of my life, still warm from the oven. I wolf it down, and she quietly slides another onto my plate without a word.

Elsa enters, formal now, saying Mrs. Edwards wants to see me. Her expression isn’t anger, but something closer to pity, which scares me even more. I follow her down the hall to the parlor, stomach flipping with every step, and find Mrs. Edwards seated in her high-backed chair, wearing that same look.

Mrs. Edwards clears her throat and explains: she’s called the local orphanage, and the Children’s Aid Society will place me on a westbound train with other orphans, headed to families willing to take children in. Samantha, listening from the doorway, bursts into tears. She’s scolded for eavesdropping, but Mrs. Edwards says she may stay anyway. Mrs. Edwards insists, gently but firmly, that the Society will find me a good home. If she truly believes that, why does she look so sad for me?

Samantha clearly doesn’t believe it either, and runs from the room, footsteps fading down the hall. I fight the urge to chase her. Mrs. Edwards, gently, says I leave Mount Bedford by train this morning, and sends me upstairs for a hot bath. First, though, I need to check on Samantha.

I find Samantha in the kitchen, face buried in Mrs. Hawkins’s shoulder, Hawkins the butler standing nearby. Given a chair, I listen as Samantha insists I can’t go on that train, not knowing where I’d end up. Mrs. Hawkins gently suggests it’s my best shot at a new family, but Samantha shakes her head. We have to find a way to keep me here. Hawkins clears his throat: he’s heard the Mount Bedford Glove Factory is hiring.

Samantha jumps up: I could earn my own money, and nobody could send me away. Earn my own money, at a factory, at ten years old? Mrs. Hawkins looks doubtful, too, asking where I’d even stay. Hawkins explains that the factory runs an affordable boardinghouse alongside the pay. Everyone waits for my answer. An orphan train, or a factory job? The train means opening my locket and being home by noon. The factory means more time with Samantha before she leaves for Piney Point tomorrow.