Orphan Petal

October 2023 - Part 4

Should Shirley be in this family?

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(pictures done by ai)

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Doctor Mary
When some people get married, there are often stories that the bride is comfortable with her husband's bad sides. They think they can change their husband. The bride thinks she can mould him into the perfect husband. This is doomed to failure, as often it will not work. The thing is, why do we want to change people? We all have our good sides and bad sides. I think that in the last episode of “Orphan Petal,” it was said, “As long as we do not hurt others.” This is a good life philosophy. I am also proud of Shirley. He was unhappy with his new home and went back to his old ways of being a bully. Now it seems as if he wants to be himself and let people accept him for who he is. This can only mean that some sparks will fly. Will Shirley have enough courage to show who he is, and if he does, will the Sterlings accept it?

Shirley:
Things have been weird the last week when the Sterlings were told that I was girly before they met me. I decided I did not want to be angry and become a bully like I once was. When I was alone, I would dance ballet. I made homemade dolls from socks. They looked nothing like dolls, but it's good that I have a good imagination. Nanny has seen this side of me but never seen the Sterlings. I think that the Sterlings do not want to understand me. They decided not to accept me for who I was but to try and change me. Mr. Sterling is very demanding and not a man you can speak with. Mrs. Sterling has been kind to me and has tried to spend more time with me. Mrs. Sterling confuses me. I do believe she has a heart and wants to love me. I also think that she doesn’t want to stand up to her husband; that is a dominating idiot. One day, Mrs. Sterling gave me a present. When I opened it, it was a cowboy Halloween costume. She explained that it would soon be Halloween. My heart dropped when I saw the costume. I did not want to be a cowboy. Still, I know Mrs. Sterling is trying. I managed to smile and hug her.

Susan:
Shirley visited the orphanage today. He wanted to apologise to me for the way he was starting to be a bully and ignoring me. I tried to ask him how life was with his new family and when this trial period was over. Shirley did not want to speak a lot about his family or what it was like there. Shirley just wanted to talk about how we were doing here at the orphanage. He was smiling and wanted to hear everything. Shirley had a huge smile when I told him that his room was still empty. While I was fixing his hair into braided pigtails, I was thinking that Shirley did not want to talk about his new family because he was not happy. I tried asking him again about the family, but he refused to talk about it. This is typical Shirley, bottling things inside him. I hope that my assumptions that he is not happy are wrong.

Jason:
Shirley visited the orphanage today. He is back to normal and not such a bully at school anymore. Well, he has changed. Shirley is no longer pretending that he is a girl. He looks like a boy, except he has long hair. I still do not understand why he wanted to wear girly clothes and pretend to be a girl. I may be gay, but only Austin knows this. I could never be a sissy like Shirley was at one stage. I am a boy, and I am proud and comfortable with this. Maybe Shirley has found out that he is glad to be a boy. It means he does not stand out, and people do not whisper behind his back. In the long run, it's easier to be the person that you were born as.

Susan:
When Shirley left the orphanage, I spent a lot of time in bed thinking about him. I went and told Aunty what I thought. I told her that Shirley is not happy, and I think that it could be that he is not very happy with his new family. Aunty shrugged her shoulders and said that Shirley had made the decision that he wanted to be adopted by this family. “Shirley has made his own bed, and he must now sleep in it.” I did not understand, Aunty. I told her that this is a trial period, and Aunty and Mr Dickens still have a responsibility to make sure that this is the right family to be in. If Shirley is not happy in this family, then Aunty will have some responsibility for ruining his life. I can see that Aunty was becoming frustrated. She told me that I was only a child, so what did I know? I was told that it takes time to get used to a new family. Shirley would be fine. I stomped back to my room, thinking that at times, children were more wise than adults.

Mrs Sterling
I realised something lately. Shirley never smiles. Sometimes I hear him laughing when he is alone in his room. I am not allowed to come in. I have tried to spend more time with Shirley. This is a nightmare. He never smiles and agrees with everything I say. It is like that; it is a chore for him to be with me. I spoke with my husband about this. “Shirley is not happy here. Maybe it's because he is transgender and we are not allowing him to do what he wants and wear what he wants.” I was thinking that if Shirley is transgender, we should support him and not make his life hell. My husband gave me the speech that Shirley was born a boy, and this is how we should treat him. It is immoral to treat Shirley as anything else. As parents, we would be destroying his life. My husband warned me that Shirley would end up as some drag queen dancing in sleazy bars. After I spoke with my husband, I could see his point. It's important that Shirley is happy, but it's also important that he has a good future and is not immoral. Shirley would get used to his life here and find happiness.

Austin:
Shirley visited Logan and me today. I have forgiven Shirley for the time that he told everyone that I am gay. However, there are still some bad feelings I cannot agree with. I consider Shirley a little brother who can be sweet and fun while at the same time ruining my life. Logan and I talked about how our lives were here. I am happy to be Logan's brother. Logan is so caring and always so kind. Logan is a saint. I even accepted that Logan is a girl in his heart and mind. Logan is my sister! Shirley would not talk about his new family. I noticed that Shirley did not call his new parents “mom” or "dad." He called them Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. I pointed this out and told him he does not consider them his parents. Shirley is on trial, and he should consider whether he is happy with his new family.

Logan:
Shirley wants to be loved. He lost his parents in a car crash. He did not survive in a foster home. He wants this new family to accept him, and Shirley is now so submissive. I told Shirley that he was not happy. Everyone can see this. This is why he was a bully once again and why he looks so sad. It's also why he does not want to talk about his family. I asked Shirley what is more important: being loved for someone who he is not or being happy with the person that he is. What is more important? Shirley making others happy, or Shirley being happy? I told Shirley that he needed to find out what makes him happy and be this person. Of course, everyone knows the answer. I did not tell Shirley the answer. He needs to discover himself.

Nanny:
I cannot stand seeing a child be unhappy and not accepted for who they are, even if this gets me fired from my job. When Shirley came home today, I told Mr. and Mrs. Sterling that Shirley was going for a walk. His parents did not know this, but I took Shirley to ballet. Shirley was worried and told me that he would get in trouble. I smiled and said what his parents did not know would not hurt them. It took some time for Shirley to relax, however, the fun of ballet took over, and Shirley was once again having fun and smiling. I must also admit that Shirley is a talented dancer, and it was so good to see Shirley have such a good time. On the way home, Shirley told me that he still felt bad that he was keeping a secret from Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. I told him he already practices ballet when they do not look, and he pretends to play with dolls, which the Sterlings did not know. It's hard to keep secrets from others and not be advised, but it's also hard to not do what you love doing.

Bella:
You may remember me from “the teenage years of Allie Horten.” I was the best friend of Allie, whom Aunty manipulated into being more girly. I did not like Aunty at the time, as I thought that she caused Allie more problems than any teenager should have. Over the years, I have forgiven Aunty and visited her once in a while. Today I visited Aunty, and she seemed very depressed. I joked and asked her how many boys she had convinced were transgender at the child's home. Aunty had tears in her eyes when she told me about Shirley. Aunty complained that she invested so much time and care into the boy, and now he was being adopted. At first, I did not know what to say. It seems that Aunty does have a heart. I told Aunty that she had to admit to herself that Shirley meant a lot to her. Aunty has to admit that she does not want Shirley to be adopted. She wanted Shirley to be with her. Aunty admitted all this and said that it also hurt her that Shirley was not happy with his new family. I told Aunty she knew what to do. I also advised that Aunty do what was best for Shirley.

Nanny
Shirley was given a cowboy costume for Halloween. One thing for sure is that Shirley does not want to dress up as a cowboy. I want this Halloween to be special for Shirley. So I gave him a present when we were alone in his room. It was a princess costume. Shirley was crying when he opened the present. At first, he said it was so pretty. Then he said he could not wear it. He did not want to disappoint Mrs. Sterling after she gave him a present. He did not want to keep more secrets from the Sterlings. I can understand this. Shirley is a loyal child who wants to please his new parents. I told Shirley that he now had a choice of being a cowboy or a princess. It was he who had to choose. He had to wear what he wanted. If Shirley did pick the princess costume, people would love him for who he is and not his choice. It is the same if he wanted to dress as a cowboy.

Mr Dickens
I always considered myself professional in my work. I think this is why things are becoming so hard for me now. I am confused. I will tell you why. I am finding out that I have feelings for Aunty. I mean the romantic feelings. I want to ask Aunty out on a date. I have not done that yet, nor do I plan to. I cannot allow romance to interfere with my work. This is so hard, as every time I am around Aunty, my heart beats like crazy.

Shirley
I decided to be a princess for Halloween. It would be another secret that I had to keep. I looked at the cowboy costume and then the princess costume. The Sterlings were at work, so they would not be home. I could trick or treat in peace. Nanny did my hair; it took her ages to do this. I did not recognise myself when I looked in the mirror. I looked like a real princess. I went trick-or-treating as a princess. It was so much fun. I was so happy, and I felt like this was one of the best experiences of my life. Nanny asked me if I was happy. I gave Nanny a huge smile and told her I was so happy. I made my own choice to be a princess for Halloween, and I was proud that I made a choice that made me happy.

Mrs Sterling
My husband and I were working late. On our way home, we saw some children trick-or-treating. I knew that Shirley would be doing this and was looking for a boy dressed as a cowboy. I could not see Shirley. Then my husband saw Shirley and asked, Why is Shirley dressed as a princess? I nearly had an anxiety attack. I purchased him a cowboy costume. Of course, my assistant bought it, but it was a gift from me. There was no doubt that the princess was Shirley. Even his nanny was standing beside him. My husband was outraged. He was shouting and screaming that there was no hope for the boy; he had been corrupted. He finished by saying, “When we get home, I do not even want to look at him. I am calling Mr. Dickens and telling him Shirley will no longer be living with us. I can only tolerate so much!”