Home Sweet Girl

Chapter | Twenty one

Mary eyes follow Angeline as she wrestling and tidying up the house in workout clothes from her late morning run. Even though the cleaning ladies came out yesterday. Dario was called in for an emergency at work and left an hour ago.

"Why today out of all days," she groans and mumbles to herself. The social worker is arriving today and Mary has no clue. Supposedly, Angeline forgot to fill her in on the visit.

She walks in the kitchen, pops open the fridge, then hops over to the pantry. She grabs all the ingredients to whip up a quick appetizer for the guest. The plan was to send Dario to the store, while she get her and Mary ready for the day. The social worker is scheduled to be here at twelve and it is currently ten. She thought she would have enough time.

"Baby. Can you do me a favor?" She acknowledges Maryanne's presence. The young girl nods.

"Can you get dressed and ready for me? It doesn't have to fancy-just not pajamas. Okay?" The woman starts chopping away. Whereas, Mary wondered why she needed to be dressed.

"Are we going somewhere?" She ask. The doctors was the last time she got out of the house and it has left her paranoid. She was upset with Angeline for a few days.

"No, a woman is coming over. To look at the house and evaluate us".

"Evaluate?".

"Basically, she wants to know how you are doing living here with us so far. It's big part in you staying with us longer," she's hoping for a very long time.

'Okay' is all the girl says before she goes to her room. She thinks to herself, will this woman ask her questions about what's it like to live with the Morello's?. Mary goes in her closet and grows overwhelmed by the great quantity of clothing. There are clothes not only hanging up, but also ones neatly placed in her dresser drawer. She never had this much to wear in her entire life. It is likely one of the reason why she allows Angeline to pick out her outfits. Unexpectedly, Mary catches herself from stumbling over something. The girl looks down and discovers that it's the sliver tabby watching her. "What should I wear French? This or this?" she points to a yellow sweatshirt with daisies all over, then to a pastle green baby doll tank top with ruffles along the bottom. Frenchie's responds with a yawn and an ear twitch.

"Good choice," she disregards the two options and chooses a navy blue graphic tee of a patched in black cat with its tongue sticking out. She goes over to her drawer and pulls out a pair of gray jogging pants and put on a pair of striped socks to officiate the look. Following, she proceeds to put her hair in a proper updo. After a couple of attempts, she is frustrated and her arms are tired and a little sore from those evil shots. Maryanne gives up and leaves the hair down.

Later, she makes her way back to the main room. Angeline inspects the girl's outfit, "Bravo! Did you brush your teeth and clean your face?". Mary pause before shaking her head. "That's okay, I'll help you," she swiftly walks in the direction of Mary's room. The girl set out to catch up to her speed. One of the downsides of being short. "Come here," she curls her finger signaling Mary over to stand close to the bathroom sink. Angeline takes her tooth brush and dabs toothpaste on it. Angeline tells the girl to open her mouth, in spite of Maryanne reaching for the brush. She gently holds her face and works the brush in circular motions along her teeth. Next, Angeline smoothes the gentle cleaner on her face and takes it off with a wet cloth. One cue, Mary promptly stops her from applying the moisturizer.

"I can do it," she says, spritzing the lotion onto her small palms.

"Okay honey. You have to rub it in really well," she watches Mary like a hawk. Then the woman observes the state of the girl's hair and doesn't waste any time to fix it into a high ponytail, adding a light blue scrunchie.