The Story of Janine, Part 1.

This story isn’t favored, and perhaps that is appropriate.

As many young girls without a sibling might do, Janine often wished for a little sister. Someone to play with, and dress up, and talk to. All she really had were dolls, friends that she only saw for the first half of the day, and her nanny. She woke up at seven o’clock every day, and her mother helped her get ready for school. Her father worked overseas, and her mother left to get to work promptly for eight o’clock every morning. Janine was fairly independent, and would quietly eat her cereal, alone in the house until a ten after eight, when her nanny would arrive. She would pick her up, finish getting her ready, and hurriedly drive her to school to arrive before eight-thirty.

School let out at one o’clock, and the nanny would be waiting outside for her. She would take Janine back home, make her a snack, and keep an eye on her until six o’clock, which was when her mother would come back home. They would both fix dinner, the nanny would leave around six-thirty, and the dishes were done around seven.

It was a very set routine. One Janine was bored with.

Her mother tried to explain that she couldn’t give Janine a little sister – her father was still overseas, and he was an integral part of the process. Janine was a touch too young to understand, but ‘no’ can be comprehended at any age.

The routine threatened to be disrupted, when her nanny lingered one night, after helping make dinner. She claimed she could no longer work for them – it was tearing her apart, not being able to go home to her own little girl. She needed to be with her daughter.

It caused a great deal of confusion; in all the years she had been Janine’s nanny, she had never before mentioned having a daughter. Janine was thrilled, however, at the opportunity being presented.

She begged both her mother and nanny not to let the arrangement end. She could bring her daughter with her, instead, she suggested. They could play together all day. It would finally be like having a sister.

There was some financial negotiation, but in the end, an agreement was reached. The nanny would simply bring her daughter along, and watch them both.

They were introduced the very next day. As many young girls who are the ‘only child’ do, she didn’t take into account that she might not like her new playmate. She didn’t think, either, that she might miss the attention that came from being the only one.

But she did miss the attention. It seemed she fell to the wayside, as her nanny fixated all of her attention to her eerily-silent daughter. Her mother was less attentive, as well, with a new little girl around the house. She invited Janine’s new playmate to stay longer – have dinner with them. Stay a few hours longer. Spend the night.

She, and the nanny, started staying over more and more; they were becoming a merry little family of three.

Three, because Janine suddenly seemed not to count. They forgot to pick her up from school, one day, forcing her to walk all the way back. She only got lost twice.

It happened several times over the course of the next week. Every day, in fact. The adults in her life were enthralled by this little girl, and didn’t have time for Janine, anymore.

She was declared an orphan, and a ward of the state, when she got home one day to find that she’d been forgotten altogether.