Serena sighs flopping into the sofa with her laptop. She pulls up the job search site and looks through for locals jobs around the Cedar Creek area as she does so she pops on Spotify on her phone. She looks around at the teal green room, the place illuminated in the candle lights. She scans the freshly painted walls. Not bad. She taps ‘play’ and the phone speaks with the riff intro of Orphan by Toto filling the room.
She turns her attention to the laptop. The irony of the song was not lost on her. She types as the singer begin to sing and Sen mouths the words, ‘I was born in a lost and found, Often raised in the underground, then one day I opened up my eyes, looked around and I realized.’ As the guitar and drum hook kicks in, she scrolls through the job listings. The singer sings out, ‘No, father, no mother, no sister and no brother!’ Sen taps her feet the kick of the drum. The singer continues, ‘Someone said we were family’ Sen joins in, ‘If your thirsty drink water from my hand, if you’re hungry, take my bread I’ll understand, if you’re lonely you can always share my bed.’ As the chorus tells her she is never alone in the world and she brings up the application for the local hospital, her wedding ring glints in the candle light catching her eye. Holding up her hand in the light, she examines it as if it is the first time she’s ever seen it, turning her hand over and over. She closes her fingers into a fist and presses the back of her hand to her lips, her eyes traveling to her bookcase, and scans the photographs. Pictures of her and her foster brothers. Of her, her real brother, his wife and her nephew and at the front, a picture of her and her husband. Toto’s song finishes repeating, ‘You’re never alone in the world, you’re never alone in the world baby. You believe in each and every one of us. No, you’re never alone in the world baby.’ Serena Tragonach lowers her eyes to her laptop screen once more and reads through the hospital application form, a smile forming across her lips.
Kennie's Mind: Written Word 