Chapter Two

Mary smiled as Melody clutched it in her tiny hands, intrigued by its soft silky fur and stroking it reverently she looked back at Mary and whispered,                                                                                                         'Is this really for me?'                                                                                                                                     She had never been given a present before, Birthdays and Christmas were barely acknowledged by her junkie mother and her many lovers, all they meant to the woman was an excuse to get very drunk and hook up with the nearest available guy. As long as he was willing to fund her 'habits' she would spend the night screwing him in front of her terrified daughter uncaring of what such a young child was witnessing.        Now, Mary saw the uncertainty in the little child's eyes, she had lost count of the number of children she had seen brought to her in this condition. This dainty, pretty little girl had survived horrors that would crush most adults, starved, beaten, ignored and left to fend for herself seeing things she should never have witnessed. The other Social Worker, a guy called Simon, knelt to address her and Melody backed away, all men terrified her all they did was hit her and hurt her, none of the ones she had contact with had ever shown her anything but pain.                                                                                                                     'Hello Melody, I am Simon and I have a gift for you too.'                                                                             She started to tremble with fear she knew the gifts men had for her, the back of a hand across her face, or the same hand gripping her hair and shaking her violently or the sick ones who put her across their knees and spanked her hard before throwing her away and hurting her Mama. Men were not to be trusted and she backed into the Nurse's legs her eyes wide and fearful, the man looked surprised and then hurt by her actions,                                                                                                                                                         'Hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you Melody I just wanted to give you this.'                                                         He held out a pretty dolly to her but she made no move to take it, she knew this game too, as soon as her hand reached out to take it the dolly would be snatched away and the hand would grab her and shake her until her teeth rattled. Simon saw the fear in her eyes and stood up handing the doll to Mary without a word, they knew not to push a child so badly traumatised. Mary smiled at the little girl and handed her the doll,                                                                                                                                                              'There you go, wasn't that nice of Simon to remember your birthday just like I did?'                             Melody said nothing clutching the teddy bear in one hand she bent and carefully placed the doll on the floor then fled back into the arms of the kind Nurse,                                                                                  'Hey, hey now come on young lady. That's not a very nice thing to do, you have hurt Simon's feelings.'    The Nurse was old-fashioned and did not know the little girl had been taken from her dead mother's side and was severely traumatised. She set Melody away from her and frowned disapprovingly,                      'Did your Mama not teach you any manners, young lady? You go pick up that pretty dolly and apologise to Simon right now.'                                                                                                                                     Melody was appalled, she had thought she was safe with these people, hadn't they cleaned her and fed her? Confused and scared she looked at the floor frozen where she stood the teddy bear dropping from her hand as she trembled violently. Mary rushed forward to sweep her into her arms and hold her close stroking her back and murmuring in her ear,                                                                                                 'It's okay baby girl, it's okay.'                                                                                                                    Glaring at the Nurse for her insensitivity she scooped up the teddy and walked out of the room to sit on a chair in the corridor rocking her gently.                                                                                                        'You okay baby girl?'                                                                                                                                Melody felt safe in this older woman's arms, somehow she knew no one would hurt her if Mary was there so she snuggled against her shoulder clutching the teddy to her chest. The adults continued talking over her head but she did not listen just stuck her thumb in her mouth and relaxed under the gentleness of Mary's touch.                                                                                                                                                  'Do we have a foster home for her?'                                                                                                          Simon asked looking at Mary and then their boss, Julian Fisher, he was the Head of the Social Services Team at the hospital and he had just arrived after reading the little girl's notes.                                         'She needs specialist care, as far as we can see she has not been sexually abused but physical abuse, mental abuse, starvation and I would guess she had been subjected to some pretty horrific sights.'            All the adults paused to look at the tiny pretty child sitting so quietly and still on the senior Social Worker's knee, it was an unnatural position, she appeared to be cuddled into Mary but if you looked closely she was holding herself so stiffly it had to be painful for her.                                                                                     'We have only one family capable of giving her the care she needs but they are retiring soon. I'm not sure it would be beneficial for her to go to them and then have to be relocated just as she's settled.'            Julian looked at the two Social Workers both knew the service was overworked and understaffed, with a huge shortage of facilities for every sector. The couple Julian mentioned, Anna and Henry, had been foster carers for more than twenty years, when their children had grown up and left to start their own lives, the couple had begun taking in unwanted and traumatised children. They had an amazing success story, almost all the children they cared for went on to lead 'normal' fruitful lives. If this tiny child was to have any chance at all she needed their care for however long they could give it so Mary sighed and stood up cradling Melody in her arms.                                                                                                                          'We don't have a choice, the system would crush her she's far too fragile for anyone else.'                      Anna and Henry welcomed the little girl using all their years of experience, they did not crowd her or make any fuss of her, instead, they spoke in soft voices, showing her to her room, telling her what was hers and what she needed to do.