O: Orphanage

Is it just me, or are orphan stories the most dramatic, sad, awesome stories ever? Anyone who knew me as a child knew my favorite game to play was "run away from the orphanage." We would make up the worst orphanage matron we could think of, slip out of the "orphanage," which was usually a dugout at a baseball field at the park, run around in circles with imaginary dogs chasing after us, journey far and wide in the small area of the park we were playing in, and set up housekeeping next to the same baseball field we had run away from, though this time it was far away. Then we would go back home to the air condition in our respective happy homes, and eat dinner with our families.

How does this figure into The Experiment? Especially since hardly any of the children are orphans? Well, they are treated as such. They even go to an orphanage at Courtstone. They are put in dormitories, given ugly gray uniforms, fed nasty food, faced with the possibility of being separated from their siblings . . . it's just what orphan stories are made of. I want to write a true orphan story someday, but since I haven't yet, I have to be content with the orphan story elements in The Experiment.

For any others who enjoy the drama of orphans, I highly recommend Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild. It is one of my favorites.