Orphan Train

Molly, who is 17 years old, listens to her foster parents, Dina and Ralph, argue about returning her to the foster-care agency. She has just been arrested for stealing a worn copy of Jane Eyre from the public library. Molly is in the 11th grade at the local high school. She dresses as a “Goth”—dyed black hair with white or purple streaks, white face makeup, and dark eyeliner, black-painted fingernails—and purposely avoids relationships with the other kids. She has a boyfriend named Jack, who is the first person to try to break through her intimidating façade.

Jack’s father is from the Dominican Republic, and he went back there permanently soon after Jack was born. He and Jack’s mother never married. Jack’s mother, Terry Gallant, works for a rich, old, white lady.

Molly is a voracious reader and her desire to own a copy of Jane Eyre got her into her current predicament; she was caught by the antitheft strip, and the librarian refused to allow her to check the book out after the fact. Instead, the librarian turned her over to the court system, and she must perform 50 community service hours or be remanded to juvenile detention.

Molly believes that, no matter how much anyone seems to care, eventually people all discover that she’s “more trouble than she’s worth” (8) and abandon her. She keeps her distance because she’s been through this cycle so many times before.

Through his mother, who works for an old, rich lady named Vivian Daly, Jack has arranged for Molly to perform her community service hours by helping Vivian clean out her attic. Dina and Ralph grudgingly agree to keep Molly on with them.

Dressed as a toned-down version of herself, Molly arrives to her “interview” for the job of attic organizer. Vivian Daly’s house is a mansion, a huge Victorian pile with beautiful ocean views. Though she is intimidated by the beauty and obvious wealth of her surroundings, Molly does not hesitate to speak her mind in her interview with Vivian. To both women’s surprise, they share the quality of being honest and outspoken, and they get along. They exchange their views of the internet, which Vivian insists she has no use for, and then asserts that Molly should just dress as herself, as one of those “gothics” (15). Vivian is aware that Molly is in foster care, and she asks her about her life.

Molly doesn’t know what or how much to reveal; her story either engenders pity or puts people off. Her father died in an alcohol-induced crash, and her drug-addicted mother couldn’t care for her, which placed her in the foster system. She tells Vivian that she is Penobscot Indian on her father’s side and grew up on the reservation on Indian Island until his death; her mother is still alive, but is unable to take care of Molly.

Vivian reveals that she became an orphan at the same age that Molly did. Molly is surprised. Vivian “hires” Molly to complete her community service “project” cleaning out and organizing Vivian’s attic.

Niamh (pronounced “Neev”) Power, age 9, has been living in New York City for two years with her family: her drunken father, her overwhelmed, sickly mother, her twin brothers, Dominick and James, and an 18-month-old sister, Maisie, who was born in the U.S. Niamh holds her sister Maisie as she cries, but she cannot be consoled. When they arrived in the United States, they were astonished to find that there are many people who are prejudiced against the Irish.

The Powers emigrated from Kinvara, County Galway, Ireland, with the help of the father’s parents and sisters who paid for their passage. When they lived in Ireland, the father couldn’t maintain steady work due to his heavy drinking.

In New York, their situation looks promising at first, despite the widespread prejudice against Irish immigrants. Many jobs and rentals do not allow Irish people. The father works as a dishwasher in an Irish pub, but eventually he begins drinking heavily again. The family is forced to subsist on what little money is left over from the father’s drinking.

Vivian loses her whole family in a fire in their apartment. Her father and brothers are killed outright; she sees their bodies. Her mother loses her mind and is taken away. Maisie is taken away alive, but Mr. Schatzman, a neighbor, tells her Maisie too has died. The Schatzmans take her to the Children’s Aid Society. There is no one else to take her in or care for her. She is completely alone in the world.

At the Children’s Aid Society, the care-givers are not confident that a 9 year-old, red-haired Irish girl will find a home. Vivian is able to keep her only treasure, a Claddagh Celtic cross necklace given to her by her grandmother, because the women feel sorry for her.

Niamh and about 20 other children of all ages are put on a train going west, where they will be adopted. Because of her age, her ethnicity, and her bright red hair and freckles, Niamh knows that it will be difficult to find a family who will want her. Niamh is given a baby, fourteen-month-old Carmine, to hold and take care of on the journey. Niamh believes that she and Carmine will soon be called by different, more suitably American-sounding, names.

The train travels west all night and the next day. One of the more street-wise boys announces to the train of children that they will most likely be taken in by a farmer only to work and live in the barn with the animals. The children are frightened by his pronouncement, because they have been told that they are heading to families who will love and take care of them.

A boy named Dutchy who has been misbehaving is placed next to Niamh and Carmine. He has been a shoe-shine boy living on the streets in New York City. They discuss their futures: Dutchy knows that he can take care of himself no matter what, and he has little hope that he will be adopted into a loving family.

Dutchy, whose real name is Hans, is 12 years old. Born to German parents in New York, Dutchy’s father put him out on the street to earn money as a shoe-shine boy. His mother is dead. He stopped going home because his father beat him. He lived on the street with a gang of other boys. He was lured into the Christian Aid Society by the promise of a hot meal. Dutchy knows that the only thing he is good for is hard labor on a farm.

The three of them hit it off, and Dutchy, Niamh, and Carmine become an “odd little family” (39). On the third day, they reach Chicago. They change trains and continue westward. All of the orphans who are old enough to understand what is happening are apprehensive about being chosen by people who will mistreat them.