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Morgan Charlotte Parker’s life was organized, because breaking things into pieces made it easier to not feel crushed by them.
The first thing was facts.
Fact: She was going to be five years old on May ninth.
(May wasn’t just her birth month, it was also her auntie's name.)
Fact: Auntie May was in heaven now, with Uncle Ben and Mama and Papa.
(Morgan has only blurry memories of Uncle Ben and Auntie May, and she doesn’t remember Mama and Papa at all.) Fact: Morgan’s big sister Nell had clear memories of everything.
(She told Morgan stories, stories that were almost enough for Morgan to feel like she maybe remembered a little bit, even though that was scientifically impossible) Fact: Morgan’s clearest (and favoritest) memories were of Nellie. (Morgan had a lot of memories of Nellie. More than of anybody else at all.) Fact: Morgan loved Nellie best of anyone ever.
(Morgan loved Nellie how Morgan’s friends loved their Mamas and Papas) Fact: Nellie loved Morgan too. (Nellie loved Morgan like her friends siblings loved them, but also like parents love their babies, and it wouldn't work if it was anyone else, but Morgan's sister is the most perfect person in the whole universe) Fact: Nellie got sad sometimes because she missed Mama and Papa. (She also got scared, sometimes, when grown-ups were being bad, but she didn’t ever get mean like some people, because Nellie was nice.) Fact: Morgan was safe, and loved, and protected. (Even though Morgan’s proper parents and auntie and uncle were all in heaven, it was okay, because Nellie was as good as parents.) Fact: Since Auntie May and Uncle Ben were in heaven, Nellie and Morgan were “wards of the state”.
(Being “wards of the state” meant that everything changed very fast sometimes, and they had a social worker, and, usually, fake parents.) Fact: They didn’t stay with any fake parents very long. (That didn’t matter, though because Nellie was always there.) Fact: Nellie kept Morgan safe, always. (Morgan just had to trust her, and keep being happy and good, especially when Nellie got sad from remembering too many of the bad things.) Fact: Grown-ups were mean, sometimes. (Tyler was the meanest grown up ever, but sometimes others were mean too, especially fake parents.) Fact: Some grown ups are safe.
Fact: Most grown ups aren't safe.
Fact: Nellie was the safest person ever. (Even when she did get sad, she was still safe.)
Fact: Nellie’s friend MJ was also very, very safe. (MJ was in love with Morgan's sister like Morgan's parents had been in love with each other)
Fact: Nellie was gonna turn fifteen on August twenty-fifth.
(Nellie’s birthday is a square number, just like Morgan’s!)
Fact: When Poppy turned sixteen, she was gonna get the government to make her a grown-up, and everything was going to be perfect.
Morgan Charlotte Parker’s life was also built on names. She couldn’t remember what her parents had called her, but Nellie said that Papa had called her “Piccolina”, and Mama had called her “Mijita”, and Nellie was always right about that kind of stuff.
Nellie herself had a lot of names for Morgan, too. There were english ones: “sweetheart”, “baby girl”, “firefly”, “little miss”. Spanish ones “muñequita”, “sirenita”, “princesita”. And Italian ones “Bambina”, “stellina”, “Coca”. MJ called her“Spitfire”, “Little M”, and just “kid”. Morgan’s babysitter, Kade, called her “darling.”. Her new babysitter, Livvy, called her “gorgeous”, and “Sugar”. Miss Becca called her “angel”, and “cookie”. Morgan liked all of those names.
The two things Morgan did not like to be called were “Sweetie” (which social workers and some fake parents called her), and “girl” because that was what Tyler had called her.
Fact: Morgan didn’t like Tyler.
But they weren’t with him anymore, because Nellie had gotten them away.
Fact: Morgan was safe, and loved, and she didn’t have to worry, because Nellie was always there, and always safe.
So when Morgan got scared or sad or angry, from the things that were happening, or the things that used to happen, she wrapped herself in facts, and names, and the knowledge that someday, when Nellie was sixteen, there wouldn’t be any more fake parents ever again, just Nellie and Morgan and happiness.