Transfiguration

Chapter Four-1

Chapter Four

Spring 1953…

Margaret Rand glanced at her watch. She was going to be late for her appointment with Headmistress Sister Benita. It was after four by the time she parked her car in the Holy Angels Orphanage parking lot. She’d been delayed at the laundry and then she’d had to go home to change before coming to the orphanage. Fraught with excitement, she tried to steady her racing nerves - one didn’t adopt a child every day of the week. As she made her way across the parking lot, she vaguely realized the orphanage building and grounds reminded her of days gone by at St. Catherine’s.

The orphanage stood on several groomed acres. Intersecting crushed stone walkways ran beneath stately old stands of oak, elm, and hemlock. The main building was an imposing four-story rectangular structure clad in weather-stained red brick. Several tall brick chimneys rose like towers from the Mansard roof. Small outbuildings and a brick coach house surrounded the main building. A tall iron fence covered in thick vine ran around the perimeter of the property and blocked the view from the road. The term faded elegance came to mind.

She had carefully chosen her outfit for this first interview. Not too formal, but not casual either. She’d purchased new heels and a pretty silk print for the meeting. A white straw pillbox with netting that covered her face was pinned on her head. She had not worn a bra in years and was not wearing one today. Even though her ample breasts were jiggling like mad, she thought her waist-deep bosom projected a more maternal image. Her eyes had to adjust quickly from the bright sunshine to the dimly lit orphanage interior. Dark paneling covered the reception foyer walls. The floor was a mosaic of black and white tiles. Margaret loved sunshine and fresh air. Why didn’t the staff throw open the windows and air out this musty old place?

An older woman in a long-sleeved blouse was seated at the receptionist’s desk. Her hair was swept up in a turn-of-the-century pompadour. When she rose from her desk, Margaret had to admire her uniform, a long dark skirt and tailored blouse that reminded Margaret of the shirtwaists so popular at the turn of the century. How composed and grandmotherly she looked. The woman smiled at Margaret as she approached and extended her hand. “You must be Mrs. Rand. I am Miss Lillian. How nice to meet you. Please have a seat while I let Headmistress know you’re here.”

Margaret was too nervous to sit. As her eyes swept the foyer, she spotted a polished brass plaque behind the receptionist’s desk. Moving closer, she read the inscription.

“Frequent paddlings turn bad boys into good boys.”

Mother Miriam - Founder Holy Angels Orphanage - 1881.

No wonder the place smelled musty. She thought it was a wonderful saying and reminded herself to embroider the message and hang it in her home for her adopted son.

The faint but unmistakable sounds of a spanking broke the august silence. The staccato slaps floated down the wide staircase that led up to the second floor. Margaret anticipated the response, which she knew from her own experience took a moment to follow. The spanking escalated and merged with the first stuttering shrieks. The sounds took her back to her babysitting days, leaving her pleased and reassured. The good sisters were strict and meant business.

A moment later, the receptionist followed the Headmistress into the foyer. The woman looked about Margaret’s age. In lieu of a nun’s conventional black garb, she wore a pleated floor-length navy denim skirt, a blue and white striped ticking apron, and a long-sleeved blue cotton blouse. A black wrap covered her head. When Margaret saw she was as busty as her and not wearing a bra her nervousness began to subside. She looked pleasant enough and at the same time exuded a brisk efficiency. Margaret saw her as a woman accustomed to being in charge. She smiled warmly at Margaret as she took her hand in a firm handshake. Margaret liked that.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Rand. I am Headmistress Sister Benita of the Nursing Sisters & Matrons Society. We operate Holy Angels orphanage and Mercy Rehabilitation, an alcohol treatment center. We have another institution also, which I will get into at a more appropriate time.”

“Sister, I am so happy to meet you and I’m also very nervous. I must tell you I am impressed with what I’ve seen - and heard - so far.”

“Heard? Oh, you mean the spanking upstairs. It happens so often I rarely even hear it anymore. Well, you mustn’t be nervous, my dear. I can assure we do not bite. We spank our boys as you just heard, but we do not scare off our matrons. I’m pleased you are here to talk about adopting an older boy. We rarely receive queries from prospective mothers about our older boys. God bless you for that.” Sister’s clear-eyed gaze and air of confidence reassured Margaret. She looked forward to working with her.

“The boys must keep you on your toes, Sister.”

“Oh yes,” Sister smiled. “They are always testing our authority, but we are given the strength and wisdom to raise our young charges. I have selected boys for you to meet.” As they walked into the interior of the building, Sister Benita continued, “Beyond the basics of housekeeping and feeding and caring for my boys, there are three things I focus on: rules, obedience, and retribution. My staff and I administer discipline with care and love. We mean to teach our boys to stay on the path of righteousness.”

“I like that,” Margaret replied, feeling even more comfortable with this formidable woman. “That is how I would expect to raise my boy.”

“I have selected two boys for you to meet.”

“I’m sure I’ll like them both.”

Sister Benita nodded as she led Margaret into her office. Sunlight shafted into the room through tall draped windows. Another sister was waiting for them. Other than her bright red head wrap, she was dressed in the same garb as the Headmistress.

Sister Benita introduced Margaret to Sister Theodosia, a tall attractive woman with large blue eyes and cheeks so rosy Margaret wondered if she had pinched them for effect. Sister Theodosia greeted Margaret and aggressively shook her hand.

Sister Benita pointed to Sister Theodosia’s head wrap. “I should explain our head coverings. Sister Theodosia is my Mistress of Discipline. She wears a red wrap because it reminds the boys of what their seats will look like if they don’t obey us. My Teaching and Nursing Mistresses wear white. My Dormitory, Refectory, and Housekeeping Mistresses wear yellow.”

Sister Benita turned to Sister Theodosia. “Sister, before you bring in the boys, please explain our disciplinary methods to Mrs. Rand.”

“Well, we try to minimize our punishments. However, with a hundred boys under one roof, things can quickly get out of hand if we don’t keep them reined in. We lecture the boys if they are occasionally naughty or disobedient. We send them to a corner if they are disruptive. We’ll put them to bed without supper. If all that fails, I will take the smaller boys over my lap. The older boys are laid over a chair back for a session with my strap.”

“Do you spank on the bare?” Margaret asked.

“Good question, Ma’am. That depends on the crime and the age of the boy.”

“You mentioned a strap. Do you use other implements when you spank the boys?”

“We hand spank our smaller boys.”

“On their bare seats?”

Sister Theodosia smiled at Margaret’s thoroughness. “I’ll spank a bare seat if the boy isn’t getting my message. Simply put, some of our boys learn faster than the others.”

“What about the older boys?”

“Again, that would depend on the boy’s attitude. Sometimes I’ll send him to Sister Benita’s office.” She glanced at her superior. “Headmistress, would you like to take it from there?”

“Typically, if it’s a first-time trip to my office, I’ll take the boy’s pants down but not his underwear. That usually is shaming enough. The younger boys will go over my lap. I spank them with a hairbrush. My worst-case offenders go over my desk and I will strap or paddle their bare bottoms. I have these implements here if you’d like to see them.”

“It would be helpful, Sister,” Margaret murmured.

Sister Benita opened a desk drawer and took out a heavy maple hairbrush and a wood-handled leather strap. “My mother gave me this hairbrush when I joined the Nursing Sisters & Matrons. I treasure it.” She held up the strap by its polished handle. The wide leather strap was attached to a deep slot cut into the handle. Brass rivets held the leather in the handle. The leather was old, stained, and quite stiff. “When I was a girl on the farm we used to use one of these straps to drive our cattle into the barn. The handle makes it much more effective than a strap looped in your hand. The handle provides leverage, more power behind the strap. It really stings.”

She handed the hairbrush and strap to Margaret. “I’m sure you can find a suitable hairbrush. If you do take one of our boys home, I will provide a strap just like this one. You’ll need it and the hairbrush for an older boy.”

Margaret looked uncertainly at the Headmistress.

“Make no mistake, Mrs. Rand, when one of my staff sends a boy to my office it is serious business. A session over my lap or desk top will shame and frighten a boy enough he won’t repeat the offense.”

Margaret nodded “I can imagine. Do you spank the boys in the classrooms?”

“What you mean is do we spank in front of the other boys. No, we do not,” Sister Benita replied. “I consider a private spanking shaming enough without subjecting the boy to the embarrassment of the other boys watching.”

Just then, there was a soft knock. “That must be my Dorm Mistress, Sister Felice.” Sister Benita summoned her into the office. Sister Felice was a short and buxom woman with a bosom that swayed heavily beneath her blouse as she came into the office. She had a motherly countenance and pleasantness about her that Margaret thought must endear her to the boys. She gave Margaret a warm smile as she shook her hand. She wore the yellow head wrap and a snow-white apron.

“Sister Felice, Mrs. Rand is considering adopting one of our older boys.”

“You are to be commended, Mrs. Rand. We will do our best to find a suitable boy for you.”

“Sister Felice manages the dorms,” Sister Benita explained. “She has charge of the boys from the time she puts them to bed until they come down to breakfast. Her quarters and her office adjoin the dorm. Believe me, after years of doing this job, she knows every quirk in every boy. She doesn’t miss a thing.”

“I expect some of the boys keep you up at night. Do you or Sister Theodosia handle after bedtime discipline?” Margaret asked.

“Sister Theodosia has her hands full during the day so I take over at night. There are a few troublemakers who still think I can’t hear them after lights out. But when they are taken to my office, they find out I have a p***y cat’s ears.”

Margaret turned back to Sister Benita. “I can see you take the care and discipline of your boys very seriously.”

Headmistress nodded. “Before we offer our boys up for adoption, Mrs. Rand, we make every effort to ensure they are compliant and well behaved. When a boy leaves this institution with his new mother, we want to be sure he will obey her. It isn’t easy - there’s always the stubborn one. If a boy relapses, his adoptive mother can bring him back to us for remedial training.”

“What might that mean?” Margaret asked.

Sister Theodosia smiled inwardly at the question. Many adoptive mothers assumed they knew everything about disciplining a boy. In fact, most of them knew far less than they thought they did. She liked Mrs. Rand. No matter what she did or didn’t know about raising a boy, she was being open and honest and seemed willing to learn. That pleased her. She let Headmistress answer Margaret’s question.

“Depending on the extent of the boy’s unwillingness to obey and the depth of his stubbornness, Sister Theodosia and I may resort to feminizing the boy. It always amazes us how a boy’s rebellious attitude changes when Sister Theo’ puts him in makeup, padded underpants, a training bra, and a nice little dress and stockings. By the time Sister is through parading her red-lipped darling through the orphanage for a whole day, that boy is eating out of her hand.”

“It never fails,” Sister Theodosia echoed.

Margaret could envision it. It made her smile. She’d never done such a thing, but the idea appealed to her. She imagined spanking her new son and turning him into an adorable little girl. If her boy became a chronic disciplinary problem, she could always bring him back here, but first, she would feminize him in her own home. She’d make up his face with her rouge, lipstick, and mascara and dress him in a padded bra and padded underpants. She wondered if Sister actually meant a diaper. Either way, she’d shame him into submission - especially, when she took him to Circle or to see her mother.

Sister Benita cut into her thoughts. “Sister Felice, would you please bring in the boys.”

Sister Felice went out and returned with two boys. The minute Margaret saw them she felt her maternal instinct go into overdrive and her heart overflow. She could have taken them both home. The boys were dressed identically in the Holy Angels uniform: short navy pants, half stockings, pressed white blouse, and red and blue striped tie. Their black shoes gleamed. Sister Felice had wet and neatly combed their hair. One boy was tall for his age and slender with a pale countenance, enormous blue eyes, and white-blonde curls that spilled over his ears. The other boy was shorter and pudgy with olive skin, dark luminous eyes, and straight dark hair that nearly reached his shoulders. They boys gazed frankly at her with what Margaret construed as mixed emotions. She could see the skepticism in their eyes. They had obviously been shown to other adoptive parents and been rejected. She could see they had no hope of leaving the orphanage with her.

Sister Felice stood behind the boys with her hands resting on their shoulders. She gestured to the blonde boy. “This is Richard - Richie - Washburn. The other boy is Allen Broderick, his best friend. They are soul mates and for the most part good boys. Academically, they are both good students. Richie is the dreamer and our resident artist. He never stops sketching. He has a natural talent. Allen is the leader and far more pragmatic. They have known each other since they were babies. Both boys are ten years old, healthy, and inseparable. We would love to place them both in the same home. But we know that is not going to happen.”

Margaret found herself drawn to both boys. She smiled warmly at them. God, this is going to be difficult. She thought of Betsy and decided not to mention her yet. She cleared her throat. “Assuming the ensuing interviews and application paperwork go well, I would consider taking both boys. I think I could deal with that. However, I am afraid with my smallish home and the demands of my mother’s company; I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Each of these boys deserves a mother of his own.”

Margaret began to talk to the boys. She was pleased to see them lose some of their shyness and open up to her. Allen was much more self assured and chatty than Richie. After several minutes had passed, Sister Benita said, “Sister Felice, you really should get these two back to the classroom. We’ll continue when you return.”

When Sister Felice returned, Sister Benita continued the meeting. “Mrs. Rand, I have to tell you something. As unlikely as it may seem, we may have a prospective adoptive mother, a single woman, for Allen. At this point, we’re not sure if she is going to proceed.”

Margaret deliberated. It could well be Betsy she was talking about. Obviously, Sister could not reveal her name. Should she mention her? Betsy had said she was going to contact Holy Angels. Margaret looked at Headmistress. “I know this is all very confidential, but may I ask you about this woman? I may know her. By any chance, is this woman Miss Betsy Wycliffe? Betsy is a very close friend of mine. I know she’s mentioned adoption.”

Sister Benita glanced at Sister Felice and pursed her lips. Finally, she gave Margaret a slow nod. “God works in strange ways, Mrs. Rand. Please keep in mind, what I have shared with you is in the strictest confidence. The woman is indeed Miss Wycliffe. I can tell you she did mention your name.”

Margaret could scarcely believe her good fortune. “Then, the boys would not have to be separated. What a strange coincidence.”

“She’s using you as reference. I must say you have impeccable credentials; personal, financial, everything.”

“Until now, I had no idea…I’ll call Betsy.”

Sister Benita smiled. “God works in mysterious ways, Mrs. Rand. We would hope if you and Miss Wycliffe decide to adopt Richie and Allen, they would still be allowed contact with each other.”

“Of course we would, Sister. I can already imagine the sleepovers, inevitable pillow fights, all the sorts of naughtiness they probably do here.”

“When they act out here, Mrs. Rand, we spank. We would hope you’d do the same thing in your home,” Sister Felice said.

“Sister, you have my guarantee on that. I think Betsy…Miss Wycliffe will concur.”

Over the next several months, Margaret and Betsy pursued the adoption process, meeting with Sister Benita, a social worker, and Richie and Allen. During that period, Margaret came to understand and love Richie and his insecurities. When the process ended, Margaret was ready to adopt. Betsy still wasn’t sure. She continued to think on and pray over her decision.

A few weeks later after an emotional Circle meeting where Dahlia was all over Margaret and Betsy for hesitating, Margaret went home and called Holy Angels.