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Description
Small Dreams

To keep the children positive, the Head Mistress at the Orphanage would ask them every few months to share their hopes, and dreams. The exercise was seen as therapeutic, giving the children goals to keep them on track. Some children would illustrate their dreams through pictures or paintings, others would act them out through role-play. The children seemed to enjoy the project. All but one child, Eugene Fitzherbert, did not respond well to the exercise, or anything for that matter.

Since his arrival, the young boy kept to himself. Quiet, reserved, he was ignored by most of the children as well as staff. However, the Head Mistress took interest in the boy, hoping to pull him out of his shell.

"Eugene," she said softly one night. "Would you like to come downstairs with the other children?"

Curled into a ball on his cot, Eugene stared at the wall, unresponsive. The Head Mistress sighed, and looked around the room for something, anything, to gain his attention. Her eyes landed at an old book, battered and torn from cycles of children. From his performances during lessons, she knew Eugene was smart, and decided to take a chance on the book.

"Well, if you are not going to join the rest of us downstairs," she said, taking the book from the shelf. "Then the least you can do with your time is read while you're up here."

She plopped the heavy hardcover onto the cot, shaking the bed and him along with it. Curiously, he looked over his shoulder slightly to see the title.

"The Tales of Flynnigan Ryder," she announced, smiling. "Many of the other boys that have...spent time here, have enjoyed this book. It's filled with adventure, you like adventure, don't you Eugene?"

The young boy turned in his bed, staring up at her with bored, brown eyes. He kicked the book swiftly from his cot, and didn't flinch when it landed on the floor with a thump. His eyes met that of the Head Mistress's, silently daring her to try to put that book on him again.

She was unfazed. After years of handling the orphanage, she had dealt with every type of child, and never once did she back down from a difficult one.

"All right, Eugene," she said, tapping her foot in annoyance. "I'll make a deal with you."

The Head Mistress noted that she was making headway when Eugene cocked an eyebrow - a habit that would follow him into adulthood.

"For every chapter that you read," she said picking up the book from the ground, and wiping the dust from its cover. "I shall give you a piece of candy. Any of your liking."

The young boy remained silent, still not finding the Head Mistress to be entirely trustworthy. However, he looked at the book, considering her offer, which she took as progress.

"I'll just leave this here for you," she said, dropping the book back onto the cot before turning to leave the room. "Come find me later with your decision."

Later that night she was awakened by a tiny knock on her door. Jumping to her feet, she wrapped herself in a robe before answering the door. She was greeted with a the tiny form of Eugene, clutching the novel tightly to his chest with one arm and holding out his palm towards her with his other.

"I read 10 chapters," he said, cooly. Bags sat under his eyes, but they no longer seemed bored. "That will be 10 pieces of candy, please."

The next few weeks, Eugene's nose was always planted in the book. Chucking it around with him wherever he went, many of the other orphans began to take notice.

One afternoon, the Head Mistress watched as one of the older boys made his way up to Eugene, demanding him to tell him what was so great about "some stupid old book". The woman expected a fight to break out, but was shocked to see Eugene not only answer the boy, but read him parts of the story as well. By the time she returned outside to call the children in for supper, she was greeted with the sight of Eugene not reading to the just the one boy, but to the entire playground.

Their deal lasted outside of just the Flynnigan Ryder book, and early each morning she would take Eugene to the small candy shop in town to pick his treat. While she knew the bribe had been created to start Eugene on a path back to social recovery, she knew the reading and candy visits were things that Eugene throughly enjoyed. The Head Mistress also knew she would lying if she said that seeing Eugene's eyes light up as he hurried around the shop, asking what each candy was with such energy was not something she thoroughly enjoyed.

They had just finished one of their morning candy runs when news spread that the Princess had been kidnapped the previous night. Eugene watched as a herald spoke loudly to the townspeople. Not wanting the rubber neck, the Head Mistress took his hand to lead him back to the orphanage. The boy pulled away, and sprinted around the crowd wanting to hear the story of the Kingdom's newly lost Princess.

"Eugene!" she called after his retreating form. "Get back here this instant!"

Her calls and threats were ignored as Eugene pushed his way through the crowd. Still too small to see, he looked up to see a tall pile of stacked crates from the shop next to the Herald's perch. Bobbing out of the crowd, he effortlessly climbed to the top of the tall crates, and listened with wide, excited eyes.

Later on, the Head Mistress would beat the living daylights out of him for his disorderly conduct, but she had to admit she was impressed by his agility. Not that she would ever tell him that.

The next month, the Head Mistress again asked the orphans about their dreams, only this time Eugene was not silent. It was hard to even imagine that such a talkative, energetic child had ever been near mute, and holed up in his bed. When asked what his dream was, he smiled widely, puffed out his chest in an act to seem buff and exclaimed proudly.

"I'm gonna save the lost Princess!"

The children bursted out into mixes of "That's dumb!" and "Hey, no fair, I was gonna say that!". Before the chatter got out of hand, the Head Mistress quieted them all by dropping a heavy textbook on the ground.

The Head Mistress always remembered that exchange, even when Eugene Fitzherbert the orphan grew into Flynn Rider the thief. Years later, when the Princess was finally returned and the Kingdom rejoiced, she wondered if he remembered as well.