Immediately when she arrived people stared at her oddly, and even more oddly when all she had for luggage was a beat up leather backpack. Maybe it was because she was wearing a white shirt, jeans with holes in the knees, and a beat up army patterned jacket with paper bags tied around her feet. Or maybe because she and Cealina were speaking egyptian to one another. An airport was something Jafari had only seen twice now. She thought of it as loud, cramped, and strange. But the outside of it was even stranger. It was almost like Cairo. But it was different, and hard to put into words. When Cealina flagged a taxi down, she thought of it as even stranger, if any more possible than it already was. The ride was long, which was great because Jafari was really intrested in the scenery of Lexington, Kentucky. When it ended she was quiet, and she played with the zipper on her jacket. She'd gotten the jacket from a real army man. The old orphanage had burned down, and the children had gone to stay at an american army reserve miles out of Cairo. She'd owned only a shirt and shorts back when she was six, so the man gave her his jacket. It was huge, but it kept her warm. She was snapped out of her thoughts as they walked up to the door, this was it. Cealina knocked and the whole family answered. Jafari was startled, and hid behind Cealina.
After being introduced and saying goodbye to Cealina, Jackie and Harold showed Jafari to Brian's room, where she'd sleep on the second bed in there. She sat on the bed and examined the blanket while Jackie filled the tub with water so the little girl could clean up. Brian walked in slowly, and the little girl eyed him. "Hey, how are you?" he asked. She didn't answer, in fact, she hadn't said anything since she'd arrived. He layed down on his bed and turned his gameboy on. She looked at him oddly, and he could tell the gameboy confused her. Maybe she'd never seen one, was Brian's thought. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she pulled a drawing pad out and a worn down to the tip pencil. Then she began to draw. Brian smiled and continued his GodZilla game. Jackie came in and smiled confidently at Brian as she walked to the little girl's bed. She knelt down and looked Jafari in the eyes. "Hi sweety, would you like to take a bath in some warm water?" Jafari looked at her, as if she were looking for something. Then she nodded and Jackie took the girl's hand in her own and led her down the hallway. But the little girl wasn't used to hot bathes, and cried until Jackie filled the tub with cold water. Jafari had sensitive skin, that had cuts and bruises all over it. Scars stood out on the tanned skin. Her sun bleached hair was long, and looked like it had needed to be cut for a long time. So Jackie cut her hair and put bandaids on her cuts. Then dressed her in a red shirt and overalls. Jackie fixed her sun bleached blonde hair into a ponytail. "Are you hungry?" she asked. The girl nodded, so the whole Littrell family sat down to eat dinner. "I've cooked chicken, and potatoes for dinner, so eat up." Jafari looked at the food and drooled. Sure, she was fed back home, but not like this. The chicken was glistening, the potatoes were fresh and cooked perfectly, something they didn't do back home. She ate greedily, and fast. Surprisingly she wasn't hungry after a meal, that was a first for her. After meals at the orphanage she'd always be hungry. "It's getting late, Brian baby, you have horse duty tommorow." Jackie said. "I know, I know. I have to be up at seven to go take them to the lake." Brian replied. Jackie smiled, "Then it's time for bed for you and Jafari." So Brian got ready for bed while Jackie took the child to the bathroom down the hall to change into pajamas. The were baby blue and had dark blue teddy bears on them. They had feet too. Jafari went to her room and waited for Jackie and Harold to come up and tuck her in. While she waited she looked at the posters on the walls, and then to the table where some of Brian's things were. She picked up the gameboy and examined it, but put it down before turning it on. She found a baby donald duck and looked at it, smiling. Brian watched her from the doorway, remaining silent. Deciding to come in he noticed her put the stuffed animal down and look up at him. He walked to the desk and picked the stuffed animal up, "You want to take care of him for me? Because I'm sure he gets lonely on that desk, and he won't let me take care of him because i'm old." She nodded vigorously and he handed the the duck, she hugged him in return and he saw her smile wide. The two climbed in their beds and Brian saw her snuggle up to the duck. "Goodnight Jafari." he whispered when he noticed she was fast asleep.
