Chapter 1

The transatlantic flight was barely two hours old when Sarah realised she'd have to do something about the bloody stewardess. It seemed she'd been bothering Sarah every two minutes with inane questions.

"Would you like a drink?"

"Would you like me to show you how to use the sound system?"

"Do you need a blanket?"

True she was an unaccompanied minor but at fifteen and a half and in a miserable mood she'd had enough. Pushing the call button Sarah put on her best 'mature' face and hoped for the best.

"Hi there darli'n what can I do for you now?" asked the Stewardess whose tag read Sue Ann

"Well sweetheart can you go fetch your Senior Purser please?" Sarah requested with just a hint of the stew's southern drawl.

"Now why would..."

"Senior Purser please?" Sarah repeated, cutting her off and turning the English accent up several notches, "as soon as they're available that is."

"Sure hon' as soon as I can" the older woman replied and left.

All Sarah wanted to do was listen to her CD's, stare out the window and brood about her situation. Two months earlier her parents had been at a party and called her older brother, a policeman, who lived around the corner for a lift home. A drunk driver coming the other way had killed them all on a dual-carriageway junction. She'd felt hollow since she'd been woken at one o'clock by the call from her Grandmother.

The funeral was a blank she'd forced her self to forget about. The fact that her dad's half-sister Jenny had flown in from America hadn't really registered at all, until ... Until her Grandmother told her the news she'd never expected to hear.

"Sorry my love but I'm too old for it."

"But Gran, I'm nearly 16, you won't have to cook or clean, I can help with anything!" Sarah cried.

"Sorry my love," said Gran "But I can't, Jenny and Mike will take you in and look after you."

Sarah had been still trying to say sorry for the argument that followed when she'd boarded the first of several planes to Milwaukee at Heathrow. Begging her Gran for forgiveness and the wonderful old lady repeating, "It's OK, you were upset. Don't worry about it, I forgive you"

Jenny needed to fly home a couple of days after the funeral. Therefore, Sarah found herself alone, halfway over the Atlantic, and very uncertain about what lay ahead.

A tap on the shoulder raised Sarah from her reverie.

"Hello Miss, I understand you want a word with me?"

"Yes," replied Sarah. "All I want is to be left alone with my music," she held up the ear buds to demonstrate. "But an over eager member of your crew keeps disturbing me with daft questions every ten minutes! Now I know she's got to check on me but Jesus it's just getting on my tits!"

"OK, OK," conceded the Purser, "I'll ask her not to disturb you, but can I ask why you didn't talk to her directly?"

"Sure," said Sarah "She's talked down to me since we boarded, so I've kind of realised she hasn't got any kids and I wanted to talk to someone who has, so I thought a senior member of staff would be older and have kids my age."

The purser nodded "That's very perceptive kiddo but I ain't older than Sue, although I do have kids nearly your age."

"Thank you ... Thank you very much," said Sarah sinking back into her chair and almost welcoming the dark depressing thoughts that took her from her surroundings.

Touching down in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after several changes of plane Sarah felt almost as bad as she had ... before. Meeting Jenny again would be very odd, Jenny had never had much to do with Sarah's family and her husband Mike was a complete stranger. Would they ask her to call them mum and dad? Would they try to be 'cool' parents? Why were they doing this? Why were they taking her in? So many questions, so little information and so little time. Sarah hadn't thought about any of it before she'd been so bogged down in her own wretchedness. Left alone in a meeting room nerves got the best of Sarah and she started to fantasise all the worst things, they'd be hippies, ultra conservative, devil worshipers, god botherers, Heaven alone knew what.

The couple that walked in to the room at that moment looked normal enough, but then they would, wouldn't they?

"Hi Sarah, we've met but I'm Jenny and this is Mike." Jenny smiled crouching next to the obviously petrified young girl. "And you're probably scared shitless." She added in a whisper.

"Yeah, that about covers it," Sarah smiled in relief.

"Well we'll keep it real simple for now; do you want anything to eat or drink? It's going to be about three hours before we get home," rumbled Mike who was looking almost as apprehensive as Sarah was.

After a burger and coke in virtual silence, they started out for home. 'Home' thought Sarah 'I don't know where it is, what it's like or who these people really are.' She sat there fretting until a bump in the road made her sit up. 'Well, ' she thought to herself 'I'm not doing any good sitting here like a turd with no toilet. Time to sort some of it out.'

Mike was just negotiating a semi when a voice piped up from the back seat. "Well guys I'm Sarah May, a fifteen year old orph..." She paused for a second, "orphan who likes rallying, grease and a good book. Who the hell are you? And where are we going?"