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meant receiving an extra beating from Steamspell.
    “I do like this one,” the woman said, looking at Malcolm. “But how do I know he is not evil? That’s what my friends warned me about. ‘Don’t get an evil child or you’ll regret it.’ My friend Catherine, she adopted an evil one, and oh, the stains!”
    “I understand your concern. I’m given evil children every once in a while, and rest assured that they are all…” Steamspell hesitated, trying to decide which answer would most please the woman. He decided that “executed” was not the way to go. “…hugged into a state of goodness.”
    “Delightful! Oh, my husband will be so pleased!” She ruffled Malcom’s hair. “I can’t wait to start giving him aptitude tests. Oh, young Percy, you’ll be so happy at your new home!”
    “My name is—”
    “Yes, Percy, it will be a wonderful new life for you. Let’s go.”
    Percy left with his new mother, beaming. The other boys grumbled.
    When the next man and woman got out of their car, Nathan knew he had found his new parents. The woman wore a pretty dress and jewelry that sparkled, and she had long curly blonde hair that hung over her shoulders. The man wore a blue suit with a yellow tie. They both smiled.
    “Look at all of the little darlings!” said the woman. “I wish we could take all of them home!”
    “As do I,” said her husband. “But we agreed that we wouldn’t do that.”
    As they walked down the line, Nathan stood up as straight as he possibly could, imagining that giant hands were stretching his body. The woman’s smile brightened as she saw Nathan. “Well, hello there,” she said.
    “Hello,” Nathan replied, saying it without showing his teeth.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Nathan.”
    “Why, that’s what we would have named our own child if my womb weren’t barren. Tell me, Nathan, do you like baseball?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Do you like potatoes?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Do you like dogs? We have three dogs. You’d have to take them for walks every day, and promise to feed them, and play fetch with them.”
    “I would! Every single day!”
    The woman excitedly clapped her hands. “I adore him! What do you think, Charles?”
    “I like him. He’s short but not too short. How old are you, Nathan?”
    “Six.”
    “Ah, I remember when I was six. The world had endless possibility. Oh, how my days were filled with harmless mischief. Do you like to fish?”
    Nathan nodded, though he’d never been fishing. It sounded like a gleeful activity.
    “Wonderful! I think our search is over. Give us a great big smile, Nathan!”
    Nathan froze. Would they still want him if they knew? What if they were repulsed? What if they threw up , right there in front of all of the other orphans?
    He gave them a small, closed-mouth smile.
    “Are you only that happy?” asked the man. “We’d hoped to bring overwhelming joy to a young orphan. How disappointing.”
    Nathan didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to scare them off, yet he couldn’t very well refuse to smile if he hoped to be adopted. The perfect parents would love him no matter how he looked, right? Maybe they wanted a child with sharp teeth. Maybe they’d driven sixteen hours just because they heard that in this particular orphanage there was a little boy who’d been born with exactly the kind of teeth they’d dreamed their future son would have. If he didn’t smile, they might move on down the line and choose a boy whose teeth were merely slightly crooked!
    He smiled, exposing his teeth completely.
    The man and woman looked at him, their faces expressionless.
    There was a long moment of silence.
    “Oh,” said the woman. “Oh, dear.”
    The man turned to Steamspell. “Are all of the children like this?”
    “No, no, not at all. He’s our one aberration.”
    “Well, he looks like a fine boy, but obviously we can’t bring such a severely mutated child into our lives. Perhaps we were too hasty about the whole