Luke looked gently at him. "Who you waitin' for Zac?"

"Mommy an' Daddy...."

He replied quietly, pressing a little closer to the window, almost like he was trying to melt right through it to get outside and wait for them.

The soft answer would have melted a tougher heart than Luke's. Quietly Luke answered, "Bet you miss 'em huh?"

"No...dey'll be back dey said....dey said I just gotta keep waitin for dem...den dey'll be back..."

Zac murmured like he'd been told it or he'd been telling it many times over.

Luke swallowed. "You know... Ibet they'd like you to be enjoying yourself while you wait...I bet they wouldn't mind if ya came awaY from the window..."

Zac shook his head, cuddling his animal to him more and snuggling more under the blanket that he had over him, his thumb going into his mouth despite the fact that he was 7.

Luke wasn't sure what to do. Telling the little boy to give up hope was more than he could do. "I lost my folks too," he offered softly. "But mine didn't come back."

Zac swallowed a little, glancing up at him.

"Dey didn't?"

Luke shook his head. "No...they didn't. It made me real sad for a while... I cried a lot."

Zac nodded again a little, swallowing as he looked back out the window, his little knuckles gripping the toy he held close so tight they were turning white.

"So um....who's your friend?" asked Luke, nodding to the animal clutched tightly in his arms.

"George..." The little boy whispered a little, never relenting his hold even a little on the cuddly toy.

"George..." repeated Luke with a small smile. "That's a nice name. What is he?" he asked, trying to get a peek at him although Zac held him so close it was hard to see. "Can I look at him?"

"S'a monkey..."

Came the soft reply, though nothing else Luke had said was answered. Zac didn't make a move to reveal the toy to Luke at all, and was now again staring fixedly out the window.

"A monkey...well, I'll bet he's a nice one..." he said softly. "You like animals?"

Zac nodded again, once more sinking into his quiet state of just looking out the window.

Luke nodded saying gently, "Maybe sometime you could come visit the farm...while you wait...see our chickens...goats...take a ride on Maudine the mule..."

"No....godda wait fer my mommy an' Daddy...."

Zac replied quickly, not willing to leave the window let alone the room or the orphanage itself.

Luke swallowed nodding a little. "We could always..leave a note tellin em where ya was for the day...." he offered feeling more and more that the little boy would never leave the window.

"I can't....dey'll leave again if I'm not here...den I won't see dem again.."

The lost little boy said gently, his bottom lip quivering a little. The fear that they had already been on the occasion he had to leave the window for food or to use the bathroom always resided in his little mind, even more so though, the knowledge that in reality...they were never coming back. He had heard the workers at the orphanage talking, he knew what they were saying...if anything he was sitting at the window praying that they were wrong, begging his parents all the time in his head to come back and take him back with them. He didn't understand why he had been left all alone, he didn't understand what he had done wrong....but he had been waiting for months now...and neither one of them had come for him.

Luke rubbed his tiny back comfortingly. "What if...they don't come back?" he asked softly.

"Dey will....dey haf to.."

Zac said with a small whimper, a tiny tear dribbling down his cheek as he kept his stare out the window.

"I don't know how they couldn't with a good boy like you waitin' for 'em," said Luke softly stroking a hand through the little boy's hair. "But you can bet you won't be alone if they don't...you got lots of folks here t take care of ya....ya got George...ya got me ....I'll be yer friend if ya want...."

"I dun wanna fwiend....I wan' my mommy an' daddy..."

Zac whimpered back, more tears falling as he then choked on a childish sob, burying his head in his knees and into George.

Luke swallowed hard near to tears himself remembering when he felt the same way. "I know...I know..."