The Orphan and The factory

Alekseevsky orphanage, a place were many of Moscow's unfortunate children reside. It was  a large property surrounded by a menacing iron gate standing about twelve feet tall. In the center of the property a large red brick building with a total count of three floors resides on the grass blades below of a well- taken-care- of- property. Some individuals would say Alekseevsky looked like a prison from the outside of the intimidating iron bars, while the boys and girls who resided there would cheerfully say its there welcoming home.

"gather around now children, for today is a busy day for some of our older members "Yelena, the house mother spoke in a quite and soft tone, sweeping at the wooden floor below ,silver hair fell gently down upon her slender shoulders. A soft smile rested upon the woman's soft featured face , only showing signs of age in the mid twenties, not much older then some of the individuals at Alekseevsky.

"Narfiey, may i speak with you in the other room if you don't mind "Yelena placed the broom up against one of the brick walls of the main hall and made her way to a small room off to the side of the large center hall.

"Of course!, House mother i shall be there once I've finished helping the little ones ready for the day" Narfiey responded with much gratefulness in his voice for the house mother, for she has been the one to raise him. With calm moving hands the boy finished helping one of the orphan children with sewing a tear in a pair of long pants, for the whether was cool in the spring around Moscow.

"How may i be of assistance house mother "the boy took his place in a red velvet chair faced towards the house mother, who legs were neatly crossed and covered by a long silked laced bottom black dress. Yelena had an expression of sadness, well hidden but Narfiey was able to catch it , but only a glimpse of it before it disappeared.

"As you may know, today is March third, year 1869"That small glimpse of sadness  struck her face once again.

"What dose that have to do with anything Yelena" a look of unease started to slowly creep onto the boys face.

"Well todays is the day you turn eighteen, and with that no longer obligated to have to call Alekseecsky your home"

"That's nonsense house mother! , i wouldn't imagine leaving this place and the people within it" A expression of shock spread across the young mans face.

"Vyacheslav offered to move you to Saint Petersburg to run the iron plant over there, as a young man it would be foolish to turn down an opportunity like this "The words that were spoken held a small weight of grief and sadness behind them.

"That doesn't matter , my wages working under Vyacheslav are just fine as is. What matters is there will be no one to help the little ones around here, you can only do so much with the funds Vyacheslav supplies the orphanage with. There would also be no one to look after you Miss Yelena. "The young man eyes showed nothing but love fo Yelena, Afterall she's the one who took him in after the Moscow's fires that took away his family at the ripe age of 5.

"If that's what you want then i cant tell you no can i young ptitsa?" A smile flickered across her gentle facial features. Yelena stood up and gave the young mans scruffy shoulder length brown hair a ruffle.

"ill do what i can to make this a welcoming home for everyone, but for now i must gather my things and head to the factory "He stood up and leaned to give the young women a small hug and a gentile smile.

"Be safe now young ptitsa, i shall cook up something wonderful for the evening meal "Yelena let one last smile flicker across her face before heading back to the great hall to start the days chores.

The air was cool in the early spring morning, with a light breeze that gently patted the young mans scruffy hair. Mechel the iron factory were Narfiey been working for since the age of twelve was about a five mile walk from the orphanage. As the young man walked through the city you could slightly see the towering smoke stacks of the iron mill in the distance spuing out puffs of smoke from the large amounts of coal being burned. The streets of Moscow were home to the busy day to day workers of the industrial age. Many brick shops cluttered the sides of the packed roads filled with  horse drawn carriages and daily commuters of the working class. The large smoke stacks came into clear view as Narfiey approached the very large gates of the  iron mill. Mechel was a large closed- in- industrial- building, holding six large smoke stacks, most of the work here was done inside of the massive industrial plant. Narfiey moved to the doors and showed his work permit to the gate guard and was then allowed assess to the giant plant.

  The inside of the plant was massive, about eight floors full of working people and industrial machines hard at work. The plant was well cleaned and maintained for such a large industrial workplace. Narfiey headed towards a set of stairs and proceded to head to Vyacheslav's office to get his daily work plans, for Narfiey was one of three plant floor supervisors. Narfiey has been here for some years, as the young man looks on his past from when he first started at the plant he couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape.In the beginning Narfiey wasn't much attuned to hard labor, he use to remember getting yelled at and pushed around by the older boys and men of the plant. There were many times were the young child would be found crouched in a corner crying at his failures due to being week and frail. Many days he would go back to the orphanage in tear running towards Miss Yelena about how much he felt useless at the plant. Even mist all his mistakes Vyacheslav never oncee looked down at the boy, and many a times would keep pushing the young lad to do better. Over the years under the tutelage of Vyacheslav , Narfiey begun to understand the life of a plant worker. He would push himself day in and day out to get stronger, lift heavier pieces of iron and even learn to operate the machinery. By the age of fourteen the young helpless boy was a iron worker powerhouse. On his fifteenth birthday Vyacheslav had made him a floor supervisor, so it was no surprise to Narfiey when Yelena told him that Vyacheslav wanted him to take over the plant in Petersburg at the age of eighteen .The man might of been a hard ass , but not once did Vyacheslav ever treat him different then any of the other workers, but he also never gave up on the young lost lad. A smile and a sigh of relief  sat on Narfieys face as he turned the handle of the door of his mentor to politely turn down Vyacheslav offer.