The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The walls were dark colors, in patterns, and so was the floor. A pale, thin
woman wearing a black dress sat on one of the purple chairs, very upright and
rigid, and the iron-faced woman, equally rigid, sat across from her. The pale
woman—Miss Smith—had bright red spots on her cheeks. Her hair billowed
around her thin face like a frizzy yellow cloud. “. . . don’t know a thing about
them,” she was saying.
“Here they are!” the iron-faced woman said. “The girl’s hurt her foot.
Children, this is Miss Susan Smith. Miss Smith, this is . . .” She paused, and
looked down at us, puzzled. The other children on the train had had name
tags, but not us. “What’re your names?”
I paused. I could have a new name, here. I could call myself Elizabeth, like
the princess. Heck, I could call myself Hitler. They’d never know.
“Ada an’ Jamie,” Jamie said.
“Ada and Jamie what?” the iron woman said. “What’s your last name?”
“Hitler,” I said.
Jamie shot a look at me and said nothing.
“Don’t be impudent,” the iron woman scolded.
“Can’t,” I said. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means your name’s not Hitler,” the woman said. “Tell Miss Smith your
last name.”
“Smith,” I said. “Ada and Jamie Smith.”
The iron woman, exasperated, hissed between her teeth. “Oh, really! Well,
it doesn’t matter.” She turned to Miss Smith. “The teachers will have them on
their records. I’ll inquire. Meanwhile, I’ve got to go. It’s been a very long
day.” She stood up. I sat down firmly on the chair closest to the door. Jamie
darted into another.
“Good-bye,” I said to the iron woman.
“I like your automobile,” Jamie told her.
“Now, really,” Miss Smith said. She got to her feet and followed the ironfaced
woman out of the house. They argued for several more minutes, but I
already knew who would win. The iron-faced woman wasn’t going to let
herself be beaten twice in one day.
Sure enough, the automobile roared away. Miss Smith marched back into
the room, looking fiercely angry. “I don’t know a thing about taking care of
children,” she said.