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to help Superintendent Dewey carry the distraught, screaming child inside. Mrs. Dewey was keenly aware of how traumatic the adjustment to institutional life could be for a child, and she took extra care to make Norma Jeane feel special and welcomed.
    Weeks of distasteful food, washing dishes, and doing chores for a nickel a week, rising at six-thirty in the morning, after long, lonely nights, continued to dampen her spirits. Though generally well-mannered and cooperative, Norma Jeane hated the orphanage and longed to be with her mother. Compared to this place, living with even Ida Bolender looked good.
    Maybe the rain reminded Norma Jeane of the day her mother disappeared or maybe it made her feel just plain depressed. Nevertheless, she went out the front door looking for love. She knew where Aunt Grace lived. She thought the ten cents she had would be enough to get most of the way by trolley and that she could walk the remainder of the distance. But no sooner did the seven-year-old pass through the front door onto the sidewalk than she was stopped by Mrs. Dewey.
    The superintendent showered more attention on Norma Jeane after her feeble runaway attempt, inviting her into her inner office and showing her how to apply makeup. Like every young girl, Norma Jeane was entranced. She saw her reflection in the mirror and began believing that she could be beautiful. Mrs. Dewey confirmed the girl’s emerging confidence that she was very pretty. Her quiet moments with the head of the orphanage kept Norma Jeane patiently waiting for Aunt Grace to fulfill her promises.
    In the meantime, Grace lavished candies and little gifts on Norma Jeane. On days off, she took her to the movies with her stepchildren. Norma Jeane’s birthday was not forgotten either. June 1 came and went, but Aunt Grace sent a loving card through the mail. How proud Norma Jeane was when the surprise came. She was beginning to feel loved and cared for.
    During one visit, Aunt Grace told Norma Jeane that Ana Lower, her own mother, was willing to take the child into her Culver City home near Sawtelle Avenue. In the depressed neighborhood low-cost ranch-style homes lined unpaved streets that flooded during rainstorms.
    But Norma Jeane was more than grateful, and Aunt Ana proved to be another kind woman. A Christian Science practitioner by trade, Ana Lower taught that God is Love and that God promises a good life. She loved Norma Jeane like her own and assured her that she could have a good life if she changed her negative thought processes to positive ones. This new outlook on life enabled Norma Jeane to hope for the best. Later in life Marilyn always remembered Aunt Ana as a wise, inspirational figure. There were never the broken promises that undermined her self-esteem and confidence. The hurt of disappointments that plagued her earlier years seemed to be gone with Aunt Ana’s healing kind of love.
    By 1937, Norma Jeane was attending Emerson Junior High on Selby Avenue in Westwood. Adjacent to the UCLA campus, Westwood was known for its upper-class, educated populace. The privileged elite tended to segregate themselves from the lower classes attending the school. Although Aunt Ana’s unconditional love kept Norma Jeane’s spirits high, at school the young woman continued to be shy and stuttered when she spoke.
    Puberty was a difficult time. With no known father and an ailing, absent mother, Norma Jeane needed more direction than the elderly Ana would provide. Her menstrual cramps were devastating. Clinging to the Christian Science doctrine of founder Mary Baker Eddy, Ana insisted that disease and pain did not exist; nevertheless Norma Jeane was permitted to take Empirin to remedy the “curse.” Womanhood was not coming easily. Norma Jeane longed for her mother’s comfort.
    Although Ana preached that pain and illness were nonexistent, she was afflicted with degenerative heart disease. Years later, after Ana’s death, Marilyn frequently