Polly Brown

by Tricia Bennett

  She began to feel quite claustrophobic as the crowd pressed further into her for closer inspection. At this point, Polly would have paid any amount of money to have the ground open up beneath her and swallow her up whole, bringing an end to this very unpleasant crisis that had completely ruined an otherwise pleasant day. Unbeknown to Polly, it was about to get much worse.

  “Attention, all passengers! Will the remaining passengers for flight 777 kindly make their way to the gate for boarding. The plane is due to take off in precisely ten minutes.”

  “Oh no,” Polly inwardly groaned. “That’s me, and I’m about to miss my plane.” Minutes later there was a second, more urgent message over the sound system.

  “Attention, all passengers. This is the final call for all passengers flying to Brazil with BOAC. We are still missing one passenger. If a Miss Polly Brown values her life at all, will she kindly do us the great pleasure and get off her backside to make her way to the gate immediately. For we now have a number of very irate passengers on board!”

  Polly felt desperate, for she realized that it was now more than likely that she would miss her plane. She had so been enjoying her time at the airport, what with everybody being so kind and helpful, but now it had turned into a complete nightmare!

  Eventually the police constable returned, and, after making his way through the very large crowd of people still gathered around Polly, he crouched down and informed her that the matter was sorted, and therefore no charges were being pressed.

  “You are now free to go on your way, miss,” he said, giving her another friendly pat on the back.

  Polly breathed a deep sigh of relief as she thanked the friendly bobby for his kindness. He then handed her the packet of chewing gum.

  “I hope I chose the right flavor, miss,” he said with a large beam on his face. Polly smiled back, informing him that strawberry flavor was indeed her favorite. She wasted no time in getting up from the floor and, putting the flashlight and chewing gum into her schoolbag, she grabbed Langdon and hurriedly waved good-bye to the humungous and ever-growing crowd of people who were still gathered around her as she anxiously pushed past them and raced toward the gate to catch her plane.

  Polly arrived at the gate area only to discover there was nobody behind the desk to check her ticket. Earlier, before the unfortunate delay, there had definitely been a very nice couple of ladies standing behind the desk, dressed in pristine navy blue uniforms with redwhite-and-blue scarves elegantly draped around their necks. But now the desk stood empty. She turned and looked around the seating area, only to discover to her horror that this too had no signs of life, for all the seats that had previously been occupied by disgruntled travelers were now vacant. All that remained as evidence that this particular area had earlier been filled with many fed-up passengers was the large amount of discarded cans, bottles, plastic cups, and half-eaten sandwiches, as well as other rubbish that lay strewn across the seating area.

  Polly thought that she might have a word or two with the passengers once the plane had taken off. For she thought it was extremely important to ask them if they had ever seen one of the many Keep Britain Tidy posters that were pinned up on walls and trees all around the country. After all was said and done, England was such a pretty little country, and it was of the utmost importance to keep it that way. Yes, she thought it was well worth reminding them of this small but really significant fact before they arrived in another country and littered that one as well!

  Polly could clearly see through the huge glass-paned window that there was still a plane on the concourse. So she decided that she would make a last-ditch attempt to get on board. She went through a dark and rather breezy tunnel, and at the end of the tunnel she found herself going through a funny accordion bit of tunnel that was attached to the plane door.

  As she stepped onto the plane she experienced great relief, but this was to be very short-lived. As she walked down the aisle, heading for her seat, she became very concerned that no other passengers, or even cabin crew, were on board. Polly tried to dismiss this small, bothersome detail, preferring to walk down to the rear of the plane and find her numbered seat. She stopped by her seat and placed her schoolbag in the overhead locker before slumping into her seat to rest her weary legs. She then put Langdon in the window seat and adjusted the safety belt to his size. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed.

  After what seemed an eternity, she began to feel a little anxious and concerned that no passengers or crew had turned up to take their seats. She thought that the airline really needed to get their act together, for she had been sitting alone on this plane for at least an hour, and still no nice hostess had even bothered to come round and offer her as much as a slurp from a can of cola! She had always heard from other vacationers in the past that BOAC was an excellent bunch to travel with and that their service was considered to be the best in the world, so she felt pretty neglected and decidedly miffed at the poor quality of service she was being treated to. She hoped there would be a drink and a hot meal served soon; then perhaps she would begin to feel better.

  Time marches on, and still there was no sign of anyone else on board the plane, and yet still she continued to brush aside all disconcerting thoughts that she might well be on the wrong plane. Eventually she decided to stand up and have a good stretch and walkabout. So she made her way to the center aisle and began to walk and skip, bend and stretch, and walk some more. She walked the entire length of the plane, back and forth more times than she cared to count, but still no staff or passengers turned up. She stopped at one of the hostess serving stations, where she could see a large pile of newspapers, as well as an equally large pile of plain white paper and packs of felt-tip coloring crayons. She ignored the newspapers, for they were obviously for the enjoyment of the adult passengers to read while they waited for take off. But she decided to help herself to a large number of sheets of plain white paper and a pack of crayons so she could amuse herself drawing until the plane eventually took off from the airport.

  Polly sat contentedly drawing picture after picture for what she considered to be an extremely long time. But after a while, she began to lose all patience and felt very fed up that still no passengers or lovely air hostesses had filed onto the plane and filled up all the unoccupied seats. “What on earth is going on?” she wondered. Polly sat in her seat furiously waiting and waiting before finally her eyelids closed and she fell fast asleep.

  She awoke to discover that not only was it nighttime, but the plane was high in the sky, well on the way to its destination. Polly thought it mighty peculiar that both seats in her row were still empty. She decided to peer up the aisle and see just how many passengers had boarded the plane because she could hear no movement or excited chitchat from other travelers as she sat alone in the dark with only the whir of the engines keeping her company.

  She hoped the absence of familiar noise was because the passengers were all sleeping, but she felt disappointed as she thought that she must have missed the food trolley due to dozing off. Polly strained her neck, scanning the aisle for any sign of movement. It was no use, for other than the tiny lights that lit up the aisle, she could see nothing! She lay back in her seat wishing that morning would soon come round, and hopefully with it, some breakfast.

  Chapter 22

  STORMING THE PLANE

  IT WAS WELL into the early hours of the morning before Polly looked out of the window, to see that the sky was still cloaked in darkness. Suddenly, a voice broke the silence, making an announcement over the intercom.

  “This is your captain speaking. Will you please fasten your seat-belts, for we will be landing shortly and if you need to use the bathroom, now is your last chance.”

  Polly felt gutted that no breakfast was going to be served and decided there and then that any future travel arrangements would be made with a more hospitable airline that considered serving the passengers a hot breakfast of great importance. But leaving that aside, she was still considera
bly grateful to the captain for his impromptu reminder that it was everyone’s last chance to use the restroom. So she removed the seatbelt and climbed into the aisle, heading for the bathroom.

  The door to the little cubicle read “Engaged.” So Polly waited out of sight for the small room to become free, for she felt that was the polite thing to do. Seconds later she heard the click of the door and peered around the corner as she waited for it to be vacated. What she saw next shocked her to the core of her being! Whatever it was that very merrily bounced down the aisle of the plane bore absolutely no resemblance to a human being. Yes, whatever this thing was—and there appeared to be many of them—it was definitely not the sort of clientele Polly expected to find traveling on a British plane to Brazil!

  She gasped and then covered her mouth, for she realized that doing so was definitely in her best interest. As the captain had failed to turn off the sound system, she could clearly hear all that was going on in the cockpit. Polly was immobilized, yes, frozen to the spot, as she listened in.

  “Tower, come in tower. We need permission to land.”

  “Request accepted, and permission granted,” came the speedy and most cheery reply. “Oh! And do have a nice day, won’t you?”

  “I’ll give you a nice day if you don’t shut up,” growled the captain. “Just give me a quick update on the present situation, and then let me land this plane!” he thundered.

  Polly decided that this particular captain could not possibly be a British pilot, for they were all meant to be such polite and extremely well-spoken gentlemen who would never in a million years speak to anyone in such a disgraceful tone of voice. Her worst fears were confirmed. There was definitely something very wrong!

  She decided that her best bet was to sneak back to her seat, quickly grab Langdon and her other belongings, and then find somewhere safe and well out of view to hide. She had spent many years playing hide-and-seek, so she was a bit of an expert at such covert operations. Having discreetly grabbed her schoolbag from the overhead locker without being seen, she then crouched down by a window seat, her ears pricked as she watched from the crack between the seats and continued to listen in on the mysterious captain’s conversation with ground control.

  “Well, Sniveling Obedience, have you managed to find a suitable runway that we can land on?” snorted the captain, whose name, she would find out later, was Vanaspi.

  “I have indeed, Captain,” came the short and very swift reply. “But you must land quickly, before the French authorities become aware of your presence.”

  “Oh no, not France!” thought Polly, absolutely horrified. For she distinctly remembered telling those two very nice ladies at the airport desk that, although Paris sounded lovely, her rendezvous was in Brazil!

  “Understood,” replied the captain rather snappily. “I am just going to give my servants—I mean, passengers—a quick update. Then we will be ready to land in ten minutes. So please make sure that our runway is fully lit up, Sniveling Obedience, or you will pay with your life for any mistakes, and that’s a promise! Over and out.”

  The captain left his seat to come out of the cockpit. Seconds later he was standing in the aisle, where normally very beautiful air hostesses show off the safety procedures to all the passengers—procedures such as where the emergency exits are positioned in case of a crisis, as well as how to put on an oxygen mask—to make them more at ease and comfortable.

  Polly was at a complete loss for words as she looked down the aisle to where the captain stood. No words in Polly’s limited vocabulary could get anywhere near expressing how hideous and frightening this man appeared. She thought it very possible that he and his passengers might be aliens from another planet. And if this were the case then they would do well to go right back to where they had come from, for they were certainly not welcome to touch English soil. She was fairly certain that the prime minister would think likewise, and the president of the United States would probably have very similar feelings if he were to be approached by these monsters asking for a long-term residency permit.

  The captain stood still, a presence of pure evil surrounding him as he opened his misshaped mouth to address his passengers.

  “I have just spoken to Sniveling Obedience, and he has informed me that some of our colleagues have successfully taken over part of the airport tower. We will be landing shortly. He has also informed me that Polly Brown has gone missing, although our spies are at present doing all in their power to track her down. They will not rest until they have her in their custody.”

  Polly felt great panic begin to rise, for she was terribly frightened, as well as very confused, as to why these hideous monsters were after her. She had, after all, settled up fully concerning the horrible and most unpleasant matter of the duty-free shop! The kind and understanding bobby had even bought her the strawberry chewing gum she had asked for! Surely he would not have been so happy to oblige in making this kind gesture if she was still on Britain’s “Ten Most Wanted” list, would he?

  Her thoughts were going as fast and haywire as her heartbeat, for she was struggling to take in all that was now happening to her. All she had wanted was a lovely, comfortable plane ride to Brazil, with a nice hot meal served by delightful, friendly air hostesses. Now she was in France on board a plane with terrorists, and, to cap it all, she had to date received no hot meal. No, not as much as a single salty peanut! Things did not look very hopeful at that moment in time for young Polly Brown.

  “Now listen to me, you bunch of moronic day-trippers,” the captain snarled. “You will all remember that over the last few months we have done much to wear this poor girl down. Despair here had done a most excellent job in making her truly believe that she had no hope, when suddenly, out of the blue, she decided to go on this very misguided journey to Piadora. It is therefore of the utmost importance to make sure that she never makes it.”

  All present agreed that this had now become a matter of the highest priority! So they nodded their fat, ugly heads and hissed at the captain to let him know they were ready and willing to follow any order he might care to give them as soon as they disembarked from the plane.

  “Now, where is Self-Pity?” the captain sharply asked, his face seriously scrunched up as his eyes scrutinized every row of seats in search of the greasy little toad!

  “I’m here, Captain!” answered a most depressed and very subdued voice from the back of the plane.

  “Well, get up here right now!” ordered the captain menacingly.

  Down from the seat slid the most gruesomely vile, hairy blob that, having left his seat, proceeded to bounce up to the captain, leaving a black, sticky trail the whole length of the aisle as he came to stand before his master.

  “Well, well, Self-Pity, I know you have been in continuous negotiations with Polly throughout the last few weeks, and I am therefore anxious to know how well you are progressing. So give me an update. Also, try to keep to the point, and please, not too much weeping and wailing. My nerves can’t take it at the moment.”

  Polly listened, feeling both shocked and puzzled. Who was this revolting thing that not only claimed to know her, but also had the cheek to say he often had conversations with her? She felt angry and insulted, but far too afraid to speak out, for to do so would reveal her presence in the cabin.

  “I was doing quite nicely,” slobbered Self-Pity, “especially when I had her to myself in the desert, for she had nobody to comfort her or give her the encouragement to go on. Yes, I was having such fun tormenting her, when suddenly she discovered little Jessica and then sadly she no longer had the time to listen to me. I still thought I would have plenty of opportunity because both girls were stranded inside a cave with no way of escape. But then these two rather dumb idiots came along in their car. A Mini, I believe—very popular with the British! And then rather annoyingly, before I even had the time to cough or blink, the lads agreed to assist them by taking them to the nearest hospital. I’m so sorry, Master,” he pathetically drooled. “But d
on’t despair, for I feel very certain that plenty more opportunities will present themselves long before she ever gets anywhere near reaching Piadora!”

  The captain, trying very hard to contain his rage, reluctantly agreed with Self-Pity and ordered him to get back to his seat. Persecution, who was sitting next to him, could not help but mock and jeer in Self-Pity’s direction as he glumly made his way back down the aisle to his seat. Persecution then stood up, making a gross gesture in his bid to make the master aware of his presence. The master caught his eye and beckoned him to come forward. He then slunk out of his chair and casually strolled up to the front, leaving a green trail of slobber and slime all the way.

  “Are you meant to be on this plane?” the captain asked Persecution.

  Persecution wasted no time in answering his master, spitting small black balls of hair from his mouth as he spoke.

  “I know that I wasn’t invited to come, but then I thought to myself, ‘Why not? For the more the merrier.’ Besides, Master, I have been feeling very lonely since Polly left the orphanage. For with Polly and her brother gone, I have had very little to do to make myself useful. Sadly for us, their guardians have not got round to choosing another victim to replace them. Yes, and until they hurry up and make their choice, I do believe that I can be of more use to you, Master, by coming on this mission,” he sullenly replied.

  The captain stood and said nothing, for he was giving consideration to Persecution’s plea to be allowed to stay and become involved in the execution of his master’s evil and malicious plan. He was about to boot him out of a plane window when he suddenly smiled to himself, for he quickly realized that Persecution could indeed still play an important role in his plan concerning Polly’s downfall. He therefore ordered him to go back to his seat before addressing all present.

  “As most of you are aware, we seem to have lost touch with Polly, at least for the time being. It is vital that we catch up with this young lady and once again take her hostage.”