Polly Brown

by Tricia Bennett

  Tomorrow would be another day, and she had her around-the-world trip to look forward to. She would at some future stage be invited to come home by boat, or rather ship. Yes, she would also experience the delights of a cruise on the luxurious Queen Mary, but for the moment, all she needed to concentrate on and enjoy was her impending flight aboard Concorde.

  The princess yawned out loud before closing her book and settling down for the night, for she knew, as all true princesses knew, that her beauty sleep was of the utmost importance and lack of it most certainly does produce spots!

  Polly smiled and then gave a big yawn as she closed the book and cuddled up to Langdon. She fell sound asleep, dreaming the sweetest of dreams.

  Chapter 23

  PEDRO AND THE STREET CHILDREN

  POLLY AWOKE THE next morning to the sound of birds singing. As she happily lay in the four-post bed and had a good stretch, she rubbed her eyes to remind herself that she really was not dreaming. Then, twisting the signet ring on her finger, she broke out into a smile. She lay in the bed, her eyes surveying the extremely plush room and most extravagant furnishings before leaping out of bed to go and run herself another refreshing bubble bath. On this occasion she decided to take Langdon into the bathroom with her, for she felt that he was beginning to smell quite disgusting and could benefit from a quick dip. After getting dressed, she was served a wonderfully tasty full English breakfast on silver platters as well as a nice big pot of tea.

  No sooner had she finished scraping up the last tasty morsels on her plate when Corporal Beanpod knocked on the bedroom door to inform her that he had come to take her back to the airport, where her plane awaited her. Polly picked up her schoolbag and tucked a now very clean and sweet-smelling Langdon under her arm before following after the corporal.

  “Phew, old sprout!” sniffed the corporal. “Where is that pungent smell coming from?” he asked, screwing up his nose to convey his sheer disgust.

  Polly politely informed him that it was coming from Langdon, and that the so-called disgusting smell was, she would have him know, expensive French perfume. She thought he smelled simply divine.

  “After taking off the top and smelling it, I felt Langdon deserved a little treat, so I poured the whole bottle over him, and I think he now smells utterly gorgeous,” she said, sniffing into Langdon’s fur.

  Some treat, thought Corporal Beanpod to himself, for he much preferred the smell of stun grenades and jungle sweat to that of fancy French perfume.

  The drive to the airport did not take too long, and once there, the corporal took her straight up to the steps of the aircraft, dispensing with the need to go through the terminal with its passport control, customs, and X-ray machines, for which Polly was indeed extremely relieved and thankful.

  The corporal then said good-bye to her, for he was urgently needed on another specialist mission. Polly would not allow him to leave without giving him a final and rather lengthy hug, planting a kiss on his cheek as she did so.

  As the corporal headed back to his vehicle, he sniffed himself.

  “Good grief! Now I stink to high heaven of French perfume!” he groaned.

  He knew for certain that his fellow SAS colleagues would make fun of him, and he would never live it down if he turned up at his next assignment smelling like a bouquet of flowers! The corporal therefore made a small detour into the airport terminal in search of the bathroom to have a quick shower before changing into his spare camouflage jacket, for so strong was the pungent smell on poor Corporal Beanpod!

  Polly boarded the plane and was shown to her seat by two delightful and exquisitely-dressed air hostesses, who Polly thought smelled as equally divine as Langdon. Once in her seat, which she thought more resembled the bathtub she had just been in, she then fastened her seatbelt and placed Langdon close to her in the next seat. Adjusting her seat back almost into the sleeping position, Polly then lay fully stretched out, feeling as though she was in seventh heaven.

  As she sat back in her luxurious seat, the two flight attendants, Amanda and Annabel, approached her with a large mountain of comics, coloring books, and a big bag of sweets for her and Langdon to munch their merry way through.

  Eventually, Polly heard the captain over the loud speaker.

  “Good morning to you, Polly Brown and Langdon,” he said in a most stiff and British upper-crust accent. “My name is Captain Philemon Plimsol, and I will be your captain on your around-the-world trip aboard this magnificent supersonic jet. Isn’t she a mighty fine baby?” the captain added, referring very fondly, of course, to his beautiful and sleek plane. “Well, Polly, I hope that both Langdon and your good self had a perfect night’s sleep and are ready for this adventure of a lifetime!” Polly giggled before popping a boiled sweet into her mouth. “We will be cruising at an altitude of…” Polly switched off at this point, for she hated anything technical.

  Polly then watched as the flight attendant named Amanda performed the ritual safety procedure, taking a careful note as to where the safety cots were situated, for although these were normally used to carry babies and infants to safety she knew she would require one for Langdon, should the need arise.

  Captain Plimsol then continued his address.

  “Today our wonderful in-flight chef, whose name is Bernie, will be providing us with a lunch of either Hodgekiss Pie or roast rib of beef. The former is a most tasty steak-and-mushroom pie topped with a piecrust that I have to say is as thick as my English accent. New potatoes will be served alongside this dish as well as the freshest vegetables that were picked from my grandmother’s garden only this morning. My grandmother’s name is Edna, and she asked me to say hi to you, Polly, on her behalf. She will be praying that you and Langdon have a most wonderful trip. Now, back to the menu. Where was I? And if Hodgekiss pie doesn’t take your fancy, you may prefer to choose the other option of the finest of English roast beef, accompanied by horserubbish—I mean, horseradish—sauce and the lightest, fluffiest Yorkshire puddings, again served up with grandma’s finest and freshest vegetables, full of essential vitamins to keep you fit and healthy. And we all know how vitally important being healthy and fit is, don’t we, Polly?” said the good captain.

  Polly giggled and nodded her head at the same time.

  “And, as if that is not enough to make your mouth water and your tummy rumble, the desserts are simply superb as well. Here you have a choice of mouth-watering Piadora pudding—this is a delightful pudding of hot chocolate cake, ice cream, and fluffy meringue topped with whipped cream and finished off with chocolate sauce, or you can opt for Mrs. Bailey’s hot apple pie, made with crunchy and very juicy English Bramleys. Again, I have to tell you that these juicy apples come from my Aunt Winnie’s apple tree, and she too wants to wish you well on your journey. This rather delicious pudding comes topped with a generous portion of thick, creamy custard as well as ice cream, if you so desire.

  Polly felt her tummy begin to rumble and wondered if she would be allowed to sample a bit of everything, for she would be getting to taste food that up until this moment in time she had only ever had the luxury of dreaming of.

  The captain went on, “Drinks will be served on a request basis. That means, Polly, should you or Langdon fancy a drink of any description, with the exception of alcohol of course, then please feel free to ask one of the hostesses, and they will be delighted to oblige. Personally, I could do with a nice cup of tea. How about you, Polly? I’m certain Amanda or Annabel, our two lovely hostesses, will make us a nice cup as soon as they are able, won’t you girls?”

  Polly noticed that both hostesses were blushing furiously, and she decided that both girls liked the good captain very much. Polly’s only fancy, though, was to get her hands on some of the scrumptious food that the captain was reading from the menu. She felt on cloud nine just listening to him, but he wasn’t finished yet.

  “For afternoon tea we will then be serving warm, freshly baked scones with English strawberry or raspberry preserve, topped with whipped crea
m. And if that does not fill your tummy to overflowing, then we have a large and varied selection of gateaux, including Queen Victoria’s homemade sponge. It goes without saying that this will be accompanied by a nice, big teapot of freshly-brewed English tea.”

  Polly giggled as she thought that Queen Victoria had certainly made sure that she would never be forgotten, for it seemed that her cake was on offer everywhere she went!

  “Finally, Polly, please feel free to browse through our extensive video library, for I am certain you will find plenty of your favorite films on offer. My personal favorite is A Night To Remember. Oh, and I love The Sound of Music just as much. Perhaps you will join me later for a sing-along, so I hope you know the words to “Climb Every Mountain” as well as I do! Then there’s Mary Poppins. Isn’t she such a poppet? If none of these take your fancy, then how about It’s a Wonderful Life?” The captain’s voice began to crack as he went on to admit that he always cried when he watched that one! “Oh dear,” he exclaimed. “There are so many wonderful films in the library, I fear that I may well have to put the plane on autopilot and come and sit next to you and Langdon so that I can watch them all,” he said, giving the deepest of sighs.

  Polly laughed, and thought it would be very nice if all the crew sat and watched the films with her and Langdon. Then they could all partake in the sumptuous food and turn the trip into a most wonderful party!

  By the time their plane landed in Rio de Janiero, both Polly and Langdon were most reluctant to disembark from the plane, for they had experienced such a lot of fun on board. However, the real truth lay more with the magnificent food they had demolished en route and which, I might add, had caused them to pile on the pounds!

  Polly refused to leave her seat and only did so after the whole crew went to extraordinarily great lengths to persuade her that, apart from refueling, the jet would remain stationary until she safely returned. To encourage Polly and Langdon to disembark, they also filled her schoolbag with cakes, sweets, and every other goody that they had on board, as well as filling a large carrier bag with comics, coloring books, and felt-tip pens. Still Polly would not undo her seatbelt until she had their promise of waiting officially put in writing by the good and most patient captain. Such was her mistrust concerning people keeping their word!

  With the captain’s written guarantee clutched tightly in one hand, Polly then staggered down the steps of the plane, seriously weighed down by all the gifts she had been given. Once outside the terminal, she then boarded a bus that had just pulled up at the bus stop. She quickly made her way to an empty seat and with great relief placed Langdon and the carrier bag, along with her schoolbag, on the vacant seat that was next to her. She then gave Langdon a cuddle as she waited for the bus to start up and take her on a tour around Rio. As she looked out of the window seat, taking in all the views, her delight soon turned to horror as she saw thin, half-naked children on the streets, crouched under cardboard that was held up by thin sticks. She got up from her seat and after putting her schoolbag on her back, picked up Langdon and the carrier bag and proceeded to head to the front of the bus.

  “Please, sir, can you stop the bus, for I need to get off here,” she politely asked the driver.

  Luckily for Polly, the bus driver, who normally only spoke Portuguese, was able to understand her request, for he had been taking evening classes in English for a lengthy period of time.

  “I am so sorry, miss, but this is not our usual stop. Besides, I have my orders to take you to the beautiful shopping malls,” he said most cheerfully.

  “But I don’t want to go to any shopping malls, sir,” replied Polly rather forcefully.

  “Oh! But wait until you see them,” answered the bus driver, most persuasively. “For our shopping malls are filled to overflowing with the most beautiful clothes and most wonderful toys, as well as every unimaginable treat that your heart could ever possibly desire.”

  “I’m truly sorry, but I’ve changed my mind,” said Polly. “I no longer wish to go shopping. I just want to get off here.”

  The bus driver acted as though he had not heard Polly’s request, as he continued to keep his eyes on the road ahead.

  “Please, sir, don’t you understand? Please stop and let me off now, for I have no desire to jump off a moving bus and injure myself,” she wailed.

  “I tell you what,” said the bus driver, momentarily taking his eyes off the road ahead to speak to her. “Why don’t you go to the shopping malls first? And then you can stop here on the way back. This way, you get the best of both worlds,” came his cheery reply to her request.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Polly replied. “Please just stop this bus, before I scream and force you to stop.”

  “That would be a most unwise thing to do, miss. I would be forced to call the police, for this would constitute a public disturbance,” he retorted, at the same time hiding his panic at the thought of hearing one of Polly’s ear-bending screams, which he believed would surely amount to pure torture!

  “Do your worst, sir. I really don’t care, for I have tried to be polite and tell you that my deepest desire at this moment in time is to get off this bus!” she begged. “So please, please help me by stopping it, and allow me to go on my way,” she rather petulantly demanded.

  The bus driver reluctantly obliged and turned the large wheel of the bus full circle, swerving off the road before coming to a standstill with his engine still running. As he opened the electronically operated door of the bus to let her off, he suddenly sneezed.

  “Bless you,” shouted Polly in the driver’s direction.

  The driver smiled before answering back. “Thank you, miss, for I am indeed very blessed.”

  Polly flashed him a quick smile before turning on her heels and heading back in the direction of the poor street children.

  The bus driver was in no hurry to get back into the stream of traffic, preferring to sit with the engine still running as he watched Polly through his side mirror. He saw her walk back to where the children sat under cardboard makeshift houses, and he couldn’t help but break into a smile as he thought to himself, “Yes, I am most blessed. For this headstrong and somewhat precocious young lady has indeed all the hallmarks of being a true princess. He then waited for a gap in the stream of traffic, before pulling out of the lane to go on his way. As he waited for the gap in the traffic to materialize, white feathers began to fall at his feet.

  “Oh, bless my little cotton socks,” he muttered under his breath. “This heat is really getting the better of me, and I’m rapidly losing my feathers. Thank goodness I’ve got my dustpan and brush with me, or this could have turned into quite an embarrassing situation.”

  He then drove off, taking all his other passengers to the city center with its wonderful and very exclusive shopping malls.

  Polly approached the children with the sad eyes and empty bellies who lived in the gutters, but when she began to try and talk with them she quickly discovered that sadly they did not speak the same language. Within minutes she felt frustrated that she had not tried harder in her French classes. She did not seem to realize that, even if she had been top of her French class, it would have made no difference, for these sad and virtually-naked children only spoke Portuguese. Polly then suddenly had an idea, for she remembered that she had a lot of food in her schoolbag. She quickly removed the bag from her shoulder and emptied the contents onto the ground. Out tumbled fruit buns, packets of chips, chocolate bars, and sweets galore. The children eagerly crowded around her as she crouched down, and then handed each child something from her large pile of goodies that in no time at all had completely disappeared. Polly watched as each face that had formerly looked so sad now lit up and glowed with pleasure as they ripped open the wrapper to savagely devour the contents.

  Polly felt her eyes go very moist as she watched, holding back the tears of sadness that she felt for every one of them. She then reached out to every thin-framed, dirty-faced child and hugged them in a way that might well s
uggest this could possibly be their last hug ever. There was not one child who did not respond to Polly, as they likewise showed no restraint in their response. Polly began to realize that day on the streets of Rio that the language of love needs no interpretation and therefore no interpreter.

  Polly sat down on the pavement with the children, supervising them. They colored in the pictures from the wealth of books she had been given, and the number of children wanting to join in the fun began to multiply. Before long there were so many young ones, all hoping for a felt-tip marker and a picture to color, that it was only a matter of time before she had completely run out of supplies. This saddened and frustrated Polly, but it made her determine that as soon as she got back to the airport she would inform the captain of all she had seen and get him to empty the plane of all remaining sweets and coloring books so that she could leave them with the street children.

  As Polly was taken on a tour of the favelas, she soon parted with her torch to a couple with ten children that lived in one of the shacks. She knew it wasn’t much, but it was all she had. She also knew with certainty that if the man kept switching the torch on and off in the manner he was doing, the batteries would run out pretty quickly and they would once again find themselves sitting in the dark with no money to buy new batteries. Still, as she sat in the dingy room with the man shining his newly-acquired torch backwards and forwards onto the children’s faces, she could not help smiling at seeing the children laugh and giggle with joy at the magic light. She knew that experiencing even a few minutes of happiness was better than never having experienced it at all.

  After many hours of coloring, and just as many hours of hugging, the children led Polly, along with Langdon, up into other districts packed with favelas so that she could meet other street children and their families. Polly could not hide her shock or tears as she witnessed firsthand the terrible conditions that these people endured. There were mothers dressed in rags with crying, hungry babies in their arms and old men with deeply-lined, leathery-looking faces, all of which betrayed a lifetime of struggle and hopelessness. Old men wobbled by on sticks, scrawny flea-bitten dogs barked and gnashed their teeth, and beautiful but dirty children played football in the narrow streets with empty, rusty cans. To cap it all, the stench from poor hygiene was almost unbearable to Polly, as open sewers ran past her feet.