So traveling the length and breadth of the globe and witnessing firsthand such heartbreaking scenes in every country her feet touched had served to make her anguish deeper and her feelings of being homesick intolerable, for the sickening truth was that she had no real home to go to and no family to love and be loved by.
Finally, Polly asked Amanda if Captain Plimsol was available, as she needed to have another heart-to-heart with him. Amanda agreed to go and look for him. She came back minutes later and informed Polly that the good captain was out playing tennis but would be back soon. She made Polly agree to eat something while they waited. Polly didn’t argue, for she was very hungry from all her traveling on foot.
“What do you fancy, Polly?” quizzed Amanda, “and don’t say egg and chips, please.”
“I’d like to try some pasta,” Polly replied, her face visibly brightening up. “I used to dream of trying some of Mrs. Pizzani’s lasagna that they used to make at the Copper Kettle tearoom. So do you think Bernie would be able to make such a dish? And if he is unable to produce that, then is there any possibility of having some creamy chicken and ham carbonara? I always wanted to try some of that.”
“Well, funnily enough, both meals are available, for Mrs. Pizzani sent our chef Bernie some of her secret recipes when she heard that you were on board,” Amanda cheerfully informed her. “So which will it be? Tell me now, and I will get Bernie to rustle up some nice, comforting food for you.”
Polly decided on the lasagna served on a bed of crisp lettuce with a nice potato and a big dollop of mayonnaise. She was not to be disappointed and ate every mouthful of the huge plateful, declaring it to be exceedingly and deliciously scrumptious. With the floral pattern almost licked off her plate, she finally announced to the girls that she was full. However, it is important to note that Polly still managed to polish off a whole bowl of chocolate and banana trifle before calling it a day.
No sooner had she finished when Captain Plimsol leapt up the steps and into the cabin. Amanda quickly took him aside and explained that Polly wished to talk with him.
“This time around, not before I’ve taken a shower,” he said with a smile that made Amanda feel giddy and all gooey inside. Twenty minutes later he emerged looking handsome and bronzed. The air inside the cabin now filled with the smell of expensive aftershave that made both hostesses swoon some more.
Having sat down beside Polly, he then asked Annabel to make a very large pot of tea and bring it to them. So, while Polly poured out her heart, the good captain poured out endless cups of tea and listened sympathetically to the long list of things troubling her. Polly finally ended the conversation by asking him if she could be taken back home to England.
The captain was surprised and told her that they still had many places to visit. Did she not want to go to Australia? And then after Australia he had China in mind as the next possible place to touch down. Polly shook her head. He even suggested Thailand as a strong possibility, as it was definitely becoming a new hot spot for tourists. It had plenty of nightlife, as well as fabulous sandy beaches that went on for miles.
Polly admitted that it all sounded very wonderful, and she was very grateful to all the crew, the chef included, for they had all made it a really wonderful trip, but she really was tired and homesick, so she hoped they would understand her reticence in not wishing to continue on with the journey.
“Dear Captain Plimsol, I just want to go home,” she pleaded.
The good captain agreed to Polly’s request, but with one condition attached.
“Oh dear,” groaned Polly. “I am not certain that I am going to like what I hear. Please, captain, do there have to be any conditions?” she wailed.
“Absolutely, my dear,” declared the captain, giving a wide grin that exposed his beautifully straight and gleaming white teeth. “Look, Polly, we have all tried very hard to meet your demands. Now it is my turn.”
Polly looked at the captain wistfully. “Oh, go on then. Tell me what the condition is.”
The good captain put his hand into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, which he then handed over to Polly. Polly was taken by surprise.
“What’s in the envelope?” she anxiously asked.
“If you hang on a minute, I’m just about to tell you,” he replied, at the same time making a deep sigh to show his slight annoyance at Polly’s impatience. “Polly, we are at present heading for New York in America, because both Amanda and Annabel’s families live there, and they have not seen them since the start of this trip. I think you will agree with me that both girls need some time off.”
Polly nodded her head in perfect agreement, while the captain took another sip of tea. “Well, Polly, I think it would be a very nice idea for you to travel back home to England on a very special ship. Her name is the Queen Mary, and she is setting sail from New York tomorrow at midday. The captain of this luxury vessel is a personal friend of mine, in fact he is one of my tennis partners who I’ve never quite managed to thrash yet,” he said with a sheepish grin. “Anyway, I took it upon myself to contact Hector a week or so ago, and besides discussing this year’s Wimbledon tournament I also took it upon myself to tell him all about you.”
Polly remained silent, giving her full attention to all the captain was sharing.
“I then went on to ask if there were any unoccupied cabins left, as I felt you were beginning to get homesick. Hector readily agreed to help me out, and so inside the envelope you will find the ticket and everything you need for Langdon and your good self to make it home safely to England’s green and pleasant land. So, Polly, what do you think?” the captain asked as he observed her face in search of a positive response.
Polly leapt to her feet and moved over in his direction as fast as any international tennis player he had ever seen. She then flung her arms around his neck, planting a big kiss on his clean-shaven, sweet-smelling chin.
“Thank you, Captain Plimsol. Thank you so kindly,” she cried excitedly. “Both Langdon and I cannot thank you enough for all the kindness and patience you have shown us both, and I can tell you now that neither of us will ever forget you.” Polly paused to take a deep breath. “If ever I fail to remember any of these events, Langdon will most certainly remind me, for as you well know an elephant never forgets.”
The Captain smiled as he patted Polly’s shoulder. “Well, Polly, I think you can now release me from your bear hug before I expire.”
“Oops, I didn’t realize I was hugging you so tightly,” she said, her face going a deep shade of crimson.
Amanda and Annabel enviously watched on, sighing deeply as they found themselves wishing that they were back at Polly’s age so they too could get away with giving the lovely captain such a demonstrative hug.
“Come on, Polly. It’s time to leave the captain to chart the next course for Concorde,” Amanda stated with a grin.
“Yes, Polly, the girls will help you pack and fill your backpack with lots of goodies. And then when we land, I will personally drive you to the dock and make sure you are well settled in your cabin before I leave.”
“Oh Captain, you do not have to do all this for me. I am certain I can find my way to the docks,” said Polly. “Please, you have already gone more than the extra mile by giving me this ticket.”
“Sorry, Polly, I’m taking you, and that’s the end of it. My decision is final. Besides, I do have a selfish reason for personally escorting you to the docks to board the Queen Mary.”
“Oh, and what’s that?” Polly asked, displaying a large amount of curiosity.
“Why, to have a good game of tennis with the captain, of course,” replied Captain Plimsol. “I would have thought you would have been able to guess that one. Yes, I do believe I have considerably improved my game since he and I last met up, and now I’m hoping to give him a good thrashing,” he said with a chuckle. “He’s an ex-Wimbledon player, I’ll have you know. So I don’t think Captain Humdinger will take losing a game to me too lightly.”
Poll
y joined in the laughter, for she was finally beginning to feel considerably happier, thanks to Captain Plimsol and his generous heart.
“Oh Polly, one more thing,” said the captain more as an afterthought. “Have you heard of a new pop group called Freddie Fruitless and the Backsliders?”
“Have I heard of them!” said a very excited Polly. “Everybody is talking about them, for they have become really famous,” she said, immediately humming their latest release.
“Well, Captain Humdinger informs me that they will be on board, as they are on a world tour, so isn’t that just peachy?”
Polly clasped her hands in delight at the good news, and as she did so, all thoughts concerning poor, hungry children such as Pedro completely disappeared, for she was about to fulfill something beyond her wildest dreams: to meet none other than her favorite pop idol, Freddie Fruitless, in the flesh, along with the rest of the band. All the excitement of this happening left Polly feeling thoroughly overwhelmed. She leapt up from her seat and gave the darling captain a big kiss on the cheek, which caused another tremendous surge of jealousy to rush through the hearts of Amanda and Annabel as they both watched on most enviously.
The next day, as promised, Captain Plimsol escorted Polly from the plane, but not before Polly had said her good-byes to all the crew, in particular Amanda and Annabel, as well as Bernie the onboard chef. Bernie was so touched when she complimented him on all his wonderful cooking that he produced a little lunchbox, informing her that he had made her some very special sandwiches and added a couple of large slices of Victoria sponge. Polly was delighted and plunked a kiss on his plump cheek, which immediately turned to bright pink. Amanda, not to be outdone, gave Polly a bottle of expensive perfume, and Annabel generously donated one of her favorite lipsticks, telling Polly the color would definitely suit her and that it might come in handy one day.
With their good-byes said and all hugging out of the way, Polly climbed into the bright yellow taxi along with Captain Plimsol and they headed for the docks and the Queen Mary. When the taxi halted and Polly stepped out of the taxi, her jaw dropped ninety degrees as she stared in awe and amazement at the beautiful vessel that she was about to board.
Chapter 26
ALL ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY
ONCE ON BOARD, Captain Plimsol took Polly to the officers’ quarters to introduce her to all the ship’s staff, as well as to pick up the key to her cabin. He also wanted her to meet Hector Humdinger, the proud captain of this fine ship.
Polly had to stifle her giggles as Captain Humdinger held out his hand to introduce himself, for he was already in his white shirt and shorts, revealing two extremely hairy legs. Polly duly observed that he had very large feet. He also had a tidy but very whiskery white beard, which he permanently appeared to be stroking, and piercing deep green eyes which seemed to mischievously sparkle. His attire was topped off by a rather trendy headband around his forehead and a racket under one arm.
“Couldn’t waste valuable tennis time, Polly,” explained Hector Humdinger, “Yes, time is clearly of the essence. Isn’t that right, Plimsol?” he said as he made a facial expression that suggested he was disappointed with Captain Plimsol for not being suitably dressed for tennis, for this would mean certain delay in getting onto the court.
Captain Plimsol smiled back at his impatient and rather impertinent friend before asking permission to escort Polly to her cabin. After she was settled in, he would then come back to the officers’ quarters to get changed as quickly as Hector could say “Jack Robinson.” Captain Humdinger readily agreed and handed Polly the key to her cabin before informing her that she was invited to sit at his table for dinner that evening. Polly and Captain Plimsol then excused themselves and went in search of Polly’s cabin.
Once they had found it and opened the door, Polly went ahead of the captain and placed Langdon and her backpack on the bed. She then turned around to say good-bye and thank him for all he had done for her, only to discover that he had completely disappeared. Polly was puzzled, so she raced over to the cabin door and looked both ways down the corridor. There was no sign of him or anyone else for that matter. This left Polly very perplexed, as she had only turned her back for a matter of seconds. As she closed the door of the cabin and walked towards where Langdon was lying trunk down on the bed, she saw that a couple of feathers had come to land on the polished floor of the cabin. She went over to where they lay and carefully picked them up from the floor, feeling most confused as to why they were there. She felt she needed an answer, so she went over to the bed and checked the pillows to see if they were filled with feathers. They were. She breathed a sigh of relief. Obviously the feathers had escaped while the cabin staff plumped up the pillows as they went about their job of making up the cabin bed.
Polly felt overcome with tiredness and, as it was still some time until dinner, she lay on the bed cuddling Langdon tightly to her chest, feeling very excited. For the thought of dinner at the captain’s table, as well as the opportunity of meeting Freddie Fruitless, was causing quite a stir in her heart.
Polly woke up from her catnap to discover time was marching on and she had less than an hour to get ready for her dinner engagement. She decided that she still had plenty of time to run a bath. And as she happily lay soaking in a cloud of jasmine-scented bubbles, her hand reached for the soap dish. As she scooped the dish contents into her hand, she realized that she was not holding soap but another rather large pebble covered in frothy bubbles. She immediately brushed the bubbles away with her fingers and, as she looked at the pebble, she could see a word gouged into the glassy surface. The letters spelled out the word kindness in beautifully scripted writing.
Polly did not react at all, for she had become very used to weird and strange things happening, so she just placed it on the side of the bath and determined to put it with the rest of the smooth pebbles in her backpack as soon as she was out of the bath and dry. This new find also served as a little reminder that it was time to write in her gold diary about all the amazing things she had seen on her travels. Oh, and she must not forget to mention that she was now on board the Queen Mary and was going to meet her dream hero, the wonderful Freddie Fruitless and the Backsliders.
Polly wasted no time in getting dry, and with a big, white, fluffy towel wrapped around her torso and a smaller, equally fluffy towel wrapped in a turban around her head, she headed for the bed where her schoolbag still lay. She wished to write down her first impressions of the Queen Mary and Hector Humdinger. Polly was both surprised and delighted to see that a lovely new dress and matching shoes had been placed on her bed. She read the little note attached to the dress.
Dear Polly,
It’s been a real pleasure meeting you. I hope you enjoy your journey home on the Queen Mary, and do please try to stay out of trouble. If and when we meet again, I hope you will have taken up tennis as a hobby, because exercise is good for the soul as well as the body. See you at Wimbledon! I will save you a strawberry…or two!
Best Wishes,
P. S. Hope you like the dress and shoes; Amanda and Annabel picked them out for you, as, rather cheekily, they didn’t altogether trust my fashion sense!
Polly smiled and folded up the note to safely tuck amongst her belongings. Then after much rummaging through her bag, she finally produced her pen and the little gold book, which she opened at a fresh page this time. As pen touched paper, words somewhat magically appeared on the fresh white page. Polly dropped her pen and began to read each line as it appeared on the page before her very eyes.
The princess had successfully completed her trip of a lifetime, and in doing so, she had experienced the highest level of luxury: flying around the world on Concorde. She had sampled international cuisine with all its delicacies and eaten like a queen. She experienced the delight of being waited on hand and foot by the lovely Amanda and Annabel. She had for the first time tasted what it was like to be a real princess, and she had enjoyed every moment of it. She had also proven that she could be t
rusted with such privileges, as she ignored her own natural desire to shop until she dropped. The princess had chosen instead to reach into the hearts of all the poor and abandoned that she met in each city, giving them comfort and hope in whatever small way she could.
She had, however, experienced a few hiccups on the way, such as locking herself in the washroom until her outrageous demands were met, thereby giving not only dear Captain Plimsol great grief, but also Colonel Slaughterhouse, who was only appeased by receiving a very nice pot of tea with cakes for all his trouble. However, she had learned through all her mistakes that threats and tantrums are clearly no way to resolve any crisis, and sometimes invaluable lessons can only be learned the hard way.
She had also ignored the blisters on her swollen feet and quite rightly resisted asking for a mobility car similar to that of the Pope’s to get herself around the various cities. She was, after all, unlike the Pope: very young and in need of regular exercise, so such a mode of transport would have been considered a most self-indulgent request, and therefore quite out of the question. She had begun to understand that there is no gain without pain, and for this she had earned an award for great kindness in the form of a pebble.
The princess now found herself sailing back to England on none other than the luxury British liner named the Queen Mary. She would now find herself socializing and dining with the upper echelons of society, and it was up to the princess as to whether she allowed such things to go to her head or not. She would spend the next few days in the lap of luxury, but there would also be challenges. Would the princess heed the warning that not all things are as they seem? Also the princess would have to make the hard choice between continuing her search for Piadora (something she had seemingly abandoned, at least for the present) in preference to joining up and traveling the globe with Freddie Fruitless and his entourage. This would be a difficult choice for her to make, as the pop stars’ lives seemed so intoxicatingly exciting, and in truth, she, like many others, had come to utterly idolize this gorgeous hunk of a man. Only time would tell which choice the princess would make.
Polly Brown Page 45