by Kit Pearson
She put her hand on Polly’s shoulder, but Polly shook it off. She continued to sit with her arms folded for the rest of the exam period, looking haughtily at the other girls. The poor things. Some of them would have to come here, but she wouldn’t!
Noni and Maud were waiting in the front hall of the school. Maud was allowed to go out for lunch with them. “How was it?” asked Noni.
Polly hung her head. “It was really hard. I don’t think I did very well.”
“Don’t be silly, Poll. You’re so smart you’ll do fine,” said Maud.
Polly could only nibble at her lunch. The person who had so skilfully mangled the exam had vanished. What have I done? thought Polly.
“If only I could still be at St. Winnie’s when you start!” Maud told her. “But I have lots of friends who are going to look out for you. You’ll have a really good time, I promise.”
A week later Noni got a phone call from Miss Guppy. “She wants to interview you, hen,” she said. “That must mean you passed the exam!”
I couldn’t have! thought Polly. Probably the Guppy was going to tell her in person how disappointed she was that she couldn’t admit Polly. Even though that was what Polly wanted, she squirmed to think of how stupid Miss Guppy must think she was.
A few days later she sat in the headmistress’s study, unable to eat the cookies she was offered.
“Now, Polly!” barked Miss Guppy. “I simply cannot believe that you couldn’t pass the entrance exam. You failed it deliberately, didn’t you?”
No one could lie to those piercing eyes. “Yes, Miss Guppy,” whispered Polly.
“That was very wrong of you. You have cheated. It was just as dishonest of you to cheat to fail as to cheat to pass—almost worse, because you cheated yourself as well. Do you understand that? ”
Polly tried to shrink into her chair. “Yes, Miss Guppy.”
Miss Guppy’s voice became less harsh. “Did you do it because you don’t want to come here?”
Polly nodded.
“Can you tell me why not?”
“Because I don’t want to leave the island,” muttered Polly. “I don’t know anyone here and I’d be leaving my two best friends—and my dog.”
“Well, all those reasons are understandable. It’s frightening to leave your home and start a new school, and I know you’ll miss your friends and family and your dog. But you must be brave, Polly. I promise you that you’ll like it here after you get used to it. Let’s make a bargain, you and I! Give it a try for a year. If you still don’t like it after that, I’ll suggest to your grandmother that she keep you at home. We don’t have to tell her about our bargain, however. It will be a secret between you and me.”
“But I failed the exam!” said Polly.
“Yes, you did—you failed it quite spectacularly. But I know from your school records that you’re a bright girl, Polly, so I’m very happy to admit you. We’re delighted to have Maud’s sister here. Maud is a splendid young woman, the best head girl St. Winifred’s has ever had. I hope you will end up being just as much a credit to the school as she has been. I won’t tell your grandmother or your sister about your exam results—you wouldn’t want them to know how you cheated. So, do we have a bargain? Will you give it a try?”
What choice did she have? Miss Guppy was a whirlwind that swept up everything in her path.
Then Polly thought of a whole long year away from the island—away from Tarka and Noni and her friends. She sat up straighter and forced herself to meet the Guppy’s steely gaze. “I’ll—I’ll only come here if I can go home every weekend.”
“Every weekend? But Polly, you’ll miss so much! Maud must have told you what jolly times the boarders have.”
Polly tried not to avert her eyes. “I don’t care. If I can’t go home every weekend, I won’t come.”
Anger flickered in the Guppy’s face. She doesn’t like people to disagree with her, realized Polly.
“You’re a determined child, aren’t you? Very well. I think you’re making a big mistake, but if you’re willing to give the school a try, that can be our compromise. So will you stick it out for a year?”
Miss Guppy offered her hand. Polly fingered her necklace. Daddy wanted her to come here. She nodded, and let her own hand be squeezed painfully.
“Good girl!” said the Guppy, in exactly the same tone that Polly used with Tarka.
The headmistress looked at her watch. It was an old-fashioned one, on a chain pinned to her dress. “Let’s see … you have an hour before your grandmother picks you up. Your sister is playing basketball at another school this afternoon, so you won’t be able to see her. I’ll ask Alice Mackenzie to show you around. You know her from home, don’t you?”
Alice? Polly quaked. She still saw Alice in the holidays, of course, but she avoided her. Maud had said how much Alice liked St. Winifred’s, how she shone at music and sang solos at the school concerts. But at Christmas Alice had been as sullen and mean as usual.
Polly wanted to object, but Miss Guppy had already opened her door and asked a passing girl to fetch Alice.
“Hi, Polly,” said Alice when she appeared.
Alice had changed! She looked calm and happy, chatting all the way to her dorm. “I’m so glad you’re coming here! You’ll really like it. The other girls are swell and there’re lots of extra activities, like music and art. You’re really good at art, aren’t you?”
On and on she talked, while Polly listened in amazement. The other girls in her dorm seemed to really like Alice, and she was so kind to them, asking one girl if she had found her lost notebook.
After Alice showed her the rest of the school, they sat on the porch steps and waited for Noni to come back. “Your dorm is on the same floor as mine, so you’ll be close to me, Polly,” Alice told her. “It’s too bad that Maud will have graduated when you come, but I’ll take good care of you.”
This was the same girl who had teased her so cruelly? The one who called her “Goldilocks” and pinched and twisted her arm? Polly finally got up the courage to ask, “Alice, why are you so … different?”
Alice looked ashamed. “I am different here. As soon as I’m back at school, I feel good somehow. I know I was really mean to you and the other kids, Polly. I’m sorry. But when I’m on the island, I get in a bad mood. It’s because … well …”
“I know,” said Polly quietly. It was because of her mother. She was a much worse bully than Alice was. No one ever talked about it, because mothers could do what they wanted to their children, even if they were cruel to them.
Alice flushed. “Well, so that’s why. But at least I spend most of the year at school. And you know what, Polly? I’d like to be nice to you and your friends now, but I’m too embarrassed about how I was before. So when I come home for the summer, let’s all do things together, okay? Tell Biddy and Vivien.”
Alice might be nicer, but she was still just as bossy. Polly wasn’t at all sure what Biddy and Vivien would think of this idea. Especially Vivien, because she liked to be the boss too.
“I’ll have to ask them,” said Polly warily. “But I’ll do things with you at home, Alice.”
She wasn’t quite sure why she said this, but Alice beamed. “Swell! And then when you come to St. Winnie’s, you’ll have a friend!”
“Thanks,” whispered Polly.
A strident bell sounded and girls clattered down the stairs for supper. Polly shrank from the noisy crowd. She still didn’t want to come here, but having a friend might help.
The closer she got to graduation, the more Polly tried to slow down time. The island thrummed with spring. Each dawn she was wakened by a crescendo of birdsong. Grouse thumped their wings, otters slithered under rocks to feed their babies, and the firs were tufted with bright green caps. The meadow behind Biddy’s barn was a golden veil of daffodils, just like in Wordsworth’s poem. Later the hummingbirds came back and delicate, speckled fawns appeared on the road.
Polly and Biddy and Vivien started an absorbing ne
w project. Polly drew a large blank map of Kingfisher Island, copying Uncle Rand’s smaller one. On dry days they set out to explore and map all the land they could get to.
Each time they biked down a new road or climbed a hill or discovered a beach or followed a deer path, they marked it on the map. They drew in every house and labelled it. There were some areas that were too thick with trees and salal to penetrate, but by June they had covered most of the island. Polly painted the tiny houses and animals and trees they had pencilled in, and labelled everything in her best printing. They took the map to school; Mrs. Oliver was astonished to see it. She told them it would be the feature display at the graduation ceremony.
The five graduates—Polly, Biddy, Vivien, Wallace, and Fred—had assumed such importance in the classroom that Mrs. Oliver let them pull their desks into a corner and study on their own. They set one another quizzes and corrected one another’s answers. When they weren’t working, they helped coach the younger pupils. Even at lunchtime the five of them stuck together, settling disputes among the younger ones and discussing their plans for next year. Wallace and Fred were going to live with relatives in Sidney and Vancouver and go to high schools there. Biddy and Vivien were sharing the same governess that Dorothy already had. Vivien’s family had planned to take her out of school, but Noni had called on them and persuaded them to let Vivien carry on studying.
“Oh, Polly, if only you could stay on the island!” Biddy kept saying.
“I’ll be home every weekend, and it’s only for a year,” Polly reminded her. “Miss Guppy promised I won’t have to come back if I don’t like it.”
“But maybe you will like it,” said Biddy.
“I won’t,” said Polly firmly.
One day after school Mrs. Oliver asked Polly to stay behind. “I’d like you to be the class valedictorian at the graduation ceremony,” she told her.
“Oh, but I couldn’t!” said Polly. “Why don’t you ask Vivien? She can speak much better than I can.”
“She hasn’t been in the school as long.”
“How about Biddy, then? She’s been here since grade one!”
“Biddy’s marks aren’t as good as yours, Polly. I really want you to do it. You’ve been such an asset to the school, and I know you’ll have many interesting things to say.”
It took Polly a long time to write her speech. She consulted Uncle Rand, who told her that a valedictory was a farewell. He suggested that she do it in three parts: things she remembered about the school, a thank-you to Mrs. Oliver and any other adults who had helped over the years, and something hopeful about the future.
As she scribbled down all the things about school she was saying goodbye to, Polly couldn’t help remembering everything else that had happened in the almost three years she had lived on the island.
Her time here had been marked by three storms: the hurricane of coming to a new place, the thunder of the Turtle’s announcement, and the lightning arrival and departure of Daddy. In between the storms, however, had been long, tranquil interludes when Polly had learned how to live in the country, laughed with her friends, and been healed by the love of her family.
She chewed the end of her pencil and stared out the window at the waves. Ahead loomed the worst storm of all: leaving the island to start a new school.
Right now, however, she had the whole summer to savour. She could paint, and play with Tarka, and ride her bike, and enjoy her friends.
Most exciting of all, Gregor and Sadie were getting married at the end of August! This summer was going to be a long, restful time full of treats; nothing unpleasant would happen until the fall.
On graduation day, Polly stood in front of the room of proud faces watching her; she knew every one. Her hands and legs trembled the whole time she was speaking. “And may the five of us carry into the future the proud principles we have learned at Kingfisher School,” she ended. That had sounded grand when she wrote it, but now she worried it didn’t make sense.
The room broke into loud applause and Polly grinned with relief. It was over! Now all she had to do was shake hands and bask in the attention of family and friends. Everyone kept praising her for her speech and telling her how much they admired the map.
“I can’t believe we’ve really graduated!” said Biddy with awe. “Oh, Polly, I wish you didn’t have to go away.”
“Don’t talk about it,” pleaded Polly. “Tomorrow let’s see if that old dugout is still at Shell Bay, okay? We haven’t been there since last summer!”
Maud had also graduated; Noni and Aunt Jean had attended her ceremony. Polly couldn’t bear facing Miss Guppy again, and she didn’t want to go to the school before she had to. She pretended she had one of her upset stomachs and was allowed to stay home.
Maud arrived back on the island in triumph, loaded with cups and certificates and a report card full of marks of distinction. As head girl, she had also given her class valedictory. She let Polly read it. It was all about striving for Christian ideals and “playing the game.” Polly thought her own speech was much more interesting.
All Maud could talk about was how excited she was to be going to university in Vancouver. She studied the calendar of courses at the University of British Columbia as avidly as she had once studied the prospectus for St. Winifred’s. “I’m going to be a lawyer,” she announced at dinner one night.
“A lawyer!” said Aunt Jean. “That’s not very suitable for a lass, chickie.”
“Of course it is,” said Noni. “Young women are accomplishing more and more these days. Maud is so clever she can have whatever career she chooses.”
Maud seemed more like her old self this summer. She rarely talked about her religion and she was interested in Polly again, the way she used to be.
Polly had been wondering if Alice would remember her suggestion of playing with her and Biddy and Vivien. She was both relieved and disappointed when Alice told her in a nasty voice after church that Polly’s dress was too short. “You look like a baby,” she said, “and everyone’s going to tease you at St. Winnie’s, Polly, if you don’t bob your hair.”
Polly turned her back. The nice Alice she’d met at the school had disappeared.
The summer felt like a condemned person’s last meal. Frantically Polly tried to squeeze every drop of enjoyment she could out of the warm days. She walked and rowed and swam and picnicked and spent hours with her friends and Maud, soaking them up so she would have their affection to comfort her when she was away.
One late afternoon Polly decided to walk Tarka to the lighthouse. She sat on a log and watched the incoming tide foam around the rocks. Sometimes at this time of day a pod of whales would magically appear. She stared at the sea so closely that her eyes watered, but no black fins broke its surface.
“Hi, Polly,” said a quiet voice.
Chester! Polly knew he was home; she had already seen him at a distance a few times. Here he was standing right beside her! Tarka jumped and whined for attention. Chester picked him up and sat down beside Polly.
All she could think of was how he wouldn’t speak to her at Christmas. Now, however, he was talking rapidly. “I was just coming back from helping my uncle cut wood,” he said. “I thought I’d see if the whales were passing. Have you spotted any?”
Polly shook her head. Chester went on chatting about all the work he was doing this summer, keeping his eyes on the sea. Polly kept glancing at him. His handsome face had a shadow of a moustache, and his arms were muscled and brown. His shirt smelled like a mixture of clean cotton and sweat.
“It’s nice to see you, Polly. I’m … well, I’ve felt embarrassed to talk to you ever since that night outside the hall. I shouldn’t have kissed you—you were just a kid!” He still didn’t look at her.
“I didn’t mind,” murmured Polly.
They shared an awkward silence. Then Chester asked, “Are you looking forward to St. Winifred’s?”
Polly shook her head. “I don’t want to go. But at least I’m allowed to come
home every weekend.”
“St. Cuthbert’s is pretty good. I like the other fellows, and I got on the football team. Polly …” Chester cleared his throat, threw her a desperate look, then stared back at the sea.
Polly waited.
“After I graduate I’m planning to go to Victoria College. I know you’re still too young right now, but when you’re older … would you like to come to something with me? To a dance or something? Do you think your school would let you?”
Polly’s heart lifted. Then she remembered. “But I won’t be there! Miss Guppy said if I don’t like St. Winifred’s after the first year, I don’t have to come back, and I know I won’t like it so I won’t.”
Chester looked disappointed. “Oh, well.”
“Thank you for asking,” said Polly.
Finally they kept their eyes on each other and their words slowed down. “You’re welcome,” said Chester. “At least we can see each other here. But you know how hard it is. People start talking about you even if you just go for a walk or something!”
Polly thought of how the whole island had buzzed about Gregor and Sadie, and Alec and Cynthia. It would be so liberating to do something with Chester away from here. If only she could!
“Sometimes I go to Victoria with my grandmother and my aunt,” she ventured. “They might let me see you there—when I’m old enough, of course.”
“That would be swell!” Chester beamed at Polly so avidly she wondered if he would kiss her again.
Then he jumped up. “Look!”
A pod of whales surfaced in front of them, all in alignment, like a whale ballet. Their glistening fins sliced through the waves as their enormous black-and-white bodies bubbled and wheezed and leapt and slapped. They lingered in front of the lighthouse, then zoomed down the pass.
“That was swell!” said Chester. “Do you know why they slap the water with their fins?”
Polly shook her head, her eyes brimming.
“They’re stunning the fish before they eat them. I never get tired of seeing whales.”