The Trouble with Polly Brown (51 page)

As the other children danced along the corridor as they headed back to the television lounge to continue watching their favorite western, James, who was still officially on ROPE, knew instinctively that there was now a greater urgency than ever to talk privately with his sister before she was taken away—and for all he knew it might well be forever!

James knew with the greatest of clarity that it was now or never. He needed to speak with his sister, and if he left it any longer, it could well prove to be too late. He quietly entered the kitchen, and immediately his eyes fell upon Polly as she furiously continued to scrub the kitchen floor down on all fours. James quietly knelt down beside her, feeling terribly overwhelmed with the thought that he might never see her again, and this moment in time might well be his last and only chance to ever say a proper good-bye to her. Polly stopped what she was doing and placed her brush back in the bucket before turning to face him.

“Listen to me, Polly. I now know that Piadora really does exist,” he sniffed as he fought to hold back tears of anguish that his sister, the flesh of his flesh, was about to be taken from him, and maybe for good!

Polly shook her head, her eyes glistening with fresh tears.

“Oh, James, stop right now. Believe me when I say that Piadora is one big lie. It really doesn't exist. Even the polygraph has confirmed to everybody living within these walls that I am nothing more than a treacherous liar. So believe me when I say that I just made it all up as a way of getting through each day,” she unconvincingly stated as she struggled to persuade her brother that everything she had told him and the others was entirely untrue.

“Please, Polly, listen to me. I beg you. Even though everyone in this place is calling you bonkers, I know you're not. Piadora really does exist, for I have finally met Hodgekiss, and Ralph too,” he stated with the greatest sense of urgency.

“So tell me, James, precisely how long has all this been going on?” she coldheartedly quizzed, her eyes blazing.

“Look Polly, Ralph even gave me this book titled
The Prince and the Pauper
. Here, see for yourself.”

Polly glanced over but then chose to close both her eyes as well as cover her ears in protest.

“Stop it, James! I'm not listening. Believing in all of this craziness has only made my pain a whole heap worse. Why, even Will has chosen to turn aside from me, and he of all people promised with his hand on his heart that he would always be my faithful friend who would see me through anything and everything. So go away and forget about it all. Promise me you will,” she despairingly urged.

“No, I cannot do that, Polly. You are my sister, and I need you to leave this hateful castle and come with me, for I want us to go together to Piadora. If we steal away in the night, then you will not have to go to that awful hospital where they send horribly mad people.”

“Stop it now!” she hissed. “If anyone hears us talking about any of this, then you will be joining me in the hospital, a hospital specially set up for lunatics like me! They even call it the loony bin. So, James, listen to me. Do you really want that for your life?” she cried out as she grabbed hold of both his arms out of sheer desperation.

“Polly, please stop it, for you're hurting me,” he cried.

Polly instantly released him from her tight grip as once more she sunk to the floor in despair, her eyes brimming with fresh tears.

“Come with me. We can do this together. I beg you. You're my sister. You owe me this much, and as I cannot do this alone, I beg you to change your mind and say you'll come,” he urged.

Sadly for him, all his strong pleading fell on stony ground.

“Sorry, James. I need you to drop this subject, for I'm most adamant when I say I'm not going,” she sniffed, once more shaking her head to show him her utter disapproval.

James still wasn't about to give up. “Please, Polly. Please,” he implored.

“James, please do me a favor and stop all this nonsensical rubbish. Go to bed, and forget about all of this, for as I've already told you, it can only bring you much sadness and misery,” she angrily stated as she plunged her hand into the bucket to retrieve the scrubbing brush. Picking up the brush once more, she then threw it on the ground in frustration as she then began to wipe away the tears that were now furiously rolling down her cheeks.

“No, no, no. Polly, I cannot forget it, and shame on you for denying everything, because now that I have met Ralph and Hodgekiss, I no longer need any convincing.”

“What? You've been secretly meeting with them?”

“Yes, Polly, I have. Ever since you were banned from making tea for the tramps, I have been called to take over, and that's how things started. So I don't care what that stupid polygraph read as true, for I now know in my heart that you didn't lie. Piadora does exist, as does the Hoolie Koolie and Hubber Blubber tree, and I promise, hand on heart, that at sometime in the future, in fact, as soon as I'm a bit older, then I am going to go on this journey, even if it means going it alone without you,” he said as he unexpectedly lunged forward to give her an almighty embrace.

Polly's response was to ignore his sudden and very touching expression of affection as she wearily picked up the scrubbing brush to continue on with the cleaning.

However, a very determined James still chose to ignore her distressed pleas. “Polly, I'm so sorry that I've been moping around so much, and I'm just as sorry that I didn't believe you from the start,” he stated, his arms still tightly clung 'round her shoulders as he continued to hang on to her and whisper in her ear. “You are, after all, my only sister, and at the end of the day you're very dear to me.” He wept as he continued to hold her as though it would be for the last time ever.

James suddenly began to believe he finally was winning her over when Polly dropped the scrubbing brush back into the bucket of soapy water and reached to clasp his hands and hug him tightly.

“James, I insist that you listen to me. Please don't leave here. I beg of you. I promise you that Piadora is one fat, big lie that I made up, and it's just all got way out of control,” she wept.

James jerked backward and then removed her arms from around his neck as he began to flounder. “Polly, I thought you of all people would tell me the truth. And now I see you've changed. You no longer care about right and wrong, truth and lies, and the like. Now I see you're no different from the rest of them,” he contemptuously spat as he then quickly released himself from her grip to get up from the floor and make his way out of the room, for he too had punishment chores that he was expected to complete, and he knew he was running out of time.

“If you won't leave with me tonight, then I have no idea when, if ever, I'll see you again. But what I do know is that at some time in the future I will be ready and fully prepared to leave this hateful place, and when that time comes, trust me, I will know. I am not going to turn back, for I will do it with or without your help, that's for sure,” he cried.

As he closed the kitchen door on his sister, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, he wiped away the tears that were now furiously and unashamedly running down both cheeks. For Uncle to have confiscated his model planes was one thing, but to take away his one and only precious sister by sending her to a hospital for nutty people when in his heart he knew she was innocent of all crimes was quite another. He was indeed justifiably completely heartbroken. In that anguished and forlorn moment he felt fueled with uncontrollable anger, for deep inside he believed that he might never see her again, and if this was based on all he had previously experienced, he felt just as sure her whereabouts would most certainly be forever withheld from him.

Therefore, in that small moment in time, he knew with every fiber of his being that he now had to use the time and be prepared to risk all to go down this never-before-trodden and so very scary path. It was now no longer just about him but also for the sake of his dear and very precious sister. He would now live every day of his life as though it were his last, as he secretly prepared himself for that day when he would leave. He would have to be mentally agile, and he needed to gain a bit of muscle on his arms. He felt determined to become physically strong, and if that meant using the lunchtime breaks to go to the school gym and get fit, then he would do whatever it took until finally he stopped looking so pathetically puny and malnourished. There would indeed come a time when he would face himself in the mirror and know that he was ready.

Polly continued on scrubbing the floor despite feeling fresh concerns regarding her younger brother. Later that night as she scrambled into her bed and cuddled Langdon tightly to her chest, she could only hope and pray that her younger brother would come to his senses and follow her advice by completely abandoning all ideas of heading off in hot pursuit of the elusive kingdom of Piadora. She sincerely hoped that if nothing else, she had put him off going alone, at least for the time being.

True to Uncle Boritz's word, after Polly had finished her painfully small bowl of cereal with the usual quota of silverfish struggling to stay alive as they floated to the surface in the lumpy substitute for milk, Polly was then ordered to go and brush her hair while Miss Scrimp dutifully headed upstairs to pack a light suitcase on behalf of the child. With this done, Polly was then ordered to go in a quiet and orderly fashion and sit in the car until he had finished reading his daily newspaper. Polly did as she was ordered, and so, without even being given the opportunity to say good-bye to her younger brother or any of the any of the other children, she was quickly and most efficiently escorted by Miss Scrimp to her guardians' car, which was parked outside under a large oak tree.

To her horror, Polly noticed that Miss Scrimp had her beloved Langdon scrunched up tightly under her right arm. He looked so limp and helpless that she could only hope that the unpleasantly strong odor emanating from under Miss Scrimp's armpits had caused the poor darling to pass out long ago. When they reached the car, Miss Scrimp demanded that Polly stand by the car door while she marched to the back of the car to place the small suitcase in the trunk. Then she ordered Polly to take a seat in the back and wait patiently for Aunt Mildred and Uncle Boritz, who planned to be with her as soon as they were able.

As Miss Scrimp brusquely slammed shut the side door of the car, she could have used this small opportunity to take hold of Polly's small, trembling hand to say a meaningful and maybe even tenderhearted good-bye, but sadly she was unable to rise to the occasion by giving even a morsel of human kindness, preferring to use the opportunity to give Polly one very sound and useful piece of advice. “Behave yourself, girl!” she growled, as she rather disdainfully thrust Langdon through the half-open window like he were some sort of unwanted and discarded rag doll. Polly immediately reached down to pick him up and stroke away his bruised feelings.

As she sat alone in the car feeling very scared for her future, a future that might well see her spending the rest of her days drugged up and hidden away in one of the many locked-up wards of the local loony bin, it made her hug Langdon even tighter.

She had heard so many terrifying stories about that place, stories that would make your blood run cold if they were only to be half believed. Polly also worried that she might never again set eyes on her younger brother to hold or hug him in times when he needed it most. As she continued to speculate on her very bleak future, she felt an inner urgency to send a small prayer upward, a prayer that asked God not only to take care of James on her behalf, something she would really appreciate His help with, but she also asked Him to remember to take care of her as well. Oh, and if it wasn't too much to ask, she would be really grateful if He would consider doing all within His power to make her considerably well in the head again.

As Polly innocently sat alone in the car waiting for her guardians to take her to the hospital, Boritz, having finished reading his daily paper, still found the time to merrily waltz into the kitchen, where all the other children still sat at the long tables, struggling to finish their most unappetizing breakfast cereal. He surreptitiously sidled up to Gailey and quietly whispered something in her ear.