The Whole Truth (26 page)

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.”

He turned to Polly and enveloped her in a crushing hug. Then he smacked her forehead with a kiss, muttered that he had to be home for dinner, and hurried away.

Polly sat for so long on the log that she was late for dinner herself. She didn’t know which was more thrilling: the whales or Chester’s kiss.

G
regor and Sadie’s wedding preparations began to absorb the family like a giant sponge; there was nothing else to do or talk about. Despite her parents’ objections, Sadie had insisted on getting married on the island. “It’s such a beautiful little church, and I want your father to marry us there,” she’d told Gregor.

Aunt Jean was thrilled, of course. Polly didn’t think her aunt could ever be busier than she usually was, but now she whizzed around like a hummingbird, arranging food and flowers and wedding outfits, and cleaning the church until it sparkled.

“Jean, you’re going to wear yourself out so much you won’t be able to enjoy the wedding!” Noni told her.

“How about a game of Bezique?” Uncle Rand suggested each evening, but Aunt Jean and Noni had too many lists to make. He and Polly played Cribbage instead.

Sadie and her family and friends were coming to the island a few days before the wedding; they would all stay in the hotel. Gregor wanted to go and visit Sadie, but his mother wouldn’t let him. “Let her have a last summer with her family,” she told him.

Instead Gregor telephoned Sadie so often that his parents told him it was too expensive. Then he wrote daily letters. He constantly had a dazed grin on his face, as if he couldn’t believe his good fortune.

At the end of July, Noni took Polly and Maud to Victoria to buy clothes: Maud for university and Polly for school.

How ugly her uniform was compared with the pretty skirts and blouses that Maud was trying on! The heavy wool tunic itched and the stiff white blouse rasped her skin.

“I can’t move!” Polly complained, after the saleswoman had helped her into the thick blazer. She clomped around the dressing room in her heavy shoes, holding her arms out stiffly.

Noni laughed. “You’ll get used to it, hen. And you look very nice.”

Polly knew she didn’t: she looked like a maroon-and-grey pudding. She was indifferent as Noni picked out the rest of the required clothing. What a waste it was, buying all these things when she’d be back on the island next year! But she couldn’t tell Noni that; she didn’t know about her bargain with Miss Guppy.

Polly cheered up as Noni took her and Maud to the dressmaker to pick up their wedding outfits; Polly was to be a bridesmaid and Maud the maid of honour. Noni had sent their measurements, but this was the first time they had tried on their dresses. They were shimmering blue silk, so long that they trailed behind with a satisfying swish. The dressmaker had made small silk hats to match. Polly had never had such grown-up clothes!

“I’m going to take your dresses straight over to the rectory to show Jean,” said Noni as they walked to the house from the wharf. “You girls can go in and unpack.”

Polly laughed as Tarka rushed out from the kitchen and leapt into her arms. Then she saw an envelope with Daddy’s familiar writing lying on the hall table.

She hadn’t had a letter from Daddy all summer. Usually he wrote just as regularly as she did, but the last time she had heard from him was in June. “I’m not going to be able to write to you for a while, Doodle,” he had told her, after he’d congratulated her on graduating. “I have some business I have to take care of, but I promise I’ll be back in touch as soon as I can.”

What business? Polly had wondered. Then the summer had kept her so busy that she’d forgotten to worry.

She snatched up the letter—but it was addressed to Maud, not to her!

“Maud, here’s a letter for you from Daddy,” she said, trying to conceal her hurt.

“That’s strange,” said Maud, slowly taking the letter. “He knows I don’t want him to write to me.”

“Open it!”

“I’ll read it in private. If it’s addressed only to me, he must want only
me
to read it.”

Maud took the letter to her room. Polly waited as long as she could bear, then went upstairs and hesitated outside Maud’s closed door. She listened hard. Could Maud be
crying?

“Maud?” Polly opened the door. “Are you all right? What did Daddy say?”

“Oh, Doodle …” Maud was a mess of tears, with a red, dripping nose. Polly got her a hankie from her drawer and sat down beside her. “What’s
wrong,
Maud?”

Maud mopped her face and blew her nose. “Poll, Daddy wants me to tell you something. You can read his letter, but he wants me to prepare you for it first.”

Polly sat down, her legs turned to jelly. “What is it? Is Daddy all right? Is he sick?”

“He’s fine. Now listen carefully, Doodle. This is going to be very hard for you.” Maud took both of Polly’s hands. “Daddy has confessed, Polly.”

“What do you mean?’

“Exactly what I said. He’s finally confessed that he stole the money.”

“No!
No, Maud, he couldn’t have!”

“He did, Poll. Let me explain. As soon as Daddy got to work that morning, Mr. Spicer gave him his last pay because he had to go somewhere for the rest of the day. While Daddy was standing in his office, he noticed that Mr. Spicer only moved the dial a little bit when he closed the safe. Daddy always stayed inside at lunchtime to read. He slipped into the office, opened the safe, and took out all the money he could grab—about a hundred dollars, he says. He put it in his pocket and went back to his book. He didn’t think anyone would notice until the next day, but Mr. Rayburn, the boss, opened the safe after lunch. You know the rest. They found the money in Daddy’s pocket.”

“No, no, no …” moaned Polly. “It can’t be true!”

“Read the letter if you don’t believe me,” said Maud. She handed Polly the first page.

Polly’s hands were shaking so much she could hardly hold the paper. “This is the hardest letter I have ever written, but I must now
tell you the truth …” Daddy began. He talked about stealing the money just as Maud said, but went into much more detail. “I struggled with my conscience all morning, but all I could think of was how much I could do for my girls with all that money. I wasn’t thinking clearly—it was as if someone else did it. I still can’t believe I was so stupid and so wrong! Ever since I visited you I’ve tried to think of how I could make things right. Finally I resolved to tell you the truth, even though I hate you to know that your father is a thief. Then I—”

Maud was holding many more pages. “Maud, just tell me the rest,” Polly said weakly.

Maud spoke fast. “Daddy says he hitchhiked to Winnipeg in June and went to the police station and confessed. They were so shocked to find out he was alive! He appeared before a judge, and because he pleaded guilty and because he stole the money to feed his family, the judge told him he would give him a suspended sentence.”