Poesy Swift
I sat down on my bunk and banged the hard, lumpy horsehair mattress with my fist. I was terribly worried by what Max had said. Mumma was counting on those thirty shillings a month. I could only hope she wouldn’t have to wait much longer. At least when the money did arrive, there would be a great wad of it and Chooky and Yada and Mumma could all go down to Swan Street for a treat of fish and chips.
The thought of fish and chips made me realise our dormitory was rather stinky. There were fifteen girls in the room and it smelt sour with coal and grease.
‘Thtinky-poo,’ said Daisy, putting her thumb in her mouth. Her eyes looked too big for her face and her lovely plump cheeks had hollowed out since Kuala Lumpur. ‘Read me a story, Poesy, please,’ she said, nuzzling her head against me.
‘I’m too tired,’ I said. ‘We should sleep.’
‘I can’t fweep if you bon’t wead to me,’ said Daisy, talking with her thumb in her mouth so the words were all but incomprehensible. ‘Wead me Gwullfa!’
‘Gulliver? Not tonight.’ My mind was churning with worry. The only thought I could hold was the one that would bring Ruby back to us.
‘I want Gull!’ said Daisy, taking her thumb out to shout.
‘Go on, Poesy. Don’t be selfish,’ said Tilly. ‘You can’t start her off on a story and then abandon her. You can’t abandon people just because you’re tired of them.’
I wanted to cry but instead I pushed the little green book into Tilly’s hands. ‘You read to her if it’s so important.’
‘Did you bring this because your relative wrote it?’ she asked.
‘You know he’s not my relative. It was a present from my granny.’
Daisy climbed onto Tilly’s lap and looked at the pages of the book expectantly.
‘Where were you up to?’ Tilly asked.
‘Wapter Fix,’ replied Daisy, her thumb firmly back in place. I knew she’d already heard Chapter Six but I said nothing as Tilly flipped through the pages until she found the place where Gulliver describes the way the Lilliputians raise their children.
‘Their parents are suffered to see them only twice a year; the visit is to last an hour. They are allowed to kiss the child at meeting and parting but a professor, who always stands by on those occasions, will not suffer them to whisper or use any fondling expression, or bring any presents of toys, sweet-meats and the like.’
‘You see,’ said Flora, who had crept over to join Daisy. ‘They’re like us – perhaps luckier. That’s why Mr Arthur calls us Lilliputians. Read it out again.’
Daisy took her thumb out of her mouth then and the two little girls listened intently as Tilly reread the passage.
‘See – the Lilliputians live just like us,’ cried Flora. ‘And twice a year! They get to see their parents twice a year. Why, I only saw my mama once last year. And you know the Butcher never lets us have anything nice.’
‘Flora!’ I cried. ‘Don’t call Mr Arthur that awful name. Talking like that doesn’t make anything better. And besides, that’s only a story. We’re not really Lilliputians, we’re not tiny people from a strange island. We’re ordinary girls.’
Tilly shut the book and stroked the spine.
‘Oh, let them complain,’ she said. ‘They’re still little enough to be like real Lilliputians. Besides, complaining about it makes us all feel better.’
‘No, it makes us all feel bitter.’
‘Are you on his side then?’ she asked. ‘Will you start tagging after him like Lionel?’
I punched the lumpy pillow on my bunk again but it didn’t stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks. Everyone stared at me as if I was a horrible freak.
‘Oh don’t start blubbing,’ said Tilly. She shut the book and pushed the little girls off her lap. ‘Come with me, Poesy Swift. You and I need to have a jolly good chat.’
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear what she had to say but I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and followed her up the ladder and onto the deck. Tilly led me to the bow of the steamer and turned to face me, her hands on her hips.
‘Listen, you have to stop acting like a baby,’ she said. ‘For goodness sake! You’re thirteen years old. You’ve got nothing to sook about.’
‘Everyone thinks I tattled. All the girls are being beastly to me. And now Ruby has been stolen by white slave traders and it’s my fault.’
‘Pish-posh! You need to get a few things straight. For one thing, I don’t think you tattled and neither did Ruby. Tempe said it wasn’t your fault, so Ruby running away is nothing to do with you. But it’s no wonder she’s done a runner. She’s lost Tempe and Clarissa, her two best friends in the world. Mr Arthur has been a cad and you have to admit it and stop sticking up for him. You saw with your own two eyes. When he loses his temper, he behaves exactly like a butcher.’
‘But he won’t be like that any more. I’m sure he won’t. Now that Tempe is gone, things will be different. He’ll make it up to Ruby. Everything will be better.’
‘There you go, doing it again. Jumping to his defence. You’re as bad as Eliza.’
I was going to say something sharp in reply but then I realised Tilly was blinking back tears.
‘You used to be my friend, Poesy. Now the only person you care about is your Lizzie. I’ve lost Valentine. Do you have any idea what that means to me?’
She flung her arms around my neck and sobbed on my shoulder. I didn’t know what to say. I’d never seen Tilly cry before. I stroked her hair and when her sobs had subsided I dried her cheeks with the edge of my pinafore.
‘I’m sorry, Tilly. It must be awful. But you do have lots of other friends. I only have Lizzie.’
She smiled, almost shyly, and took my hand. ‘You could be my friend again, if you wanted. If you were nice to me, all the other girls would follow my lead and everyone would like you. But there is one thing, Poesy, that I really think you have to face. You’re not a little baby any more. If we are going to be friends, you do have to grow up.’
After Tilly left me, I found a spot between a lifeboat and the railing and sat on a pile of rope, watching the docks, hoping to see Mr Arthur returning with Ruby on his arm. I was worn out but I knew I couldn’t sleep. If thoughts could make things happen, as Yada always said, then the only thought I would hold in my mind was the one that would bring Ruby safely back to us. I watched for hours, yet I saw nothing but dark-skinned Malays moving cargo on the docks.
I woke suddenly and realised the steamer had left Georgetown. Folding my hands together, I said a little prayer that Ruby would make her way home safely. I was stiff and sore from sleeping on my rough bed of ropes. I stood up and stretched. All around lay the dark waters of the Bay of Bengal. A soft dawn light rippled on the surface of the sea.
On the other side of the bay was India. Everything would be different there. Without the big girls making trouble, Mr Arthur would be his old self. Perhaps the Indians would love the Lilliputians and there would be no more money worries. And Tilly and I would be friends again.
I took Topsy and Turvy out of my pocket and stared at their little clay faces. I’d had them since I was tiny but Tilly was right, I wasn’t a baby any more. I kissed each of them on the forehead, shut my eyes and threw them over the side of the steamer. I didn’t hear them splash in the water. Nor did I search for them. I kept my gaze fixed on the distant horizon.