I felt a bit better —but perhaps she was only saying it to comfort me.
Janie looked very sweet in frilly white baby doll pyjamas and everyone made a fuss of her. She had a little blue toy teddy and her mother had made it a pair of frilly white pyjamas too. Janie showed the child with the donkey her blue teddy but she didn’t seem interested.
‘Hadn’t she better get into her night things?’ said Louise. ‘Miss Hamer-Cotton will be back in a minute. We don’t really want to lose a team point, do we?’
‘I’ll undress her,’ said Karen, but the little girl cowered away from her when she started to unbutton her cardigan.
‘Don’t. She’s my friend, not yours,’ said Janie. She hunched up beside the little girl, her frilly white bottom sticking up in the air. She whispered. The little girl said nothing but Janie nodded understandingly.
‘She says she’s very tired and doesn’t want to get into her nightie. She doesn’t want to clean her teeth or go to the toilet. She just wants to go to sleep, don’t you?’ She eased the little girl’s shoes off and then pulled the bedcovers up to her chin.
We were all in bed when Miss Hamer-Cotton came back. She was pleased.
‘There’s good girls,’ she said. ‘Night night, then. Sleep tight. Sunday tomorrow. We’ve got all sorts of exciting things planned. There’s swimming assessment in the morning and a hike in the afternoon.’
I sat up in bed.
‘What is it, dear?’
‘What’s swimming assessment, Miss Hamer-Cotton?’
‘Well, we have to sort out how far everyone can swim. Uncle Ron puts you through your paces and then you go in the beginner’s class, or the intermediates or the advanced,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton, smiling. ‘Now lie down, poppet, and—’
‘But I won’t have to go in the swimming pool, will I?’ I interrupted.
‘How do you think you’re going to swim then, Baldy?’ said Karen. ‘Are you going to do the breast-stroke up and down the front lawn?’
‘Now now. Don’t be silly, girls. Lie down and we’ll discuss all this in the morning,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton.
I couldn’t wait until the morning.
‘You promised I wouldn’t have to swim! You promised! You know you did!’
‘I don’t know anything of the sort. I do know that if you don’t stop talking to me in that rude tone of voice and lie down like a good girl I’m going to take off a team point straight away.’
‘But—’
‘Shut up and lie down, you fool,’ Louise hissed.
I lay down and huddled up in a little ball. I wrapped my arms tightly round myself with Squeakycheese tucked into my armpit. I could feel my heart thudding against my arm. I shut my eyes to try to stop myself crying. It wasn’t fair! She did promise. Well, Mum did. She swore I wouldn’t have to swim.
‘There, that’s a sensible girl,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton, switching off the light. ‘Night night, then. Straight to sleep and no whispering. I’ve got very big ears. Remember those team points.’
But we did whisper, of course, even Louise.
Karen kept asking me why I’d made such a fuss about swimming.
‘It’s because you’re scared, isn’t it? Do you hear that, Louise? Old Baldy’s scared of swimming.’
‘No I’m not,’ I said. ‘I’m just not allowed to, that’s all.’
‘Well, why aren’t you allowed to? Go on, tell us.’
‘You mind your own business.’
‘See! She’s just scared, isn’t she, Louise?’
‘Of course she is. Do whisper, Karen.’
‘Scaredy cat. Baldy’s a scaredy cat.’
‘Whisper.’
‘I can’t go in swimming because of a serious medical reason,’ I said desperately.
‘You what?’
‘You heard, ignorant. I have a serious—’
‘Rubbish.’
‘It’s not rubbish at all. It’s my heart. I can’t go in cold water. My heart has this murmur and the shock could kill me.’
That silenced them. It silenced me too. I hadn’t known I could tell such big lies. My heart thudded so violently I began to wonder if there really was something wrong with it. Squeakycheese nestled inside my nightie but for once he wasn’t much of a comfort.
The others went on whispering for a bit and then they seemed to fall asleep. I lay awake for a long time, trying very hard not to think about swimming pools. The other girls made odd rustlings and mumblings. The old house creaked spookily. I wished I hadn’t made up that story about Princess Stellarina and the Brigavampire. I kept thinking I could hear him creeping down the corridor. And there was another sound too, coming from a long way away. A wailing whimpering sound. I kept thinking I’d imagined it and then it would start up again.
‘Can you hear a funny wailing noise?’ I whispered to Marzipan, but she was asleep.
The wailing went on. Perhaps it was a child in one of the other dormitories. It must be very young child, not much more than a baby. It sounded so sad. Perhaps it didn’t understand about summer camp and thought it was stuck here at Evergreen for ever. It wanted its mother the way I wanted mine.
I sat up in bed and then slipped across the dormi towards the door. I opened it very carefully. The wailing grew a little louder. I stood there, shivering, wondering what to do. Then a hand grabbed my shoulder and I shrieked.
‘Sh! Shut up, Baldy.’ It was only Karen.
‘You didn’t half give me a fright,’ I whispered furiously.
‘Well, what are you up to, creeping about in the middle of the night? You woke me up.’
‘Someone’s crying. You listen.’
So we both listened. Karen heard it too.
‘I wonder who it is?’ Karen whispered. ‘Perhaps it’s one of the boys? There’s a very little one, only about three or four. I bet it’s him.’
‘Shall we go and find him?’ I said.
‘It’s not allowed. We mustn’t leave the dormi at night. Miss Hamer-Cotton said. Except in a case of emergency.’
‘This is an emergency. Sort of. Come on.’
So Karen came with me.
‘I think it’s coming from the corridor on the right,’ I said.
‘Let’s keep hold of each other. It’s so dark. It can’t be from down there. All the boys’ dormis are back that way. So are the girls’,’ Karen whispered.
We stopped and listened again. It was quiet for a moment and I just heard a weird roaring in my ears—but then the wailing started again and it was unmistakable.
‘It is from down there. Perhaps it’s coming from the tower,’ I said. ‘Yes, I bet Miss Hamer-Cotton’s locked someone up in the tower.’
‘She wouldn’t,’ said Karen, but she clutched hold of me. ‘Let’s go back to our dormi now.’
‘But it’s crying. We can’t leave it.’
‘Yes we can. And we’re not allowed down there.’
‘Well I’m going.’
‘All right then. You go,’ said Karen.
I hesitated, not sure whether I dared go on my own.
‘Come with me, Karen. Please. Don’t be such a coward.’
‘I’m not a coward. You’re the one who’s a cowardy-custard, scared of a simple thing like swimming.’
We’d forgotten to whisper. A door suddenly opened somewhere down the forbidden corridor on the right.
‘Quick!’ said Karen, tugging me.
We ran back to our dormi, bumping into each other, frantic. I jumped into my bed with a great thud of the springs and then lay still, panting. I listened hard. There were no footsteps, no angry voices. And no crying. It had stopped.
‘I don’t think they heard us, Baldy,’ Karen whispered.
‘It’s stopped crying.’
‘Good.’
‘Maybe it isn’t good. Maybe they’ve done something to it,’ I said.
‘Don’t talk rubbish. It’s just gone to sleep.’
‘Perhaps they’ve made it sleep,’ I whispered. ‘They could hav
e drugged it. Or gagged it. Or smothered it.’
‘Do shut up.’
So I did. I wanted to give Karen a scare but I was scaring myself too. I lay awake for a very very long time. Listening.
I wanted to talk to Miss Hamer-Cotton without any of the others listening so I went along to her room when everyone else went down to breakfast.
‘It’s Stella, isn’t it?’ she said, stroking Tinkypoo. ‘Downstairs now, dear. You don’t want to miss your scrambled eggs, do you?’
‘I’ve got to talk to you about swimming,’ I said. ‘You did promise I wouldn’t have to do it, honestly you did.’
Miss Hamer-Cotton sighed. ‘I know your mother mentioned that you’re worried about swimming. But there’s no need to get into such a state. We’re not going to let you drown, you know. Uncle Ron isn’t going to throw you in the deep end. He’ll teach you exactly what to do and you can wear an inflatable ring if it makes you feel safer and—’
‘But I won’t feel safe, no matter what. Please, I can’t have swimming lessons.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t keep interrupting me, dear. Now, go and get your breakfast and stop worrying about swimming. I’ll have a special word with Uncle Ron about you. I know you’ll find him very kind and understanding. Do you know he even managed to teach a little blind girl to swim? She was diving about like a little dolphin by the end of her holiday with us.’
‘I can’t go in the water. My doctor said. It’s my heart.’
‘You’re being silly now, Stella,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton briskly. ‘We ask all our parents to sign a form saying that their children are fit and healthy. There’s nothing wrong with you. So stop telling silly fibs and go and eat your breakfast before I get cross.’
‘I can’t go in swimming. I haven’t got a swimming costume.’
‘I’ve got some spare ones. No problem. Now run along.’
I thought hard as I walked to the door. Then I turned round.
‘Could I see the Brigadier, please?’
Miss Hamer-Cotton shrugged her shoulders so that Tinkypoo slid to the ground. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.
‘Why do you want to see the Brigadier?’
‘I want to ask him if I have to go in swimming.’
Miss Hamer-Cotton held on to her hips. Her knuckles went white. ‘The Brigadier is much too busy to be bothered with silly little girls like you. Now go away at once or you’ll lose a team point.’
‘I’m going to write to my mother,’ I said. ‘It’s not fair. You did promise.’
‘You’re in Emerald, aren’t you?’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton ominously. ‘Right. You have now lost one team point for the Emeralds.’
I slunk out of her room. It wasn’t fair. And she hated me now. She’d keep on picking on me the whole time I was here. Maybe she’d even lock me up in the tower like the child crying in the night.
The others hadn’t believed me. Even Karen said she thought it might have been a dream, which showed she was completely mental, because how could we both have the same dream?
I paused in the middle of the corridor. I was in enough trouble as it was. And yet I badly wanted to find out where the crying had come from. My feet started creeping down the corridor of their own accord. My trainers squeaked noisily and I glared at them. And then a door opened at the end of the right hand corridor and I heard more footsteps. Shuffly old-ladies-sandals footsteps. It was Orange Overall, only she was wearing a sort of pinafore thing today, with a flowery purple pattern. She was carrying something in an old towel and she scowled when she saw me.
‘You’re going the wrong way. Downstairs! Go on, go and get your breakfast. Dear oh dear, you kids.’
I hated being called a kid but I wasn’t up to any more arguments. I trailed downstairs and found the dining room. I stood hovering in the doorway. I knew there were only about forty children staying at Evergreen but there seemed to be at least four hundred chattering and chomping away. They were sitting at benches around four big tables. One had a lime green tablecloth, one olive, one jade, and one emerald. The cloths were all copiously egg-stained already.
I saw Marzipan waving at me and I ran over to her and sat down beside her with the rest of the Emerald girls. The Emerald boys were opposite. There were only four of them. Three looked about my age, but one was so little he didn’t even look old enough to feed himself. Scrambled egg dripped up his plump little arms to his elbows.
‘I think I’d better help you,’ said Karen.
The little boy shook his head vigorously.
‘Don’t need help,’ he said, and continued spooning haphazardly.
Karen shrugged and helped the little girl with the donkey instead, spreading her toast and cutting it into strips. The little girl sucked at a slither of toast as if it was an iced lolly.
Marzipan had saved me a plate of scrambled eggs, two slices of toast, and a cup of tea. It was kind of her but I wasn’t sure I was grateful. The scrambled egg was lukewarm and had set solidly, like a primrose jelly. I tried a mouthful and pulled a disgusted face.
‘Are you leaving those eggs?’ said the boy sitting opposite me. ‘Then give us your dregs.’
He was large. Much larger than Marzipan. He slurped up my scrambled eggs in no time.
‘Do you really like them?’ I asked, amazed.
‘Of course not. This food is absolute pigswill,’ he said cheerfully. ‘But I’m hungry, aren’t I? Brill!’
‘Here, do you want the rest of mine, Fatty?’ said Karen, passing her plate.
‘Who are you calling Fatty, Batty?’ said the fat boy, reaching over the table and pretending to punch her. ‘See this hand here? Call me that again and I’ll shove it straight through your ear.’
‘You touch me and I’ll tell,’ said Karen.
‘Tell, smell. Pass your plate, I can’t wait. My name’s James. I’m a poet and I know it. You think you’re it and you make me spit.’
I nudged Marzipan and we both giggled. Karen passed her plate without saying another word. She looked to Louise for support. But Louise wasn’t taking any notice of her. She was nibbling daintily at a toast crust, tossing her lovely long hair about and smiling mysteriously. She was being watched by the oldest Emerald boy. He was tall and good looking although his fair hair was so tightly curled it looked as if his mum had given him a home perm. He couldn’t take his eyes off Louise, more fool him.
There was one more boy at the table. He had odd sticking up hair almost as short as mine. He was eating his scrambled eggs and reading an old Beano comic.
‘Can I have a look at that Beano after you?’ Karen asked.
He ignored her. He didn’t seem to be taking any notice of anyone but the Bash Street Kids, but when the little girl with the donkey discarded her sodden strip of toast and slipped down her chair until only her forehead was visible above the table he felt in his pocket and brought out a rather dusty sugar lump. He didn’t say anything but he put it beside the donkey’s mouth. The little girl didn’t say anything either but she made the donkey nibble at the sugar lump and when she thought no one was looking she ate it herself.
The little boy with the scrambled egg up to his elbows looked even more of a baby but he could obviously look after himself. Karen was asking everyone their name. The boy staring so stupidly at Louise was called Richard. The boy with the Beano was called Alan.
‘And what’s your name, little boy?’ Karen asked.
‘Bilbo,’ said the little boy, licking toast crumbs from his mouth.
‘Billy?’ Karen repeated uncertainly.
‘Bilbo,’ he shouted. ‘Wash your ears out.’
‘You can’t be called Bilbo. That’s even dafter than Marzipan,’ said Karen.
‘It’s not daft. It’s in a book,’ said the little boy.
‘What book?’
‘I don’t know. It’s got elves and wizards and things. My dad reads me bits.’
‘More flipping fairy stories. Sounds your sort of rubbish, Baldy.’
?
??It’s not rubbish at all,’ I said triumphantly. ‘He’s talking about a book called The Hobbit and it’s a smashing book, so there. We had it read to us at school. There’s a Bilbo in that.’
‘Oh yes, I’ve read that book too,’ said Louise.
‘See,’ I said to Karen.
Then Miss Hamer-Cotton came into the dining room and I stopped feeling so cocky. Had she really meant it about that team point? I slid down a bit on the bench so that she wouldn’t notice me.
She clapped her hands, smiling, her teeth as white and even as the pearls round her neck. I wished she was wearing her silly tracksuit. She looked so much more bossy and frightening in her skirt and blouse and high heels.
‘Good morning, everyone,’ she said jauntily. She didn’t sound cross. ‘How are we all this morning, mm? Have you seen the sun shining? It’s an absolutely super day. Now, I want everyone down at the pool at ten o’clock. Get into your swimming things first, of course. There are a few spare costumes in the games room just in case anyone has come without swimming gear.’ She looked in my direction. ‘Then after lunch there’ll be a quiet time for writing letters and making out your activity timetables. And at three o’clock there’s our hike to Hampton Hill. I hope you’re all looking forward to it?’
One or two goody-goodies murmured obediently. I wiggled my eyebrows at Marzipan. Miss Hamer-Cotton noticed and I quickly tried to smooth them back into place.
‘Now, I want you to carry your crocks through to the kitchen and wipe down your tables and sweep up any little messy bits on the floor. We must all do our best to help the staff, mustn’t we? At the end of the week I shall give a team point to the tidiest table. Which reminds me …’ Her sunny smile clouded. It wasn’t going to be all right after all. ‘Someone has lost a team point already. Stella Stebbings.’
Everyone peered round like loonies. I pretended to peer too so they didn’t all know it was me, but it was no use.
‘Stand up, Stella,’ she commanded.
So I had to. Everyone stared at me. I went horribly hot. I knew I was going red.
‘Yes, no wonder you’re blushing. Fancy losing a team point already! And for rude behaviour too. It’s not very fair on the other Emeralds, is it? So if I were you, Stella, I’d try hard to be very good indeed today. You want to win that team point back again as soon as possible, don’t you?’