24 Pollyanna - Read By Stephanie Poppins

Pollyanna Whittier, an eleven-year-old orphan, goes to live in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont, with her wealthy but stern and cold spinster Aunt Polly Harrington, who does not want to take her in but feels it is her duty to her late sister Jennie.

Pollyanna's philosophy of life centers on what she calls "The Glad Game". This is an optimistic game she learned from her father. The game involves finding something to be glad about in every situation, regardless of how bleak it may seem.

In this episode, Aunt Polly sheds unexpected tears.

Transcript

Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,

Your go-to podcast that offers you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.

It is time to relax and fully let go.

There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go.

Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.

This is your time and your space.

Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.

There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go.

Happy listening.

Chapter 24 John Pendleton Pollyanna did not go to school tomorrow,

Nor the day after.

She however did not realise this except momentarily when a brief period of full consciousness sent incessant questions to her lips.

Pollyanna did not realise anything in fact very clearly until a week had passed,

Then the fever subsided.

The pain lessened somewhat and her mind awoke to full consciousness.

She had then to be told all over again what had occurred.

And so it's heard that I am not sick,

She sighed at last.

Well I'm glad of that.

Glad,

Pollyanna asked her aunt who was sitting by the bed.

Yes,

I'd so much rather have broken legs like Mr Pendleton than lifelong invalids like Mrs Snow.

Broken legs get well and lifelong invalids don't.

Miss Polly,

Who had said nothing whatever about broken legs,

Got suddenly to her feet and walked to the little dressing table across the room.

She was picking up one object after another and putting each down in an aimless fashion,

Quite unlike her usual decisiveness.

But her face was not aimless looking at all.

It was white and drawn.

Pollyanna lay blinking at the dancing band of colours on the ceiling which came from one of the prisms in the window.

I'm glad it isn't smallpox that ails me,

She murmured.

That would be worse than freckles.

I'm glad it isn't whooping cough,

I've had that and it's horrid.

I'm glad it's not appendicitis or measles,

Because they're catching.

You seem to be glad for a good many things,

My dear,

Faltered Aunt Polly,

Putting her hand to her throat.

Pollyanna laughed softly.

I've been thinking of them all the time,

I've been looking up at that rainbow.

I love rainbows.

I'm so glad Mr Pendleton gave me those prisms.

I'm glad of some things I haven't even said yet.

But I don't know,

I'm most glad I was hurt.

Pollyanna!

Pollyanna laughed softly again.

She turned luminous eyes on her aunt and said,

Well,

Since I've been hurt you've called me dear lots of times and you didn't before.

I love to be called dear by folks that belong to you,

You know.

Some of the ladies' aiders did call me that and that was pretty nice,

But not so nice if they'd belong to me like you do.

I'm glad you belong to me.

Aunt Polly did not answer.

Her hand was at her throat again,

Her eyes full of tears.

She turned away and was hurrying from the room through the door by which the nurse had just entered.

It was that afternoon that Nancy ran out to old Tom who was cleaning harnesses in the barn.

Mr Tom,

Guess what's happened?

You couldn't guess in a thousand years,

You couldn't?

Then I won't try,

Retorted the man grimly.

Especially as I ain't got more than ten to live anyhow.

You'd probably tell me first off,

Nancy.

Well,

Who do you suppose is in the parlour now with the mistress?

There's no telling.

Yes,

There is.

It's John Pendleton.

You're joking,

Girl.

Not much,

I am.

Me letting him in myself,

Crutches and all.

The team he came with and wanting this minute to get the door for him as if he wasn't any old cranky old cross patch.

Him calling on her.

Why not?

Nancy gave him a scornful glance.

As if you didn't know better than me.

Eh?

You needn't be so innocent.

You is what led me the wild goose chase in the first place.

What do you mean?

Nancy glanced through the open barn door towards the house and came a step nearer to the old man.

T'was you that was telling me Miss Polly had a lover in the first place.

Well,

One day I thinks I'll find two and two important together and that makes four.

But it turns out to be five and no four at all.

With a gesture of indifference,

Old Tom turned and fell to work.

If you're going to talk to me,

You've got to talk plain old sense.

I never was no hand for figures.

Nancy laughed.

What is this?

She explained.

I heard something that made me think him and Miss Polly was lovers.

Mr Pendleton?

Old Tom straightened up.

I know.

But I know now he wasn't.

It was that blessed Charles mother he was in love with and that's why he wanted.

.

.

Anyway,

Never mind that.

I've been asking folks about him since.

I found out him and Miss Polly hadn't been friends for years and she's been hating him owing to the silly gossip that coupled their names together when she was eighteen or twenty.

I remember,

Nodded old Tom,

It were three or four years after Miss Jenny gave him the other chap.

Miss Polly knew about it of course and was sorry for him so she tried to be nice.

Maybe she overdid it a little.

Anyway,

Someone began to make trouble and said she was running after him.

Running after any man?

Her?

I know.

But they did.

And of course no girl of any spunk or stat.

About that time as well came her own lover and the trouble with him.

After that she shut up like an oyster and wouldn't have nothing to do with nobody for a spell.

The heart just seemed to run bitter at the core.

I've heard all about that now,

Rejoined Nancy.

And that's why you could have knocked me down with a feather when I see him at the door.

Grunted old Tom and fell to work again.

In the ceremonious parlour of the Harrington Homestead Mr John Pendleton did not have to wait long before a swift step warned him of Miss Polly's coming.

As he attempted to rise she made a gesture of remonstrance.

She did not offer her hand however and her face was coldly reserved.

I called to ask for Pollyanna.

He began at once,

A little brusquely.

Thank you,

She is about the same.

And that is,

Won't you tell me how she is?

I can't.

I wish I could.

You mean you don't know?

Yes.

But the doctor?

Dr Warren himself seems at sea.

He is in correspondence now with a New York specialist and they've arranged for a consultation at once.

But what were her injuries?

A slight cut on the head,

One or two bruises and an injury to the spine which seemed to cause paralysis from the hips down.

A low cry came from the man.

There was a brief silence then huskily he asked,

And Pollyanna,

How does she take it?

She doesn't understand at all how things really are and I can't tell her.

But she must know something.

Miss Polly lifted her head to the collar at her throat in the gesture that had become so common of late.

She knows she can't move but she thinks her legs are broken.

She said she's glad it's broken legs like yours rather than lifelong invalids like Mrs Snow's.

Through the blower of tears in his own eyes the man saw the face drawn opposite twisted with emotion.

Involuntarily his thoughts went back to what Pollyanna said when he'd made his final plea for her presence.

Oh I couldn't leave Aunt Polly now.

It was this thought that made him ask very gently as soon as he could control his voice.

I wonder if you know Miss Harrington how hard I tried to get Pollyanna to come and live with me.

With you,

Pollyanna.

The man winced a little at the tone of her voice but his own voice was still impersonally cool when he spoke again.

I wanted to adopt her,

Legally,

Making her my heir of course.

The woman in the opposite chair relaxed a little.

It came to her suddenly what a brilliant future it would have meant for Pollyanna and she wondered if the little child were old enough and mercenary enough to be tempted.

I'm very fond of Pollyanna,

The man was continuing,

Both for her own sake and for her mother's.

I stood ready to give her the love that had been 25 years in storage.

Love.

Miss Polly remembered suddenly why she had taken this child in in the first place and with the recollection came the remembrance of Pollyanna's own words uttered that very morning.

I love to be called dear by folks that belong to you,

She said.

It was this love-hungry little girl that had been offered the stored-up affection of 25 years and she was old enough to be tempted by love.

With a sinking heart Miss Polly realised that,

With a sinking heart too,

She realised something else.

The dreariness of her own future,

Now without Pollyanna.

Well,

She said.

And the man,

Recognising the self-control that vibrated through the harshness of the tone,

Smiled sadly.

She would not come.

Why?

She would not leave you.

She said you had been so good to her.

She wanted to stay with you and said she thought you wanted her to stay.

He pulled himself to his feet and did not look towards Miss Polly.

He turned his face resolutely towards the door but instantly he heard a swift step at his side and found a shaking hand thrust towards him.

When the specialist comes,

And I know anything,

Definite,

I will let you hear it from me,

Said a softer voice.

Goodbye Mr Pendleton and thank you for coming.

Pollyanna will be pleased.