POLLY PORTSIDE - Polly sets sail
In the northernmost tip of the Netherlands was an island. You could only visit it by ferry. Again on the northernmost tip of that island lay a small village. So small that you could cycle through in a few minutes. Not even a thousand people lived in the village and they all knew each other. And they were all very friendly too. Well, almost all except for one very angry one. And that was Polly Portside.
Polly was two years old and had lived almost her entire life on the island. She was born in the big city but when she was a few months old, she moved to the wooden house with the large garden in the small village in the north. She was very happy. In the garden stood a swing and a slide, her friends lived nearby and if she felt like it, she went to have a little chat with the neighbor.
Polly loved the island and the island loved Polly. In the spring she went to caress the newborn lambs on the dike beside the sea. She always tried to imitate the bleating baby sheep. In the summer she could go to the beach. She built sandcastles, filled her little bucket with water and ate ice cream. When in autumn the leaves started to fall, they went for a walk in the forest and she was allowed to jump in the puddles. And in the winter icy snowflakes fell out of the sky and she could slide on the frozen water in the dunes.
All sounds very nice doesn’t it? Polly liked to think so. Yet on that sunny summer day she was angry. It just so happened that they didn't go to the beach that day. Her father and mother put her in the car instead. It was a sweltering midsummer afternoon and the car was crammed with bags and all kinds of loose stuff. Her mother strapped the belt of her car seat and smiled at Polly: "Today it's really happening, we are going on our big trip!"
Polly started crying. She didn't want to travel at all. She liked it in her house, in her garden, with the little lambs and on the beach. Why did she have to get in the car on this hot day? What was 'it' that was really gonna happen now? And what is a trip anyway?
The past few weeks she’d had such a good time, having many sleepovers at grandma and grandpa. Grandma said dad and mom were very busy. Polly didn't mind because granny baked delicious pancakes and she could always help grandpa in the garden. She missed grandpa and grandma. And she missed her big brother and sister. Why were they not here to comfort her now?
Polly was sobbing in her seat while dad left the village and drove alongside the dike. The windows in the car were open and the wind blew the sound of the cheerful bleating sheep into the car. After fifteen minutes, they approached the marina. "At least we’re not driving onto the ferry," Polly thought, and already she felt a bit happier. Her father parked the car and her mother pulled her out of the chair. She did have to get into her life jacket. She was used to it when they were near the sea. After all, she couldn't swim yet.
The three of them walked over the jetty, ready and zipped. Polly carried her own stuffed animal named polar bear. Her father and mother each walked behind a large wheelbarrow that they had fully loaded with the stuff from the car. "There we are then," dad cried, "Our new life is really going to start now." Polly looked up and saw her mother climbing on Zouterik. Zouterik was their sailing boat that they also lived on for a few days every once in a while. One time when Polly was only one year old, they also lived on the boat for a few weeks. But she could remember little.
Her father lifted Polly and polar bear on Zouterik and Polly waddled down the steps of the companionway, into the boat. Polly had a hard time doing that because the life vest was always in the way. And it was very hot, Polly had to sweat. Her mother tended to the bags, she was awfully quiet. It was a bit weird, because her mother packed all Polly’s clothes and diapers and cuddling bears in the cupboard next to her little bunk - so her bed was called on the boat. Apparently they went to live on Zouterik again for a few days. Polly actually found it cozy. She sat down on the couch in the cabin - that is the living room on Zouterik - to play with her toys.
Her mother went to make coffee and she heard her father rumbling on the deck. Suddenly she heard voices on the jetty. Polly ran outside as fast as she could with that clumsy life jacket and saw her favorite neighbors standing there. And the father and mother of her little friend too! They came on board and they all sat together nicely, enjoying coffee and cookies. Polly got lemonade.
After a while the voices became louder and everyone stood up. Her mother started crying, her father smiled nervous. There was a lot of kissing and cuddling and then suddenly everyone except for Polly and her parents stepped on the jetty. Polly’s mother lifted her, gave her a wet kiss and put her in the car seat in the deckhouse. That was a kind of room with lots of windows from which Polly could keep a close eye on everything and everyone inside and out. That was exactly what she did now.
She saw her mother removing the fenders and loosening the docklines, her father started the engine and the neighbors and friends were all screaming and waving on the jetty. "Safe sailing! Fair winds!" they all cried. Polly’s favorite neighbor wiped the tears from her eyes. Did she laugh or cry? Polly could not see it very well. She saw her father and mother both stepping into the cockpit and her mother pulled her out of the car seat and put Polly beside her, standing at the lifeline. She said: "Wave to everyone, you will not see them for a while." Polly waved and waved and waved. The people in the marina now had very small faces and the sheep on the dike were only little white dots. She couldn't hear them anymore and all of a sudden couldn’t see them anymore either. Polly’s waving hand went down slowly. Apparently 'it' was really going to happen now.
