Blethingwood Hall Written and Performed by Stephanie Poppins Chapter Sixteen Jenny never says anything when I talk to her,
Complained Penny that afternoon.
I really like her,
But she never says a word to me.
She's like that with everyone,
Penn,
Soothed William.
But Jason begged to differ.
Is that what you call her then?
Jenny?
Yes,
That's her name,
Isn't it?
She wants to be called Jennifer.
Jennifer's her stage name,
Apparently.
Oh,
Okay.
Anyway,
Penny winced.
There was no way she would have known that.
Jennifer never said anything.
There was no way you could have known,
Jason added quickly,
Seeing the mortified look on her face.
Lucky she deemed fit to speak in English,
And that's only because she was performing.
Sure.
Penny now felt stupid for saying anything.
Where's Adam anyway?
Oh,
Off doing something on the track,
I think,
Said William.
Penny sighed.
She noticed Adam was training a lot lately,
So she'd have to wait to speak to him when they were all together.
She couldn't tell anyone about the forgotten room today.
Instead she gave William and Jason a blow-by-blow account of what happened in music instead.
And when at last they stopped laughing,
Jason said,
It's about time Tamarind had that smug look washed off her face.
What's her problem anyway?
It's not as if the West Wing have lost anything by us being here.
If anything,
We've taken the pressure off them,
Haven't we?
You'd think so,
Answered William.
But after what the dragon said this morning,
I'm beginning to wonder.
What,
About the founder of the school coming back on the winter solstice?
Yes,
That.
Well,
Things might get a bit more stressful around here now he's coming back.
This was the last thing either Penny or William wanted to hear.
How much worse can it get?
The West Wing refuse to speak to us and we're already treated like second-class citizens by the dragon,
Penny moaned.
Who is that bloke anyway?
Do you know,
Jason?
Asked William.
And as usual,
Jason was well informed.
They say he owns most of the village.
He must be doing something right then.
Well,
He's not stupid,
That's for sure.
Why he needs government money for this place,
And he just can't use his own,
Is anyone's guess.
Government money,
Said Penny.
Yeah,
Believe it or not,
We are actually worth something,
Said Jason.
This school needs us more than we need them.
Try telling them that,
Thought Penny.
Not everything's about the money though.
She snatched a glance at William and William glanced back.
As much as they liked Jason,
They weren't about to let him in on any of the secrets they shared.
They'd had their suspicions from the beginning about who the founder of Blethingwood Hall was.
He sounded eerily like that forgotten master the Oosa Magoos had told Adam about.
But they said nothing to Jason.
As much as they liked him,
They weren't about to let him in on any of the secrets they shared.
And if they were honest,
They didn't have any answers anyway.
But there was one thing they were certain of.
The arrival of this founder would reveal a lot.
So they resigned themselves to the wait.
Having been at Blethingwood Hall for some time now,
They'd learnt very early on to play their cards close to their chests.
It was getting late.
Penny and William had now parted ways.
And making sure everybody else was safely out of view,
Penny doubled back to take another look at the forgotten room.
This was the place she'd decided she could escape to whenever she wanted to be alone.
But unfortunately for her,
As soon as she entered the corridor behind this stage,
She saw someone sitting in the corner,
Sobbing.
This girl obviously needed privacy as much as she did.
It was Henrietta Turn from the West Wing.
But the East Wing weren't supposed to speak to the West.
What could Penny do?
It was too late,
However.
Henrietta had seen her.
Penny reached into her pocket for a tissue.
But Henrietta was faster still.
Surprisingly,
She didn't look as objectionable as the other West Wing girls,
Penny thought.
But it was dark.
Maybe she was wrong.
This girl was still from the West Wing when all was said and done.
But Penny needn't have concerned herself for all of a sudden.
Emily Starling rounded the corner and the three of them were in the dark corridor together.
Come on,
Hen,
Before Tamrin finds out,
She hissed.
Then they left very quickly together.
Penny heaved a sigh of relief.
It didn't seem as though Henrietta wanted anyone to know she'd seen her.
And it was then she noticed Henrietta had dropped something on the floor.
Penny picked it up.
It was a locked letter.
So delicate,
Like something that might belong in a museum.
She rang her fingers over its heavily embossed insignia.
The razor-cut folds were tucked in so delicately,
It was impossible to open it without being detected.
It's beautiful,
She said.
A special letter that only the owner and the sender can open.
Then all at once her face dropped in recognition.
She'd heard about these late one night after lights out.
It's just another way of them keeping things from us,
Complained one of the girls in the dark.
I wish we had something like that.
There's poison on the edges apparently,
So if you're not the sender or the receiver,
And you don't know how to open it,
You'll get really sick and die.
Penny panicked.
She had to get rid of it as soon as possible.
She snatched another tissue from her pocket and wrapped it up before opening the secret door and running up the little staircase to the passage that led to the forgotten room.
But as soon as she entered,
There was another shock waiting for her.
Penny leant back on the wall to steady herself.
This couldn't be happening.
There was someone else in her forgotten room.
Sitting bold as brass in the middle of the floor.
It was a little girl of about seven years old.
She was clutching an old weather-worn teddy.
Penny stared at her thick locks of windswept hair that hugged her heart-shaped face.
This child was exquisite.
The perfect example of everything a child should be.
And it was then that Penny remembered.
She'd seen this little girl before.
In the summer when we first came here,
She said to herself,
That's it,
She was with her parents and Aunty Margaret.
What was she doing here now?
She's much too young to be on her own.
The apparition spoke,
Her voice holding the mystery of another moment in time.
Penny could feel an inner resentment rising.
But when the wisteria hue flooded the room and caught the child's plump cheeks,
She thought better of it.
Do you know,
You're probably the prettiest little girl I've ever seen,
She declared suddenly.
Mama says I'm sweet like honeysuckle,
The little girl answered.
Penny smiled in spite of herself.
The child was enchanting,
Even though she wanted to be alone.
But then I stole her scissors and cut my hair off,
The little girl added,
And Penny laughed out loud.
Hadn't she done exactly the same thing at that age?
Did it look nice,
She asked.
No,
Daddy cried.
Mine too,
Said Penny.
And then,
In spite of everything,
She sat down in the middle of the room,
In the circle of light surrounding the little girl.
Penny pulled out a couple of chocolate biscuits she'd sneaked from lunch and asked,
Where have you come from?
What's your name?
But the child said nothing more,
So she switched to a different tack.
It's okay,
You know,
You don't have to talk if you don't want to.
I don't feel like talking all the time anyway.
And they sat together,
As two people do,
Who are more than comfortable with themselves and each other.
The End
