It was Tuesday.
Mary knew that whenever she wanted, she could just fly to the rooftops of London and find her friend. It was a comfort really, his being there whenever she needed. He would always be found, grinning from one ear to the ear, ready to take all your worries and make a paper air-plane out of them to fly away into the air. Nothing seemed bad with him around.
She had known Bert from their childhood. She came from a well-off family and Bert's father had worked for Mary's father. Bert's "folks" had a small cottage in the Poppins family estate. The Poppins were broad-minded people and so were the Alfreds. They lived together like old friends and grew up to be old friends. Mary was the only child and Bert was the oldest of his siblings, his younger sister Lisa. Mary had been to the Lisa like an older sister. But not Bert, Bert had been everyone's older brother.
The Poppins estate was left to Mary and the Alfred children in Mr. Poppins' will. Bert and Lisa's parents had died by this time, and Lisa had already found a life partner, a sweet boy John whom Bert and Mary loved like their own. Mary and Bert decided what at that time was termed as the most brave, selfish and foolish act: they gave away the Poppins estate and the better part of the fortune to an orphanage.
When Lisa heard, she hugged and kissed both Mary and her brother, and John saluted them. They were sure that in heavens their parents were smiling and wiping away their tears.
It was a wonderful thing. The Poppins Mansion which had once reverberated with the chatter and laughter of three creative children now filled with the laughter of hundreds of children. Mary and Bert busied themselves in helping out with the orphanage. It was then that the duo began to notice and control the magic surrounding them. The laughter, the happiness, the love that hovered around them. Bert bought Mary an umbrella for Christmas and she gave him a box of colored chalks. They were the best gifts ever.
Soon enough reality began to take their attention.
They couldn't live any longer on the money left them. They needed to work.
Bert was the cheerful guy. He knew that he could always find any odd job to suit him. But Mary … Mary was different. Mary would only have a respectable job or otherwise she'd have to live with his sister until he found something for her.
He was pleasantly surprised when she told him that she'd already decided.
'Bert, there's something we need to talk about.'
'Yes?'
'I'm going to be a nanny.'
'But … But, a nanny, Mary?'
'Yes. That is what I said. A nanny, which you might also call a governess.'
'Ah … I see.' He had grinned at her then, and she had known he had accepted. 'Jolly good for ya' Nanny Mary.'
'Thank you, Bert.'
She'd told him that she had already got an offer and she was to join from the very next day. No. 36 Cherry Tree Lane was the address. Mr. Alexander the master of the house. Bert had smiled in answer, and casually remarked.
'I'm sure their chimney needs sweeping. Everyone does in that part of the town.'
It was Mary's turn to be surprised when a week later after joining the household as a Nanny, she welcomed "Mr. Bert" the sweep to the house for "a visit to the rooftops".
He was always there when needed: As a chimney sweep on the doorsteps when there was trouble with the kids, a kite-seller whenever there was an occasion to celebrate, a screever whenever she visited the park, a one-man music band whenever there was a grumpy kid.
Mary was well aware what society thought of them, they might as well be expecting to find them kissing or doing silly things on their Tuesdays off. She blushed everytime she thought of it. People need to grow up.
She blushed at these thoughts as she combed her hair. She and Bert were not like that. They were friends. And not just friends, best friends. Why the world was so interested in her affair was something she couldn't fathom. No, not her affair – people associate wrong things with the word – but her life. She knew she was practically perfect, and Bert regularly told her that she was beautiful. But honest as Bert was, she couldn't take his word for it. My! He said that she made the sun shine bright! Oh honestly!
Her thoughts had once again returned to her friend and her heart lightened. If Mary had been a slightly romantic person she would have thought that her heart was smiling and would have suspected what people did. But Mary fortunately had never read Jane Austen or romantic stories, and her heart just filled with the warmest regards for her friend. Her smile brightened at the thought of the jolly day ahead.
When she saw him in the park, she brightened up even more. He looked up from his drawing and smiled at her.
' Ello! If it ain't Mary Poppins?"
'Hello, Bert.'
He stood up smiling and patting his chalked hands on his pants to clean them. She looked at him in the eyes and knew in that instance why she loved Bert so much. He was her companion, he friends, her guide and her protector. He was her older brother, her family. He was her everything.
She took his arm and they walked down the path of the park, talking and laughing still very much in love as they had been years ago as children. Not the giddy kind of feeling that people associate with love. No, as Mary Poppins would tell you, the proper kind of love. The love that exists in friendship.