Like the day I met ya
The Lakes, England, 1880
Thunder woke Bert up the morning he made the acquaintance of Mary Poppins. Lightning flashed and he thought he saw a woman's silhouette out the window, but when he blinked, it was gone.
Another rainy day at the Dawes' summer home in the Lake District meant another day of Bert finding some forgotten corner in the mansion to draw in candlelight. He drew pictures of circuses, exotic landscapes, and scenes from his favorite stories. If he was lucky, sometimes he forgot himself, slipping into the drawing and becoming it. Bert smiled at that thought. Yes, that sounds nice. He got out of his bed and got dressed for breakfast. Going down the stairs, he heard his father talking to someone.
"Now, I don't know why you're here, but…"
"You are Mr. Dawes, are you not?"
"Well, yes, I am but-"
"Excellent. I got a call telling me your family is in need of a nanny."
"I don't know who called you, but we are quite alright. My eldest son is twenty and my youngest is eight years old, but he keeps to himself and isn't much trouble."
Bert stopped walking down the stairs and sat down to listen to the conversation. A nanny! Bert wasn't sure how he felt about the idea, but it seemed to be some sort of mix up.
"Does your wife look after your youngest child?"
"No, my wife passed away last year, sadly, but Bert is cared for. He's a quiet child, and I'll eventually start to train him like I did his brother. We do not need a nanny, Miss...What is your name?"
"Mary Poppins. Mr. Dawes, I was called to do a job and I intend to do it. We may discuss my wages later, but I would like to be shown to the room I'll be staying in. Also, I get every second Tuesday of the month off. Do you understand?"
"Yes...I suppose you may stay until I discuss this with whoever called you. Who called you?"
"That is unimportant to me. All I know is that I was called. Please point me in the direction of where my room is."
Mr. Dawes sighed and gave in. "Upstairs, third door on the left. You may take that room for the time being. Edith, did you call for a nanny?"
"No, sir," our maid replied.
"Well, who did?" Bert strained to hear his father's muttering, but was distracted by Mary Poppins, who was sliding up the banister. Bert's jaw dropped.
"Please close your mouth, we are not a codfish," she said.
Bert obeyed, but his jaw almost dropped again when he saw her rosy cheeks and dark hair that made her blue eyes shine. She pushed off the banister and stood in front of him.
"Your name is Bert?"
Bert blinked.
"I said, your name is Bert, is it not?" Her intense eyes felt like a spotlight.
Bert nodded.
"Excellent. Please escort me to my room. Spit spot!"
Bert showed Mary Poppins to her room full of ghosts. White sheets covered all the furniture. "We don't often have guests," Bert stated shyly, afraid to look at the formidable woman in the eye. Most people saw through Bert, but Mary Poppins already seemed to see into Bert, which terrified him.
Mary Poppins was silent for a moment, examining the room. "It needs a little tidying up and some more light, but it will do quite nicely. Bert, would you kindly assist me in cleaning up the room? I find tasks are much more pleasant with company."
"Yes, ma'am, I can help out," Bert said, still not meeting her eyes.
"Thank you! And I am not ma'am-I am Mary Poppins. Now, would you please snap off the sheet from this table? I would like to set my carpetbag down on it."
Bert wasn't sure what she meant by "snap off," so he just tugged the white sheet off the table like a magician would, letting it fall to the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Bert, I believe I was quite clear when I said to snap it off. I usually find that sheets are eager to help out with the dusting. Watch me."
Bert watched her fingers snap, and right when she did, the sheet stood upright like a ghost. "Ahh!" Bert shrieked.
"Oh, honestly," Mary Poppins said and shook her head at Bert. She turned to the sheet ghost. "Do you mind helping out with the dusting?"
The ghost obliged and started swiping at some shelves.
"How did you do that? Am I dreaming?" Bert asked. He couldn't take his eyes off the dusting ghost.
"'All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream.' How it happens is not important, it just is. Go on now, snap off the others. Spit spot!"
Bert accepted that he was quite possibly dreaming and proceeded to snap off the sheet from the dresser, which shot off into the air and twirled down for a soft landing.
"So dramatic! Now, ask the sheet nicely if it is willing to assist with the dusting." Mary Poppins put down her carpetbag on the table and opened it.
"Are you willing to help out with the dusting?" Bert asked. "Our friend has gotten started on the bookshelves." The sheet floated over to dust the windows and Bert went over to the sheet on the bed. He snapped, the sheet slid off the bed. "Are you willing to help out with the dusting?"
The sheet seemed to shake its head, if it even had a head, and sulked off to a corner. Bert shrugged at Mary Poppins and moved on to another sheet.
Once all the sheets were snapped off the furniture, most of them hard at work, Mary Poppins dug out a feather duster from her carpetbag for Bert. She sang to him with a clear, beautiful voice, "When you clean in glad company / You see the task goes by swiftly..."
The song gave him wings. Before he knew it, Bert was dancing around the room dusting with his ghostly friends. Bert realized this was the most lightweight he had felt in a long time. Most of the time he wanted to sink into a puddle, slowly becoming rot in the hardwood floor. Remembering this brought weight to his heart. Even his ghost friends appeared to go about their tasks like they were dragging through mud.
Mary Poppins' voice called him back to lightness: "Friends make the mundane fun / And before you know it, the job is done!"
A stillness overcame the room with the final line of the song.
"Well done, everyone," Mary Poppins said with a smile, running a finger along a shelf. "And not a speck of dust!" Turning to the sheets, she told them, "Thank you, and I'll make sure you get a nice, long soak in warm water tonight." The sheets bowed and with a snap from Mary Poppins, they flew into the laundry basket.
"Wow! What a dream I'm having," Bert exclaimed.
Mary Poppins smiled like she knew a secret, but Bert knew better than to ask about it. She beckoned him over.
"I need to measure you," she said, an arm deep in her carpet bag. Bert was puzzled by the apparent depths of the carpet bag. "Oh! I found my lamp. One second."
Mary Poppins pulled out a lamp as tall as she was from the bag and Bert observed this with wide eyes, sometimes glancing under the table and adjusting his angle, checking for some kind of illusion.
"I'll put this over here…" Mary Poppins walked her lamp over to a dark corner and then returned to the bag to pull out a tape measure. "Aha, my tape measure! This little thing always gets lost in the clutter...Stand up straight, Bert! No slouching."
Bert's spine straightened, but he still kept his eyes on the ground.
"Chin up! Look at me," Mary Poppins told him. Bert met her eyes for a moment before she stretched out the tape measure and felt a little discomfort at this dignity offered to him. He shifted.
"Mm hmm, just as I thought: timid and prone to daydreaming."
Bert's eyebrow shot up. "What a strange tape measure! What does it say for you?"
"Let's see! Hold this to the floor," Mary Poppins instructed. Bert did as she said and Mary Poppins brought the tape measure to the brim of her hat. "'Mary Poppins,'" she started reading, "'practically perfect in every way.' Of course!" Bert let go of the end of the tape measure, which snapped back up into Mary Poppins' hand. She tossed it back into the bag and Bert imagined a gulping sound.
Which reminded him: "I'm getting hungry. Would you like some breakfast, Mary Poppins?"
"That sounds lovely! Just let me check my hair in the mirror. She walked over to the vanity mirror, which framed her face in gold and light. She grinned at her reflection. "Practically perfect!"
"You know, this furniture used to belong to my mother," Bert told Mary Poppins while studying a spot on the floor. "I'm glad it's getting used again."
Bert didn't meet Mary Poppins' gaze. As much as he hated to admit it, the tape measure got him right. If he had dared to meet Mary Poppins' eyes, though, Bert would have seen a ghostly passing note of fondness-there for a moment and then gone.
"Does your family not eat together?" Mary Poppins asked Bert in the kitchen.
"Um, our schedules don't exactly match up," Bert replied. "Father and David get up quite early to talk about bank things. I usually just get some toast from Cook and sit outside, but today it's raining...I guess we can eat at the kitchen table."
Mary Poppins made some tea to go with their toast and jam. Cook also boiled some eggs for them.
"Mary Poppins?"
"Yes, Bert?"
"May I ask where you are from?"
"Never you mind about that! Finish up your toast. You'll need the energy for our outing today."
"Outing? But it is raining."
Mary Poppins gave him a stern look and Bert turned his attention back to his toast.
"Don't you think it's a good day for a jolly holiday?" Mary Poppins asked Bert as he pulled on his rain boots.
"Do we have to go out, Mary Poppins? I would much prefer to just stay inside and draw," Bert replied.
"The fresh air and sunshine would do you some good."
"What sunshine?" Bert had to admit to himself that he loved the smell of rain though.
Mary Poppins smiled and then opened the door, readying her umbrella as she stepped out. Bert followed, his eyes on the ground as always and getting his own umbrella ready. Strange, Bert couldn't smell the rain yet.
"Bert! Have you ever seen the grass so green? Or a bluer sky?"
"Eh?" The green grass glowed with sunshine.
"In order to appreciate the sky, I find it is helpful to look up."
And so Bert looked up, and it was like plunging into the sea. "Wow! You did it, didn't you, Mary Poppins? You made the sun come out!" Words bubbled out of Bert.
"Me? Make the sun come out? The very idea!" Mary Poppins exclaimed.
"And your clothes have changed! And mine…" The dark grey dress Mary Poppins arrived in had been transformed to a lacy white dress with red ribbons. His own clothes were a colorful striped suit and straw hat.
"Let's walk down the road a bit, shall we?"
Bert nodded, his bright eyes taking in the gorgeous scenery. Yellow daffodils dotted the green fields and the lake shone blue as the sky in the distance. White doves and butterflies fluttered above them. Bert didn't notice that as his spirits lifted, he levitated. Somehow, he forgot what ground underneath his feet was supposed to feel like.
Observing this, Mary Poppins said to herself, "Some shape of beauty moves away the pall from our dark spirits."
Music wafted up from the valley. "Mary Poppins, do you hear that?" Bert asked. "It sounds like a carnival! I didn't know there was one down there. May we go? Please?"
"We may-"
Bert started running towards the music, his feet now on the ground.
"Bert, please control yourself!"
At her firm words, Bert skidded to a stop and waited for Mary Poppins.
"That's better," she said curtly, offering Bert one of her lacey hands. Bert took it and a sense of calm overcame him. They would get to the carnival when they got there.
"Oh when you're lonely as a cloud / the sunshine is your friend," Mary Poppins sang to him. "When you're as sad as the sound / of swallows twittering at day's end / You know you have a friend /have a friend in the sun…The sun always comes back to you /Just as true friends come back to you."
The big brass band playing at the carnival eventually overwhelmed Mary Poppins' melody. Brightness of sound and sun saturated the humble fairgrounds. Bert squinted and held on tighter to Mary Poppins' hand, intimidated by the amount of people there.
"Let's take a look at what the screever is working on," Mary Poppins said, guiding Bert through the crowd like God parting the red sea. Her presence commanded respect from everyone around her. "Ah, he is quite good, don't you agree?"
Bert nodded, transfixed by the screever's chalk drawings. So far, three panels were completed: landscapes of the white cliffs at Dover, the Avon River of Bath, and a lake nestled in a valley. Bert could have sworn he saw the waves crashing against the cliffs, the river flowing, and a gust of wind ripple the lake. He blinked, and the motion stopped.
"A good screever makes his drawings come to life," Mary Poppins said to Bert.
"My lady, you have a beautiful profile!" the screever said to Mary Poppins. "Do you mind if I draw you?"
Mary Poppins smiled and waved him off. "Oh, we are just stopping by. I do have tuppence for you though." She dropped a tuppence into his cap.
The ferris wheel caught Bert's eye. "Mary Poppins, let's ride that thing!" Bert couldn't wait to get out of the crowd, which he thought was stifling. He felt much better once he and Mary Poppins were sitting high above the crowd on a swinging bench.
"If only we could go higher…" Bert sighed.
"Why not?" Mary Poppins asked.
"This is the highest it goes," Bert replied, but as soon as he said it, he realized the people on the ground were getting smaller.
A hint of playfulness twinkled in Mary Poppins, and soon, Bert and Mary Poppins were soaring over the Lakes. "Look, it's a flock of sheep!" Bert exclaimed. "Boats! It's like we're birds!" Bert stretched out his arms like wings. "If only we could stay up here forever…"
The bench dipped lower and Bert's heart fell a little bit. The bench carried them all the way back to the Dawes' house, gently tilting the pair out of their seats in the driveway.
"We've come back home?" Bert asked.
"All jolly holidays must come to an end at some point. Also, it's time for lunch," Mary Poppins stated.
"How could I be hungry after that?" As he crossed his arms though, Bert felt the familiar ache of hunger. Hunger for food and for something else. Mary Poppins just showed him something he now knew had been missing from his life.
"Go on in the house, Bert. Spit spot!"
Bert obliged and as he crossed the threshold, his stripes melted away into the dark shirt and trousers he put on this morning. Mary Poppins' dress washed away like a chalk drawing in rain. Thunder boomed as the door shut behind them. Strangely, Bert could also feel his memory of the events fading, but he clung to them, remembering the sunshine, Mary Poppins' lace dress with the red ribbons, the screever's landscapes, and the ferris wheel flight. Instead of sand, the memories came together to form a precious gem, a thing of beauty for Bert to pull out of his back pocket to examine on gloomy days.