Tiddy-um-pom-pom! Away they went — fishes and mermaids, urchins, seals.
Tiddy-um-pom-pom! cried Admiral Boom, as he pulled on invisible tarry ropes. Tiddy-um-pom-pom! sang Mrs. Boom, clasping her hands and rocking her feet. Tiddy-um-pom-pom! sang Binnacle loudly, as he thought of his happy pirate days. And the fish danced in and out among them and waved their shining fins.
The Bronze Seal flapped up and down on his tail and the Salmon swooped over the lawns like a bird.
"Tiddy-um-pom-pom!"
The Angler-fish pranced by with their rods and the Swordfish and School-master danced together. And ever among the scaly throng, a dark shape moved like a graceful shadow. Heel and toe, went Mary Poppins as she danced the Hornpipe on the floor of the sea.
The children stood by the pearly rock and stared at the curious scene.
"You find it strange, do you not?" said the Terrapin. "I can see you are feeling all at sea!" He cackled gently at his own little joke.
Jane nodded. "I thought the sea would be so different, but really, it's very like the land!"
"And why not?" said the Terrapin, blinking. "The land came out of the sea, remember. Each thing on the earth has a brother here — the lion, the dog, the hare, the elephant. The precious gems have their kind in the sea, so have the starry constellations. The rose remembers the salty waters and the moon the ebb and flow of the tide. You, too, must remember it, Jane and Michael! There are more things in the sea, my children, than ever came out of it. And I don't mean fish!" the Terrapin smiled. "But I see that your twenty toes are twitching! Be off with you, now, and join the dance."
Jane seized Michael by the hand. Then, because she remembered he was very old, she curtsied to the Terrapin before they darted away.
They plunged together among the fish in time to the beat of the music. Oh, how their bare feet twinkled and pranced! Oh, how their arms waved through the water! And their bodies swayed like strands of seaweed as they went through the steps of the Sailor's Hornpipe.
Tiddy-um-pom-pom! cried the merry music, as Mary Poppins came swimming towards them. She took their hands and they danced together, pulling and rocking through the boughs of coral. Round they went, faster and ever faster, spinning like tops in the spinning water. Till, dazed with the dance and dazzled with lights, they closed their eyes and leaned against her. And her arms went round them, firmly, strongly, as she lifted them through the moving tide.
Tiddy-um-pom-pom! They swung together and the music grew fainter as they swung. Tiddy-um-pom-pom! Oh, the circling sea, that rocks us all in its mighty cradle! Tiddy-um-pom-pom! Oh, Mary Poppins, swing me round like a bubble in the falling tide. Swing me round — tiddy-um… Swing me round — pom-pom… Swing me… Swing me… Swing….
"Hold me tight, Mary Poppins!" murmured Michael drowsily, as he felt for her comforting arm.
There was no answer.
"Are you there, Mary Poppins?" he said with a yawn, as he leaned on the rocking sea.
Still no answer.
So, keeping his eyes closed, he called again and the sea seemed to echo his voice. "Mary Poppins, I want you! Mary Poppins, where are you?"
"Where I always am at this hour of the morning!" she replied with an angry snap.
"Oh, what a beautiful dance!" he said sleepily. And he put out his hand to draw her to him.
It touched nothing. All that his searching fingers found was a warm, soft bulkiness suspiciously like a pillow.
"I'll thank you to dance yourself out of bed! It is nearly time for breakfast!"
Her voice had the rumble of distant thunder. And Michael opened his eyes with a start.
Good gracious! Where was he? Surely it could not be the Nursery! Yet there was Old Dobbin standing still in the corner; and Mary Poppins' neat camp bed and the toys and the books and his slippers. All the old familiar things were there but the last thing Michael wanted just now was an old familiar thing.
"But where's the sea gone?" he said crossly. "I want to be back in the sea!"
Her face popped round the bathroom door and he knew at once she was furious.
"The sea is at Brighton where it always is!" she said, with fierce distinctness. "Now, spit-spot and up you get. And Not Another Word!"
"But I was in it a moment ago! And so were you, Mary Poppins. We were dancing around among the fish and doing the Sailor's Hornpipe!"
"Humph!" she said, giving the bath-mat a shake. "I hope I have something better to do than to go out dancing with sailors!"
"Well, what about all the fish?" he demanded. "And the Seal and the Salmon and that funny old Ttxrtle? We were down there with them, Mary Poppins, right on the floor of the sea!"
"Down in the sea? With a funny old Salmon? Well, you certainly have the fishiest dreams! I suppose you had too many buns for Supper! Sailors and TUrtles, indeed! What next?" Her apron gave an angry crackle as she flounced away, muttering.
He gazed at her retreating back and frowned and shook his head. He dared not say any more, he knew, but she couldn't stop him wondering.
So he wondered and wondered as he got out of bed and poked his toes into his slippers. And as he wondered his eyes met Jane's as she peeped from under the blankets. She had heard every word of the argument and while she had listened, she had thought her own thoughts and her eyes had noticed something. Now she smiled a secret smile at Michael and nodded her head wisely.
"It was fishy," she said. "But it wasn't a dream." And she pointed to the mantelpiece.
He looked up. He gave a start of surprise. Then a smile of triumph spread over his face.
For there, beside the Cowrie Shell, were the two Sand Dollars and a little pink Starfish.
"You remember what the Terrapin said? Everyone who goes down to the sea brings something back," Jane reminded him.
Michael nodded as he gazed at the Sand Dollars. And at that moment the door burst open and Mary Poppins bounced back. She plucked the Starfish from the mantelpiece and pinned it to her collar. It twinkled brightly as she prinked and pranked in front of the Nursery mirror.
Michael turned to Jane with a smothered giggle.
"Tiddy-um-pom-pom!" he hummed under his breath.
"Tiddy-um-pom-pom!" Jane said in a whisper.
And, daringly, behind Mary Poppins' stiff straight back, they danced a few steps of the Hornpipe.
They never noticed that her bright blue eyes were watching them in the mirror and calmly exchanging with her own reflection a very superior smile….
CHAPTER 7
HAPPY EVER AFTER
IT WAS the last day of the Old Year.
Upstairs in the Nursery, Jane and Michael and the Twins were going through that magical performance known as Undressing. When Mary Poppins set to work, it was almost as good as watching a Conjuror!
She moved along the row of children and their clothes seemed to fall away at her touch. Over John's head she pulled the sweater as quickly as though she were skinning a rabbit. Jane's frock dropped off at a single touch; Barbara's socks literally ran off her toes. As for Michael, he always felt that Mary Poppins undressed him simply by giving him one of her looks.
"Now, spit-spot into bed!" she ordered.
And with the words went such a glare that they fled squealing in all directions and darted under the bedclothes.
She moved about the Nursery, folding up the scattered clothes and tidying the toys. The children lay cosily in their beds, watching the crackling wing of her apron as it whisked about the room. Her eyes were blue and her cheeks were pink and her nose turned up with a perky air like the nose of a Dutch Doll. To look at her, they thought to themselves, you would never imagine she was anything but a perfectly ordinary person. But, as you know and I know, they had every reason to believe that Appearances are Deceptive.