A Perfect Gentle Knight (9 page)

6

Mordred

N
ovember was crisp and golden. On windy days, leaves and chestnuts showered down from the trees along the Bells' street. Corrie, Meredith, Harry, and the twins raked the leaves over the curb and burned them.

“Hey, Meredith, want to hear our song?” Juliet and Orly began chanting the gruesome song they had been singing since Hallowe'en:

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out

In your belly and out your snout.

Your stomach turns a mushy green

And pus squirts out like whipping cream!

“We made it up,” said Juliet proudly.

“You did not,” said Corrie. “We all know that song—it's really old.”

“In Calgary we said, ‘They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, they eat the jelly between your toes,'” Meredith told her.

Juliet glared at them and retreated to the unraked leaves on the grass, diving into them and emerging like a leaf person.

The chestnuts in the fire of leaves began to pop. “I wish these were the kind of chestnuts you could eat,” complained Corrie. All along the block other people were burning their leaves; a curtain of smoke hung over the street.

“My parents would
never
let me make a fire by myself!” said Meredith. “You guys are so lucky your father will let you.”

Corrie shrugged. “We've never asked him. It's safe as long as you keep the fire on the street. Harry, let Orly have the rake.”

“It's
my
turn!” cried Orly. The two boys tugged until Harry wrenched the rake out of Orly's hands, making him fall backwards. Orly started crying.

“You're such a crybaby,” said Harry.

Juliet rushed over from her leaf fort. “He is not!”

“You're always so mean to me!” sobbed Orly.

“You are sometimes, Harry,” said Corrie. “It was his turn.”

Harry wasn't listening. “There's Sebastian,” he said, pointing to a bicycle speeding towards them. “Look at his face!”

Corrie dropped her rake and ran up to the bike. “What happened?”

Sebastian's face was smeared with blood. His nose and one eye were swollen and red. “I don't want to talk about it,” he muttered, crashing down his bike. He rushed into the house and slammed the door.

“Se
bas
tian,
bas
tard, Se
bas
tian,
bas
tard!” A group of boys on bikes cycled by slowly with jeering cries. They paused at the house, then rode away, calling again over their shoulders.

Corrie snatched up a hot chestnut and heaved it after them. Then she rubbed her stinging palm and gasped, “How can they treat him like that? Oh, poor, poor Sebastian!”

Meredith patted Corrie's shoulder. “You guys stay with the fire until it's out,” Corrie told everyone.

She ran up to the third floor and found Sebastian in the bathroom, dabbing at his nose with a wet washcloth. “I
hate
them!” she cried. She examined Sebastian's swollen nose and eye. “What happened?”

“They called me names, so I told them they were scum.… Then they beat me up.”

“Where?”

“Behind the bike stands. They dragged me there. But I ran to my bike and got away,” he added proudly. “I think my nose has stopped bleeding.”

He sat on the edge of the bathtub as Corrie helped him wipe the rest of the blood off his face.

“You have to
do
something, Sebastian! You have to tell the principal!”

“I can't!” He looked up at her miserably. “You know that, Corrie. They'll just get worse if I do.”

“How can they act any worse than they are now! We saw them after you went into the house—they rode by on their bikes and called you names.”

“Did they hurt you?” asked Sebastian fiercely.

“No, they kept going.” Corrie held the washcloth against her throbbing palm. “There must be someone we can tell. Fa—”

“No! I don't want him to worry about us. I'll figure this out, Corrie.” His swollen face hardened. “Terry is my arch-enemy—he is Mordred. I'm going to lie down now, okay?” He left the bathroom, and Corrie heard his door close. She went into the hall and heard muffled noises from inside his room.

A knight never cries
. Corrie crouched on the top stair and listened hard, but now his room was silent. She yearned to go into her own room, curl up into a ball, and cry herself, but she had to go out and help Meredith extinguish the fire.

“I
THINK WE SHOULD TELL
FA,” she said to Roz that night. Sebastian had stayed in his room all evening; they had told Fa he wasn't feeling well. Corrie took him some food on a tray, but he didn't touch it.

“He would only talk to the principal, and that would make Terry worse.”

“That's what Sebastian said,” said Corrie. “What can we do, then?”

“Well, Seb could get his hair cut—but he won't. I'm sorry, Corrie. I'd like to help, but this is partly his fault.”

“It isn't!”

They argued for a few minutes, until Corrie flounced out, slamming Roz's door. Roz was no use at all these days. She seemed to have forgotten that she was Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot's closest friend.

All the next day Corrie wrestled with whether or not she should tell Fa. Meredith wanted her to go shopping with her and her mother, but Corrie went straight home after school. She climbed her favourite cherry tree. It was such a safe refuge; people passed by in the lane and didn't even know she was there. When she was younger she had named the tree Sentry, because it seemed to guard the yard. She leaned against Sentry's trunk and her anguish lessened.

I
will
tell Fa, she decided. He's a grown-up—he'll know what to do.

At dinner Sebastian's nose was less red but his eye socket had turned purply-black. Fa's gruff voice rang out. “Look at your face, my boy! Whatever happened?”

Sebastian answered calmly. “I fell off my bike. It looks much worse than it feels.”

“You must be more careful,” Fa told him. Then he turned to his meal. Corrie gazed fondly at him as he concentrated on each morsel of meatloaf as avidly as he concentrated on his books. It would be nice to talk to him all alone; she hadn't done that for a long time. Perhaps he'd even let her sit on his knee.

Fa was getting balder, she realized. Then she smiled to herself; the less hair Fa had on his head, the more he seemed to have sprouting out of his ears.

When everyone else was safely upstairs doing homework or being bathed, she stood in front of Fa's study, willing herself to knock.

“What are you doing?”

Corrie jumped. Sebastian had come up behind her. “Oh, I was just going to talk to Fa.”

“What about?”

Corrie flushed. “Well …”

Sebastian frowned. “You were going to tell him about me, weren't you?”

A knight never lies
. Corrie had to nod.

“Even though I asked you not to?”

“It was for you, Sebastian! It seemed like the right thing to do!”

Sebastian led her into the den. “I appreciate your concern, Corrie, but it's all right now.” He told her how Mr. Selwyn, the principal, had taken him into his office and asked Sebastian what had happened to his face. “I told him I'd got into a fight with a guy in my neighbourhood who didn't go to this school. He was very surprised, of course, because I never fight. He gave me a lecture and let me go.”

Terry and his gang had seen Sebastian go into the office. They forced him into the boys' washroom and asked if he'd told. “They looked scared,” said Sebastian with a smile. “I knew I finally had an edge. They told me that if I had told on them they'd beat me up even more. I said I hadn't, but that I
would
tell—even if they beat me up—unless they left me alone.”

“Did they agree?”

“Yes! Well, for a while anyway, Terry said. He hated giving in, but he had no choice. And they avoided me for the rest of the day.”

“Touché for you!” cried Corrie.

Sir Lancelot smiled again. “Yes, Gareth—I have won this round. Mordred will strike back, but for now he is at bay.”

Corrie went into the kitchen to get an apple. She glanced longingly at Fa's closed door, but now she had no reason to disturb him.

F
A
'
S BIRTHDAY WAS
the following Friday. Usually they had a special dinner for him. It was always a surprise because Fa never remembered his birthday.

This year, Sebastian told them he was planning everything himself. “You'll like it,” he grinned. “Especially you, Juliet and Orly.”

The twins tried to tickle the secret out of him, but he wouldn't tell. Corrie watched with relief. Sebastian's spirits seemed to have healed as well as his face. Now he had only a faint greenish patch under his eye.

They always saved Fa's presents until dinner, since he got up so late. Corrie and Roz had pooled their allowances and bought him a red tartan scarf. Harry had made him a spaceship out of toothpicks, and the twins had coloured a huge picture of a dinosaur.

When Sebastian got home that afternoon, he told them to meet in the hall just before Fa got home at six. “Don't be late!” he warned them.

Corrie wrapped Fa's present carefully. There was still half an hour to wait. She sat in the kitchen and worked on Mrs. Oliphant's puzzle. The Elephant was angry when they touched the puzzle, but it was too hard to resist when it sat there all evening. Once, Corrie and Harry had finished the whole thing. They'd undone all the pieces afterwards, but that didn't mollify her.

The kitchen didn't smell of cooking the way it always did at this time of the day. The Elephant had left at five, as usual. Had she forgotten to make dinner? Corrie peeked in the warming oven—it was empty.

No dinner, and it was Fa's birthday! She reminded herself that Sebastian had said he would take care of everything.

“Hurry up, Corrie, it's almost six!” called Sebastian. She rushed into the hall. “Put on your coats,” Sebastian told them.

Fa pushed open the door. “Why, hello, my dears!” he said. “What is everyone doing here?”

“We're going out!” said Sebastian. “To the circus!”

“The circus!” They danced around with excitement, and Fa's round face beamed. He had always loved circuses.

“But, my boy, how on earth did you get tickets? I would have got them for you myself if I'd known the circus was here.”

“I won them!” said Sebastian proudly. “There was a raffle at school and I had the winning ticket! The prize was for two people to go. For the rest of the tickets I raked people's leaves and helped Mr. Hanson down the street clear out his garage. That's what I've been doing for the past two weeks when I told you I had a project at school.”

“Sebastian, my dear boy—what an incredibly kind and generous thing for you to do! Thank you so much!”

“The only problem,” said Sebastian sheepishly, “is that I forgot about dinner. I told the Elephant to put it away, because we don't have time to eat it now. The circus starts at seven, so we have to get the bus right away. Could you all wait until after the circus to eat?”

“Don't worry about that, my boy! I'll buy you all hot dogs or popcorn or anything at all that you want for dinner. And I'll take us there in a taxi so we won't be late.”

“You mean I could have
just
popcorn for dinner?” Juliet asked.

“If you like.”

“Yay!”

R
OZ AND SEBASTIAN
had been to the circus before, but the others hadn't. The evening was a thrilling blur of clowns and performing animals and acrobats. From their high seats they oohed and aahed and clapped and shrieked while they wolfed down hot dogs and popcorn and candy floss. Corrie's favourites were the trapeze artists; they looked as if they were really flying. Fa was as excited as they were, pointing out details in each colourful, noisy act. Miraculously, no one was sick.

They got home very late but they stayed up to open Fa's presents. He thanked them all and repeated to Sebastian, “That was such a thoughtful present, my boy—a present for us all. Thank you again.”

Sebastian beamed at his family. He was his very best, knightly self tonight, thought Corrie, the way he had often been before he'd started junior high—and before Mum died. If only he could always be this content. If only they all could.

7

The Birthday Party

S
ebastian no longer came home beaten up or anxious, so Corrie assumed the bullies were still leaving him alone. He had read a new book about falconry, and the Round Table were all busily making tiny hoods and gauntlets and jesses. They each had an imaginary bird of prey; Corrie called hers Mercury. She and Meredith began to have birds, too. Once in a while each girl would raise her arm in class as if carefully holding a falcon; then they'd exchange secret smiles.

Meredith had been in tears the morning the newspaper said that a dog called Laika had been sent up into space in a Russian satellite. Corrie couldn't comfort her. When Mr. Zelmach asked her what was wrong, Meredith told the class the story. “She's going to
die
up there! They know that, but they still sent her up! It's so
cruel
!”

Mr. Zelmach asked them if they thought it was right to sacrifice an animal for the sake of science. This resulted in such a fervent discussion that it lasted until recess. No teacher had ever let them miss two whole periods just to talk. After that, the class treated Meredith with more respect.

M
EREDITH WAS NOW
completely besotted with the Bells. “Your family is
much
more interesting than mine,” she said constantly. “You're so
different
, like people in a book!” Whenever she came home with Corrie she acted like another sister. She often asked to stay for dinner, but Corrie always discouraged her; she wanted to keep Meredith safely away from Sebastian.