“How dreadful things must be there,” said Mona as she looked through the kitchen window with her binoculars.  Mona had been looking to see if she could see any seals that morning in the water, but she had accidentally turned her binoculars on the mainland and seen a great number of little houses.  She wished she had not said anything out loud because Nanny and Lucie both turned to look at her.

 

“Mona, why do you hate the mainland?  It has nice swamps,” asked Lucie.  Lucie wanted to be a seafarer, but she did miss her big, old house with moss and ivy and the pines about the yard and the great, glorious swamp.  Of course, Pearly Beetle was old and the Blackberry Isles had a swamp, but she still missed her own house.  Especially since those memories of her old home were mixed together with memories of her mother.  Mona did not answer at first.  She did not like to think about the mainland or why she didn’t like it. 

​

“They don’t appreciate beauty or what they have.  The mainlanders only want to mess things up,” said Mona finally. 

“That doesn’t explain much,” said Lucie. 

“You don’t know that, Mona,” said Nanny. 

“I know no place is as nice as Pearly Beetle and the Blackberry Isles.  The trees are not as beautiful.  The quality of sand on the beaches is poorer.  There was one beautiful beach, but it’s ruined now.  The mainland people destroyed it.  Nanny and I used to watch the birds plovers nest on that mainland beach.  Every morning, we would go out in the Leviathan and watch through our binoculars to see if any chicks had hatched. Remember, Nanny?  Then we had a large crew come to stay at Pearly Beetle.  I didn’t get to look at the birds for weeks.  When the crew left and I finally looked again, everything changed.  There were ugly unfinished buildings where nests had been a few weeks before.  Nanny said it was a shame and I felt a cold feeling in my heart.  For a moment, my heart thawed when I saw a plover on the beach next to some sunbathers.  I thought they’d help it as best they could, but a woman bather started batting at it, like she wanted to murder it with her umbrella.  I guess—,” Mona stopped. 

Mona looked at Nanny. She felt like a crab caught in a trap. She didn’t want to go on. 

​

Nanny tipped her head in sympathy. Nanny remembered the times when she and Mona would watch the shorebird nests. They remained some of her best memories with Mona. It was unfortunate Mona’s poor view of the mainland was linked with that incident. Lifting her head, Nanny gently nodded the girl forward. 

Mona’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I guess I’m scared they will come and build great big skyscrapers on the Blackberry Isles and tear down my house on Pearly Beetle to make a restaurant or something.” Her voice grew stronger and more defiant. “I positively don’t want to go to school there. I see they’ve kept on building in the great forests past the beaches. They’re going to build up the world. I certainly don’t want to learn to do that.” 

​

“But Mona, it’s not all like that,” said Nanny.  Nanny brushed Mona’s hair with her fingers. 

Lucie did not say anything, but her eyes were wide and her forehead was furrowed.   

“If you’d let me take you to shore sometime you could see the good things about it.  I grew up there, you know,” Nanny said. 

“I don’t want to go.  What has it got that the Blackberry Isles don’t have?  And I couldn’t leave the Blackberry Isles or Pearly Beetle.  I didn’t pay attention to that nice beach for only a week and look what happened.  What if I didn’t pay attention to the Blackberry Isles for even a few hours?  Who knows what they’d do?  I like things as they are.” 

​

“Hmm,” said Nanny.  She continued to stroke Mona’s hair.  Nanny realized the girl’s fears could not be rationalized out.  She would let the matter rest for the moment, but now more than ever she knew it was necessary to take the girl to the mainland.