Dunadry was a village situated in the heart of the tender region of Eastern Ontario. It was also the home of Dan and Bertha Croiner and their three children; Earl, eleven; Esther, thirteen and Phoebe, nineteen. In her final year of high school, Phoebe was often referred to by her pals and friends as Fearless Phoebe all because she took on Hector Symington.
Burford Symington, Hector’s.father, owned the largest canning factory in the county, employing about 100 persons nine months of the year, then maybe about twenty-five the rest of the winter labeling and shipping out canned goods. Old man Syminton was a pillar in the community.
Phoebe Croiner was a model of a girl, five nine, weighing probably one-thirty-five, all muscle and sinew from picking fruit all summer and periodically helping her father fall trees and buzz up firewood. Phoebe had a personality that was admired by all that knew her, whether that was church or on the athletic field.
This one instance in her graduating year will be as fresh in her mind as her graduation. It all came about as she scurried between classes to retrieve a notebook from her locker for the next class which was English. There were two other juniors there comparing notes. It crossed her mind that she should get this notebook fast, as she observed playboy Hector Syminton fumbling with something farther down the locker room. She thought maybe it was another decoration for his Austin Healey car.
Phoebe sported a fine pony tail of her jet black hair. Her locker door blocked her view of Hector Syminton. But she could see the two juniors, staring at something. Then in an instant, Hector had Phoebe by her pony tail. She pleaded with him to let her go.
“Oh Phoebe you feel great in my arms.”
He held her tight and then tried to force his hand down between her breasts, but when he tried to force his hand up her skirt Phoebe thought it was time for action. Like a professional freeing himself from a head lock she made one determined physical lunge and freed herself from his hold. Instead of running for her freedom, she turned about and flew at him like a panther. Apparently, this was unexpected by Hector. Phoebe punched him right on the nose. Immediately the blood came squirting over his shirt.
In a raging mood he says, ”You bitch!”
In the meantime, one of the junior girls ran to get the principal.. Cowardly Hector made a few swipes at Phoebe right in the face, which later turned out to be two black eyes. Phoebe wasn’t beat yet. She played her shoes to him right in his crotch. He went down to the floor like a tranquilized bear, moaning and curled up like up like a shelled clam. She was standing over him when principal Hendry got her by the arm.
“Phoebe darling, what happened to you?’
Phoebe looked at Mr Hendry as though she were dazed.
“I’m undecided, Mr. Hendry, if I should choke him to death while I have the opportunity.”
Mr. Hendry took hold of Phoebe’s arm and he could feel the tremble in her body. He told one of the junior girls to go to first aid and tell Miss Rundle that she was wanted in the locker room .
“Then go on down the aisle and bring Mrs. Broughton to the change room in the locker room.”
Mr. Hendry told the two junior girls not to leave the school as he wanted to find out from them just what they did see and not to be concerned as they will have to just make a statement.
Poor Phoebe, she looked a wreck as Mr. Hendry took her by the arm down to the change room.. Het nice black ponytail was all tattered and teased around her shoulders and face. Her very low neck and her under slip showing down to
her knees. They were just into the room when Mrs. Broughton came in.
“Oh my good gracious, darling Phoebe what happened to you? Mr. Hendry, I think that she needs a stimulant.”
“I haven’t the time, Mrs. Broughton, to go into details with you as I have other urgent business to do right now”
He could see that Miss Rundle had a wheelchair up beside Hector Symingon.
Miss Rundle asked Mr. Hendry, “Do you think that you and I can get him into this chair.”
Miss Rundle put the brakes on the chair as tight as she could. Mr. Hendry and, Miss Rundle each put one arm under Hector’s and told the two junior girls to hold the chair as firm as they could.
Miss Rundle said, ” Here we go Hector.”
It was quite a lift for the pair of them.. Oh how Hector groaned with pain before he got seated.
Mr. Hendry said, “Now you two nice girls go down to my office and have a seat and I will be with you shortly.”
Miss Rundle said, “What we will do is open the end door of this locker room, go partly across the gymnasium and there is a door that opens right into the first aid station. That way we will not be disturbing the students.
Mr. Hendry said, “Miss Rundle, do what you have to do. I’ve got to run.”
“Have a seat over there till I have a peek.” Miss Rundle opened Hectors pants. “I think, Mr. Hendry, that this is a case for the doctor. “
Dr Mercer examined Hector and called the ambulance. He instructed the ambulance to come directly to the high school first aid door.
“And come as quietly as you can. We want no commotion around here. “
Mrs. Broughton volunteered to drive Phoebe home.
“Oh Mrs. Broughton, what am I going to tell my mum?”
Phoebe repeated that lament all the way home. Mrs. Broughton tried to assure Phoebe that this would all blow over.
When Mrs. Croiner first set eyes on Phoebe she repeated several times, “Oh my god, what has happened to our Phoebe.”
Phoebe holding back the tears a as best she could, was trying to explain.
“Never mind, honey,” said Mrs. Broughton as she took her Phoebe by the arm and placed her in a chair. Mrs. Broughton sat between Phoebe and mum. “Now Mrs. Croiner, this is not so serious as you may think.”
“Do we know him?” asked Mrs. Croiner with vengeance in her expression.
“Just let us leave that till later, Mrs. Croiner. Mr. Hendry will fill you in on it all in a later date.”
“When my Dan gets home and finds out who did this to our Phoebe, he’ll go and borrow a shot gun and make a dead partridge of the dirty scoundrel!”
“What really happened, Mrs. Croiner was this certain know-all tried to act fresh with Phoebe, the biggest mistake he ever made. Believe me, Mrs. Croiner, your daughter can take very good care of herself in any situation.”
Mrs. Broughton looked at her watch and stood up and told Phoebe it was lunch time. She would be in touch with her. Phoebe asked Mrs. Broughton if she would be kind enough to stay and have a bite of lunch with them. Mrs. Broughton was very glad to accept the invitation, seeing how Mrs. Croiner had settled down.
Great minds think alike as Phoebe felt the same relief after lunch . Mrs. Broughton felt inwardly distressed at the whole situation. She thought to herself that this episode is far from over. She excused herself and asked if she could come back later and meet Mr Croiner. Inwardly Phoebe felt that some pressure was been eased as she appreciated her meeting her father.
“Very well, Phoebe, I will you later.”
Mrs. Broughton made it her business to call at Principal Hendry’ s office. Well, she told Mr. Hendry, she had better be back at the Croiner home when Mr .. Croiner returned from work.
“How did you fmd things there, Mrs. Broughton?”
“Well, fragile and delicate. That is why I feel that someone should be there when Mr. Croiner returns from work.”
“Well, according to the information I got from those two grade niners, you have to hand it to Phoebe. She could have been free but instead she chose to get revenge and she got it. Those two girls were so shy it was very difficult to get them to express themselves. I said, ‘Now girls this is very serious. I know that it’s hard for you to tell me all that you have seen’. “Well, Syminton got the hold of Phoebe and was holding her very tight. She was pleading with him to let her go but he wouldn’t listen. It was when he…” Then the girls clammed up and put their hands over their faces. One said to the other, ‘You tell him!’ The other one said, ‘no you tell him.’
After a pause, one of the girls said that Hector Syminton tried to put his hand up Phoebe Croiner’s clothes. That was when Phoebe Croiner made a lunge and freed herself from his hold on her. She nearly fell on her face. She sprang to her feet and like a cat defending her kittens.”
“That’s when I run to your office to come quickly.”
“The other girl said that Phoebe Croiner punched him on the nose and it started to bleed right away. He said, ‘You bitch,’ then started to swat her on the face. Phoebe Croiner then gave him a good kick. Then Hector began to crumple up. She gave him the second one before he hit the floor. He doubled up, moaning. By then he had his head practically between his knees.”
“That’s when you, Mr. Hendry, came in.”
I would say, Mrs. Broughton, that she whittled him down to her size.”
At the Croiner house, sister Esther, in her first year at high school, came bubbling in from school. Seeing her sister, she asked,” What happened to you Phoebe.? Did you run into a revolving door?”
“No Esther, I stepped on a springboard and it came up to meet me”
Anyway, Esther was bubbling with curiosity.
“Know something? The ambulance came to school today and picked up somebody. Nobody knows for sure, but there’s lots of rumors going around. Some say that somebody broke a leg in the gym. Some say that there was a big fight in the school yard.”
Mrs. Broughton came back and she was glad that she did. Esther was beginning to feel that there was something very wrong. It was going on five o’clock and, what do you know, Burton Syminton pulled up to the door demanding to see that flirting girl that lived here. He looked very impressive and authoritative stepping from his new 1930 Packard car. It was one of few Packards in the county. He looked like a bull in a china store.
Mrs. Broughton had warned them all to keep their cool. .
“That girl is not fit to be to be associated with moral and normal society,” Burton roared. “She lured my son along then, when she couldn’t have it all her own way, she fouled him in the dirtiest, devious way that she could contemplate. I’ll see to it that she pays the penalty for her evil ways!”
Mrs. Croiner did her best to reprimand him but she was tripping over herself for loss of words. Phoebe was invisible in the background, chomping on the bit to get Involved. Syminton’s face flushed, stymied on how to get revenge and satisfaction. He was about to return to his car when Mrs. Broughton asked him if he cared to see what his son done to the girl.
Mrs. Croiner called Phoebe. Syminton was anxious to see this flirt so that he could reprimand her and warn her of his reprisals. When Phoebe showed her face, one eye partly closed, she was still wearing that defiant smile – that is, if you could decipher it. Syminton took one look, cleared his throat and headed for his Packard. Being the shrewd and aggressive business man that he was, he hoped they wouldn’t take pictures of her as just this could turn out to be a court compensation challenge, maybe a financial judgement against him.
I hope that they don’t take any pictures of that hussy. He swept that from his mind. Those local yokels wouldn’t have brains to contemplate that.
Dan Croiner arrived home and nearly blew his top.
“Who in the world did this to our Phoebe? Tell me and I shall go and get a gun and let him have it!”
Phoebe held dad’s hand. “Never mind, this will all blow over.”
Bertha Croiner sat beside her husband. “Now Dan, keep your cool. We have a lady in our house that can explain it all to you.”
In the back of Dan’s mind he was thinking of something else. Away back in school days, when one of us boys got a black eye, we put a cold coin to it, but the fastest cure was a slab of beefsteak.
Mrs. Broughton had a long, eye-to-eye talk with Dan and made him promise that he do nothing foolish. She felt good thinking that she had probably prevented a nasty situation developing. Phoebe told Esther to go up to Gilliard’s drug store and bring a film for the old brownie camera.
“Who knows, I may have to present proof that I was at school that day.”
Dan Croiner had just finished his cup of tea.
“Never mind, Queen. We had lots of shiners in my school days. I shall bring back your beauty in no time flat. Bertha, you go down the cellar and bring up one of your beefsteaks and cut it in halves”
Phoebe lay on her back on the couch. Dan placed a steak eye and sat patiently beside her as though he were waiting for it to be rare or well done. At intervals, Dan would remove the steaks and replace them with two very cold fifty cent pieces. By Tuesday morning, the black was reduced to a very light brown and the swelling reduced by about sixty per cent.
Esther returned from her school all full of gossip.
“Phoebe they know all about it. It’s all over school.”
On Wednesday, Reverend Liddle called to see Phoebe. Reverend Liddle was a very young and energetic minister, very well received and accepted by the younger members of the congregation. After some lamenting on the situation, he got around to telling Phoebe that he had been to the hospital to see Hector Syminton.
Phoebe interjected with that defiant grin.
“He still surviving?”
“Yes he is, Phoebe, and he is very remorseful for what happened. He told me to tell you that he is very sorry for his actions that brought this all on.”
After all, the Symintons were big subscribers to the church and Mr. Liddle had to keep the sunny side up as best he could. At the same time Phoebe was a very very popular member of the younger congregation. He as heard of her, in quiet undertones, referred to as Fearless Phoebe.
Phoebe’s mum was going around the house doing her usual chores when Rev. Liddle asked Mrs Croiner if she would come over here and join him and Phoebe in a word of prayer.
“Oh God, in all his mercies, bless this family. Let us give thanks for Phoebe’s complete recovery and no after scars to remind her of a darker day.”
Phoebe’s mum was taking it all in graciously. Phoebe was thinking on a higher plateau.
“You hold the lines, Mr. Liddle and I will do some shoveling.”
Then he went on to ask us to forgive and forget our malice to those who wronged us, but rather let us turn the other cheek and accept their humble apologies. Amen and amen.
Mr. Liddle thought that he would try his weight on the ice and venture to ask Phoebe if she had any feeling for forgiveness in her heart.
“Mr. Liddle it is like this; live to fight another day. Some people fight and run away and it just so happens that i didn’t run away. In the meantime, Mr. Liddle, if you should be talking to that slut, tell him that I said that he got of darned lucky.”
So far for prayers hitting the ceiling.
In Wednesday’s mail she had by a card from Charlie Conway, choirmaster, signed all seventeen members of the choir, and another one from her highland fling club, a cartoon showing a girl tossing the caber. The following Wednesday ,who should drop in very unexpectedly to Phoebe, was Brian Berwick.
Brian was a twenty year old who ran a purebred dairy herd with his widowed mother. He was the only boy who ever made love to Phoebe. Phoebe loved him too, but so far it was very limited. On Thursday evening, who should call on Phoebe but Dell and Nancy Sinton. Dell was the MPP for the riding of Lower Phelps. Dell and Nancy and were all on a first name basis and Dell could see at a glance that Phoebe was very much her old self.
“How are you, Phoebe?”
“As of now, I feel pretty good and I’m still in circulation.”
Dan and Bertha Croiner were getting more information out of this conversation than they could squeeze out of Phoebe.
Dell said, “Phoebe you better be more careful. I don’t want to have to come down here and bail you out.”
“You know, Dell, that critter thinks that he is Gods gift to women. When I resented his passes, he goes and called me a bitch.
This was the juicy part that Dell and Nancy were eager to hear.
“Then I let him have it right on the snout, and the blood started to run. He started to plaster me right in the face. I completely lost my temper and floored him. If Principal Hendry had not showed up when he did I might have choked the slob to death.”
Dell said, “Phoebe, you’re a humdinger”
Phoebe jokingly replied, “You know, Dell, the taller they are, the harder they fall.”
Nancy said to Phoebe, “I heard through the grapevine that Symington is out of hospital and walking on a cane.”
“Well, Nancy, at least he is making progress. They took him in on a stretcher.”