I was just watching the news, and saw the New Year's Polar Bear Swim in
Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I know they have the same thing in Vancouver,
B.C., AND in Alaska.  They quite possibly have it in many other places,
too ... which lead me to sit down and think about then write this rather
inane story which seems to meander around and never really gets anywhere
... but it's a GAMM story!!   <G>  Susan G.

                                                   Schooner Bay's PolarBear Swim

   "You must be out of your mind, Mrs. Muir!" Claymore had exclaimed,
looking with horror at the lovely but obviously very misguided woman
standing before the Town Council.  She had requested a hearing at the
November meeting of the Schooner Bay Town Council, and they had agreed.
   The other men had looked at each other in some confusion.
   "Let the little lady continue, Claymore.  Won't hurt none to hear
what she has to say about it." finally "Windy" Whipple had spoken up. 
"As Clarence B. Finkespeck used to say, ‘A woman sometimes can make
sense out of nonsense."
   Claymore had ground his teeth, regretting for the umpteenth time the
election which had given Mr. Whipple a seat on the council.  He still
was sure it was out of gratitude for the other man stepping down from
the fight that had had Schooner Bay elect the man to a lesser position
on the council.  However, he continually lived up to his nickname, and
talked about anything and everything, quoting so many unknown people!
   "Thank you, Mr. Whipple," Carolyn Muir had smiled graciously at him,
thereby captivating all of the men.  Claymore had inwardly winced at the
bemused expressions on everyone's face.  He didn't know why they all got
so silly when Mrs. Muir was near.  Just because she was becoming
relatively famous in the literary world, and because she was a
beautiful, young widow, didn't mean she could run an entire town! 
Especially one like Schooner Bay.  Why, she still didn't have more than
two nickels to rub together!  If it hadn't been for that horrible
CREATURE she lived with out in Gull Cottage, she might have been
considered normal.  But how could any NORMAL person accept living in a
haunted house and claim that the ghastly ghost occasionally was worth
listening to?  Claymore always shuddered when he thought of the bane of
his existence!
   All his inner musings had meant that Claymore had missed the first
part of Mrs. Muir's passionate speech.  He had quickly snapped back to
attention when he heard, "and furthermore, all the publicity which this
would attract could only help bring in some extra money, extra business
for the hotel and for the restaurants.  It would only be for two nights
at the most, and the one day.  We could arrange a dance the night
before, then have a pancake breakfast, then just before noon would be
the jump off time."
   "JUMP OFF TIME?" Claymore had repeated.
   "Yes.  That's when anyone interested would jump off the pier into the
water."
   "Mrs. Muir ..." Claymore couldn't have continued had his life
depended on it.
   "What if someone had a heart attack, jumping into that icy water?" Ed
had demanded.
   "Obviously we would have emergency medical personnel on hand." Mrs.
Muir had replied.
   "Do you think anyone would be hair-brained enough to go for this?"
Norrie had asked.
   "I'm sure a number of people would be interested.  I know for a fact
that Miss Stoddard's science class has been studying the effects of heat
and cold on a person's body.  In fact, this is where that idea came
from.  The entire class is going to take part in this experiment.  I
just felt that maybe it could be expanded to involve the entire town." 
Then she had turned to Norrie, and her enchanting smile had further
enslaved the restaurant owner.  "Mr. Coolidge, your restaurant is right
at the edge of the pier.  Would it be possible for you to turn a couple
of rooms over to the people wishing to take part in this New Year's Day
plunge?  They could use the building as a place to change and warm up
after the swim.  Think of all the hot chocolate and coffee and hot cider
you could sell that day!"
   "Might." Ed had said, rather doubtfully.  "Then again, might not."
   "Well, now ... I dunno but that you've got a mighty fine idea, Mrs.
Muir." Norrie always spoke slowly and deliberately.  "I vote that we go
for it.  Let's have our own Polar Bear Swim here in Schooner Bay!  I'll
gladly let my restaurant be the central location.  And," a gleam had
appeared in his eye, "I think it behooves the entire council to consider
taking part in the swim as well.  Why, we could do it as a money raising
scheme.  You know, go around and see how many supporters we can get,
gather up pledges of amounts that people would give to see us jump into
the ocean, then we can use the money to fix up the town!"
   "Brilliant idea!" someone had said.
   So, even though Claymore had continued to protest the entire idea,
and the fact that no formal vote had taken place, the Polar Bear Swim
had been agreed to and the council stuck with following through.  It
certainly gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "go jump in the lake!"
Claymore had thought sourly many times in the month and a half following
that meeting.
   Now, here it was.  New Year's Day.  Claymore found himself huddled in
a corner of the "men's" change room while teenagers and other lunatics
were talking happily.  Norrie was in his glory organizing a full
restaurant, and had begged to be allowed out of the swim on that
account.  Ed Peevey had come down with a cold.  Old Windy had gone to
visit his daughter in the Bahamas and had said he would be sure to think
of them in the northern waters of the Atlantic while he, himself, waded
in the warm waters of the south.   Somehow he, Claymore, had been
tricked.  He was the only Council member here.  He coughed
experimentally.  Perhaps he could get pneumonia just by wishing for it.
   "Don't even THINK it!" A loud voice made him jump, then cringe.
   "Go away!" he muttered.  "I don't need to be harassed by you on top
of everything else!"
   "Harassed?  Why, I would not DREAM of harassing you today.  No, I
have come bearing good tidings." the Captain said smoothly.
   Claymore perked up.  "You're leaving forever?"
   The Captain raised his eyes.  "Must I continue to endure this for
many more years?"  He sighed.  "Claymore, I have come to tell you that
your jump in the ocean will bring in more money than this town has seen
for years."
   "REALLY?" Claymore's eyes began to shine.  "HOW?"
   "I have arranged that, should you actually go IN the water, Schooner
Bay will receive the entire treasure currently hidden in Gull Cottage."
   "There's TREASURE IN GULL COTTAGE?" Claymore couldn't believe his
ears.  "If there IS, that means it's mine!"
   "It does not!  It is MINE, you ... you ..." with great effort, the
Captain calmed himself down.  "Mrs. Muir made me promise that I would
tell you this.  Believe me, were it MY doing ..."
   "I know, you'd hoard it the way you have for the last hundred years,
you old miser!" Claymore sulked.
   "I believe I have heard the children use a saying which seems to fit
my thoughts right now." the Captain growled.  "It takes one to know
one."  He straightened up.  "Very well, if you do not wish to avail
yourself of this chance to win glory for the Gregg name in Schooner Bay,
I will have to revert to my original plan, and offer it to Mrs. Muir."
   "Mrs. Muir!  Is SHE going in, too?"
   "Aye.  I tried to talk her out of it, but she said that if Candy and
Jonathan were participating for the science class, and if you were
because she had approached the Town Council, it was the least she could
do."
   "She's right.  You mean, she's here?  Now?" Claymore looked around.
   "In the other room," the Captain now spoke impatiently.  "Come now,
man, what's it to be?  You will go in?"
   "Just what is this treasure?" Claymore asked suspiciously.  "Not that
peg leg I found a few years ago, is it?"
   "Certainly not!"
   "Then what?  Have I ever seen it?"
   "That is not the point." the Captain said.  "I had planned to give it
to Mrs. Muir so that she could buy Gull Cottage and rid me of your
presence for the rest of your unnatural life!  However, she would not
accept it.  Instead, she made me agree to come here today."
   "She must really care about me." Claymore said, wonderingly.
   The Captain growled, "By the powers, you are enough to cause a saint
to wish he were a devil!"
   "Well, I AM a Gregg ... I'm the right age ... I'm certainly a good
catch ... I can tolerate her children ... and most important of all, I
am ALIVE, Captain!"
   Now the Captain's eyes flashed.  Claymore shrank back again,
terrified.  He should have known to keep his secret feelings about Mrs.
Muir secret!  He hardly heard the Captain snarl, "I will throw you in
the water MYSELF for that!"
   Just then, Miss Stoddard was clapping her hands for attention.  "It's
time!" she called shrilly.  "It's time!  Come along, everyone!"
   The Captain had vanished.  Claymore shivered as he huddled in his
warm coat and shuffled along with the others down to the end of the
pier.  He spotted Mrs. Muir with Candy and Jonathan at her side, but
there were too many people lining the pier to be able to get close. 
What if there really WAS a treasure at Gull Cottage?  What if he died of
a heart attack when he jumped in the water, and could never SEE the
treasure?  What could he say to get out of this now, at the very last
minute, that would save face and still get him the treasure?
   He was so busy thinking, he never heard the call to jump.  Just as he
became aware of the movement all around him, something grabbed his coat
and ripped it off him.  He felt a large hand in the middle of his back,
and next thing he knew, he was screaming as he rushed through the air
towards the water.  His screams were lost in the screams of all the
other jumpers and the cheers and screams of the crowd of onlookers.
   As everyone frantically splashed to the shallow water and climbed
out, all were met by friends or family members who draped their winter
coats over their icy bodies and hustled them back to Norrie's.  Claymore
had only an instant to wonder what he was going to do when his coat was
draped over him, then Ed was beside him, pounding him on the back in
excitement, saying over and over, "You did it, Claymore!  You really did
it!  I didn't think you had it in you!  You DID it!"  Ed practically
dragged Claymore into Norrie's.  "Here's the hero of Schooner Bay!  The
oldest person here to make the jump, and the one to bring the most money
to the town by his action!"
   Cheers erupted.  Claymore was shivering and shaking, and thought
maybe his brain was rattled as well.  He didn't understand a thing that
was going on.  Norrie pressed him into a chair and held some hot cider
liberally laced with brandy to his blue lips.
   "The town has never seen the likes of this day since you won the
Centennial Games, Mr. Gregg." Miss Stoddard paused by his chair.  "To
think that another Gregg can be so generous to the town founded by so
many famous Gregg's, well, imagine my delight when I heard that your
plunge today was bringing $40,000 to Schooner Bay, to be given to the
Schooner Bay Board of Education for the students to get better
facilities, more opportunities ...  Mr. Gregg?  Mr. Gregg?"
   Everyone around looked at Norrie and Ed, who were trying to support
the limp body of Claymore.  He had fainted dead away at the amount of
money given in his name.  Carolyn Muir, standing well back of the crowd,
smiled up at the empty air beside her.
   "Thank you, Captain." she spoke softly so that no one else around
heard her.  "I know you didn't want to do it in his name, but I think
it's for the best ... and this will ensure that the Gregg name is not
forgotten in Schooner Bay for many, many years to come."