Chapter 23. And We’re Done

Minnie did eventually forgive Will for scaring the heck out of her, and Will foresaw many jump scares in the future, for everyone. As long as no one fell overboard it was all good with him. He had shared his ham with her, which might have been the reason but he didn’t mind really. They sat quite happily together, talking about looking forward to leaving the cold. That old saying about not appreciating what you have til it’s gone was true , in this case anyway. There were many good things about cold weather that could be good, like having a steady supply of ice to keep food longer. Problem was they had nothing to put in their icebox. “Fish maybe.”, Will said. “Why would we keep fish instead of just fishing for it again?”, Minnie asked, “Leftover fish is mostly yuck, toss it to the shrimpies.”. As she mentioned shrimp Will had a thought, didn’t crabs thrive in colder water. He told Minnie as much but she still wasn’t sure about eating them, “Those little guys look so crunchy and leggy, all waving arms and eye things.”. “Well after we drop off these last guys, make sure they’re safe, we’ll take a couple of days rest, do nothing but fish and sleep.”, Will said, “We’ll toss some crab pots down deep and see what crawls in, you never know.”. Minnie rolled her eyes “crawls in, sounds horrible dad.”.

The time passed quite quickly, when Naomi whistled up they were both a bit startled. “Anyone still up there?”, she asked. Minnie grabbed the tube before Will could answer, “Just the crabs.”. “Well you guys better get clacking on, everyone’s awake and eager to be home.” she said with a laugh. Will checked their course and found them to be about eight hours from their destination. Letting Naomi know to pass that on, and to make some bread, their passengers favourite. “Going on deck for a bit, want to come? Just need some fresh air and stretch my legs.”, he asked Minnie. She agreed, tied the wheel on course and they dressed warmly one more time. As they stepped out onto the deck it was still slippery, Minnie reached for his hand. He didn’t know who was supporting who, but that was okay, they had each other.

The sound of the engine thumping away, stack chuffing smoke, the hiss of the water on the hull, all this made for a peaceful walk. For them anyway. Being able to enjoy moments like this was what made his life complete now.

The bite of the cold eventually was a bit much, toes and fingers getting chilly. The wind, while not as fierce as it had been further north, was still brisk from the speed they were travelling. Will remembered his first cruise, oh so many years ago, stepping out on deck while the liner was moving. The wind had been very powerful, nearly blowing the door out of his hands. It had been worth it though, the night sky had been glorious. Bands of stars, just flowing across the sky, no light pollution from a city. He had tried to take pictures, but it couldn’t be captured that way. They had sat on a lounger for a few minutes just gazing up, until it became a bit much on their old bones. Inside they went and had a bite to eat at the never ending buffets. Ah, Will thought, that’s one thing I miss, maybe we should open a restaurant. “Hey, let’s go in K? I can hardly feel my ears.”, Minnie poked him. “Oops, I was away for a minute, yeah let’s go.”, he laughed.

He went back to the wheelhouse but Minnie went down to help Naomi out with the villagers. It was always a bit lonely when she left, when he said constant companion he wasn’t kidding. She had gone everywhere with him except the doctors offices. All his bill paying was done online, groceries ordered and delivered, he never really needed to leave his house. Every minute of the day she had been by his side. Now when she left to spend time doing things, living her best life, it was hard on him. He would never tell her but it was.

The boat trip that led them here had been a spur of the moment thing. Going back to revisit places from before. “I guess someone got themselves a nice boat.”, he said aloud. He had only bought it the previous week, did some fixing up. Lights, horn, bilge pump, easy stuff. The treacherous outboard had run like a top, a nice forty horsepower, and the bonus that it didn’t use mix gas. Thinking back he thought he should have probably checked the gas gauge too. Laughing to himself, glad I didn’t.

Now that the waves had calmed it was easy riding for the next few hours, and eventually the sun made its appearance. Naomi had come up with some breakfast, fried potatoes and salt pork. Very tasty but what a hankering he had for fresh fruit and veggies. But they did still have food, so he shouldn’t complain. Some were in much worse situations than the crew was, he couldn’t imagine what the passengers were going through. Having to shift their entire lives, they were a very resilient people.

Now the best thing on his tray was a mug of his special tea, Naomi had one too. As they sat and sipped the marvellous brew Naomi said she could only stay a minute, Minnie was entertaining in the mess and they both knew that could be interesting. “That’s one way to put it.”, Will laughed, knowing how his little friend loved being around people. Naomi finished her tea, gave him a hug and went back down to take care of her charges. And again he was alone. Puttering around the wheelhouse gave him something to do, tidying the maps and charts, a few of their own making now. Cleaning the chairs of crumbs, sweeping the floor up and out the door. Placing all the teacups, plates, napkins and such on the tray to take back down. With the cleanup mostly done he leaned back in his chair for a minute,

Menu

William Harris

Age 35 (stabilized)

Intelligence 30/50

Strength 49/50

Vitality 47/50

Stamina 46/50

Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,

Captain of the heartboat Rose

Navigation 4

Mechanic 3

Mason 1

Outdoor Chef 2

Arborist 1

Labourer 1

Minnie

Best dog of all

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Age 6 (will be adjusted for racial type)

Intelligence 20/25

Strength 23/25

Vitality 23/25

Stamina 23/25

Affinities for fishing, swimming, husbandry, mariner

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Navigator 2

Piloting 3

Mechanic 2

Crab Catcher

Shrimper

Tinker

Joker

Arborist

Labourer 1

The skill sailor has been learned. Able to perform all duties on a ship.

Naomi 0’Malley

Age 17

Intelligence 30/50

Strength 33/50

Vitality 34/50

Stamina 38/50

Affinities for cooking, fishing, gardening, swimming, mariner

Second Mate of the heartboat Rose

Management 2

Kitchen Artist

Cooking 4

Homemaker 2

Arborist 1

Labourer 1

Piloting

The skill probationary sailor has been learned, able to perform most of the duties on a ship. But not all.

Not much in the way of improvements but that was okay with Will, he was quite happy with the way he was. Anything more, huge increases in skill, new talents learned would not help much. “Just not for me.”, he muttered to no one in particular, “I’ve had enough trouble adapting as it is.”.

Turning his attention back to their course, by his calculations they should be there soon. He laughed, “So there Minnie.”. When they had started this venture he had figured about ten days to two weeks to be completed, it was nice to be done. Hard to come to terms with though, that so many had chosen to stay at the old burrows. Sadly this was the reason they were finished ahead of schedule. Maybe when they passengers were off loaded and all was said and done, they would take a last trip north to see if any minds had changed. Just maybe though, the people had been pretty adamant when asked. He would talk it over with Minnie and Naomi first, perhaps with the Obbs too. See what they thought of the idea of one last check.

The door banged open, startling him out of his thoughts, “Hey dad, need a break or anything, I got real overwhelmed with all the people talking and stuff, not many littles to talk to and the bigger ones seem a bit mean.”. Will, hearing that, snapped to face her “Did someone say or do something? To you or Naomi!”. Minnie shook her head hurriedly “Nono, calm down, no one did anything. They’re just not as friendly as the first ones, maybe cause of being older and creaky.”. Will could agree with that, when he was older there had been a few days when he would snap and snarl at people just cause he hurt. Who was he kidding, he thought, it had been many more than a few days, it was more often than not. Lucky he had no friends, they would have been driven away, same with family he guessed, wouldn’t have meant to but sometimes the frustration burst out of him. Couldn’t do what he used to, what he wanted to, even what he needed to. It had been bad. Even the boat proved he wasn’t really fit anymore, forgetting to gas it up. What an old fool. If he hadn’t been transported here, there had been some half thoughts, dark ones.

He had been looking at Minnie while these thoughts flashed into his mind, she reached up and brushed her hand over his cheek, “Really, no one was mean, just unhappy and sad.”. “Okay sweetie, but if anyone ever is.”, he didn’t finish. She laughed “I’d shark punch them, like you did to the one that was gonna eat Naomi.”. His brave little girl. Turning to the map table he started showing her how close they were to end of journey. The little metal Rose had voyaged close to the coast now, nearly to the spot marked new burrows. “Nearly there huh, what’s next for us?”, Minnie asked. Pointing to the map Will said “Well, we have some obligations to Newton and Laketown. Both will need coal and ore to help them through the winter. That won’t take long, their shoals are only a couple of days away from town. Get them both a big haul, then maybe we’ll go south. Stephen said there’s a place called FarHarbour.”. “Is that before Christmas, or after, cause I wanna do that yeah.”, Minnie replied. “Well of course we’re going to do Christmas, put up a tree and decorate it. Give presents, have a huge dinner and collapse into a food coma for a couple of days.”, Will told her, We’re gonna pick a good tree before we leave here, you get to cut it down.”. Minnie was a very competent person, an excellent pilot and navigator, could be trusted with the lives of everyone on board. She was tough, smart, diligent. She was also excitable, short tempered and quick to judge, quick to forgive too. In this case as Will had been talking about Christmas and all the fun that brought, she had begun to get ‘spun up’. “Are you going to buy me presents, and for Naomi, can I buy things for you, and help with dinner, we’ll set the table, like you told me, have crackers and wear silly hats and tell jokes, oh dad it’s gonna be such fun.”. The last words were squeaked so high they might have been nearly ultrasonic. Will couldn’t help it, he picked her up and hugged her, “All of that, Min, and more. This year and every year.”.

As the last miles were eaten up by the Roses steady progress, several of the younger passengers had come up on deck to brave the weather and the water. It was not so absolutely unsettling now the coast could be seen. They were fairly close to shore, a sixty or so yards out and details of their new country could be seen. The coast was clear, haha, so Will and Minnie tied the ships wheel, dressed warmly and went out on deck and met their charges. Talked and visited for a little while, pointing out various landmarks. Then heading back in to take the controls again, as they neared the cairn that had been built, just like the other had been. Anchoring the customary thirty yards, give or take, off shore, the engine was shut down and preparations began to offload this last boat load of passengers.

The dory and the last remaining folder boat were lowered into the icy water. Will, remembering the sharp attack, was always a bit on edge as he did this. He could see the sharp teeth snapping just inches away from his hand. The bones in his hand were probably too tough for the fish to bite through, but probably isn’t definitely. The huge one that tried to bite his leg off hadn’t been able to but there was so many factors that could have made it go in a different direction. “Might have been one-handed Willy”, he said, thinking aloud. “Why’s that dad? You’re already …oh, I remember. I hates those fishies, but we showed them who’s boss right?”, Minnie said. He nodded, still keeping an eye on the waters. As they watched for any sign of sharps, and happily found none, the rest of the villagers had come on deck. Waiting for their last ride to shore. The hold was opened and Naomi called up that all the baggage was on a skid and ready to be lifted up. It was only a few hundred pounds so Will simply lifted it by hand, no need to de-ice a crane. A couple of the village lads lent a helping hand and the bags and bundles were soon on deck. Will also lifted six of their remaining barrels of emergency supplies up, these in cargo nets though, didn’t want them to slip off the pallet and break open. When all preparations were ready, Minnie ran up to the wheelhouse and laid on the steam whistle to let the village know they had returned. A few people, then a few more had started to gather around the cairn, where a large bonfire had been lit.

Naomi had come on deck too, dressed in her winter work clothes, same as Will and Minnie. “Didn’t you buy some other winter clothes in Newton, a little fancier than these?”, Will asked her, pointing at their rather drab outfits. “Oh we sure did, but I’m not wearing them to work in, they might get dirty, or torn.”, she answered with a laugh. Minnie giggled too, “We’re saving them for when we want to impress.”. Who knew, he thought. Speaking of winter duds, he pulled out his notebook and scratched a quick reminder about boots. Using a pencil instead of pen and ink, which was more elegant and longer lasting, but the ink would freeze in the metal nib besides, pencils are easier to take a quick note with. He was sure glad they were invented here, if not he would have had to.

The bigger boat was loaded with the first twenty people to go and the smaller with their possessions. Minnie hopped in and started for shore with the villagers, Will with the baggage. They quickly rowed to share and dropped off, then returned for the next bunch. Eager to go they climbed in the gently rocking boat and again both headed to drop off. Returning yet again, the last people stepped into the smaller boat and their various bags and bundles into the larger, along with the barrels. This time Naomi came along, there was no one left to protect from the waters emanation. Before leaving, Will again checked the anchors. Finding them good he and Naomi pulled for shore. His boat was fairly loaded with the barrels, a bit top heavy but nothing he couldn’t handle. At least in the calm waters of today. A few days ago probably not, he and everything else in there would have gone for a swim. After making it safely to shore, jumping out and pulling the boat onto the ice and snow, he started unloading. Handing the bags to the villagers, but lifting out the barrels of supplies himself. They were a bit too heavy for anyone but crew.

Seeing that Minnie and Naomi had finished with their passengers too, he called out, “Hello friends, could you all gather round for a minute.”.