Chapter 40. Coaling, coaling, coaling, along the lake we’re going

The previous evening had been very peaceful and stress free. It’s important to get stuff done then take it easy the night before a big event. Sitting in the mess, as Will wrote this he remembered getting ready for family Christmas parties. So much to do, to get ready, packages to wrap, food to prepare, truck to clean up for a big load of presents and food. The family used to share the hosting, one year it was Will and his wife, next it was their daughters, then the sons and sometimes st their nieces. It just took the pressure off one person constantly doing it. And it was sure a lot of work. One year, towards the end of the family celebrations, was particularly busy. There was baking to do, they always put a bundle together for the children, even as they had become adults and parents themselves, Will and his wife still tried to give them a taste of home. After the baking there was wrapping presents for all, then the crafting. “Crafting, like what I do, like tinkering?”, Minnie asked from her usual spot. Sitting cross legged on the table beside him, reading what he put down. “Kind of, mom enjoyed making Christmas gifts instead of buying stuff they already had. Kids can sometimes have too many toys.”, Will answered.

Talking with Minnie like this was nice, bringing up memories. She of course had questions “What’s a glue gun, is a truck like one of those car things, is sweet potato pie yummy, what’s a marshmallow?”. He tried to tell her as well as he could, but some terms just weren’t relevant. Naomi had joined them and was just as interested as Minnie was in the tales of his past. “If we did a deep dive thing could we see those times?”, she asked. Hmmm, there’s an idea, Will thought, “Let’s give it a shot.”. They arranged several pillows and sat on the deck, holding hands. Heads bowed, breathing deep and slow, their minds merged into the memories. Minnie’s were first, unformed thoughts at first. Feelings of contentment, sadness, happiness all intertwined. Then later as she had ‘become’ there were flashes of fishing, swimming, standing behind the big wheel piloting, but nothing more. Then Naomi, her freshest memory seemed to be of making bread today, then again just flashes and feelings of her life aboard. Wills came to the forefront, still strong feelings of loss mixed with love but nothing concrete about his earlier life. Try as he might they were stubbornly not showing up. The came back to themselves. Lying on a heap on the cushions. “Brrr still a weird feeling dad.”, Minnie said finally. “Didn’t really get anywhere though.”, Will added, “Did you get anything Naomi?”. She shook her head “Not really, just feelings from Minnie, mostly happy, sadness from you, not all the time, just sometimes.”. “Maybe we can only search the memories for boat related stuff, like when we found out the signal for the burrowers.”, Will mused. They sat quietly for a few minutes, getting their thoughts together. It was rather an odd experience, when it worked. You became someone else, living through their memories. Standing, stretching, it was time for a cuppa. Nice and full from dinner, relaxed from the bath, they played a few games, sang some songs then went to sleep long after the sun went down.

Dreaming of nothing, at least nothing that was remembered, Will woke early the next morning. Minnie was a snoring lump of quilts next to him. Entirely cocooned except for one hand, cupped over his own as they slept. He carefully extricated himself from the quilts, dressed quietly and headed on deck. The sun was just appearing on the horizon and what a sparkling day it was turning out to be. Warm with a wisp of wind from the south, a few clouds, high up in the light blue sky. A perfect day to start a voyage. Lots to do, pulling the barges out, final supply drop, get the crew and head to the shoals. But first a full breakfast.

He headed below to the galley, built up the wood stoves and out on the kettle, coffee pot too. Naomi did enjoy her coffee. “I wish there was a hot drink Minnie enjoyed.” he muttered as he worked. But nothing came to mine, except Horlicks and Ovaltine, and he had no clue what they were, just heard the names years ago. Cutting potatoes, slicing bacon, getting the egg pan ready to go, breakfast was on the way. Things were a lot easier with tons of supplies, that’s for sure. Once again their galley larder and cupboards were full to bursting. No ice in the icebox but to be honest the crew had seen enough ice for a while. The pantry storeroom had no empty shelves, the cool room at the lowest point was full of tubs of butter and eggs, milk and cream, potatoes and other veggies. Four barrels of emergency supplies had been made ready again, and Will planned for at least four more.

It was pleasant using butter again for cooking, just something about it, made everything taste richer. Things were mostly ready so he opened the mess door, letting the bacon smell waft through the corridors, and for good measure, rang the dinner bell too. He could hear stirrings and mutterings and knew they were awake. The potatoes were ready, he had formed them into patties, like that oh-so-familiar restaurant. They didn’t taste like it though, there had always been something about it, everything tasted vaguely the same. Must have been the oil their menu was cooked in. Today was poached eggs so they were waiting until Minnie and Naomi were here. Min liked her eggs runny, so did Naomi. Will could take or leave them but preferred hard fried, or hard poached. And using a poacher was tricksy, even after taking it off the heat the water in the pan was still cooking the eggs, so it took practice.

“Hey pop, smells yummy, I’m starved.”, Minnie greeted him as she entered the galley. “Oh me too, I dreamed of meringue, gonna make some today..”, Naomi added, with a good morning hug. Pop, Will thought, where did she get that from, his daughter called him that. Distracted by eggs the thought left his mind. Successful in his quest to make four runny poached eggs and two hard poached they sat to eat. As she stuffed bacon in Minnie had a thought, “Hey how old is Sally, the tea place girl. She said she was coming but our new rules might stop her.”. “That would be too bad, she and Harold were great but gotta make a line somewhere.”, Will answered. “I guess.”, Min said, “We’ll see later I guess.”. Naomi had been quietly eating and seemed to have something on her mind. Minnie poked her “Wassup girly?”. She sighed “Just thinking about the kids, and what dad said yesterday about eight year olds working twelve hours or more. Thats pretty horrible.”. Will had a mouthful of potatoes and took a moment, washing the bite down with tea, “Yeah it was, I don’t see it happening here, just too different of a world, people are generally nicer here.”.

Breakfast was usually a quick meal, no matter what it was. They were naturally busy people and had many projects, tasks, chores to do. No sitting around falling asleep in his chair, there’s always something waiting. To start, or to finish. His todo book was overflowing with ideas. The Rose was a bit lonely and quiet sometimes with just the three of them. If Minnie was in her small workroom, Will in his office and Naomi in the lounge the ship could be pretty echoey. The twelve kiddies and two older chaperones would definitely change that. Will just hoped Dave had let everyone know about his changes. This and other deep thoughts ran through his mind while he was cleaning up and doing the dishes. Things like how could a one cup measure be the same here as it was where he came from, how do you make marshmallows, hopefully he found peanuts soon. He had a hankering for peanut brittle, and peanut butter too. But he knew the plants only grew in hot climates, like cocoa beans. Surprisingly they had coffee and tea, which also required hot weather. I’ll have to ask the farmers here, where it comes from he thought.

Dishes done and galley sparkling it was time to get to it. Dragging the barges out to the bay so they could pick them up after loading the crew up. Fun times.

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Minnie headed up on deck with Naomi to prep the boat for travelling, Will went below to do the same. Starting the boiler, checking the fuel loaders, filling his tea mug he went on deck. The tow bollard had been fastened in place, all the tow cables were examined for kinks or other damage. Everything was shipshape and ready to go. One by one the barges were hooked to the Rose and towed out, away from shore and anchored off. Then after the work crew were boarded they would be picked up until all three were in tow. As before crowds were on the beach watching, just fascinated to see this part of their world. It was much easier to do it this way, more room to work. Then back to the quay and tied up. The supply wagon was waiting at the lands end and Minnie scampered down to escort it. Ed was driving as usual and was happy to see everyone this morning. “Busy time coming huh, can’t say I miss it. The idea of all that water under me, brrr.”, the young man said. “We like it, nothing really scary down there, just sea serpents and monster sharps, and shrimps…yummy.”. Minnie replied. This did not help and it was a nervous young man backing the loaded wagon down the quay. Will met them and quickly unloaded the load of perishables, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, more eggs, fresh meat for tonight’s meal.

As the day wore on it was time for the youngsters to show up. “It’s nice to do this again, don’t you think?”, Naomi asked. They were sitting on the edge of the quay, dangling their feet in the cool water. You could only do this fairly close to shore, the pilings were too high where the Rose was berthed. If they had more time it would have ended up in a swim, but just as that thought hit Wills mind, the carriages and wagons started to roll up. “Time to be presentable.”, Will laughed, brushing his clothes off. One of Minnie’s flip flops had managed to go for a swim, but Naomi reached it in time, before it got too far. “Thanks, it might have gotten as far as the burrows, my shoe coming to visit.”, she laughed happily. The three of them went to meet the happy faces, most eager, some nervous. They saw a few familiar ones, Greta was there as one of the chaperones, but no Al. “She was telling me he aged out, very nervous about the water now.”, Naomi said, she had seen Will looking the crew over. “Hey there’s Sally!”, Minnie yelled. She had climbed up to stand on Wills shoulders and was way above the crowd now. Her balance was excellent but Will was still worried. He remembered years and years of little ones riding on his shoulders. Parades, amusement parks, camping, beaches, so many times he felt those tiny people depending on him. Minnie was crouching slightly and using his head as a support, she was okay. When Naomi saw what she was doing she laughed and asked “When’s my turn?”, with big puppy dog eyes, lower lip quivering. “Ah, well I guess, you might be a bit big, but I’ll try.”, he stammered. Bursting into giggles she said, “Just kidding dad.”.

The crowd was waiting for the kids to settle down, and it was no surprise that John stepped forward to see them off. “For years my Matt made a speech when our children went to serve, then the dry years came, when the Rose was waiting for captain Will, first mate Minnie and second mate Naomi.”, he pointed to each then continued. “In our life there are certain things that never change, the lake and how it affects us and the bravery of our young people, going voyaging on the heartboat. Now captain Will has changed somethings, these trips are more fun than they used to be. I’m jealous of the times you have had, and the times to come. One change is that only children fourteen summers and more can go now, I know you younger ones are disappointed. But there will be many more voyages in the years to come, you will all get your chance to help our town. To those going now, thank you. Work hard and hurry home to us.”. He and the other councillors applauded. Will stepped forward, Minnie somersaulted off his shoulders and landed beside Naomi with a thump. They had brought a crate with them, opened it and passed out life belts to the teens. “Okay crew, let’s go.”, he called and with Minnie in the lead, Naomi herding the nervous ones, Will pulling up the rear with a couple of stragglers that had taken too long to say goodbye. As they all walked down the quay, the noise from behind started to fade, when they reached the Rose it was mostly quiet. The group waited for Will, he swung the stairs down,”Climb aboard if you please, don’t forget your bags.”. Two lads scurried back down and retrieved their luggage, “Sorry captain .”. “All good lads, hurry on now.”, Will laughed.

Twelve teenagers, two older teens, one young woman, one small dog girl and one old guy, this will be grand Will thought. “Okay guys, listen up. We’re going to have a lot of fun, lot of work in the next few days. Listen to Naomi, listen to Minnie, they speak for me. Any problems with other crew talk to Greta or to …sorry who’s the other chaperone again?”, he asked. A hand raised, “That’s me captain, William Atherton, my dads Dave on the council.”. “Right, where was I?”, Will asked, “You were going on about who to talk to if there’s problems.”, Minnie called out. “So any problems talk to one of us, if there is any bullying or name calling we will deal with it right away. Remember, Naomi will choose two of you to help in the galley and mess hall, that job is hard work, keeping all those empty bellies full. So let’s get below, stow your gear. We’re getting cracking on.”, Will finished.

“Come on then I’ll show you to your beds.”, Naomi called out. Minnie went with her, talking a mile a minute to Sally and a couple of others she knew. Will closed the stairs and went below himself. Running into a couple of teen sitting on the stairs, shooing them below, “Up or down, no in between please.”, he said. They scampered back down with a “Sorry captain.”. Will headed down one more deck to the boiler/engine room. Starting the boiler he turned it to full burn, checked the coal bunkers. As the heat came up he could smell the coal, that familiar tinge to the air that showed they were on their way again. He loved it, the sounds of running feet on the mid deck above him, laughter and excited voices, Minnie’s high pitched squeak of laughter, followed by Naomi’s, oh oh, he thought, what happened? Climbing the ladder to mid decks he found the new crew members lined up outside the mess as the two of them were chasing a frog around. An apparent stow away in someone’s bag and as he watched Minnie nabbed it and chucked it out the port, with a “yuck.”. Will turned to look at the small faces, all looking back at him, “Sorry guys, this is a no frog zone.”, he said solemnly. Sally raised her hand, “I left my bag outside before I left, we always have lots around at the tea house, one must have crawled in and fallen asleep, I’m sorry captain it won’t happen again, do I have to go back?”. Minnie stuck her head out of the mess door, “Nah, it would have to be a lot worse than that for us to take you back, like drink all dads tea.”, Naomi chimed in “Or eat all Minnie’s biscuits.”, Will added “But if you messed up Naomi’s hair on purpose…definitely then.”. Laughter broke the ice and everyone felt better.

Will reached and rang the dinner bell, “Everyone in, find a seat please.”. He waited til everyone was seated. “Okay, I see some familiar faces, a few new ones too. You ‘old hands’ can let the new people know how things are later. Just a few announcements for now. If you hear that bell it’s dinner time. Eat all you want. Naomi will post a menu for the day, if there’s anything you don’t like, or can’t eat let her know.”. He reached in his pocket, looking for his notebook, Minnie tapped his shoulder and handed it too him. “Thanks Min, I wrote down what I wanted to say,”, he leafed through, “Nope, that’s the shopping list, this is my to do list, this is…oops, this one’s secrets. Ahah, got it.”. Giving Minnie a look at her giggling he started again. “Right, the menu, ok. Listen to Minnie, she’s deck boss, if she tells you to do something there’s probably a good reason to. Listen to Naomi, she’s under deck boss, same thing. Here on the Rose we’re a family, don’t be afraid to ask anything, but there’s a few places off limits. The lower deck is all engine and boiler room, storerooms and the holds. There’s real danger there, burns, fumes, dangerous stuff. We’ll have a tour later, maybe tonight after we’ve put a few miles behind us. For now, before we get going, any questions?”. Minnie raised hers “Hey dad, we ever gonna get moving?”. Naomi had tried to stop her but Will knew what she was doing, “Pretty soon, any other questions?”. He knew there probably were but they were too nervous to ask. Seeing no hands he stood and called “All hands on deck.”, with a ringing shout. The kids scurried to the door and stampeded up the stairs, followed by a laughing Minnie. “Good one dad.”, Naomi patted his shoulder as she too ran to the stairs and up on top.

Once he joined them, Minnie saluted and headed to the wheelhouse. She left the door open, Will jumped off the stern and pulled the ropes, Naomi did the same at the bow. “Take us out Min, half ahead when we’re clear.”. She tooted the steam whistle and he let the familiar throb below, green water started to foam behind and the quay was left behind. Faster and faster the Rose steamed from Newton and started to turn to pick up the barges. Another wonderful day on the lake Will thought, wouldn’t swap it for the world.

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