Chapter 31. First Weekend
There had been much discussion about birthdays, how important it was to remember and celebrate. In Naomi’s culture the family had one get together every year, in the summer to remember and honour the children’s birth, and people that had passed. Names were read out in a ceremonial way, but no gifts. It just wasn’t done. When Will had explained his custom of celebrating the day of birth with gifts and a cake, she had loved the idea. “And everyone sings the birthday song?, and gets separate party days?”, she asked, shaking her head. Will nodded, “Sometimes in big families with lots of kids, cousins and so on, they might do a group birthday party, if the dates are close. But not always.”. Minnie had a question, “When’s my birthday then, and yours, and can we choose one for Naomi, and what about mom, do you celebrate for people that have passed?”. Fresh tea had been made, carried to the lounge with a plate of after breakfast biscuits. “We can work all that out, I know when yours and moms is though.”, Will said, “We’ll mark it all down.”.
Before settling in though, the crew had made a trip up on deck. Still wearing their winter clothes and boots, to check that things were shipshape. Cold, windy and a ton of snow on deck. It didn’t take the three of them very long to send it flying over the side and sand the decks for safety. The anchors were secure, the boat was still safe in the harbour of the small island. Which looked quite desolate, but Minnie still planned to go ashore and search for game. She had told Naomi her plan, who agreed it was a good idea and would join her. Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow. “We’ll go on Saturday,”Minnie said, “No, how about Sunday?”, countered Naomi with a laugh. They loved the names. Galley and mess cleaned up, all the chores that didn’t need doing right away were on hold, today was officially a lazy day.
Will had cracked open the last barrel of supplies, and found several tins of biscuits. Twice baked to preserve them longer, they were crunchy and sweet, perfect for dipping in tea. Which he happened to have, lucky that. He opened the door to their lounge, dark and warm. Fumbled with his teapot and biscuit tin, found a match in his pocket and lit the ceiling lantern. Dropping his treasures on a side table he pulled open the thick curtains on the port. Natural light helped lighten the room a bit. “Only thing missing is a fireplace, not gonna happen but it would be nice.” he muttered to himself. “Yeah it would, then Santa could come down it.”, Minnie answered as she entered behind him. She had an armful of sketch and notebooks, dumping them on the floor by the tree. “Naomi will be in a minute, changing into something more comfy, I did too.”. And she did look comfortable, shorts and a tee shirt only. But a blanket was nearby in case of the chills. Will had settled in his big chair, feet up on a hassock. Pouring a cuppa and opening his tin he gave a great sigh of contentment. “So back in our old world this is where I would turn on the tv and pass out.”, he said in a mumble. “You go ahead and just pass out dad, no need to do anything today.”, Minnie said. Sipping his tea his eyes blinked slower and slower until they stayed shut, he managed to put his cup safely on a table, but then was out. Minnie put her blanket over him, tucked it around him, then retired to her own chair and curled up. When Naomi joined them a few minutes later Minnie was snoring too, she laughed softly. Making sure the other two were warm and covered with no drafts. She settled in her own seat and settled to wait for them to wake, a short while later she had dropped off too.
It took a couple of hours until everyone was awake again. Minnie woke to find Will puttering in the galley making tea and Naomi slumped in her own easy chair sound asleep. She could feel the boat rocking, more than it was earlier. But knew dad would have already noticed and checked things out. He might sleep like a rock, but some things would wake him instantly. As she walked into the mess hall Will looked out of the galley, “Hey hey, how’s the sleepy doing?”. Jumping up and sitting cross legged on their table she laughed, “Hah, I’m not the only one, you were down before me and Naomi’s still out.”. Will shrugged “Whole point of lazy days.”. Finishing up the tea preparing, everything on a tray this time in case of dropsies, they headed to the lounge. “So if we can stay awake let’s finish up, or at least start on the calendars.”, Will said. Pushing the door open he found that Naomi was mostly awake too. “Hi guys, I sure slept heavy, felt like hours and hours.”, she greeted them. “Well yeah,” said Minnie, “ We left you here, all afternoon and night. It’s morning now, I tried to wake you but nope, dad wanted to splash you with cold water, but I was like nuh uh, let the poor thing sleep I said.”. Naomi was nodding along as Minnie yammered on, “Right, uhhuh, sure you did.”. They laughed at the same time. Will deposited his tray on a side table and poured a cuppa for him and Naomi, but Minnie got warmed up juice as usual. Then getting to work on their calendars.
It had taken a couple of hours, several cups of tea, many biscuits and finally bacon sandwiches, but they had finished. A carefully lettered calendar with the year ‘1’ at the top, all the months, the days of the week and the numbered days of the month. All the crew birthdays, special occasions such as Christmas, New Year’s Day. They had decided on an early spring day to commemorate Will and Minnie’s arrival, May the first. This one was private to them, other smaller versions would be the mess, wheelhouse and so on. Maybe having scheduled visits to Newton or Laketown, the Burrows, other places as discovered over the coming years. Will had recorded Minnie’s birthday as December the first, and Naomi’s as June first, as best as she could figure. His own was in July. There were others marked as well, his wife’s and children and grandkids. To have a special day to remember someone was nice. It was too easy to let the days run on without keeping track, he wondered if it would take on, the calendar that is. He knew that the people of the towns used a schedule of some kind. For deliveries, crops, keeping track of supplies and so on. It would be interesting to see.
Naomi had decided it would be a good night for a long leisurely bath, Minnie as well. They had plenty of water to top up the boiler after using it for hot water, so that took up the next couple of hours. They only had one tub, so Will was of course last, that was okay with him. Minnie’s hair was everywhere after, and that she had to brush right away or she would end up a snarled mess. Will or Naomi usually helped with the bits she couldn’t get to easily, a lot of work. Too bad she didn’t have a blow dryer, Will thought. After Naomi’s hour long soak, then Minnie’s just as long, Will finally got in for a scrubbing. Sitting in the hot water made him miss swimming and salt water showers even more. There was something so refreshing when he could cannonball off of the deck anytime he wanted. Yet another thing on the list in his notebook, under the heading ‘Soon’.
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After everyone was clean, bathing room cleaned along with the tub it was time for a sweet treat before bed. Tonight it was bread pudding, but with apple juice instead of milk, a spoonful of cornstarch to thicken it up a bit. It worked out quite well, even though Minnie threw her raisins out but enjoyed the rest. While eating dessert the crew was enjoying the lounge, more cosy than the mess. Not quite as warm, the galley kept that a bit toastier. Finishing his heroic portion Will said he was going to up top for a last check. Minnie decided to stay behind, her hair was still damp in places, same with Naomi. “My hair would freeze solid, and it’s just so nice and warm here.” she said. He laughed and with an “I’ll be back.”, left to get dressed in warmer clothes.
Climbing the chilly stairs to the upper deck, he could feel the temperature dropping quickly. Even through his quilted coveralls the cold was penetrating, without the other layers he wouldn’t last long. Holding a lantern he walked the length of the ship, from stern to bow and back again took a little while. More snow had fallen and he was shovelling as he walked. Just a few inches but enough. Still windy, from the north, the Rose’s coloured pennants were flapping bravely. The anchor chains were masses of ice but he left that alone after checking that the hawsepipes weren’t being stressed by the ice. Time enough to do that when they were preparing to leave. The wheelhouse was, well not hot but warmish. The radiators had been turned down, just enough to keep things from freezing and ice forming upon the instruments. When they got going the wood stove would warm things up fast. Making sure the door shut tight behind him it was time to get back below. A last look out to sea, then to the dark bulk of land on their port side. Nothing but black in any direction. A bit of moonlight now and then when it managed to get through the clouds but no stars tonight. The heave was slight in their little harbour and the boat was safe for another night.
Shivering he went below, carrying the empty sand buckets, he had strewn it generously in the area around the stair shed. “Have to remember to refill, tomorrow though.” he muttered while undressing below. Back to shorts and a light shirt he went to find his family. He found Naomi in the galley filling their hot water bottles. “Oh good, just in time, this is your and this is Minnie’s, she needs her own she said cause your legs are unnaturally long.”, and she handed him the heavy warm bags. “Ooh no problem.”, he said. They felt wonderful to his still chilly hands, taking the opportunity to warm them up he slowly walked to his cabin and deposited the bags under the heavy covers. Turning he found a smiling Minnie, “Everything okay up top?, I would have come but brrr.”. “We’re okay for another night, but it’s sure cold up there.”, Will answered. They walked the few feet to the lounge together. “Do you want to play crib, Naomi said she would and it’s more fun with three, so yeah?”, Min asked. “Of course, that and Yahtzee are two of my favourite games.”, Will replied. Well that needed explaining. How to play, why it was called that, what did you need, how many people, lots of questions. Will answered best he could, the only one he didn’t know was why it was called that. The problem they had was the lack of dice. According to Naomi they were not a thing in this world, and it wasn’t something he could make easily. But there were alternatives that were pretty easy. Spinners, numbered one to six, or single marked stones. Engraved or etched with numbers, shaken in a cup then chosen. “We’ll work on that.”, Will said. Then a thought hit, “Your skill is pretty high on repairing now, maybe you could work on that tomorrow Min.”. Her eyes unfocused for a minute while she checked her Menu.
Minnie
Best dog of all
Age 17
Attributes (close to hide details)
Intelligence 20/25
Strength 23/25
Vitality 23/25
Stamina 23/25
Affinities for fishing, swimming, husbandry, mariner
First Mate of the heartboat Rose, Able Seaman, Watch Stander
Skills (close to hide details)
Navigator 3
Artist
Piloting 3
Mechanic 3
Crab Catcher
Shrimper
Tinker
Joker
Arborist
Labourer 1
Lumberjack
Sailor
“So I am a mechanic and a tinker, when I hit more it said I can fiddle with broken things and work out how to fix them. And I can figure out how things work, which is nice.”, Minnie said after a minute or two. Will thought that was pretty handy indeed. “Maybe I’ll try to build those dice things tomorrow, but for now it’s game time.”, she continued.
The game, tonight anyway, was crib. Three handed, was like Minnie said, more fun. Will had made a cribbage board months ago, a simple one. Big enough to be easily read by everyone, nice big pegs coloured bright red, blue and of course yellow. It was their custom to play Rochambeau to see who gets to play yellow before each game. Will had a bad habit of always, or mostly always, playing rock, so he rarely played the yellow pegs. Their hand made deck of cards was becoming worn, time to get a replacement made when they got to Newton. Looking at the familiar cards he again marvelled at the differences here. A simple deck of cards, completely unheard of, dice were unknown. He wondered if they had ever played chess or checkers. Not wanting to open that up tonight he kept quiet about it.
As they played, he was trying to remember other card games. He had pondered this before, but the problem was it had just been the two of them for many years. There was Old Maid, or Crazy Eights. But too much competition could be problematic to their small family. He didn’t want anyone to get hard feelings from a card game. So far the two they played were great fun and he was probably going to leave it at that for a while. Too much too fast, might ruin things. And as it was he was number three when it came to winning at crib anyway. Minnie and Naomi were pretty evenly matched at wins and losses. Seeing Minnie count up a 18 point hand, win and skunk Naomi was pretty good fun. “Well guys, the cards are against me tonite. But I’ll win for sure this time, deal away Minnie.”, he said. “No chance dad, you’re skunked for sure this time.”, Naomi laughed. With more tea and juice, biscuits and left over dessert, then a late night snack of toasted cheese and bread they played long into the night. No clear winner but no one really bothered keeping track, just having a good time. After all it was the weekend.