Chapter 37. Grilling, absolutely Grilling.

True to their word the councils carriages drew up to the quay a short while after sundown. There had been a busy time when the crew had returned to the Rose. Firstly the ships lanterns were refilled. Their huge reservoirs gulped down oil but were finally full and lighted. “It’s been a while since they were on, been short on oil.”, Will remarked to no one in particular. Minnie had been with him, helping with cleaning the thick globes that protected the wicks, but had left to fill the lower deck ones when the upper deck was done. After the lanterns Will swept off the deck and as he looked around he could still see traces of blood from the sharps, the deck had been awash with it and it had soaked in. “A good cleaning tomorrow sweetie.”, Will said, patting the handrail, “And a good hull check, see if you need careening.”. He was startled by a slight laugh behind, quickly turning he found Minnie and Naomi dressed in clean caftans. “Does she answer back dad.”, Minnie asked, “Cause I talk to her sometimes too, in the wheelhouse or when I’m dropping off to sleep.”. Will sighed “You too huh, she’s a fantastic boat, our floating home is.”. “When it’s just me in the galley I talk aloud too, or sing to her. I think she likes it, just a feeling.”, Naomi added. “Now go below and get cleaned up, we got guests soon. Minnie laid out a long grey robe for you, have a wash too.” Naomi continued. “Why a grey robe Min?”, Will asked, knowing the answer already. “You’re not ready for the white one, not wise enough.” Minnie answered, “Besides if you’re cooking then it will get icky unless you wear an apron, wait a sec, that's a good idea, I’ll grab an apron for you, me too, and hang it up by the grill.”. And she was off.

It didn’t take long for Will to get tidied up and in his clean robe. True to her word there were three aprons hanging by the grill, which just happened to have been cleaned up after it’s long siesta. The weather being so mild again Will had figured to eat under the stars and the three had brought up tables and chairs from their cavernous store rooms. The ones used by the temporary crew, when they dined ashore. Light from the mid deck lantern gave the boat a cosy feeling. And with a clatter three carriages arrived at the quays end, or beginning, depending on point of view. The four familiar figures climbed out of the first, aides out of the other two carrying trays, packages and crates. Will rang the dinner bell on the stern and Minnie bolted up the stairs, quickly followed by Naomi. “Haha got here first, slowpoke.”, Minnie laughed. Naomi looked a bit miffed “Only because you shut the stairwell doors behind you after you tripped me in the galley.”. “Wasn’t me, it was the gremlins.”, Minnie answered smartly. “Wait, what, we have gremlins now.” Will asked. They were walking down to meet the waiting throng, “Maybe, they’re the guys that do bad stuff and other nice, sweet, kind little dog girls get blamed, right?”, Minnie replied. Naomi snorted indignantly “No such thing as gremlins, it was you.”. This continued into they had walked the fifty yards down to the patiently waiting guests.

“Welcome, welcome, good to see you all again, shall we board?”, Will greeted them all. With Naomi at the front leading the porters and aides with their loads, Minnie in the middle chatting with Gemma and Evelyn, and Will at the rear with Dave and Samantha and of course Ed. “No John tonight, I think I know why though.”, Will asked, “The idea of being on the water too much?”. Dave nodded “That’s it exactly Will, he wanted too but just couldn’t in the end.”. “How did you know, that was the reason?”, Ed asked. “We encountered some people, the older members of their tribe couldn’t be near the lake.”, Will answered. There would be time enough later to tell the whole story. “I’d like to still have a meet up with John though, just to catch up. Maybe meet up tomorrow for a bite in town, noontime.”,he continued. Samantha nodded, “An excellent idea, he goes to Martha’s most days, tea and cakes for his middays.”. It was decided to meet up tomorrow, the other two would let John know. Will only had one problem “I have no idea where Martha’s is, or what it is.”. “That’s the name of the tea house at the end of Ship Road, at the top.”, Gemma told him. “Oh I see, we were there today actually, didn’t know it’s name though.”, he laughed.

The group had reached the Rose, Minnie pulled the stairs down with a creak and a splash. Everyone carefully climbed aboard, deposited their burdens on the waiting tables. On their shopping trip today, and with their speedy resupply, the Roses stores had been replenished nicely. Dave took the lid off one of the large trays and made Minnie’s day complete. Thick beef steaks, meaty ribs and fat sausages, all waiting to be put on the barbecue. “I hope you don’t mind Will but I built my own, just like yours. I’ve been cooking everything and well, we love it. It’s become a bit of a craze here.”, Dave said a bit bashfully. Will gave a booming laugh “That’s wonderful, you’ll have to give me a hand, let’s get to the grill.”. Together the two of them, Ed made three, went to start the barbecue heating. Chatting about the different types of charcoal, if putting chips of applewood enhanced the flavour. If a rub was superior to basting, if you should sear the meat first in cast iron then grill slowly. Naomi just rolled her eyes “I hope Dave knows how happy he’s made dad, Will, the captain that is. He loves talking about that stuff, we just like to eat his cooking.”. Minnie joined in “Wait til Dave sees dads smoker, his brain will pop.”. At that moment they heard Ed shout, “What, you cook it with smoke? Mom, mom we have to do this, did you hear me, come see.”. It was odd that in this world, like the one Will had left behind, some things never changed. All the men on the boat, aides, porters, councillor, captain…it didn’t matter, they all seemed to have a love for outdoor cooking and were all congregating around the grill. Samantha hadn’t made a move, just sitting with a glass of wine with Naomi. Gemma and Evelyn had a glass of beer, but hadn’t moved either. “I just don’t get the fascination of it, it tastes good but I can’t really tell the difference from one to the other.”, Gemma remarked. Evelyn nodded “You know my partner, he build that thing in our yard. Cooks whole pigs on it, stands there and turns it and turns it, drinking beer with his friends.” she sighed, “It makes him happy I guess, that’s what’s important. Minnie agreed “Dad loves cooking up there, me too, but just cause he does.”. They were interrupted by Ed, wearing an apron and carefully carrying Wills tongs, “Look mom, how they angled the gripping surface, so you don’t get as hot, the body is longer too, and the teeth are wider. And the captain wrapped leather over the wooden handles and soaks them before he uses them.”. The young man was very excited and his mother patted his shoulder and smiled as he yammered on. As he ran back to the bow there were excited whoops as smoke puffed up as the grease caught from the ribs. This time Minnie went back with him, telling Ed that he had to clack the tongs twice before using them “It activates the magic.”. Ed laughed, thinking how silly that was, and absolutely believing every word.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

A couple of the other aides were preparing the rest of the meal using the portable wood stoves that had been brought on deck tonight. Potatoes were frying and boiling, peas were steaming as were green beans, the smell of bread baking was coming from below as well. “I can’t quite get the hang of bread in a clay oven, on top of one of these.”, Naomi gestured at the small stove. “I’ve tried and tried but it just doesn’t turn out as well as when I use the big ones.”. She and Gemma went below to check the bread, the older woman telling of her younger days working in a bakery. Ed called from the bow, “Everything’s nearly ready up here, we had to test a few of the sausages though, just to make sure.”. Samantha answered “I’m sure you did dear.”. Hearing Wills laugh as she said this was comforting. Ed had never known his father, he had passed in a logging accident , and to see him with Will and Dave was heartwarming. Naomi had returned with Gemma and several racks of fresh baked rolls, crusty buns and loaves of steaming bread. Checking on the other dishes, the potatoes had crisped nicely in butter, and been mashed fluffily with even more butter, the peas were swimming in a thick buttery sweet sauce and the beans were dripping with extra butter in deep pans, onions had been braised until lovely and brown. Young as she was she had final say on any cooking on this boat. Deeming everything ready she called out that dinner was ready, no answer. Raising her voice slightly she called again, still nothing but laughter from the bow. In a voice that a banshee would have envied she screeched that dinner was ready, now. The others near her were a little shocked that such a noise could come from such a small person. The echoes from shore were magnificent and Will called back “Coming mummy.”.

Carrying steaming platters of ribs, plates of rare steaks and trays of grilled sausages they arrived from the bow. “Got quite a set of lungs huh sis, I think you woke the whales up.”, Minnie laughed. Sitting all together, council and crew at one end, so being able to talk business, aides at the other end, dinner was served. After not having fresh meat and vegetables for the last two months, this meal was wonderful. Will might have overeaten a tad, Naomi might have a little bit, and Minnie had definitely. Two large steaks topped with onions, a rack of ribs, fried and mash potatoes and a pound of peas and beans had finally filled Will up nicely, now he was topping off with a few buttered buns. Minnie was just as full beside him, having eaten nearly as much. All through the meal they had told stories of their voyage. The new community of the burrows, and how the people lived in that harsh land. Encounters with whales, the horrible sharp attack. Dave examined the tooth that they all still wore, “I’ve never seen one this big, how long was it again?”. Minnie stood and went to the rail where they had killed that last giant one. “It’s head was from here,”, she scampered ten feet away, “to there, all jaws and teeth, me and dad pulled it up and Naomi stuck it right through the brain, lots of times.”. Samantha shook her head “Sounds horrible, you’re all lucky you made it.”. “Well.”, Naomi added, “We had lots of help from the burrower guys, they’re all tough warriors, got spears and axes. They chopped up quite a few too.”. Will pointed out a few marks on the deck where spears or axes had dug deep. The tale of moving the people from their village to a new area took a while but everyone was impressed. And saddened by the decision of the older people to stay behind, unable to travel on the lake. Not every detail was told, some were private, but enough to give people a glimpse into the huge world they lived in. The news of a book of their voyages, with pictures, was received with joy. To actually see what these three had lived through was a gift, it was the only way they would ever have of knowing.

Dinner ended with pumpkin and apple pies, and clotted cream. Will was still quite full but managed to do his best with a large piece of each drenched in cream. Minnie despised pumpkin, it was ‘orange goo’, but she loved apple. Naomi enjoyed both but only had a small portion of apple. There were no leftovers, the dishes were taken below by two of the porters and were washed under Naomi’s guidance. The stoves were cleaned out and closeted into the hold after they cooled and it was time for tea. No business tonight after all, just a get together of good friends. Dave and Ed were planning on building smokers in the next few days and were particularly excited for brisket. A huge chunk of beef usually too tough to eat, it was ground up normally. But the idea it could be slow cooked and be as moist and tender as butter was thrilling to these two. “So you can smoke just about everything, I can hardly wait to try.”, Dave said. Will had sketched out his smoker plans, actually Minnie had after giggling at Wills efforts. Now there were two finely detailed plans, complete with tiny Minnie’s fishing or stalking around the pages edges with a bow in hand.

The stars were well up and twinkling by the time everyone was escorted down the quay to safety. The aides loaded up all the various trays back into the carriages and left in a flurry of hoofs. The four councillors were a bit more sedate, and after good nights, see you tomorrow’s they also packed up and left. Looking around at the quiet town Will remarked “it’s like they roll up the sidewalks.”. Minnie’s eyes widened with glee, “Really? Places do that? Sounds like a lot of work.”. Sighing he explained “Just a term that means there’s no nightlife, people just stay home after dark.”. “In Laketown people come to our tavern, there’s surely the same here, somewhere.”, Naomi added. “Probably, just don’t know the town well enough.”. “We’ve got a long time to get to, we’ll be around for a while.” Will said. Walking slowly back up the quay they could hear the water lapping gently at the pilings, again he wondered who built it. It must have been the crew of the Rose, years ago. If it had been close to shore it might have been done by townsfolk, this was too far though. The effort of driving the supports deep into the lake bottom, “It would have been a big job, wonder where the equipment is?”, Will remarked as the reached the boat. “Might be at Laketown, lots of warehouses by the lake. Were you thinking of building another one somewhere, a bit north of here?” Naomi asked. “That would be fun, borrow one of these barges and load it up with supplies, maybe some older helpers and head out.”, Minnie said. Now there was a good idea, Will thought, if the older kids can come along to gather coal and item then why not to help build a dock by the burrows. But he was going to check Laketown for the dredging and pile driving equipment first.

By now they reached the boat and climbed aboard, securing the stairs behind. Sitting on the deck and finally able to enjoy being outside was a treat. A bit of a busy time was coming, what with gathering here, then probably at Laketown as well. But this is what they do and while it was nice to go voyaging a couple of times a year, it was nice to come home. “Besides,”, Will said, “coal runs usually take a week, so this one will be over just before our Christmas Day.”. “Oh yeah it is, I’ve been marking the days on the calendar. Todays December the twelfth, so we can do a run for like ten days, then head to sea for our holiday.”, Minnie said excitedly. “That will give us a day back here to go shopping for presents too, but not alone, never alone, okay?”, Will said. Naomi nodded “I don’t like the idea of being over there by myself, it’s too big and I don’t really know too many people.”. Minnie agreed too, “It’s big and the people are okay but I don’t know them all, I’ll just stay with you guys.”. He knew Minnie and Naomi were very capable people but he still worried about them, here at Newton. Not in Laketown, he supposed it was the size of this town that bothered him. But that being settled gave him peace of mind, and he headed below to ready for bed. Minnie and Naomi too, they were all a bit tired from the excellent meal and the late night. Tomorrow was a busy day.