Chapter 38. I think its Time for a Shower.

Meanwhile in Laketown

“Muriel…Muriel, have you seen my creek cake, I left it on the windowsill to cool, did you take it? Muriel?”, Stephen called. His kitchen was quiet, the children were out visiting friends but they wouldn’t have take his cake would they? They never had before, and Tyre and Curt didn’t like creek cake, which was one reason he had made it, the other being it was his wife’s favourite. And in her words ‘You bake enough for everyone else, when’s it my turn?’, Stephen was an experienced husband and had of course lied and told her he was making one now. She had gone to visit her sister as he was puttering in the kitchen saying she would be back in an hour. This had given him ample time to whip up the creek cake and a batch of friendship muffins for the kids. The cake was one of his specialty items and had a salty sweet flavour that wasn’t to everyone’s taste. Maybe she had come back early and taken it? The home was in the back of the town bakery, with a large garden between the two. Mostly vegetable, bordered by raspberry bushes and a couple of fruit trees, a table and chairs to one side. He crossed to the bakery, finding Alma and Aldo, his assistants, finishing off the days orders. “Afternoon, has Muriel been about today?”, he asked. “Not in the last while, this morning to pick up same buns but not since.”, Alma answered. Her twin shook his head, he didn’t speak much, but wasn’t unfriendly, just quiet. Stephen turned to leave but was startled when Aldo spoke up, “We’re missing some apple rolls and some cheese buns.”. Alma nodded, “They were cooling by the back door and then they were gone.”. This was startling news, theft was unknown in this peaceful village, the welfare of one was the welfare of all. “Ummm, I’ll have to, uh, I’ll talk to my wife and the other councillors.”, Stephen stammered out. He was put out of sorts by this news and after getting a few more details by the twins he went to find Regina.

This time of the afternoon the village was bustling, as much as it ever did. Wagons were rolling through the streets, children were out of school, shopkeepers were hawking their wares. A usual day in Laketown. He got to the tavern, but had been accosted twice on his way. First by the cheese maker who had told him of a pilfering, cheese was missing. Lorenzo was as flustered as Stephen, not a lot was gone but enough that he had noticed right away.. A couple of small wheels of cheddar and two crocks of a soft cheese especially made for the Roses return. Assuring the usually happy man that the council would look into it he returned to making his way to the tavern. However as he passed the crafters cottage the door flew open in a rush. The proprietor, Marian, with an A not an O, came out to talk, in quite the huff. She also had some items missing. “I’ve been drying some new coloured wool, the really chunky kind, a beautiful orange and now it’s gone, and some lovely woolly blankets with embroidered roses on them. If the Rose ever comes back they were a gift for the crew, they’re gone too, the blankets, not the crew. Well they’re gone too but that’s normal.”. Stephen assured her that he was taking care of it and was meeting the other councillors at the tavern. She snorted at that “If I see Muriel I’ll tell her your at the tavern, taking care of things.”. Marian went back in to and slammed the door behind, usually even tempered and pleasant, the unusual events had unsettled her as well.

He walked on down the Main Street, the usual dust had been settled by a light rain. Over now but things were still a bit damp. Normal for this time of year. The tavern doors were wide open and the smell of roasting meat came out, mixed with the smell of beer and ales. He entered, waved to Regina who was behind the long wooden counter. The usual table was empty, by the fireplace, but no fire today. She joined him in a few minutes with two glasses of her fine cider, “Stephen, someone’s made off with some of my sausages from the smokehouse out back.”. That really put a cap on his day, he thought, taking a long drink of his cider.

In the dark cool room, the half closed cupboard had been made homey with the comfortable wooden blankets. Orange wool had been strung in front as a curtain and plaything. A wooden platter on the counter above held the remnants of the missing sausages, a few cheese buns and a half eaten creek cake. “I wonder where they are, do you think they will remember us brother, I’m so worried.”, the small voice came from inside the dark cupboard.

And back in Newton

“Minnie if you spray me with that hose one more time you’re going swimming.”, Will yelled out as yet another blast of cold water got him. “Sorry dad.”, was the reply, “Didn’t mean to but Naomi pushed me.”. “Hah.”, the indignant reply came from the bow, “I’m fifty feet away.”. The crew was in the process of pumping lake water over the deck and scrubbing them down with hard bristle brooms. Removing the last trace of sharp blood and goo, dried salt left on the superstructure from the lashing seas of the past months. Every hatch cover was open, every porthole cranked open too. The windows of the wheelhouse were open as well so the sweet warm salt breeze could run through the entire ship. Cabin doors opened, same with the mess and the galley, ports wide open. The hose was being handled by an enthusiastic first mate, pumping the pedal operated pump easily and shooting high pressure water in huge arcs across the length of the Rose. They had an early start and had been at this for a few hours now and the boat was glistening inside and out. Even the bilge was clean as the could make it, a few hundred gallons pumped in, left to sit for a while then pumped out, at first quite, in the words of Minnie, ewwwickyyuck, but then flowing out clean. They had puttered out a few hundred yards from the quay and dumped and cleaned out their tanks, as well as the fresh water tanks. Returning to the dock they had dragged the long canvas hoses over to the well, by the shore, and freshened every tank with well water. Another loaded wagon had arrived with the rest of their resupply and had been lowered into the cavernous holds.

“The rest will have to wait, we got a lunch date at, what was the name again?”, Will remarked. “Martha’s.”, was the reply behind him. Startling him and Minnie, “Wow, you cleaned up quickly.”, Minnie laughed. And Naomi had cleaned up, looking fresh in shorts and a light shirt, and a long jacket over all. “You too better get to it as well, you both look and smell like a fish.”, the young girl said. “Hmmm,” said Will with a sniff, “She’s right Min , you’re fishy.”. Minnie gasped in shock “How dare you, I smell like a fresh cut flower.”, she leaned over and took a long whiff of Will. “You however, dear father, reek like what came out of the bilge.”. And took off running, belowdecks, Will in pursuit. “I’ll just wait here then, okay?”, Naomi remarked to a gull perching on the railing beside her. It really wasn’t very long before the two of them came back on deck. Resplendent in matching yellow hats, boaters with white ribbons, Will in his customary shorts and flip flops, Minnie in a plaid sundress and tool belt. Naomi had retrieved the shopping cart from the hold while waiting and the three were ready to go.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Why’d you bring that with?”, Minnie asked, riding as usual, pointing at the load in the bottom of her cart. “It’s samples of the stuff from the burrowers, furs, leather and sealskin. I want to see if the council will trade for half, then see if James or Darren can use any on our new winter gear.”, Will answered. They were making good time, nearly running along the centre of the busy street, and Martha’s came in sight quickly. Will parked the cart along the side of the building but before they could enter a shout of “Hello!” drew them to the garden entrance. Two or three tables had been drawn together and the councillors were sitting around, with tea and cakes. “Welcome Will, Minnie hello, good to see you Naomi.”, and with that they sat down. John was especially happy to see the crew, after not being able to be on the boat last night. “I hope you know it wasn’t personal, I just can’t get near the lake anymore.”, he said to Will. “We completely understand John, let me tell you about these people, far to the north….”. And with that the story telling was on. The older man was thrilled to hear to stories, even more do than the others had been. He had never been voyaging in his younger days, even then the water filled him with dread. Matt had been several times, with Eric the wild captain, then with his aunt, but John was a homebody. He just enjoyed his garden more that just about anything else, and it had been a bit of a battle for him to be convinced to join the council. He finally did for a couple of reasons, to honour Matt’s memory and to give a different point of view to the council. But his feelings toward the lake didn’t have any effect on his enjoyment of the crew’s adventures.

Finally the stories were over, again for some, but that hadn’t mattered. Will had pulled the samples from his bag and the council was eagerly examining them. “I’ve never seen fur like this, it’s so thick. From a bear you say? And this is from seals? I’ve seen them sunning on rocks but never thought they were worth much.” Gemma noted. “You wouldn’t have much use for this fur, it’s very warm and waterproof. The people that hunted it use it for boots mostly, we are getting a few pairs made using it too.” Will said. “Well, we will take all the fur and skins you have, we can always use more and these are prime furs.”, Evelyn told him. “We’ll unload them later today, there’s quite a good amount.”, Will added. What he didn’t say was that Newton was only getting half, the rest would be traded at Laketown.

While the stories were being told, deals being made, trips agreed upon, Sally had been busy bringing tea and coffee, cakes and sandwiches, and especially milk for Minnie. Having been on two gathering trips on the Rose Sally knew how much Minnie loved her milk. She had mentioned to Naomi that she would be coming tomorrow, but not Harold. He was still at the dairy farm. The meeting ended and everyone agreed that the voyage would start tomorrow, just before dinner. Will, Minnie and Naomi shopped their way back to the Rose, not needing very much anymore but still loving the small shops and vendors they found. And eventually found their way home, back to the Rose. A few packages were in their shopping cart, more candy of course and Will had stopped at the book sellers. The proprietors had been very happy to see him, Betty and Bobby had been running the store for many years, several of his ideas had intrigued the elderly couple and he was invited to take a look at some of the products. Storybooks for children, and something that had never been heard of, colouring books. Never heard of they were a runaway sold out success. “We have been selling out of these as quickly as we print them.”, Bobby said proudly. Betty added “We've added lots of credit to the Roses account, maybe it should have just been to your personal one?”. Will laughed “Nah, not much difference from me and the Rose.”. Minnie had been leafing through the colouring book and gasped “It’s me, and that’s Naomi, and…hey dad, you’re in here too.”. Will laughed as Minnie and Naomi looked through both the storybooks and the colouring books, “Yup, they let me know a while ago, a local guy did the pictures, had to engrave them on metal to print them, you guys approve?”. Minnie nodded “I’m pretty good, got my ears right, Naomi looks weird though.”. The young girl snatched the book from Minnie, “I do not, you do, your hats crooked too.”. They bickered away for a few minutes but Will could see they were really happy with the pictures. The Rose had figured quite prominently in the book, several pictures of her, at dock, in a plunging sea. All in all a very good job.

There was a different feeling in Newton. Many more simple steam engines were puffing away, even behind the book shop, running a printing press he assumed. The blacksmiths, there were several, each had an engine, he could see several on the edges of town running sawmills, pumping water. “It’s like a mini Industrial Revolution.”, he told Minnie. She had no idea what this was but had mastered the art of nodding and smiling. Especially when Will was going off about something like this. “I just hope all the negatives, like awful pollution and child labor, that was horrible.”. Naomi butted in with “Young people have always gone on the Rose, from twelve and up, we always have.”. “A little different, in our old world children as young as eight were made to work twelve hours a day, in very dangerous conditions.”, Will answered. “Here they want to go though, we have a great time working together. That’s not bad is it dad?”, asked Minnie. “No, it’s not bad, it’s the only way for this society to work, the way the lake is so horrible to the lands people.” Will said. “But we had the stinkys…sorry, the burrow guys on board for long times, they were old enough to work and kill the sharps. Couldn’t they have worked too, gathered coal and stuff?” Minnie asked again, this was bothering her. That they might be hurting the littles by working them too hard. Naomi was going to answer by but Betty had been listening in, “Minnie you’re a sweetheart, but the more time we spend on the water, as young people, the worse it gets. That’s where Bobby and I met, on a voyage with Yolanda, oh so many years ago.”. Bobby had overheard and joined in, “We went on three trips as little ones, but as we got older we could feel the water more, now I can’t go within twenty feet of the lake and I get…well you know what happens.”. This did reassure Minnie, and Will to be honest. He had been given foreknowledge of this world, but it was nice to get reassured that it was okay.

The older couple accompanied them to the veranda outside their store, the crew still had much to do so it was back to the ship for them. Betty reached up and patted Bobby’s cheek, “You were such a handsome little devil.”. “What do you mean were?”. Bobby laughed and they waved goodbye as the trio continued back to the Rose. There were cabins to ready, meals to plan, courses to set, supplies to check. A hundred and one things to do before this time tomorrow. Trundling up the quay the heat of the day seemed to intensify, there was only one thing to do. “Cannonball”, yelled Will as he launched off of the side of the quay into the cool water. Quickly followed by Minnie and Naomi. The relief was immediate and the salt water felt wonderful as they dived deep down to the bottom, seeing the familiar hull above the. Startled fish scattered as the three of them swam underwater for as long as they could then launched up off the bottom to crash out onto the surface. “Oh I missed that.”, sighed Minnie a few minutes later, lying on the dock exhausted. Passersby’s the end of the quay could only shake their heads at the antics of the crew. Captains were always a bit off and this new one was no exception, a nice man and his daughters were very friendly, but all the same just a bit weird.