Chapter 27. Reloaded

After a mostly relaxing evening, no laundry at least, it was an early night to get ready for the work day tomorrow. No weird dreams, just a long restful night. The next morning dawned cold and clear, with just little bit of snow accumulated over night. From the look of the clouds that wasn’t going to last so it was an early start often breakfast. “Hooray for oatmeal.”, Minnie said, looking at it drip slowly off her spoon. “I love oatmeal.”, Will said, shovelling it in. Fresh mug of tea at his elbow, it was a wonderful meal. Naomi was picking at hers a bit listlessly, Will had fried ham to go along with the oats but that was long gone. It tended to go first and fast, Will had skipped it today. To be honest with himself, he wasn’t all that fond of ham. It was good, tasty, far superior to the mass produced version of his world, but it was still ham. In a sandwich it was good, fried was good, but in the order of dinner entrees it was about middle of his list. Minnie however loved it, Naomi had grown up eating ham, so he would cook and eat ham all day to keep them happy.

Will readied the boats while Minnie and Naomi got the shovels, bags and other equipment together. Loading it on a skid, then hauled to the deck. A tent, small wood stove, folding chairs and a lunch basket of goodies were all brought along, it would be nice to have a break spot. The night before he had taken advantage of their empty coal bunkers to sweep and mop them out. Coal dust was very dangerous, building up in the lungs of miners. Their situation was different though. Coal was just lying on the surface, only being worn down by weather and time. While they or the young work crews were gathering and loading that deadly dust wasn’t released.

Dressed for warmth and work they all piled in to the dory, folder in tow with the supplies. “No race this time huh dad?”, Minnie said sadly. Will reached and patted her shoulder, “That will be soon enough, when we’re loaded it’s full speed to Newton. We’ve got a hold of furs to trade and I think they’ll want them, maybe save half for Laketown though.”. “Newton might want a coal run too.” Naomi added, “They sure need a lot.”. Will had a thought “I know they had a tough time, between Magnus and us, but how did they manage? We bring hundreds of tons at a time, they couldn’t have picked that much off of the shores, could they?”. Minnie shrugged but Naomi had a bit of an answer. “In Laketown we have the same problem, there’s some coal to be found, far up the shore. Nearly to the impassable areas. It doesn’t supply much, takes a lot of time and work to get to it though.”. “You get enough to get by?”, Will asked, “Most of the time. It’s not used for heating by most folks, it doesn’t get as cold as it does in Newton or up here.”. Minnie snorted “Nowhere gets as cold as it does where we are, I don’t hate it, but I like to be warmer.”.

Rowing slowly through the icy water, to the visible coal, Minnie suddenly asked “Hey dad, do whales live in the cold, or do they hate it like the sharps?”. “They can live just about anywhere, their blubber keeps them safe, why?” Will answered. Minnie pointed “Cause there’s a few over there, and I’m pretty sure they’re watching us.”. Sure enough, in the direction she pointed, was a pod of ten or so. Minnie was waving and shouting “Hellooo, remember me, woohooo!”. Naomi was a bit more cautious, “I know you said they won’t attack, but they’re pretty close.”. Will sped up a bit “We should be okay, whales are good guys.”. After a couple more minutes the boats made shore. They jumped out and unloaded. First order of business was to pitch a tent, not a teensy pup tent but a solid canvas wall trapper style, complete with chimney. They put all the supplies inside, Minnie and Naomi chopped some deadfall to kindling and started lit the stove. Will got to filling bags with coal. It was the good stuff.

As he dug and filled, joined by the other two after a while, he marvelled at how easy it had become. In his previous life he had always thought that digging of any kind was the hardest manual job there was. He had done quite a few tasks involving levelling a yard or putting in a decorative pond and it was the labor that was the toughest. Now the only problem he had was being careful not to overload the coal bags. They could handle about forty pounds, being half filled, filled to the brim they weighed about a hundred but the handles snapped off. So, after a bit of an oops, there were twenty bags in the dory already, ready to take back to the Rose. “Do you think every captain and crew were like us, strong and tough I mean.”, Minnie asked. Will looked at Naomi, who shrugged. “Last time I saw Magnus I was a little girl, too young to go on a run. Regina never mentioned anything but we didn’t really talk about him.”. After another few minutes they were out of bags, Min and Naomi took a break in the now warm tent, Will rowed the ore to the Rose. Lowering the bags down then carefully emptying them into the bunkers and finally spraying them down to stop the dust. He also filled the boiler room bunkers and turned it to low, just enough to provide warm water for the radiators. Back up and off to the shore again. By the time he returned the kettle had boiled and the tea was strong and ready. Minnie still stuck with warmed apple juice, but watered down a bit because “It makes me sticky on the inside.”. After thirty minutes or so break time was over so they got back to it, exiting the tent to find it snowing heavily. They hadn’t been able to tell from inside but already three inches had accumulated. Will looked at the sky, “That’s a lot of snow in a short time, this is going to be a real dumper.”.

They worked until all the bags were full again and ferried off to the Rose, this time by Naomi and Minnie. It was an odd feeling for Will to see the dory leave without him, staring out to where the boat sat peacefully on the water. It was just a few minutes until they headed back, he could hear laughter coming this way. As he waited it occurred to him that he was probably the first person to ever set foot here. His footsteps left over from loading the boat were nearly covered, it really was coming down now. As he turned back to where the boat was pulled onto the shore he had an epiphany. The scene before him, a snow covered tent with a puffing chimney, the trees behind, to the side was the icy beach, waves washing onto the ice with a soft roar. Close by the shore, out in the water the Rose bobbed at anchor, completing the picture. For that was what this was, a perfect picture of his life. Purpose, love, compassion, imagination, he really had no words.

As a snowball hit him on the back of his head, he found he did have a few words. Turning he caught Minnie and Naomi in the act of throwing another, they dropped the snow and looked out to sea. “Hey did you see that whale dad, it had arms.”, Minnie called. “It sure did,”, Naomi added, “Hit you with a snowball.”. Creepy, Will thought, “Well let’s keep eye eye out while we finish up, couple more boats should keep us going for a thousand leagues at least. Working away, Minnie seemed to have a thought, “Hey dad, if you weren’t the captain, what would you be doing here, like a job?”. Now that was a question. “There’s lots to think about sweetie, I was given the chance to come for a new life, do you think we could do something else?”, he asked. “Nah, just wondering while we work, me and Naomi were yapping about it, she said it would be fun to be a hunter, I said being a painter, what about you?”. “I’ll be a cook, running a tea shop like Harold and his family, you can help me when your not painting.”. He filled a couple of the bags, “I’ll carry your painting supplies around in a little cart, and we’ll go see Naomi and have tea and cakes.”. Again all the bags were full, and Will loaded them in the waiting boat. Minnie and Naomi jumped aboard, he gave it a mighty shove and it shot out into to the waters, girls yelling with joy. “Again!”, Minnie called back. Oddly enough the whales were still floating nearby, just keeping an eye on the crew. He walked back to the tent, there was at least six inches on the roof now, he went inside and knocked sharply on the canvas roof to shake the snow off. Poured a fresh cuppa and sat in the warmth of the little stove until he hear voices coming close. He threw open the door and “Welcome to my tea shop, who’s ready for a cuppa.”. Minnie laughed “Ew no.”.

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As they had a warmup he asked about levels in the main bunker, Naomi to,d him it was at three quarters. “One more big boatload ought to do it then.”, Will said, “Then we’re southbound.”. Packing up the tent, stove and all the other accessories they had brought did not take long. As Will loaded that gear into the small boat Minnie and Naomi packed bags with wet coal. Wet with snow. At times they had to brush away the drifts to get to the stuff they needed. It was about an hour and everything was ready to go back to the Rose. As the boats were pushed off from shore the whales drifted a bit closer, curiously watching them as they rowed along. Tying the bags to the starboard crane and winching them up and over to the open hold right away took a few minutes. Boats lifted aboard and secured, Will was in the wheelhouse with Minnie and Naomi, plotting their course.

“It took us three weeks to get up this far north, so yeah…three weeks back too.”, he calculated out loud. “If we go too fast we burn too much.”, Minnie added, “Gotta stay in that zone place.”. “How are we on supplies ?”, he asked Naomi. She got a distant look as she worked things out. “Good on potatoes and carrots, oatmeal, spices are low but okay, four days meals of bacon, five big hams, thirty pounds of sausages, lots of preserved fruit and vegetables in jars, three and a half of those big cheese wheels, enough flour to make lots of bread. Five barrels of water and lots of apple juice still. We’ll be fine.”. Will was a bit relieved, but then she went on “Not much coffee left and we’re out of tea.”. He snapped his head and looked at her, a stricken look on his face. With a tremulous tone he said “Really, out of tea?”. “Nah, just kidding, we have lots.”, she laughed. Minnie patted him on the shoulder “Poor old guy.”.

Every detail worked out, the plan was to lift anchor and steam south for a few hours, maybe get out of this snowstorm. Anchor for the night, and so on for the next while. It would be a long trip til they got back to Newton but there was fishing for dinner and always the option of going ashore and hunting. “Really?”, Minnie squeaked, “We really gonna this time?”. “You bet, we got sidetracked with the burrowers, hmmm, but yeah, and we need a Christmas tree too, to put up in the mess hall.” Will replied. With those few words Minnie seemed to start vibrating with excitement, “Eeek!”. “Already? I thought that was in, what did you call it again, Duckender?”, Naomi asked. Will laughed “Its December, and I think it’s pretty close. Hard to tell though, I lost track of a few days here and there, but we’re just going to call it good enough.”. Minnie had calmed down a bit and had a million questions as usual, “Where’s the tree going, how big is it, what do we put on it, do I have to make presents or just get them, do we, have we, can we… ahhh my brains gonna pop.”. Will gathered his little friend into a hug, “Don’t worry, we’ll work it all out and have a great time.”.

Soon the boiler was set to full, the deck was given a final check, Will slogged through the snow to do that, the anchors were cranked up and Minnie pushed the throttle to half. Standing on the bow he felt the engine come alive beneath his feet and felt the boat start. Slowly at first then picking up speed, moving gracefully over the slowly heaving lake. “Can I still call it a lake?”, Will wondered aloud. They were well away from shore, on course south and Naomi and Minnie joined him. “What did you say a minute ago, I nearly heard but the wind ate it.”, Minnie asked. Shaking his head at the way she said it, “I was just saying I don’t think this is a lake, it’s an ocean, more like ‘the ocean’.”. “ But we always called it the lake, I’m from Laketown.”, Naomi said. “Why do you think it’s not a lake dad, these guys, all the guys call it that, except the diggers but they were kind of...”. Naomi quickly reached out and covered Minnie’s mouth. “Be nice, they’re not dumb”, she said. “I was being nice, I didn’t call them dumb, I was gonna say sheltered.”. Naomi just looked at her and nodded slowly. Will got them back on track with, “I think it’s just always been called that because no one has seen how huge it is out here, never ending. Like we have.”, he went on. “It doesn’t really matter, what it is or what we call it though. You guys know me, I just like to get things straight in my head.”. The other two just glanced at him, then each other, yup they knew.

With the speed of the boat, and spray being thrown up, it was time to get inside. Being cold was okay, but wet and cold was no fun, dangerous in fact. Minnie and Will retired to the wheelhouse, Naomi below decks. The course was set according to the trip north, they knew by sticking to it there would be no problems. As the miles went by the snow had slowed then stopped entirely. Afternoon was gone and the light was fading fast. Minnie steering them closer to shore, the usual 50 yards give and take, then prepared to anchor in a bit of a shallow harbour. Fairly protected from the main water by a spit of land pointing out to the lake. As was becoming usual for this coast, the anchors only dropped fifty feet before digging in, with a good long stay to them. Again the Rose shifted and twisted until she was in a ‘comfortable’ position. Will always smiled when he felt and saw the ship do this.

The cold became a bit much, going below was a relief. The familiar smells greeted him, tea, bacon, fresh bread, a tinge of coal, all of these blended together. If I smell this much, he thought, what does Minnie pick up? Making a mental note to ask her, he stripped off his outer gear and carefully hung it to dry and warm up. Then a quick visit to the head, a change of clothes and off to the mess. He was wearing a long grey robe, belted in the middle and it even had a hood to keep out drafts. Very comfortable indeed. He found Minnie playing her penny whistle at their table, Naomi was singing in the galley, Galway Girl As he entered he joined in the chorus with a loud “Her hair was black and her eyes were blue!”. That made Minnie jump back with a squeal from her whistle and squeak from her. “Holy moley dad, are you trying to scare me half to death?”, she gasped. Naomi stuck her head out and laughed at her, “You big baby, I saw him coming a mile away.”. Minnie’s response was to jump at the other girl and start tickling her mercilessly. “Ack, ahahah, get off, help help, oh Min I’m gonna get you so bad later.”, Naomi cried.

After a few minutes things settled enough for Will to ask “You got dinner planned?”, he always asked. This was Naomi’s domain, she had made that quite clear in the past. “Beyond some bread baked, nope, no ideas yet.”m she replied. “Hey, how do you feel about hamburgers, or cheeseburgers and baked potatoes, it’s my turn to cook anyways.” Will said. Minnie smiled happily “Oh yeah, I love burgers.”. He looked at Naomi who was nodding just as eagerly, “Right, I’m on it, can you guys play again, it was pretty wonderful you know.”. He started grinding and mixing salt pork into burger patty’s, prepping potatoes then popping them onto the oven to cook. As he worked all the music that Naomi knew, music that he had brought over, songs from all the artists and groups he had loved for years, they drifted through the boat. Minnie and Naomi taking turns playing and singing, their dear voices bringing joy.