Chapter 19. Sailing, Sailing, Over the Freezing Sea
Of all the trips they had done, up and down this icy coast, this was the easiest, so far anyway . The calm waters made it easy to log the events of the past couple of days. Before today, it had just been too busy, but he didn’t want to forget anything, so he was at it now. “Like you said dad, if you don’t write it down it didn’t happen.”, Minnie was, as usual, looking over his shoulder as he wrote. She was piloting the boat, but all by the compass. Once they were on the proper heading it was just steam along for the next fifteen hours. There were never any other boats to worry about. No need to look outside, pointless anyway. It was black as pitch outside the lighted wheelhouse. Even the midship lantern wasn’t lit tonight, to save lantern oil, they were getting low. It was like a little floating box of light, he and Minnie were drifting along.
Will was glad of one thing, well he was glad for many things but this one in particular. He had managed to remember to bring up one of the small wood stoves, the type they used on ore runs. When they prepared food on shore. He had engineered a chimney, venting it out through a roof vent. And now he could make tea in the wheelhouse. None of them would have to risk the cold icy deck anymore. If he had to admit it, the tea prepared in the galley tasted better than the brew he had up here. It was odd but there it was. All this was being patiently written down in his careful printing. Every detail of the loading, the two lads helping Naomi, “Hey don’t forget the baby on the stairs, that was weird, right.”, Minnie reminded.
And it had been weird. She had gone below to use the head in their cabin, but when she opened the top stairs doors, a very young baby had been busily climbing the stairs. Closing the doors very quickly as not to let too much cold air down , she had picked up the tiny person and marched downstairs. Ready to give the person looking after the child a talking to. It had been a few hours after setting off and it was very dark below, just a single dimmed lantern in the corridor. Minnie could hear many snores, coughs and other sleep noises, and then one frantic mother searching for her infant. Trying to be quiet about it but whisper/calling for the child. “Sabrina, where are you, Sabrina, Sabrina!”. Minnie called out softly that she had her and she was safe. A startled young woman came out of the port crew quarters, tears running, scared out of her wits.
“Oh thank you, thank you, I’m so sorry, I was so tired and warm, it’s been so long since we had enough to eat.”, she kept on and Minnie didn’t have the heart to scold her. Simply passed the child back. “She’s okay, just going on an adventure.”, she went on “I think she wanted to go fishing on deck, but it’s a little chilly tonight for that.”. That made the young mother laugh. “She’s like her father was, a wandering soul. At home I can keep her in, it’s just us two, but so many people were going in and out.”, she just ran out of words. “I’m Minnie by the way, who are you.”, Min asked. The young woman did that nodding motion “I’m Lizzie, this is Sabrina, so nice to meet you again, you rowed us here. Then Naomi was so nice. I helped out in the kitchen while the other kids watched Sab, then we ate…I’m talking too much aren’t I? My man always said I did, but he didn’t talk much at all, then he fell in the river ice and it’s just us now.”, she wound down. Wow, thought Minnie, I thought I was yappy.
The young mother took her now sleepy baby back into crew quarters, “Goodnight Minnie, thanks for rescuing Sab, she’ll sleep now, getting rocked by the boat is nice for her, me too, oh and the other babies love it, they sleep well, I just was so tired…”, the door shut quietly and Minnie could still hear Lizzie burbling away. Laughing she went to her and dads cabin, used the head and redressed in her outer gear. Opening the bottom doors, checking for stray babies but finding the coast was clear she went up, very carefully closing the door behind.
“Yeah, I remembered to write about the baby”, Will said, “I’m glad you found her before she fell or got too cold.”. Minnie shrugged “I’m lucky like that and she’s a tough little one, mom too, she’s all alone.”. Will sighed “I wish we could help them all, but we can only do so much.”. He took a sip of tea, sitting heavily in his chair, “We’ll do what we can, and try our best. I hope these people make it.”. At that moment the mess voice tube whistled, Minnie uncapped and answered “Hi Naomi, yeah ok, dad will come down, he’s getting ready now, yup.”. Will was dressing and raised a brow at Min, “Something going on?”. Minnie nodded, “She wants you to come down to look at someone, says they might be sick.”.
Minnie assured him that she was okay at the wheel still, he set off outside, then down below. Much warmer below so he removed his boots and coveralls, he could already hear raised voices. Walking quickly to the mess and entering with a “Evening all, so what’s happening?”. There were at least thirty persons, all arguing at once. From what he gathered in the first few seconds was that some of the kids were sick with something and it was spreading. “Quiet please.”, he asked only to be ignored, then a full volume roar, that shook the room “I said QUIET please.”. That got the attention of all. “Now then, Naomi what’s going on?” Will asked. Again several voices answered, only to be drowned out by Naomi this time. “The captain asked that you all kindly be quiet, now.” waiting for quiet, then addressed Will, “It’s the little pox dad, nothing to worry about, but they’ve never seen it.”. Little pox, he wondered, then catching sight of one of the smaller children he understood, chicken pox. “Ah, I see, very common where I come from, you too?”, he asked her. Nodding she replied “Oh yes, we all get it as kids, just itchy for a bit, we swab it with lake water and it’s gone in a couple of days.”. The villagers had been listening, Arno spoke up then “We’ve never had this, is it something you brought us?”.
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“Well, not intentionally. I had it as a little boy, about seventy years ago.”, seeing the looks of confusion he laughed, “I’m older than I look, may I have a look at the problem?”. The young mother Minnie met came over with her daughter in her arms. She uncovered the little girls arm, and Will could immediately see the marks from what Naomi called the little pox. It was a relief that it wasn’t something worse. Still could be serious in adults but there wasn’t much they could do, No seclusion in these close quarters, it would just have to run its course. The disease might be slightly different than in his home world, lake water, even the salt water that was here, was not usually a treatment. Or perhaps there was an unknown quality, an effect that was actually beneficial for once. “If it’s something you picked up from me, or Naomi, I’m sorry, but there’s not much we can do about it now. Luckily we have a good supply of lake water nearby.”.
After this, everyone was checking for the marks of the pox, but only the children showed, so far. Will took a moment, threw a coat on quickly and went on deck and pulled up a couple of buckets of icy water. When this was applied to the pox marks the relief was instant. Will shook his head, so much better than calamine lotion. Hmm, he thought, what is that even made of? “Naomi, is the lake water the only treatment for this?”. She thought for a bit, “If it gets very big, or really itchy, sometimes float weed is mashed up into a poultice. We have some dried in the pantry, sometimes I add it to recipes.”. She left the mess for a few minutes, leaving Will with all the worried passengers, then returned with a handful. She started mixing it with the fresh lake water and the worse of the children were daubed with the goo. It smelled surprisingly nice.
Arno came up to Will, a bit apologetic, “Sorry for the fuss captain, we have never seen this, it was worrying.”. Will clapped him on the shoulder, “Being concerned for children, and your people, is what you do. Nothing to apologize for.”. Will beckoned Naomi to leave the room for a moment, with him. “Were you okay? I can stick around for a while if things were getting unsettled.”. Naomi laughed “If I can handle sharps then I can handle a few of these guys. Maybe we should have another arm wrestling contest.”. Laughing he patted her arm, “My tough girls, good for you.”. They went back in and Lizzie immediately came over to talk to Naomi, and absently handed her baby to Will. Then, realizing what she had done, was a bit mortified and apologized. “I like the babies, no worries, we’ll visit for a bit, then I have to get back up top.”, he said.
Everyone was much more relaxed now, finding out that, there was a treatment and it wasn’t going to do any lasting harm. Naomi was talking with Lizzie, Will was talking to little Sab and listening in a bit. Overhearing what Naomi was telling about what she called ‘little pox’ made him think it was different from his worlds chicken pox. This version was much less virulent than the one he was familiar with, making him wonder if it was even the same at all. Yet another thing he had to let go, nothing he could do about it. Then a thought hit him, if it was a different strain, or a whole new disease, could he catch it…could Minnie? Interesting, time would tell. Returning the now snoozing baby to her mum, Will bid everyone goodnight and returned to the wheelhouse.
“Still chilly out huh.”, Minnie remarked seeing him shiver as he came into the warm bridge. “Yeah, but not as bad as it was last couple of nights, nearly done with this business.”, he answered. She suddenly sniffed, then again, “Why do you smell like baby, hmm? Another escaped?”. Will was pouring a tea from the pot left warming on the small wood stove, he gave a snort. “Same one, not escaping but there was a bit of a freak out about a disease, something like chicken pox from our old world, maybe.”. Seeing Minnie’s blank stare he sighed and dived into explaining what diseases were, and why it was called chicken pox, he had no idea really. But several entertaining ideas came across, that it made you grow feathers, or your feet changed, all you could say was ‘bock bock’. Keeping busy with this for a couple of hours made the time pass quickly, and before they both knew it the sun was beginning to show.
“Nice quiet night dad, I hope the next couple are the same”, she quickly knocked on wood, pretty easy to do on a mostly wooden boat. Nodding agreement, or nodding in his sleep Minnie couldn’t tell but decided to let him snooze for a while. Nope, she pulled on the foghorn and then pretended to sleep in her chair while he sputtered awake. “What the?”, he saw an innocent little person sleeping happily, “Oh no, I was dreaming of milk, yummy foamy warm milk, fresh as it gets, and ribs barbecued on our grill, and a nice hot poutine.”, he was interrupted by laughter. “Ahh your a big meanie, I miss that stuff so much dad.”. He gathered her up for a hug, “Pretty soon.”. They quickly dressed in their outside gear and went out on deck, to the bow to watch the dawn together.
The cold made them come back in for tea and warmed juice, but they had managed to last til the sun was above the horizon. It was amazing to that these calm waters they were steaming through had been wild and rough a couple of days before. The night clouds fled and the day was bright and clear. They were on course and speed and would be at the burrows in a few hours. Already they could smell fresh bread, Naomi must have started baking early. The passengers loved it so, and if it kept them calm by eating bread and butter, or toast, then let them have it. “What else is cooking Min, I can only smell bread?”, Will asked. Minnie made a show of sniffing the air, “Bread, now it’s toast, melted cheese, oatmeal with raisins, tea, and some apple juice. The littles usually like oatmeal cause it’s gooey.”. As much as he liked porridge it was starting to be too much of a good thing. He sure missed his eggs, but as he told Minnie, soon.
They had adjusted course a bit and were closer to land now, taking advantage of the daylight to locate that coal shoal. Now if Will and Minnie calculations were correct, they were near the sharp attack spot. The curious thing was that the shore was clear when before it had been littered with carcasses of all sizes. Nothing now. “Did something eat them you think?” asked Minnie with horror. “I don’t know, only thing that might be able to would be one of those sea serpents we saw a while back.”, Will answered “But they’re cold blooded too, couldn’t live in these near ice waters, they probably washed out to sea and sank.”. Shrugging, they just kept on steaming south.