Chapter 28. Scooting South
Their days were much alike over the next week. Sailing south during the day, resting and relaxing in the evening. Several things stuck out, from the routine. One of these was the day they went hunting, for both fresh meat and a Christmas tree. Early in the morning the three of them loaded into the dory, along with the table and chairs, stove and a few supplies. Rowing to the shore, and setting up only took a short while, they were quite experienced now. Will and Naomi put up the tent, Minnie scavenged for wood. She had tried her best with the tent but height was an issue, she could do it but became quite frustrated. Poles, pegs and canvas had been hurled, and with her strength, they had gone quite a distance. After that, Will suggested bringing a stepladder or perhaps stilts. He had to explain what they were but she was intrigued to say the least. “People wear those where you come from, everyone or just the smaller people like Minnie.”, Naomi asked. “No one but street performers wear them, maybe drywall installers too, they’re pretty dangerous if you fall off. And you will fall off, everybody does at first.” he answered. “Never mind then, they sound fun but awful.”, Minnie said. “What’s drywall?”, Naomi asked.
So she was finding wood, dragging a half buried log out of the snow and chopping off a few sections, then splitting that into kindling. Easy stuff for her. All loaded into a small sled dragging along behind. The tent wasn’t very far away and it only took a few minutes to get back and start the wood stove heating the tent. Chimney puffing smoke they tied the canvas shut, readied their bows and off they went. It was quite cold, snow coming down and windy as heck. They were warm enough in their winter gear and for a while the only sound was their feet crunching across the frozen ground and puffs of breath. The plan was to circle around their camp looking for game, heading back now and then to warm up if needed. Unfortunately it seemed as though it was too cold for any kind of hunting, there were no signs of life at all. “Well that’s just fine, no hunting for us today, it’s been hours and hours and nothing, all I shot was a stupid tree, I’m cold and hungry and I want to go home and sit in my chair and sulk.”, Minnie was not too happy with todays events. Will patted her shoulder, “Hey we still have one more thing to get you know, maybe there’s no rabbits around but there’s lots of trees to choose from.”. Oh yeaaaaah, come on Naomi let’s find the perfect one.”, and just like that she was in a better mood.
Together they wandered through the trees around the warm tent, to Will they all looked okay, but he was experienced enough to know there was only one right tree. “Minnie, that’s way too big to get on board, it’s fifteen feet tall.”, Naomi called. “Well the one you liked was tiny, even I could see over it.”, Minnie shouted back. “It was perfect.”, was the answer. This one was too wide, that was was too green(?), too many branches or not enough, too skinny, too weird, too much bird poop, there was quite a choice. Will eventually went to sit in the open door of the tent on a folding chair, the heat from the wood stove was more than enough to keep him warm while he waited. Plus a nice fresh pot of tea, passed the time quite nicely, listening to the happy voices discussing this one or that one. Finally a decision had been made, he was called over to a spot a couple of hundred feet from his warm roost to bask in the wonder of their perfect tree.
The snow had been tramped down around the base of the tree and most of the snow was gone from the branch’s. Minnie and Naomi looked at the tree fondly and he knew this was the one. Pulling a small axe from his belt, “Who’s gonna chop it down, we’ll take turns year to year, but someone going to start.”. To his surprise Minnie took the axe and handed it to Naomi, “You go first.”. The young girl hugged her, then knelt at the base and, with a few strong blows, took the tree down easily. Will carefully tied the branches, bound the whole tree up and swung it onto his shoulder. As they walked back Minnie had a many questions. “Are we going to decorate it right away, and with what, we don’t have those ornaments you told me about, and where are we going to put it, if the youngsters come aboard to do a coal trip then they will mess with it.”. Will had thought the same thing. As they packed up their temporary camp, walking back to the boat he had n idea.
“We have a couple of spare rooms right? Extra cabins for visitors and so on. Let’s redecorate one to use as a crew room. Where it can be just us, have our meals when we’re alone, play our games and music.”, he said, as the rowed back to the Rose. Naomi thought this was a great idea, “Like my aunts parlour, it’s just for her and uncle, no littles allowed, no visitors. Their private room.”. Minnie loved the idea too and wanted to start working right away, and if he was being honest, Will did too. They were anchored for the night anyway, it was still early. As they unloaded everything from the dory into one of the holds, Naomi remarked it was odd that they hadn’t seen any sign of rabbits. “Might be too cold, or we were too late in the day.”, Will remarked. “Maybe the bears ate them all, or the wolves.”, Minnie said with a shiver, the thought of wolves and bears, oh my. She could just imagine a line of them at the shore, just waiting for her to come back, holding knives and forks, some with salt and pepper. She said that to Will, who laughed, “I’ll protect you but after seeing you fighting sharps last week, I think it’s the wolves and bears that have nightmares of you.”.
A final check on deck, to make sure the anchors were holding tight, hoisting the dory to her davits. Then below to warm up and have a bite before doing some rearranging. They did have a lot of room and much was unused most of the time. The two temporary crew rooms were flanked by smaller cabins, with the main cabin at the end of the corridor, the mess and galley at the other end. Naomi had claimed a cabin by Will and Minnie’s, leaving three others mostly unused. There’s were beds, dressers, trunks, couple of wardrobes, all had portholes and vents. After checking each out it was decided to take the one opposite to Naomi’s as a crew lounge. “Are you sure you don’t want to use it as a, I don’t know the words, an overflow room for your stuff, like a sitting room or reading room.”, Will asked for the second time. She laughed, “it’s fine dad, I’m comfortable in my room, it’s just for sleeping and clothes and stuff. The lounge will be where we can spread out a bit.”. Will looked at Minnie, “and you’re okay where you are, with me?”. “Well duh, of course I live with you, always.”, she answered. Resting his hand on her shoulder, “Well let’s get to work then.”.
Will knew they had changed since arriving in this world. Fighting sharps, loading coal and ore, but nothing brought it home as much as seeing diminutive Minnie easily lift a six foot, solid wood dresser and walk out of the room. Moving furniture around, altering the layout of their house had been one of his wife’s passions. Between changing the house for Christmas, then for summer, or again for no particular reason. She just liked it, so apparently did Minnie. Her and Naomi were happily moving chairs, bookshelves, end tables, all with an eye for where the Christmas tree would go. Already the slightly austere room had been converted to a cosy sitting area, not that it had been plain to begin with. The warm wooden walls contrasted with the darker floor, all with the same wonderful detail that had been taken all over the boat. Minnie had fallen in love with those the minute she had been able to notice them. It seemed she had taken some of her drawing style from the shipbuilders. Instead of the tiny gnomes, animals and fish that gambolled and played on the wainscoting and baseboards of the entire ship, she drew tiny Minnie’s on all her work.
While the other two organized and arranged Will had poked around in various storerooms until he had found a couple of throw rugs and several decorative pillows, oddly enough they were all embroidered with different colours and types of roses. There were some paintings, mostly portraits of rather forbidding looking people. Some very faded water colours of landscapes, beautifully done, Will decided against any of them. Preferring to wait until Minnie wanted to hang her creations. When he returned with his treasures he found that Minnie had finally been able to settle, and that Naomi had finally been able to concede on some issues. The tree was in the corner of the room, with room on either side. Low bookcases lined one wall, with a wide shelf about halfway up, nearly like a mantelpiece without the fireplace below. Three armchairs, one from each of the empty bedrooms had been set close to each other with a small tables between. A couple of tasseled hassocks were set near for longer legged people, one prominent to the middle chair. “For you dad, when your resting your eyes after dinner.” Naomi said. A triple mantle oil lamp hung securely on the ceiling, chained in three places to prevent damage by inclement weather, throwing plenty of light. A box on the mantel held candles and a box of matches, and chamber sticks to light the way to bed. There was no head in this room, or the others for some reason, which was probably why Naomi hadn’t chosen them. It was just some quirk, design flaw, something that just was.
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All said and done, the three flopped into their chairs. “This is great, we did a fine job.”, Will said fondly. He noticed that the little ones were drifting a bit, after sitting for a few minutes, the warm quiet room was very comfortable. They had worked hard, so he drew a light throw blanket over each of them and went to the galley to start their evening meal. Tonight was a mixture of things. He opened a jar of their own salt beef and started that boiling in fresh water, while cutting potatoes for mash and carrots to add to the beef. After changing the water he cut the now much less salty beef into cubes and fried it quickly for a nice crust, then added the carrots. All to sizzle and simmer together, while the potatoes boiled away. While he cooked he contemplated if they should build some tv tables, so they could eat in the lounge rather than the mess. At least some times anyway. He had talked about what tv was but he was sure they didn’t really get it, and that was just fine. It wasn’t a concern and probably never would be, this was truly a different world. Some similarities but some fundamental differences. As he stood thinking these deep thoughts he didn’t notice a stealthy figure enter the galley, slinking in the shadows, quiet as a hunting wolf. He set his spatula down carefully, it was his favourite after all and was scared witless when Minnie leapt at him yelling “Oogie boogie!”, at her high pitched loudest.
“Ahaha, you screamed like a little, I got you so good, screamy screamy.”, she laughed. Just a few minutes later she was sitting on the counter beside him, eating a raw carrot. “Well yes, but I screamed in a manly fashion.”, Will said defensively. “I dunno, it was pretty screamy.”, Naomi added from the doorway, “Woke me up, I though Minnie saw a spider again.”. Minnie shuddered, “They’re just so leggy, what’re you scared of Naomi?”. The young girl laughed, “I’m not going to tell you, sorry but no way, you would probably put them in my bed.”. “Put what in your bed?”, Will asked innocently. She gave him a look. He was back to tending to their dinner, nearly ready, just bubbling away on the hob. Today they would eat in the mess, this meal was not easily held on laps and spilling a plateful of hot food was not how Will wanted to end this day. It was just a few minutes later, food on the table and devouring. It had been a busy day and would be an early night. Miles to go tomorrow.
“Where does Laketown get their salt from, is there a mine near, or a shop that uses lake water?”, Will asked Naomi. “My aunt, well not really, but I call her auntie. The one with the parlour. Her family makes salt from the lake, always have.”. He nodded, “I didn't think there could be a mine, not too close to town anyway.”. Another thought hit him, “Who makes the beer, cause it’s very good, and the ales too.”. “You need some more of that dad, you were moaning about not having any more the other day.”, Minnie added. “Well it’s a nice drink to have on a hot day, a glass of ale that is.” Will said. “Have you looked outside lately, it’s not too hot you know.”, she answered. “A glass of beer is just the thing on a cold night, very refreshing.”, Will shot right back. “Too bad we don’t have any of that either, and what’s the difference anyway, beer or ale?”, she asked. “It’s how it’s brewed, the type of malt used. Light for beer and dark for ales, that's about all I know.”. “My uncle has a brew house in Laketown, it’s been in his family forever. They supply everyone, especially our tavern.”, Naomi said. “You have a lot of family huh.”, Minnie said. The other girl nodded “Oh yeah, there’s lots of us. More than I can keep track of.”.
As they talked dinner was finished off and Will took care of the cleanup, just listening to the others talk about family. Minnie was so interested in all of Naomi’s aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins, her sister. When they had started this adventure all they had were each other, but were gaining friends and even a bit of family as time went on. After dishes and such were done, a fresh pot of tea in hand, Will sat in his easy chair in their new lounge. “Have you ever written out your family tree Naomi?”, Will asked. She had never heard of this before, or maybe not by that term. But after explaining it was clear that it was just not done here. “My wife had made a table cloth, embroidered with all of her family and mine, our kids and grandkids.”, he remembered aloud. Minnie was busy writing down the names of all Naomi’s family, there were quite a few. As she remembered this aunt, or this cousin, twice removed, or this remarried uncle. It was going to be a big job, fun though. After an hour of this, Will was dozing off. He stood and stretched, “I’m knackered, I’m going to check up top one last time, then to bed.”. Minnie and Naomi still had their heads together, and started a bit when he spoke. “Do you need a hand, I’ll come if you want?”, Minnie asked. “Nah, stay warm sweetie.”, he answered.
Being very experienced at dressing in winter gear, it only took a few minutes now. Heading up the stairs he could feel it was very cold now. Climbing on deck he saw the familiar deck was quite iced over, the temperature had dropped since their shore trip. They had taken to leaving a bucket of sand inside the stair shed, but it had frozen to a solid block. Walking carefully because of the sheer ice, he managed to get to the rail and looked over. Finding it was still water and not ice he was relieved. There was a good heave to the lake that would stop ice forming, even though it was easily cold enough. “Have to have an early start tomorrow.”, he muttered. Clinging to the rail he walked the entire boat and found all was secure. Standing at the bow of his floating home he gave that mental switch a twist and found the familiar screen floating in front of his eyes.
Menu
William Harris
Age 35 (stabilized)
Intelligence 35/50
Strength 50/50 Maximum level.
Vitality 47/50
Stamina 46/50
Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,
Captain of the heartboat Rose
Navigation 4
Mechanic 3
Mason 1
Outdoor Chef 2
Line Cook
Arborist 1
Labourer 1
Lumberjack
Minnie
Best dog of all
Age 7, has been adjusted now. Menu will show age as 17 in next update.
Intelligence 20/25
Strength 23/25
Vitality 23/25
Stamina 23/25
Affinities for fishing, swimming, husbandry, mariner
First Mate of the heartboat Rose
Navigator 3
Artist
Piloting 3
Mechanic 3
Crab Catcher
Shrimper
Tinker
Joker
Arborist
Labourer 1
Lumberjack
The skill sailor has been changed to Able Seaman, also the title Watch Stander and Dayworker have been achieved.
Naomi 0’Malley
Age 18
Intelligence 35/50
Strength 35/50
Vitality 36/50
Stamina 40/50
Affinities for cooking, fishing, gardening, swimming, mariner
Second Mate of the heartboat Rose
Management 3
Kitchen Artist
Cooking 4
Homemaker 3
Arborist 1
Labourer 1
Piloting
Lumberjack
The skill probationary sailor has been changed to Able Seaman, also the title Watch Stander and Dayworker have been achieved.
We cut down one tree and we’re lumberjacks, he thought, the menu system is weird. Nice for Minnie and Naomi though, I’ll have to let them know to check.
Message received, use More command to check.
“Well, what the…?”.