Chapter 32. Sundays Children

As the saying went, Sundays children were bonny and blithe, which certainly suited Minnie and Naomi. Carefree and easy going, both happy people. The next part was that the children of Sunday were good, another easy one. Doing the right thing, being a person of your word, reliable, to Will that was being good. The last part was a bit tricky though, the rhyme was written a long time ago, when being gay just meant happy and cheerful. When he was explaining to the crew what it meant that was what he stuck to. Not that he cared one way or the other but it seemed his old world was polarized on the subject and he was, truth to be told, a little tired of it. Remembering the Ed drama of a few months ago was a bit reassuring that Newton and Laketown had more important things to care about than who you loved.

The whole thing started when Minnie asked which day she was born on and Will had to admit he had no idea. Then she asked which day she was like, referring to the poem . Well, of course he said Sunday because he wasn’t an idiot. Then when Naomi asked the same question, he had to pretend to think about his answer. Again he said Sundays child because of the same reason. Honestly, did anyone really want to be full of woe, or have far to go? Of course not. So Sundays it was. When they asked him what day he was born on, when he told them it was Tuesday and he was full of grace it made them smile. “Dad, I’ve seen you trip on air.”, Minnie laughed. “It doesn’t mean I’m graceful, it means I am kind and compassionate, at least according to a two hundred year old poem.”, he replied. “How do you know all this stuff, all these details on just about everything?”, Naomi asked. That made Will think for a moment. Why did he? “I read a lot, any and every kind of book. Most authors do a lot of research when writing and you can pick up facts from that.”, he went on. “I started reading very young and just got in the habit of trying to learn something from every book.”. Remembering how hard it had been to find the meaning of long words, when he was young. One of his favourite authors had a character that used long long words, for a while he tried to as well but it really discombobulates people when you do that.

Naomi was a voracious reader and had brought dozens of books with her when she became part of the crew. She had mentioned she had more at her old home and would love to get them next stop. Will had read a few and found they were mostly love stories with an adventure added in, or maybe they were adventure stories with a love twist. The authors were local, one in Laketown but the others from Newton, oddly enough mostly school teachers. Nice to read in a simple fashion but also gave a glimpse into the lives of people, how they interacted and behaved. At times difficult because of references to history or society that he had no clue of. This had led him to gather all the history books he could, geography as well. Certain things would remain the same, no matter which world you were on, 2+2 would always be 4.

Now these books and Naomi’s collection lived in their lounge, several well made shelves nicely full. Minnie had taken to reading the romance stories, and would get quite annoyed when the characters did things she didn’t agree with. “Why wouldn’t he just tell her, why wait until she found out and hated him for not telling…gah these people are idiots.”, she had yelled, more then once. “Makes it more interesting, do you really think anyone would read a story where all they do is drink tea and talk?”, Will asked. “I guess not, but they’re really frustrating.”, Min replied. Naomi chimed in “I know that one well, and every time I read it I think the same thing too.”. Minnie was a bit stunned, “Why would you read a book more than once, you know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”. That kinda flummoxed Will, he had always enjoyed rereading favourites. “I guess so, but I can’t remember all the details so, yeah but only some.”. Minnie was not convinced, he could tell she thought he was weird.

Today, bring the last of their weekend holiday was going to be as quiet and as lazy as yesterday. Will had gone on deck early to check, all was the same as yesterday, cold and wintery. Breakfast was long and drawn out, no hurry to do anything or go anywhere. There had been an odd wave now and then, making the Rose bounce a bit. Nothing that lingered though. They were all aware of changes in the boat, not on a conscious level, just knowing if something was different. The anchors were still tight, very crusted with ice but that would hammer off easily enough. Same with the davits holding the dory, easy enough to knock off when needed. Looking at the dory, and thinking of how they were missing a boat now, Will had found another project, which gave him joy. After the destruction of their third boat by sharps they really missed it. So his plan was to take the remaining one apart and cut pieces to match, then just build another boat. Maybe make a few improvements too. “Does it really need to be foldable, or can we just make it put together all the time?”, Minnie asked. Good point, he thought. “Let’s not make it folding at all, just skip that part, or those parts. Whichever it is.”, said Will.

So now they were in the hold carefully dismantling the folder, taking measurements to cut new parts. Again they felt the Rose rock a bit more than she had been. “What’s with that now?”, Minnie asked. “Not sure sweetie, it kinda rings a bell, something that I can’t quite remember.”, Will answered. Rogue waves were always dangerous but they were pretty safe in their secluded harbour, no danger from that. Well, he was sure it would come to him after a while, things usually did. For now a late dinner, they had all woken early after their lazy day yesterday. Breakfast was hours ago. Making plans about the boat had taken a while and the day was about gone. Naomi had retired to the galley, so Minnie and Will were on deck. Preparing to start voyaging again, there were a couple of chores to do. First was cracking the ice buildup off of the anchor chains. At least a foot thick and woven through and around the links. Will hit the starboard and Minnie hit the port, the ice broke off easily under the hammer blows and fell into the black water below. The other chores was to check the oil level in the midships lantern, in case they needed to use it. It was still half full, but the wick was trimmed and the glass cleaned and polished. It had gotten surprisingly grimy. Now they had to do the fore and aft lanterns as well, both equally smudged up.

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Ship all ready for travel tomorrow, an early start was planned. A straight run for Newton, a couple of weeks steaming. Their fuel was in good shape, all bunkers nice and full. Same with water, as they were shovelling snow off of the deck Minnie had a thought, “Can we use this for water, like leave empty barrels up here to get full of snow?”. That had taken Will aback for a moment. He was used to not putting anything snow related in his mouth, air pollution made that an iffy thing to do. But here? Wood and coal smoke from three towns, so far, and one boat did not equal much in the way of pollutants. “Yeah we can, still boiling it though cause of microbes and viruses.”, he answered. So all their empty barrels had been lashed in place to collect the nice clean snow drifting down. It would take a lot of snow to fill a barrel with drinkable water, luckily they were in a place with a tons of the stuff. As they stood and looked out at the small island that had protected them for the last two days, it was cold and getting colder as the light dimmed. Still Minnie wanted to go to the isle tomorrow with Naomi to see if there was anything worth hunting. Even a few pigeons would be nice roasted, not gulls though cause yuck. Just then the stair door opened and Naomi called them for dinner, and at that moment Will felt about ten years old again. Being called by mom cause you can’t be trusted to come home on your own. He glanced at Minnie, who side-eyed him, then they both burst out laughing “Coming mom.”, and followed her downstairs.

Dinner was scalloped fish pies, mashed taters and carrots mixed and fried into crispy little patties, Minnie loved them. It was just so crunchy and tasty, she ate way too many and nearly had to be carried into the lounge after dinner. Will and Naomi played a hand or two of cards, Minnie just watched this time, just didn’t have the energy she said. Afterwards Naomi told a few memories of her school days. The custom was for children to attend school for seven years, then if they showed an aptitude for higher learning would be apprenticed to a teacher or physician, not many though. But everyone got the basics, and then off to the family business or whatever work interested them. In her sixth year of school she had been interested in driving wagons, “Like Ed?” Minnie asked. She nodded. The days long drives between farms picking up produce and mail, sometimes passengers, sounded like an adventure. But her life had been planned around the tavern, helping Regina more and more so that hadn’t happened. “Did you coming with us mess up Regina’s plan?”, Will asked. “Yes, but she had to get past it. When she found out about the menu thing, and when she sees this.”, she indicated her rose tattoo, “This is my life, and she will have to be all right with it.”.

After a tea break, Minnie had won the battle against dinner and felt up to interacting again. She and Naomi were playing and singing together, all the tunes from Naomi’s world and some that Will had remembered. Minnie’s high pitched voice reminded Will of something, that he would never speak of. It would never be written either. There was an old Christmas song about a hula hoop, by Alvin and the chipmunks. Not exactly like them, her voice was more nuanced, more soprano. But quite similar. Naomi was more of a contralto and together the effect was charming. The songs of this world were more ballads, telling stories of love and life, drinking songs and stories of legends. “Maybe some day they’ll be songs about the wondrous Rose and her crew.”, Minnie laughed. Will hoped so, it would be comforting to be remembered like that. Having finished his tea, giving a stretch and a yawn, he decided to get to bed. Minnie came along and Naomi called it a night as well. Checking all lanterns were out they retired to their cabins with good nights and sleep wells.

In their cosy cabin Minnie readied for sleep first, then Will. Still a bit cool, the idea of more insulation danced through his mind. Maybe sawdust, in cloth bags between the outer hull and the inner wall. Might be heavy though, maybe only insulate two or three rooms. This voyage north had shown they could handle things, the cold and bad weather. He just didn’t like it. Saying as much to Minnie, if she liked the snowy weather and all that came with it. Her answer was a definite not really. “It was fun at first, and maybe when it’s really hot I’ll miss it, but every day with this is kinda yuck.”. She jumped into the warm bed first and sunk under the quilts, Will settled in and blew out the single candle that had lit the room. It was pitch black, only the wind and usual boat creaks to rock them to sleep. “Night Min, it was a nice weekend huh.” Will murmured as he rolled o his side. As he did he thought of croquettes for some reason, lovely little deep fried balls of turkey and stuffing. He had loved them so much, remembering the first time his wife had made them. She had said it was a Dutch thing, her family had always made them. I wonder if we can get a Turkey for Christmas, was his last thought and he was gone. Minnie heard/felt him fall asleep and cuddled closer for warmth. Not that they were cold but she liked to feel he was there, this was where she had spent every night of her life. She too fell into the deep dark pool of sleep, dreaming of hunting pigeons.

Next morning they woke, just after sun up. Ready to get on with travelling. Back to the land of milk and eggs. Only one thing left to do here.