Chapter 45. The Days and the Nights

In Laketown

The cool dark room had been made into a comfy home, blankets draped over windows to keep the light out, and heat in. Various foods were piled neatly on top of long benches, links of sausages, loaves of bread, tubs of butter and pickles. Jugs of milk and juice, bowls with apples and pears, empty pie plates and even a couple of muffin tins. “They never come here, and I’ve been careful to tidy up our footprints outside. I hope they never find us until the others return.”, said a small voice. There was a softly murmured reply. “You can feel them too? Getting closer than they were but still far. He said they’d be here, I hope it’s soon.”, continued the first speaker. Another quiet reply. “He was a nice man, I thought so too. A good size, same as us.”, the talkative one added. It was quiet for a minute while the speaker listened at the door, “Just the usual wagons going to the storehouse, to drop off for the evening. We’ll stay in tonight, let Stephen have a good nights sleep.”.

In fact Stephen was having a good day and he hoped it was going to be a good night too. At a table in the tavern the council had been going over the losses from various merchants and if he was being honest with himself, it wasn’t that much. Yes he had lost a few loaves, pies and whatnot. Regina had her storehouse pilfered, Lorenzo some cheeses. Other merchants had reported items missing as well but nothing had been harmed, no broken windows, damaged gates or doors. At the council meeting they had come to a decision about the person or persons doing these deeds. Regina had been the first to say what they were all feeling. “If someone, or some family needs food that badly, and is scared to ask, then they can have it. No questions asked.”. As soon as she said it Stephen realized he felt the same way. “You’re right, and I feel terrible for suspecting our neighbours, it’s just cheese.”, this time it was Lorenzo who spoke up. “I apologize to you all for my behaviour, I do tend to fly off the handle sometimes. If the person wants my cheese then they can have it, with my blessing.”. The smaller man was nearly in tears, the stress and worry of the last couple of weeks had taken a toll. “My thoughts exactly.”, said the wool and cloth proprietor, Marian, with an A. “A few bolts of cloths and several balls of wool, they must have a need. No more trying to catch them, I don’t want to cause whoever they are any trouble.”. The idea of charity not retribution gave all the council peace of mind, the turmoil of the last few days had been too unsettling . It was a pity that the two cat burglars hadn’t been listening or lurking near, this meeting would have lifted a great worry off their shoulders.

The Rose

Will noticed that work days tended to slide into one another. You think it’s Monday but then realize it’s Friday and the jobs nearly done. Not that the crew had been worked half to death, just regular hours. A day off now and then. Sports days on the beach. The volleyball nets strung up on land this time, eager teens learning this new game. Soccer goalposts set up on a flat field, that had been a fun day. Minnie discovered she could easily kick the leather ball the entire length of the field. With her in one goal and Naomi is the other, it was exceedingly difficult to score. Everyone had a fantastic time trying though. Will had been the ref and his memory of the rules was hazy, but he tried his best. The children had enjoyed this game most of all, split into four teams of three players each. No team won, no team lost, just playing. Besides these days they had also had to trek to the river to fill up the water barrels. The route they took was becoming a proper path now. The three crew had cut and hacked, dug and raked and generally made the way easier to carry the barrels back and forth.

One memorable day was spent looking for shrimp. They had sounded until a deep spot was found, then the shrimp and crab pots were lowered. The three hours waiting were spent fishing off the side. Will didn’t bother dropping a line at all, the crew was pulling in so many he had to put rules out for fishing. No fish under a certain size would be kept, anything else was released. As he dropped a little guy back in the water he had a thought. “If the lake was changed during the sundering, why are we able to eat what comes out of it?”, he asked William. The lad shrugged “We don’t usually eat fish, a couple now and then from shore catching. What you bring like the shrimp a few months ago, and that’s about it. I’ve eaten more fish on board than I’ve had in my life.”. That stunned Will a bit. He had thought it before, how sad it was that the people were cut off from the lake. Now he knew the reason it was even worse. “Umm has it affected you, or any of the others, eating fish.”, he asked. William laughed a little, “Yeah, it makes me want more. It’s all right captain, it doesn’t make us have the awful feelings.”. That made Will feel better, for a moment he thought he could have been feeding them poison.

Hours passed and it was finally time to lift the pots. The teens volunteered to haul on the lines and they pulled, lifted, strained, huffed and puffed but the pots were deep and seemed heavy. The two mates finally took pity on the wearying kiddies and lent a hand. The first to rise to the surface was a crab pot, empty. The next was a shrimp pot, just mud and weeds. Same as the next shrimp pot, empty as well. Minnie pulled up the final crab pot, to find a single tiny crab riding on top, it stared at Minnie for a moment then scrabbled off and dived back in the water. Will patted her shoulder, “Next time.”. She sighed “Yup.”.

As the days had passed the barges were riding lower in the water, more and more coal was dumped inside. The first was full and sealed as was the second. A few days later the third was full and done, tomorrow it was full speed to Newton.

The camp where the crew spent most days was also becoming more settled. One full day had been spent felling trees. This was part of a plan to make this a permanent camp. Log houses for work crews to bunk in, a dining hall and kitchen, storehouses and eventually a dock. Just for the Rose, loading areas for the barges were planned for the beach. “If we bring up thirty youngsters we could fill the barges in two days. Live and work ashore for that time.”, Will laid out his plans to Naomi and Minnie. “I like it.”, Minnie decided right away. Naomi agreed as well, but had a question. “When we gather for Laketown would we come up here too, or still go to the shoals nearer there?”. “My thought is we would go to the shoals nearer to Laketown.”, he mused, “There’s a weeks journey between there and Newton, then another day and a half to here.”. That’s a long way to be towing.”. Minnie asked “Do you think Stephen will have their barges ready?”. Will shrugged “If not now, they will be soon. Then it’s longer trips, harder to fill up three of them than our holds.”.

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As they talked, sitting on the beach, the teens were playing in the shallows, relaxing on the rocky shore. Earlier huge piles of brush and logs were gathered. A bonfire was planned for the night, cooking over the open flames. This was becoming a last night tradition, weather permitting. Tomorrow was going to be busy. Ferrying all the equipment back to the boat and storing it away for the next trip. Readying the Rose for travel, packing up onboard, filling and emptying tanks, bathing, laundry…there was a long to-do list.

Will hoped the memories the children made would be looked back on fondly. Some would be travelling on the Rose on other trips, some like William and Greta would never be on the water again. Again he laughed at how quickly these days had gone by and what was coming up. According to the calendar today was December 21st, when the got to Newton he planned a day of rest, relaxation and preparation, then back out and heading for Laketown. But for now there were sausages to cook on the fire, maybe popcorn, definitely tea to drink.

Later as they rowed back to the Rose he could hear the tired teens talking, how much they had enjoyed the last week, all the new foods introduced and soccer. It looked as though that game was going to a permanent addition, if William had anything to say that is. He was chattering to the two brothers about starting a, “Captain, what did you call it again? When it’s a few teams playing.”, he asked. “A league.”, Will replied. The lad nodded his thanks and continued his plotting with Sigurd and Bjorn. When everyone boarded safely and then below for the night, Minnie and Will lifted the boats to their davits. As they walked the deck Minnie asked “Is this going to be the last for Newton then, will it be enough?”. Will shrugged “It will have to do, we’ll be back in a couple, maybe three months, some stuff to do for Laketown and then to the south.”. Climbing down the stairs Will was still in the habit of closing both sets of doors, they might not need to in these warmer climes but there it was.

Just as he still went and filled hot water bottles for their beds, warm toes were a must. The boat was very quiet, the galley dark as was the mess. Only one lantern lighted in the main corridor and light coming from the lounge, that door was ajar. Minnie peeked in and discovered Greta sitting and talking with Naomi. Will came in behind with a last cuppa and his notebook, just a few things to write down. Greta stood when Will and Minnie came in and seemed flustered. Will flapped his hand at her, “Now now, we don’t bite, you should know by now.”. She laughed “I know captain, but I don’t want to intrude.”. Minnie had curled into her favourite chair and was happily looking through her many sketches. In a few moments she had pulled Greta down beside her and she and Naomi were regaling her with the last few months news. Listening with half an ear as he wrote and planned for the future. To hear what Naomi was telling Greta now made the crew sound pretty adventurous. “And then, bam! Dad nailed that sharp to the deck and I whacked his head off. Taught him to try to eat Naomi.”. Yup, Minnie made things sound exciting. Her sketchbook was passed around and there it was, the entire sharp trip. He hadn’t realized she had grown this skilled, but her mind had caught every detail and managed to bring it to life. Full pages of the boat and crew in action, or a single image that captured the moment. Then they were looking through her pictures of the north, with Naomi’s detailing of where and when, what happened and why. Somehow she had even drawn an incredibly realistic image of the tooth necklace that they always wore. But this image was of Wills, showing the long hairs that had been carefully braided into the leather thong, a hand holding it out as if reaching out of the page. Unknowingly he had reached up and held the tooth as it rested against his skin. Minnie noticed and reached over and held his hand , “That is a wonderful drawing sweetie, just wonderful.” Will said.

It was like going through photo albums back in the old world. Seeing something, some image that just pops out of the old Polaroid photo that brings a flood of memories. A picture of a swing set in the yard, the kids had played on it for years, then the grandkids came along and they got pushed on the same swings. Minnie’s illustrations had that same power, to draw out the recollections simply by looking at her artwork, or one of her portraits. Again Will hadn’t realized how much she had done. The council of Newton were present, all in their fedoras and scarves. A single picture of Will rolling Matt’s chair down the quay for his last trip, she had done how captured them perfectly. “I think you’re gonna need some more supplies soon?”, Will asked. Minnie nodded, “Oh yeah, I’m pretty low on everything, good thing Christmas is coming soon.”. Now that caught Greta’s attention, “What’s that mean, and I have to ask about that tree. Why does it have those decorations on it?”. Will told her it was a custom where he came from, to celebrate on a certain date. That seemed to satisfy her curiosity, it was their business after all.

William joined them a short while later. His charges had finally dropped off, most of the six lads had been chatting about football and how they could hardly wait to get home. The other young man, Sigurd, had liked playing but was more of a studious type. A hard worker and willing to lend a hand at any chore or task but would really prefer to be reading a book under a tree, watching his brother and friends play. “He’s a good man, probably end up a teacher, physician maybe.”, William mused. “His brother has already apprenticed to Ed as a driver, we always need more drivers.” he added. “Trains would be more efficient.”, Will thought aloud. Four sets of eyes swivelled his way “What’s a train dad?”, Minnie asked.

Three hours later, give or take, the four of them sat back and admired their work. Several pictures of locomotives pulling freight cars, a proposal to create a rail system and a fact book, with everything Will knew about the railway. His offhand remark about trains had sparked interest in William and Greta. Explaining the details had taken a while but once they realized how much of a change it would be, they had taken the idea and ran with it. At first a single track, from Newton to the mountain area, hundreds of miles long. Then branching from that to the other cardinal points, heading as far as possible. Until they reached the impassable areas, the canyons and the rivers. But even with those restrictions opening the country would be a life changing event. Not that it would be done overnight, this was going to take years. They had roughed out a timeline, a schedule of what needed to be done, in what order. Surveying the land, deciding the route was one of the first on the list. Next was the track, how to make the rails, how to lay them. Will had a basic idea but this had to be done right. Then the train itself. Was there enough heavy industry to make the engines and rolling stock, could the crew supply enough raw materials.

All of these questions had been asked and answered in a twenty page notebook, along with a proposed map of the trains route. William planned to talk to his father, get him interested first, “We’ll see but I’m sure he will be as excited as I am.”. As he looked over the drawings he saw the tiny Minnies on the trains, or waiting at the train stations, . “This is an artists depiction, what it could look like when it’s done.”, he explained as he had Minnie draw several drafts of what train engines could look like. From small first generation steamers to, what he considered the finest ever built, the American type Jupiter. It would be a long time until anything like that was built here but there was no rush. The two younger people were a bit exhausted after the planning session and were going to rest now, the morning would be coming soon enough. As goodnights and sleep wells were exchanged William and Greta left, Will closed the lounge door. “Did I just make a mistake?”, he asked Minnie and Naomi, “Introducing something like railways is a real jump forward.”. “Maybe it is, but it will take years to build, they might lose interest or run out of supplies.”. Naomi answered. “That’s going to be lots of gathering trips, iron ore and coal and copper, lots of work for us.” said Minnie, “Nothing wrong with that, I need credit for the candy store.”. “Me too, and the bakeries.”, Naomi joined in. Nodding, Will had to agree with them. He had seen more barges under construction, so raw material shouldn’t really be a concern.

After talking of the future for a little while it was time to get some sleep. Will and Minnie got ready, her first of course. Luckily the bedsheets were still warm even though the metal hot water bottles had been in for hours. Sliding in the sheets, snuffing the candle and looking up at the blackness, he felt Minnie’s presence beside him, as she had been her entire life. “Night Min, busy day tomorrow.”: he whispered. “Oh yeah,” was the tired response, “Homeward bound.”.