Chapter 36 There it Goes Again

Again the land to the far north of the Rose was shaking. Something was unsettled in the depths and was taking its time resolving the usual balance. The new inland sea and the heartwood tree were safe, it was far far inland from there. In and around the all encompassing mountains that both protected and imprisoned the lands on either side, there were rockslides. Sometimes great chunks of the mountains would crack off and wreak havoc below. Crashing down in a tumble of snow and rock, hundreds, sometimes thousands of feet down. Creating a jagged tumble at the foot of the peaks, sometimes continuing on down the snow covered slopes. Causing miles long avalanches that tumbled the rocks far from their starting point. Every quake was resolving the problem below, but were all the smaller shakes, rattles and rolls signs it was coming to an end, or a sign something bigger was coming? Time would tell.

The next few days were very unremarkable aboard the Rose. Cards were played, sometimes charades too. Late at night, when the boat was bobbing at anchor, you could hear laughter, sometimes indignant shouts. Dinners were prepared, mostly fish now, sometimes salt beef or salt pork. Ham and bacon were just fond memories now, the last of the smoked sausage was gone too. Canned fruit and vegetables were down to a couple of days. Bread making’s were still ample, as was oatmeal. Plenty of jam too and syrups. Laketown was excellent at all methods of preserving fruit. Root vegetables were down to a couple of meals, potatoes and carrots but for some reason there were lots of turnips. Minnie and Naomi despised them in every form, Will enjoyed them but not too often. “If it’s about a week to Newton, and two weeks to Laketown, which one should we plan for?” Will asked one morning. Minnie shrugged, working on oatmeal with large dollops of strawberry jam. “Don’t matter to me dad, you know that.”, she answered. Naomi thought for a bit “I do miss my sister and friends back in Laketown, but we need a resupply. Let’s go to Newton.”. Will agreed and the course was set.

As they had been steaming southerly the weather had changed for the better. First wet snow, then freezing rain, after that was just rain. There seemed to be an invisible line that, after the boat crossed it, kept the truly bad weather away. Mile after mile the wind warmed up too, from freeze your face solid, to ‘my that’s nice and brisk’. The thick winter coveralls were still hung by the stairs but mostly unused. Boots, pants and rain jackets were fine now. Having the covered walkway to the wheelhouse was a huge quality of life improvement. It was easy to come and go if nature called, bring tea or snacks and to change shifts if required. Will, Minnie and Naomi had taken to setting their deck chairs up under the canopy and whiling away time just sitting and relaxing. And the days passed.

Nearly three months to the day the Rose steamed into the Newton harbour. Pulling on the steam whistle to let the town know they’re back. The weather was warm, blue skies and a mild wind. After the awful weather they had just survived this felt like heaven. Just like the first time the Rose had shown up after so many years, the townsfolk poured out onto the beach and streets near the quay. The barges sat empty in the same spot they had been tied to, finally unloaded. If they did a coal run soon Wills plan was to beach the barges, easier to unload that way. “How did they unload them anyway?”, Minnie asked. Will shrugged, “I think they mentioned there was a team of people that would run up and fill buckets as long as they could, then get pulled back on a rope for safety.”. “That would take a long time, they should have gotten back to us sooner.”, Naomi pointed out. “Yeah, but we couldn’t wait forever for the council to make up its mind.”, Will added. And speak of the council, several carriages had begun to arrive at the lands end. People in red hats and scarfs piled out, Minnie was looking through her telescope and was pointing out the people she knew. “There’s that Dave guy, and Samantha and Ed, some of the kiddies are edging out onto the quay, it’s Harold and his sister in the front. Now some old guy is making sure they’re safe, there’s a lot of people around. He’s wearing a hat and scarf too.”. Naomi was watching through another glass they had and nodded, “A new councillor maybe, to replace Matt?”. I think they need an odd number of members, so votes can pass.”. Will said. He was surprised it had taken this long actually.

The Rose was slowing as she passed through the slightly choppy water of Newton’s bay, and as she reached the end of the quay the boat was barely making way. Will hopped off and tied up as Minnie floated her the last few yards in. As he tossed the fenders down between boat and dock he heard the engine stop. For the first time in a long time they were at a perfectly safe harbour, and if felt… “It feels weird dad, just sitting here tied up.”, Minnie said. As they hopped off the boat he could hear the enthusiasm of the crowd, even over the distance between them. Voices calling welcome back, young and old, Will could pick out some familiar ones. As ready as they could be the crew started off towards the lands end. When they were nearly on land the councillors had rushed forwards to greet them. The new person had turned out to be John, Matt’s longtime partner. Dave shook hands all around as did Samantha, Gemma and Evelyn, “So good to see you all back safely captain.”, said Dave. “It has been a long time Will, we were worried.”, Samantha added, “Ed will be glad you’re back too.”. John was holding back a bit from the water, makes sense Will thought, the older people are much more affected.

He could feel that he was relaxing, winding down as it were, surrounded by friends. “It’s great to be back, just great. We sure have some stories to tell.”. Minnie had seen friends in the crowd and gone to visit with them, shopkeepers she knew, some of the temporary crew. Naomi as well, she had seen Ed who had driven up on a massive supply wagon, and gone to chat. “We heard you signalling captain, a while ago,”, said Samantha, “So we let the suppliers know, Ed rushed off to load up and, well here you are.”. Dave added “It’s been a while, we thought you would be short on some things.”. Naomi called over “Short on most is a nice way to say it.”. Minnie added “Out of everything is a better way, all I had for dinner was a crust of bread and a glass of water…lake water.”. Gemma glared at Will then laughed when Naomi said “You did not, we had fish last night and you ate so much I thought you were going to pop.”. “Well yeah but the fish was crispy and crusty, and I tried some of dads tea, that was like lake water.” answered Minnie. After visiting for a short while it was decided the council would come aboard for dinner tonight.

Will rode in the wagon as it was backed down the quay under Ed’s skillful hands, there was quite a load of stuff . Minnie and Naomi had gone ahead and readied the hold for the goods. Two pallets waited on the dock but Will had to laugh when he looked in the wagon bed. All the bags of flour and salt, all the various crates of cheese, tubs of butter were all tied safely on new made pallets. A cargo net was wrapped around both for easy lifting. “Nice one,” Will said, gesturing at the pallets. Ed blushed a bit “It’s such a good idea, we use them all the time now. When we pick up from all the farms, saves lots of time loading.”, he pointed to the crane at the back of the wagon, also a new addition. “I meant to ask about that,”, said Will, “Naomi mentioned wagon driving as a living, can you tell me a bit about it?”. Ed nodded eagerly. “There’s a route the drivers travel, every few days. We pick up and drop all over the country, to the impassable areas and then back.”. Will pondered that for a moment, “How did the ore gathering idea pan out?”. Ed shook his head “We just can’t get there, to where there a good amount. We go up the shore, as far as we can, and glean some small scraps. But nowhere near enough.”. Will sighed “So a coal runs needed soon then, ore too?”. “Yes, but only if the crews up for it. Mom told me not to push for it.” the younger man replied. Will thought for a minute “Couple of days and we will be good to go I think, but your mom and the others are coming over tonight, we’ll let them know.”.

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It took a few minutes to unload the supplies into the hold. Ed told Will another wagon would come by tomorrow with the rest and to let mom know tonight what shortages they had. “Everything but oatmeal and fish.”, Minnie yelled up. “And toilet paper, we’re nearly out.”, Naomi added from below. “Calm down you two, we’re going shopping in a while, remember?” Will yelled back. “I’ve got more interesting things to buy than toilet paper dad.”, Minnie said from behind Will, making him jump a bit. “That was quick.”, Will laughed. “Well you did mention shopping.”, said Naomi from his other side. He jumped again, “How?”. She just shrugged “I’ll take Ed down, you guys get ready, might need the cart dad.”. Oh yeah, we’ll definitely need the cart he thought. He held onto the crane rope and lowered down into the hold. Finding the shopping wagon took a minute but eventually he tied it to the crane, gave a tug and Minnie cranked him and the cart up on deck. “Woohoo.”, she said, “Haven’t seen that for a while, let’s go fill it up.”. And again Minnie rode in the cart as Will ran down the quay, nearly beating Ed’s team to the end, yelling in joy as he hit every bump possible.

Meeting up with Naomi the question was “Where to first?”. “How about tea and cakes over at Harold’s moms tea house? Shop on the way too though.”, Will suggested. The other two agreed and they headed up the high street, one stop first though. Minnie had found a dairy stall and had bought a jug of fresh milk. She drank half at one gulp and let out a resounding belch, “Oh yum.”. “Minnie, you got us all some milk, that's wonderful, I missed it so much, lemme have a big drink.”, Will reached for her drink. “No way, this is mine, my precious.”, she clasped her jug to her chest. I knew I shouldn’t have told her that story, Will thought, good thing we haven’t finished it yet, I might have lost a finger. “Yeah it’s still not my thing.”, he said. They continued on, stopping as this store had something of interest, then a stall that sold knickknacks. The clothier, Darren’s, happened to be on their way and of course they stopped. Minnie ordered several pairs of one piece pyjamas, with feet, Will asked for two new sets of the winter coveralls, but with more leather reinforcement and with a thicker felt liner. “Not warm enough for you captain.”, he laughed. “They were plenty warm but they got pretty worn, wet, bloodied and just generally beat up. But they lasted and kept us warm in weather you would not believe,”. “Yeah thanks guy, kept us safe.” Minnie added. “No hurry on those mind you.”, said Will, “We won’t be going north for quite a few day, about a hundred.”, Will said. Darren nodded, “They’ll be ready captain, and I’ll let James know you’ll want new boots and gloves too, he’s my brother you know.”. “Why don’t you two work out of the same shop, save money on rent and taxes.”, Will asked. “I don’t know what most of that is, money, rent or taxes, what are those?”, Darren said, puzzled. “Oh right, never mind any of that, but wouldn’t it be easier to work together.” Will continued. Darren shook his head “My brother and I get on well, but not that well, and our wives don’t like each other much, they’re sisters.”. “Ah well that explains it.”, Will said. After a few minutes longer, several items that each of them wanted, picking the perfect material and so on. Not really Will, he would happily wear plaid shorts and a bright blue shirt. So Naomi picked his colours with Minnie’s advice.

Darren promised that some of their orders would be ready in a few days, probably after returning from the coal run. “Small towns huh, everyone knows everything.” Naomi laughed. Continuing on their way, still stopping here or there, they finally made it to the tea house. Sally had seen the commotion as the crew made their way up the street and came to greet them at the door. “Welcome back, so good to see you all again, are you here for just tea and cakes, or perhaps a sandwich or two, I know how you like those grilled cheese, we borrowed the idea I hope you don’t mind, but come in come in, let’s find a nice seat in the garden.”, she bustled off, dragging the crew behind. After they were seated at a nice table in the warm sunshine, handy umbrellas keeping the light out of eyes, Sally went to get some fresh cakes after getting them all a glass of apple juice. “I guess she found her voice again huh.”, Minnie said. “Can you imagine family dinners here, between her and Harold, no one could get a word in.”, said Naomi with a giggle. Will had taken a drink and nearly spit it all over the table, just nearly though, he managed to drink it down with a gulp. The tray of cakes and the teapot was very welcome when Sally dropped it off. You could make cakes and desserts without eggs and butter, and they had done so for months now. But they sure had been missed. Minnie had devoured petit-fours, fairy cakes, strawberry tarts, cream slices and now sat in happy bliss, still clutching her milk jug, refilled by Sally. Will had eaten his fair share as had Naomi. When Will asked about Harold he was told a detailed story about how it was Harold’s turn to work at the dairy farm, churning butter and milking cows. “He loves it, well he loves most things, he’s always been a very happy boy, eager to help and easy to please.”, Sally laughed.

After signing the credit chit they carefully placed a box containing cakes for later on top of the cart. The tea house was at the top of the shopping district and now they headed back to the quay area along the other road of shops. This time it was the bookstore, the boot and glove shop, various kiosks selling knives or belt buckles, fishing gear and rope, anything you could imagine. In the boot store Will was showing James his ideas for warmer boots. The leather ones had lasted but hadn’t quite been warm enough. Now the cobbler was working on a much larger leather outer shell with several quilted felt liners inside. And much higher to prevent snow getting in and down. “Won’t these be a bit clumsy to wear, they’re so thick, is it really that cold?”, he asked. Will nodded. “Colder than you could imagine.”. James also promised to have them ready in one hundred days, for the next trip north. “It’s going to be much colder than last time, right at the end of their winter, so three pairs for each of us.”, said Will. “No worries captain, they’ll be ready.” James promised. The last place they stopped at was of course the candy shop. The long wooden counter with large glass jars full of various hard candies, wooden trees holding lollipops, glass cases full of sugar plums, miniature cakes and iced candies. Still no chocolate though, but a new soft cream candy had come out. All different flavours from caramel to peppermint, delectable was an understatement. They ended up buying the entire stock and would be back for more tomorrow.

The sun was dimming now and while there were a few lanterns lighted outside of some buildings, and down by the quay, most of the town was darkening too. Will had to skip the bookstore, that would be tomorrow. It was time to get back on board and get ready for the councils dinner. “I hope they bring ribs and steaks and pork chops and ham, milk too and carrots and not turnips.”. Will laughed, “I hope so too, been a while since we have had a barbecue.”.