Chapter 47 Back Together Again

So here we go again, thought Will as he woke. He was worried about the fishing. Ore loading was nothing really, fill the bag, dump the bag. No danger unless you drop a lump of coal on your foot, but sharps were dangerous. This was going to be fun.

He and Minnie dressed. She had made some of her pants into shorts and looked very snazzy indeed. Bright yellow boots and hat, light brown overall shorts, tool belt, several bangles on her wrists, she looked amazing. Will was in shorts and and a tee, both shades of yellow. “We’re pretty cool dad, yellow looks good on us huh?”, said Minnie, looking in a mirror adjusting her hat. “We sure do, maybe we could make yellow our crew colour, maybe even repaint the Rose yellow.”, asked Will. Fully dressed they headed for the mess.

It looked so different with all the chairs and tables set up again. Smaller tables on the side loaded with plates and silverware, ready for the hungry horde that would arrive soon. But for now it was just the three of them. Naomi popped out of the galley with a nicely loaded tray of food.. “You two want to eat on deck today?”. “Oh yeah,”, said Minnie, “Why aren’t you in yellow, we are and we’re cool, is that bacon under there, and eggs, and taters, and toasties. I do like breakfast you know.”. Will laughed “Oh we know.”.

As they headed to the deck Naomi asked Will to get the teapot, cream and sugar. Cups too…and don’t forget Minnie’s milk. Oh and the jam, strawberry this time. Will laughed…. “Got it.”. Gathering up the rest of breakfast he headed on deck.

Minnie had thrown open the main doirs and a wonderful breeze blew through the covered dock. Time to get her back in the open waters thought Will. Minnie and Naomi were waiting at the bow, plates loaded. “I hope you two are ready to rock.”, he said, “This run might be tough.”.

Explaining what ‘rock’ meant took quite a bit. And somehow he found himself explaining about pet rocks, and that was odd. While they were doing this they had slowly pulled out of the covered dock and tied off on the long quay. Over a lingering breakfast they heard the bell jingle, showing someone was waiting at lands end. “Gee I wonder who that is .”, remarked Minnie. Will nearly said Avon calling but knew that would take at least an hour to explain, so he merely said “company.”. As they were finished eating it took just a couple of minutes to clean up and head down the quay.

And there they were, mostly familiar faces, with a couple of scared new ones. Stephen, Regina and two other council members, Boris and Margaret. The each had children going on this trip and they were here to see them off. The two wagon drivers and shown up too, both on one wagon this time. Will remembered they had kids that had gone last time and were coming along again.

“Good morning everyone, what a sparkling day it is.”, he said. “Let’s walk down to the Rose.”. Minnie led the children and Will stayed at the back with the wagon and councillors. “Beautiful day for a trip hmm?”, said Margaret. About 45, shoulder length brown hair, she also had a child on this trip. Walking with her was Alexander, the one who actually had shovelled a lot of coal last trip.

Reaching the Rose Will stopped and waited for Stephen to speak. “Well here we are again, our brave children going on the lake to get what we need. It is our tradition, our duty and our privilege to serve. We have all gone on these trips, over the years, different captains but all with the same drive. To serve. Thank you all.”.

Will stepped forward, “Hello again to most of you, and welcome to the new crew. This is a work trip but not all the time. Work hard yes, but have fun too. Learn and explore your world. Listen to First Mate Minnie she knows the Rose like the back of her hand. Listen to Second Mate Naomi, that’s her galley and mess you’ll be eating in, so no horse play there. Now let’s board and set course.”.

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The kids and parents said their goodbyes, teary eyes all around.Dave and Owen unloaded the perishables and final supplies onto a pallet and Will craned it aboard and down into a hold. He could hear Minnie’s squeaky voice herding the kids aboard, Naomi’s lower tones showing them where to go and where to put their bags.It sure sounded busy down there.Stephen, Regina and Margaretalong with the wagon were escorted back to lands end.

“Safe trip Will, good luck to you all.”, said Stephen, “Yes, good journey captain.” Margaret added. Regina shook Wills hand “Take care of all your crew captain, come back to us.”. Will bade them all goodbye, waved to Dave and Owen as they drove their empty wagon back to town. He walked back along the long quay to his noisy boat.

Coming aboard he could go feel that the boiler was full on, steam was building nicely, the water level topped up last night. He checked that the coal bunkers were full and the auto feed was operating. All was good. As he entered the mess he found all the teens sitting, listening to Minnie tell them the rules. She was telling them to always flush, not use too much water, don’t throw nothing down the toilet, wash your hands. Eat all your dinner, put your dishes away, no scratching the tables or beds, all those good things. She waved to let him know she was finished, so he called out, ”All hands on deck, we’re leaving!”.

Minnie led the stampede to the deck, where all the teens lined up along the rails, waving and calling to the shore.Will hopped off onto the quay and got ready to release the lines.Min was in the wheelhouse now and gave a toot to let him know she was ready.Will removed the lines and tossed them on deck, threw the fenders in.Minnie started the Rose moving slowly ahead and Will jumped onboard.She went to half speed and off they surged.

The children were still waving as the shore went out of sight and it was open water all around. This sight seemed to quiet them, as this was the place they had been told to avoid their entire lives. The ones who had been with them before were a little braver but they were all quiet now. Naomi came on deck then and greeted all the teens. She knew them all of course and they cheered up a bit. “Don’t be afraid, Minnie will protect you, her and captain Will. You’ll be perfectly safe.”.

The lake was mostly calm, an occasional whitecap cresting. A bit of wind but still a beautiful day on the water. The new rudder worked well and the boat responded like a charm. Minnie was happily pulling on the whistle and was trying to work out tunes, not so good at first but trying hard. The cost in coal and steam was negligible and it made her happy, so why not. They were steaming due east to the ore shoals, following the same route as before and should reach their destination by tomorrow morning.

Will planned to bbq burgers tonight, to use up some of their fresh supplies and to welcome the kids aboard. He was looking forward to their first meal as it bonded them together, no more us and them, just us.

As Minnie had the boat in safe hands Will went below to one of the storerooms.There he found harpoons, long gaffs and protective gear.Leather sleeves and gloves, high leather boots.Hopefully it would hold up, he had only fished up a very small sharp, once.He knew how to do it of course but, just but.

After checking their gear he decided it was tea time. He headed to the galley just in time to catch Naomi in mid-rant about their lack of ice. She seemed quite upset that they couldn’t use their ice box this trip. “It’s so handy Will, we came to rely on it while we were working around Newton but now…bah!”, she threw her hands up in frustration. “Oh I know, refrigerated food is great, not just for a cold beer.”, he laughed. “We got along without it before though, we can again.”. As he spoke he put the kettle on for his tea. “I could have done this for you.”, Naomi said. “I think you have enough to do, wrangling these kids, and the galley. I can manage a teapot.”, he replied.

His tea ready, grabbing several biscuits, shortbread this time. Pocketing a few extra in case of Minnie, he headed to the wheelhouse for his turn at the wheel.They had worked out a two hour schedule, swapping his watch back and forth so they could keep track.Made life easier but he was a bit nervous at the way Minnie looked at the watch.Like she was dying to take it apart andmaybe try to make a new one.She had very skilled little fingers but this was the only one.

Entering the wheelhouse he found Minnie was talking with a couple of the teens, Bree and Violet. Apparently it was quite the funny tale as both teens were laughing, nearly in tears. “Oh hey dad, got littles here, visiting with me, they were kinda lonely and homesick, whatever that is, I never get homesick cause I’m always at home…right?”. “That’s right, but some people do get that way. Young people usually, but I would get that way in my old life, if on a long holiday. Just want to be home.”, said Will. He sat in his captains chair, “are you feeling better now?”, he asked the two, passing around the biscuits. He made sure to give his share to Minnie, she loved them so.

The girls nodded, having gotten quite shy in his presence, and soon left to go below for a nap before dinner. He passed Minnie his watch, she gave him a hug and she also went off, leaving him alone. He checked their course and speed, bang on as usual. Then he settled to do some journaling. Recording his activities, his plans and so on, really helped him focus. Also his growing to do list, which was manageable but barely. So much he wanted to get done but he had all the time in the world, literally. That was a problem, no deadlines so no urgency.

His next project besides his ongoing ever changing steam skiff, his watch’s and clocks, remembered books, was to make a smoker. To add to their grill. Smoked meat was a wonderful thing and he planned to talk to the town blacksmith when they returned. He had drawn up plans of course. Minnie was excited to try it, Naomi had never heard of it.

Looking ahead he could see that their good weather was about to end, a storm head was forming up. Black clouds and the wind picking up….looks like fun was about to start.