Chapter 3. Continuing

The calendar here was weird, Will decided. The days of the week were not called what he was used to, here they had just been numbered; first, second , third and so on. He still thought of them as Monday and so on and had just continued to use what he was used to. This confused Naomi as it wasn’t what she was used to either, but they were both coming around. Minnie didn’t really care what day it was as long as there was bacon in the morning and biscuits at night. So on First morning, the day after leaving Newton, the crew woke up to brisker seas than when they went to sleep.

An odd fact was that the lake never got, so far, over five hundred feet deep. That might change as they went on, their maps were becoming less and less useful. And they had only seen a very small part. There could be deep trenches or…he just didn’t know. They hadn’t travelled too far yet, anything could be waiting. Will had a theory but had only written it down, he hadn’t mentioned it to the family yet.

Family, what an odd thing had happened. When he came here he had been lonely. Not that he had been ignored by family but his children had moved out of the country. They had asked him to come with but that couldn’t happen, he had been a bit set in his ways. But as they were out of country the only contact was phone calls once a week, maybe a video call once a month. They were both busy with kids, work, houses, life in general. He had become that forgotten part, that when it was gone you would miss it, and then get used to it not being around. Now he had two people that depended on him and that he depended on. Out of nowhere really, one brought with and the other waiting here.

Coming here, a second chance at a very different life, he tried to think of Elaith at least once a day and thank him. If this was praying, well why not. If that peculiar person wasn’t a deity he was darn close, so a prayer a day it was.

“What are you looking at dad?”, came Minnie’s familiar voice beside him. Will started from where he had been standing at the railing, pondering. “Oh hey sweetie, just thinking deep thoughts.”, he replied. “Oh those are the best kind, mine usually involve food though, ribs like last night, shrimpies, crab if we ever find them, milk yummy foamy warm milk, yup that's what I think about a lot.”, she said happily.

Will had found a smaller dinner bell when they go had been shopping in Newton and mounted it outside the galley. He figured it would serve many purposes, but mainly to call everyone for dinner. At this moment the bell was ringing “Oh right, Naomi sent me to fetch you for brekky, oops”, Minnie said a little shamefaced. Will glared at her “Do you know what this means, it means I get your bacon.”, and he legged it as fast as he could down to the mess. Minnie still managed to get there first “Haha jokes on you, just eggies and toast today, no bacon, Naomi said you’re getting fat.”. A gasp came from the galley door, standing with a pile high plate of bacon was the girl herself “I never said that, I said you would if keep eating sweets too much.”.

“Nuh uh, you said it was dad getting fat.”.

“Did not, it was you that said that, that his pants don’t fit.”.

“Well, your pants don’t fit neither.”.

“I don’t wear pants often, I’m a lady.”.

“No, you’re a pirate like us, gotta wear pants and a cool hat.”.

“I do like hats but they mess up my hair if I wear it for too long.”.

“Shave your head like dads, look a bit weird though”.”

“You go first, shave your head, look like an egg girl.”.

Minnie burst out laughing “Egg girl, good one, we’ll be egg girls, me with ears and you with a hat.”.

Will had calmly been eating his eggs and bacon while the bickering was happening. He knew it was all in fun and it was great to see Naomi confident to go at it with Minnie. As the others settled into breakfast Naomi asked “What the plan for today?”. “Steaming along, keeping to that northern course and see what we see.”, answered Will. He too a sip of his tea and nearly choked. It was the best tea he had ever had in his life. “Wow, did we buy this in Newton, it’s amazing.”. Naomi shook her head No, I found a container in the galley, be right back.”. And she stepped into the galley for a moment then came out with a box in her hands. About a foot square, made of a black wood that Will thought might be ebony. Thin silver bands ran across the surface that was so polished he could see his reflection. “I’ve never seen that before, and we tore this boat apart a while ago looking for my bag.”. As he opened the lid the smell of the tea rose up, reminding him of something, that he couldn’t quite grasp. “Maybe it just showed up”, said Minnie, “That’s happened before to us, the salve Naomi had, your bag, that trailer thing.”. Will had to agree, weird things had happened. Again he had to let it go, nothing he could do and it was amazing tea. “It’s wonderful, but I’ll save it for special occasions.”, he said sadly “It won’t last forever.”. But for now he was going to savour it.

After their meal it was anchors up and full steam ahead. Again Will was obsessing about the weather, just a bit. It was early to middle September according to the old calendar, in this world it was mid harvest. He knew that the weather could change for the worse anytime now. There had been mild winters but there had also been some real howlers, sub zero for weeks, feet of snow. Quite horrible. There were signs of a harsh winter such as lots of acorns, thick skins on onions and corn husks, pigs gathering sticks. These all might be folk tales but they were right sometimes. When Will was last in Newton he had seen a couple of these signs. So it might be a baddie coming up. So going north into the teeth of what might be a severe winter might not be smart. But they could always flee back to shelter at Laketown. So far so good though.

The midday meal was an easy one and eaten on the bow area. The Rose was a strange combination of a hard working boat and their home. It was an odd thing for Will, the foreknowledge he had been given when he first bonded. The information was there but it took a fair bit of concentrating to access it, deep meditation was more like it. The specs of the boat were floating near the top of the well, if that made sense. Other details like captains and journeys, their life were deeper and deeper yet. So far he hadn’t really delved too much into the history of everyone who had lived on this boat. Some captains lasted a few years, others a few months. Usually newcomers, but not always. He got the impression that this crew, this family was special. Had been arranged by someone or some chain of events to be the permanent crew, which suited him just fine.

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Travelling on the water was a bit boring, decided Minnie, and proceeded to tell Will every detail of why. She like being the pilot and was excellent at that job, but staring out the wheelhouse window for eight hours at waves, yup that was boring. No land in sight just keeping the compass needle firmly north. “We gonna do this for a days and days, I’ll go bonkers and take you with me.” Minnie threatened. “Nah,”, said Will “ We’ll head for shore soon, at least in sight of it anyway. That way if there’s another town or village, we’ll find it.”. She looked relieved at the thought. “Do you think they’ll want us to fish for them or get coal too?”, she asked. “Oh probably, that’s kind of the role we play here, Newton went a bit nuts with building barges but I think they are going to expand fast. Maybe they’re having a baby boom?” Will said. Instant regret, was all he felt then. Minnie’s eyes seemed big as saucers, she got on the voice tube to the galley “Naomi get up here, babies are going boom.” she yelled when her call was answered. Will sighed.

Naomi came running up to the wheelhouse, she had apparently been making bread as she was slightly floury. “What in the world is happening now, babies blowing up?” she asked. Will sat down, this was going to be a long day. It had taken a couple hours, with tea and biscuit breaks, to explain to everyone’s satisfaction. Laketown had never really boomed as a town. So the concept was unknown to Naomi, and everything was new to Min.

There had been steady slow growth from separated farms over the years, people started settling in a central area and a town grew. This world was so different, no constant conflict driving people together then apart again. Cooperating was the way things were done, and no one seemed to be in much of a hurry.

So steaming north, keeping the coast in sight and looking for signs of civilization became the game plan for the next week. Supplies were good, they had many weeks of food. Just nothing fresh much to Minnie’s displeasure, but she perked up when Will had an idea. She was complaining about the lack of fresh meat one day at dinner, they we’re having smoked ham. “It’s not that I don’t like ham, but I really like beef and pork, like ribs or steaks or chops or roasts and that thing that Naomi made the other day, with the fishies.”, she paused mid rant to stuff in a couple of pieces of bacon, washed them down with juice, grape this time, and then went on. “Those were good, fish sticks with the yummy crumbs on the outside then deep fried, and the other things the gravy, meat and taters with the crumbs and fried, those are wonderful. But I like fresh mostly.”. Will waited til she ran down and then made his suggestion. “What about a trip to shore and go hunting for fresh meat then?”. Naomi clapped her hands “ I never thought of that, I used to go with my sister for rabbits all the time, she had snares set up on trails around Laketown. Lots of people did..”. “Just rabbits?” Or deer too.”, Will asked. Minnie was fascinated “You mean go out and actually kill a rabbit, then eat it, or a deer…isn’t that cruel?”. Will had thought on this before mentioning it “It would be cruel if we were doing it for fun, but we would use it to feed ourselves. Two or three rabbits would do for a meal, and from what I saw on our last coal trip, they’re everywhere.”. Naomi nodded in agreement “Rabbits are real pests for gardeners and the big farms around town. We have to put in deep fences and wire covers on vegetable gardens, and nearly everyone has traps set up.”. “And deer hunting, or moose, the bigger animals. Do people do that here?” Will continued. “There’s a family of hunters that lives near Laketown and they hunt deer and tan the hide. Sell it to townsfolk, the meat and leather. Others hunt too, but not as much as in the past.”, Naomi said.

“But how do they get it, I mean we use fish hooks to get fishies and pots and nets for crabs, are there deer hooks too, and then pull them in?”, Minnie asked. Good question thought Will, he had wondered that too. “They use bows, same as our ancestors used for hundreds of years. My family had very old bows and when my parents passed Regina gave them to the church to display. Lots of people do that.”, Naomi shrugged, this was just tradition, everyone should know this stuff. “What’s a bow…oh wait a minute, like in that story. Robin hook and Peter…something?, I was kinda sleepy when you were telling that one dad.” said Minnie. Will laughed “Robin hoods the one with bows and arrows.”, he opened his notebook and sketched out a rough bow, Naomi snorted and took his pen and corrected his drawing. “There’s two kinds we have always used, longbows and recurve bows.”, as she talked she drew out the two types, the curved longbow and the number three shaped recurve bow. “The recurve is smaller and easier to carry or use while riding, more powerful too, but the longbow is much easier to make.”.

“And it shoots arrows right.”, Minnie was getting excited by the idea of bows and arrows, “Do we have one on board, can I try it, please please, let’s find one.”. Will didn’t think there were any on board but Naomi answered “Sure, I have a couple in my cabin, I brought them with all my other stuff.”. Will didn’t know whether to be happy or not, Minnie with a bow in hand, shooting arrows. Naomi teaching her, well at least it wasn’t firearms . Not that he had anything against guns, hand or long rifles, but on a boat weapon safety could be a real issue. He did have a concern though. “And what about butchering, I have to admit I don’t know much beyond the fact you have to do it.”. “What’s butchering,” Minnie asked, still excited and prancing around the room firing an imaginary bow. “After you kill the animal you have to prepare it for eating, and certain parts you don’t eat, so you have to cut them out.”, Naomi answered, “My other uncle, not Stephen, uncle Kevin, he lives out of town. Deep in the bush, where the tanners are. And he showed me a few times what do do with a deer, but everyone knows about rabbits. They’re easy.”. Minnie looked a bit icked out with the idea of pulling stuff out. “Same as with a fish sweetie, we don’t eat the guts.”, Will reminded her.

That cheered her up a bit. “Me and my friends would sometimes go bow fishing after school. Staying back from the water though, we were so terrified but thought we were so spiffy. We didn’t realize everyone bow fished in the rivers, just not the lake.”, Naomi added. “We never caught anything though.”. Naomi the rebel, Will thought and then said “We can’t do that here on board, unless we go spear fishing while swimming”. Minnie laughed “You mean jabby jabby the fishies under water, chasing them down, swimming?”. Will nodded “Yup, exactly that.”. They other two looked thoughtful and he could see that had intrigued them both.

Plans were made through the evening before chores and eventually bed. Naomi would teach Minnie and Will to shoot, start making snares, drawing and writing a guide on how to prepare the various animals. The tanning of deer hide was going to have to wait, she didn’t really know that part. As for rabbit fur, it was the same. They just didn’t know how to preserve it properly. “For once you didn’t know something dad, weird.”, Minnie remarked. Will laughed “In our society you went shopping for meat at super centre, you could buy leather all prepared if you wanted to make stuff with it, but most didn’t. And fur was banned in many countries, not where we came from though.”.

“What’s a country?”, asked Naomi, “And what’s a grocery store?”: Minnie asked. Wills head hit the table with a clunk, it was going to be a long night.