Chapter 39 Fouled

The bucolic afternoon and evening led into an even milder night. They were going to anchor soon for the night, practically in the same spot as on their way to Newton. The Rose followed the coast, not too close but usually in sight of. Will was dying to turn the helm direct north and steam on til they found something but they had obligations to Laketown. Goods to deliver and plans to make.

Will envisioned every town and village having at least one barge. When the Rose and crew swung by the barge would be used to gather the villages needs. Easy to construct, he had taken copious notes of the ones in Newton. All they had to do was float. The amount of their haul would enable the villages to grow and the Rose could keep to a rough schedule of visits.

He laughed, they only had two destinations so far,but it was something to keep in mind for the future.

“Hey Minnie, are we there yet?”, asked Will.Minnie shook her head “Not yet, you in a hurry?”.Will just smiled, waited until she turned back to the ships wheel.“How about now?” Min turned to look straight at him “No, still not there.”.Will nodded and sat back in his chair.

“Hey Min, are we there yet?”.His little friend glared at him, “no we’re not, do you see Laketown out that window, of course you don’t cause we’re NOT THERE YET!”.The last part was quite loud.He waited a few minute then.. “Hey Min,”, he didn’t get any more out.Minnie spun around, grabbed one of the fire buckets and drenched him.

“Go on go, get out of my wheelhouse, go bug Naomi, go build something, make some tea, but I will tell you when we’re there!”. She chased him out with another bucket of stale lake water and slammed the door shut.

Laughing he waved at his irate little buddy and headed below deck.Going first to his cabin to change he then went to the mess in search of tea.One of his purchases at Newton had been a different type of tea than they sold in Laketown.A very earthy tea, strong and robust, And that tea was what he wanted now.

As he entered the mess it was very quiet and dim, the day had been bright and sunny. A safety lantern was swinging from a hook giving off enough light to see by. The door to the galley was ajar, giving out more light. Entering he saw Naomi working on their evening meal .

Knocking on the doorframe so not to startle her, he saw her give a small jump anyway.“You move so quietly captain, like a giant cat sometimes.”, she laughed.Will sat at the work bench, “well Minnie thinks of me more like a giant pest right now.”, he said.He told Naomi what happened and she remarked that “he deserved every drop”.”

“Yup, I did, but it was fun.Anyway I am going to anchor us for the night and then Min and I will be back down.” With that he started the climb back up to the deck.Heading to the wheelhouse he knocked first, waited til Minnie saw him and gingerly entered.“Not going to get another bath am I?”, he asked.”Only if you ask that again.”, laughed Minnie.

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Will promised her that he was done and that they were anchoring for the night.She pulled the engine control to full stop with a sigh.“I sure love piloting you know?”.“I know you do sweetie, you are such a good pilot too, always keep us safe.”, replied Will.“But for now let’s anchor up, eat dinner and relax.”.

As Minnie roped off the wheel and tidied the wheelhouse, Will had dropped anchor. He felt them hit bottom after a few seconds, and tied them off. Together they swept debris, mostly cookie and sandwich crumbs out of the wheelhouse and over the side. Took a few minutes to police up the deck, lines tightened, checked the boat davits and went down to the galley.

There were more lights on now and it felt homey, and smelled wonderful.The polished wood deck, and heavy wooden tables reflected the lights and the room seemed larger than it was.The crews table had been centred with only their three chairs around it.All the others were stacked and roped to the walls, waiting for the next time a work crew came aboard.

A hearty cottage pie, gravy and fresh rolls waited for them. They had reloaded the icebox and had many pounds of ice below, hopefully staying frozen. Supper was delicious and they ate well, Minnie had two large helpings as did Will. Naomi stuck with one helping but she rarely ate to the extent of the others.

Will washed up this time, he enjoyed doing this chore.Naomi brought out stewed apples with heavy cream for afters and it was delightful.Minnie mostly ate cream but who was judging.Will always thought that how you enjoy things is your business, not anyone else’s.

Their usual card game was on and it was Minnie vs Naomi this hand. Will would play the winner. It would take a while so he was writing down all his mental notes, his quickly jotted ideas, all into some kind of order.

He had filled half of one of the work books already with thoughts, ideas, musings.Opening it now, to a blank page he started writing.

The idea of a steam skiff was slowly being brought to life as he worked out all the details.Menu ideas, such as his burger and fries, maybe pizza he thought.Doing a shrimp fest again, trying to preserve them in jars.Working on heavy winter gear, waterproof and warm.A better way to catch the horrible sharps.Their teeth, bones and skins were so useful but so dangerous to bring in.

“Dad, you’re up.Gonna try to best me this round?”, Minnie said poking him in the ribs.

Setting down his quill, “You’re on little one, you’re on.”.Their card battle lasted only a little while, Will missed a black 9 on a red 10.Minnie capitalized on his error and trounced him.“Well done”, Naomi cheered her on.

As the hour seemed late, they decided to call it and go to sleep. Calls of goodnight, sleep well rang out as they went to their cabins. Will had a good wash , Minnie had a good brushing. Hitting the head for the night, then turning all the lanterns down but one hooded light. The sheets were warm and heavy and Will could feel he was dropping fast. As usual his little friend reached for his hand and held tight. Her small head besides his on the pillow, “Night dad, love ya.”.

As usual Will slept like a large log. Next thing he knew light was seeping in through the port. Stretching out his back and shoulders clacked and clicked. He could feel the sleeping lump that was Minnie, still wrapped in her blankets. Searching for his pillow he tossed it at her, no reaction. Finding another pillow he tossed that one too, a little harder, still nothing.

“Now where’s that fire bucket?”, he mused.Minnie squeaked and jumped out of bed “okay okay, I’m up already.”.Dressing and morning ablutions took a few minutes.Today shorts and sandals were the uniform of the day, Minnie too.She like to match what Will wore, but her beloved sou’wester was firmly tied on.

As Will left his cabin he banged on Naomi’s door, “breakfast on deck, going to be a sparkling day!”. Hearing a murmuring from inside he took it as a yes and headed up to lite his grill and do pancakes and fried ham outside.

Minnie had headed up already and she didn’t respond when he called her. Forgoing picking up his supplies he ran to the deck, he spied Minnie at the port rail. As he ran over he saw what she was looking at.

All around the Rose, and nearly as far as he could see in any direction, was debris. Broken trees, branches, bushes, mat after mat of bubble weed, covering the surface of the lake in a heaving carpet.Running to the bow showed the same.Grabbing a heavy rock from beside his bbq he threw it onto the mass.

It bounced.

Gathering his courage he leapt down from the deck onto the surface, which gave not at all. It was like the floor of a forest. Not easy to walk on, slippery in places, but you could make your way. Dropping to his knees he dug and pulled stick after stick, mat after bush, until he hit clear water. “It’s about three feet deep Min,,”, he called up. “How we going to get thru dad, that will foul the prop for sure.”, she answered.

“Tell Naomi to start sharpening the axes, we are going to have to cut our way through.” said Will, “Going to be a long day.”.