Chapter 43 Laketown Looms Near

The crew took the next two sea days very easy.The exertions of the last week had been extreme and Will figured a break was due.Steaming along at half speed, the water cooperated as did the weather.Mild warm days, followed by cool nights.

Oatmeal with dried fruit chunks was the meal for today and it was lingered over.Will was taking first shift in the wheelhouse and then Minnie for the afternoon.Wheel held in place, with only minor adjustments occasionally needed, the Rose was on a direct course for Laketown.

It was disappointing that his bag had not been on board, but Will still held hope for the covered dock the boat had been in.He didn’t really recall too much from then.He had met Stephen and Regina, been taken to see the boat.It seemed so long ago, but was just a couple of months really.

From the wheelhouse he could see Minnie and Naomi on deck, doing some chore or then another. Dumping galley slops, sweeping down the deck, checking lines, the usual. The Rose might be where they live, but it was where they worked too. Sometimes the lines blurred. Will tried mightily to keep the two apart, but being the captain was a huge part of who he was, not just what he did.

For a moment the boat seemed to pause, hanging between waves, then surging on like before.“What the heck was that?”.

A whistle came from two voice tubes, Naomi in the mess and Minnie in the engine room. “What was that dad, I was shovelling some coal and I just stopped.”., and “Captain, is everything ok, the tea just froze in the air while I was pouring a cuppa.”. He assured them both that everything seemed to be okay, and come on up if they needed to. Min said in a little while, finishing up in the engine room, Naomi was on her way with tea.

Rechecking their course will could see they would hit Laketown around dinner time, this was welcome news.As was the teapot and biscuits brought in and set on the chart table.“I’ve never felt anything like that, have you?”, asked Naomi, as she handed will a mug.“Nope, that was a new one for me too.”, replied Will.Minnie came in, with a handful of biscuits.“Hey,”, said Naomi, “I just brought up biscuits for us, those were saved for later.” “Yeah but there’s never enough so I took these and these ones too,”, opening her pockets and pointing, “but those are for later, when the snackies attack.”.

Snackies, Will had never heard of these creatures but you never know.

Taking a sip of tea, “so apart from the biscuit crisis and the freezing in time incident, we will be at Laketown tomorrow this time, we’ll tie offin the dry dock this time.Got a few maintenance things to do.”.

Minnie said “Hey can we see if the lake still wants to eat Naomi or if she’s safe now?”.“That’s up to Naomi, it’s easy to test just by walking out on the quay.Stephen was okay in the dry dock, little nervous but not too bad.”.Naomi looked nervous too, but said she was willing to try.

After their tea break Will kept on the helm while Minnie and Naomi went below, Minnie to finish up in the engine room and Naomi back to the galley.With one eye on the horizon and the other on his log Will wrote of what had just happened.

What it might mean was beyond him, he had never heard of time just stopping in reality.He had read many books back in his old life, fantasy or science fiction stories.So many over the years, from used bookstores at first, while still in school.

He remembered scouring all the wonderful old stores while on lunch break, or after school.Then things changed.The advent of the internet was the death of print.E books and tablets took the place of dog eared and well loved paperbacks.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He used to have thousands of them, sorted by author and by favourites.Books he had loved as a teen, the space operas, then as he grew they fell out of favour.Fantasies..that was his new love.Wizards and witch’s, boy sorcerers, young men beloved by goddesses.

So many different stories, and sure, in some of them, time stopped.Not in real life though.As there was nothing he could do, no switch he could pull to reset things, he decided to let it go.

Recording all this in his log book or journal as some might call it, gave him peace. He had loved his old life, but this chance he had been given was amazing.

After a while, in which absolutely nothing happened, Minnie came up to take her shift. She seemed happy, which was very usual for her. He couldn’t think of a time when she wasn’t content or cheerful, except at cards. She hated losing, he wondered what she would think of board games, one in particular. The one where you had to buy property and charge rent. Yeah, that would drive her nuts.

Another note in his to-do book, lots of stuff in there now. Good thing they had lots of time.

“What you doing dad, more writing of stuff before?”, she asked.“That, and stuff I want to do, to make for us.”, he replied.“Nice, I like doing things now, building and fixing.”, said Min.

They chatted on for all the time that Minnie had the wheel. As the light was dimming they cut the engine, anchored for the night and went below. The usual chores like filling coal, oiling, checking water and only then relaxing time.

Naomi was telling a story of life in Laketown, her and Chucks school years.They had been happy ones while she was young, but then her parents passed.Regina had taken care of her, and managing the family business too.She hoped that now her life was on the Rose, that her sister could get going with her life too.

Dinner was over, they had stayed up past dark tonite.The only light outside was a bit of reflected moonlight on the mostly still water.Waves lapping against the hull, boat creaking, a bit of wind making the stacks wires sing.Very peaceful indeed as the crew went to cabins for the night.Will falling asleep nearly instantly as he hit the bed, Minnie already out for the night beside him.

They woke to bad weather.Boat rocking in harsher water as she tugged at the anchor.It was a scramble to start things up for the day.Building the fire up to heat the boiler quickly.Making sure the anchors chains weren’t damaging the hull as the water surged around them.

When they had sufficient steam up Will hauled in the anchors and Minnie took the Rose back on course. Little more exciting today, the wind was southerly and the waves were trying to take the boat north in a big hurry. Fighting the wheel was going to be tougher so they would switch off every couple of hours.

No point in finding a safe harbour, there wasn’t much threat, just weather.Not every day was smooth water and sunshine and it would be boring if it was.

Their breakfast routine was about the same. Eating in the wheelhouse, a simple meal of oatmeal and toasted bread and cheese, and tea. Minnie was very much looking forward to her fresh milk and wanted to try bringing a cow onboard. She figured they were smarter than goats and wouldn’t be affected.

Will thought this was a terrible idea,but was willing to try.“What if it was sleeping all the time, it would be okay then, right”, asked Min.“Well it can’t sleep too much, it has to eat, drink, poop.”, said Will, “Cows have a lot of poop, that would be your job too..”.She looked at him “What.”.Will laughed “Yup, that’s the rule.First mate takes care of cow poop, it’s in the rule book.”.

Naomi couldn’t help the snort of laughter that came out.At that point Minnie realized Will was kidding and laughed too.“But we will try a cow, and see what happens okay?” Will assured her.He still had reservations but you never know.

One thing he did want to do was to figure out an herb garden. He had always had one and missed the taste of fresh herbs in their food. Easy enough to build and maintain, perhaps at the bow, beside the bbq. They had lots of room on deck and could spread out a bit. He had a rough drawing in his notebook but was going to ask Minnie to do a better sketch for him.

Their meal stretched for a while and an idea struck Will. An hourglass.

He could surely find a glass blower, either in Laketown or more likely Newton. By simply counting off seconds he could figure out how much sand an hour would taken then it was just a matter of construction. It wouldn’t tell them the time of day but it would make chores easier. No more guessing about how long to stand at the wheel and the like.

Again, he made a note in his book.Minnie laughed, “You have your thinking about something face on.”.Shrugging Will said “Well you’re not wrong, I did have an idea, and I am used to writing it down or I’ll forget.”.

Naomi was on her way to the deck to dump the kitchen slops when spied a familiar site, they had finally made it back to Laketown. She had mixed feelings, glad to be back but she wasn’t the same person who left. It had only been a few months but she felt a world apart. Seen more than she ever expected to.

A toot on the whistle showed that Minnie and Will had seen the village coming up ahead. She headed back down to secure the galley and prepare to meet up with friends and family.

Will and Min were arguing about who had seen Laketown first. “I am sure I spotted it while you were looking for more cookies in the jar.”, said Will. “Nope, you were writing in your book and I saw that tree by the dock, I know that tree really well.”, replied Minnie.

“I was writing, but I had one eye on the helm and saw the point of land that the towns behind, the tree is way past that, so I think I’m first.”.

“The tree I mean is on the shore by the quay, way before that land even shows, I always called it the town tree. I know that was all me this time.”.

“But when that tree came into view you were snoozing, I heard you snoring away. I thought the boiler was leaking, but no, it was you.”.

“Sorry dad, but if anyone snores around here it’s you.”

There was a knock on the wheelhouse door and they saw Naomi there, opening the door she said “I just spotted Laketown, was I first?”. Will rolled his eyes and Minnie sighed… “Yeah, you win.”.