Chapter 31 Levelling Up

The next morning proved to be a busy one. It had started with Minnie bouncing on their bed trying to wake Will, she succeeded but not without resorting to a pillow fight. The battle was on and Will signalled defeat after Minnie drenched him with a bucket of very stale lake water, that was kept in the cabin in case of fires. After dressing, washing and brushing it was time for Will to talk to Naomi and Minnie.

Will knocked on Naomi’s cabin door and asked her to come to the mess.She called back “Of course captain, five minutes please.”.He and Minnie had prepared the morning meal today, bacon and pancakes and the usual strong tea and warmed milk.The food was kept warm under covers until Naomi came in, Minnie getting more and more inpatient as the smell of the bacon tantalized her nose.“You ate six pieces while I was cooking, don’t think I didn’t notice,” admonished Will.

“Yeah but I like it so much so it’s ok right.”, said Minnie.Will didn’t think it worked like that but it was fine.At that moment Naomi entered looking nervous, “morning captain, I hope everything is all right, did I do something wrong, am I going to leave the boat?”.“Whoa, hold on there, where did you get that idea from….Minnie did you say something?, asked Will.Minnie shrugged, “I just told her that you wanted to speak to her about last night and you looked mad.”.

Will sighed and told Naomi “I only looked mad because Minnie dumped the fire bucket on me after I had a good wash.”.Sitting down at the table Will poured a mug of tea, gesturing to the other two to do the same.Minnie wasted no time and attacked the pancakes and a side of bacon, but no tea for her.Naomi had the tea but only a small meal, saying she was still full from last night.

When everyone had eaten their fill Will spoke up. “When I came to this world I had to be connected to it, through something called Menu. I can call it up, like blue words in front of my eyes. They show my name, age, my stats like strength, what my skills are, what I’m good at.”. Looking at Minnie, he continued, “My menu starting showing Minnie, everything to do with her skills, her statistics. But only after she became who she is now.”.

Will asked “Is this something that is common here, people access the menu for information on what they’d be good at?”.Naomi shook her head “No, I have never heard of this.”.She asked “Why are you telling us about this now?”.“Because last night, when I checked my menu for changes, your name was on there too.As second mate of the Rose.”, said Will.

“….oh.”, Naomi looked shocked.“I don’t know what this means really.”.

Will explained “Minnie and I are immune to the lake effects, and we both connected with the Rose as soon as we saw her.It might mean you are able to do that too, Connect that is.”.He could see Naomi thinking it over.“Do you think I will be safe on the water now too, if it’s just me I mean, I’m always safe with you two but…”.She stopped talking. Easy enough to check, thought Will, but not here. He just didn’t know these people well enough yet. And news like this is kinda momentous, that association with the crew made you immune to the lake. “We can check but not yet and not here. I would prefer to do that in Laketown, I feel more at ease there.”. Naomi nodded in agreement.

Minnie spoke up “so can I look at my menu too dad, or is it just you?” “That’s a good question sweetie, all I can say is to try it. I don’t think you remember Elaith do you?” he asked. Min shook her head, “Nope.”. “Okay, all he told me was to concentrate , very hard, on the word menu, just that in your head.He was dancing around me, with you, singing menu menu.”.Will laughed at the memory.“I’m just going to drink my tea, while you guys give it your best shot.”

Eyes shut, lips moving silently, he could see they were both trying hard.Minnie’s tongue was beginning to loll a bit as she concentrated.Naomi was the same, well not lolling but concentrating.They had managed to hold hands while doing this and their grip looked painful, Will knew that Minnie had a grip like iron if she wanted to.

He was about to speak up and say to try again later, when a shower of blue sparks seemed to shoot out of Minnie’s head, a second later out of Naomi’s as well.Minnie’s eye popped open “I did it dad, I did it!”.“Me too captain, oh that was hard.”., said Naomi.

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“I’m a pilot and a mechanic, and a shrimper and a, yuck crabs”. scowled Minnie.“All it shows is strength, vitality and stamina, pretty low too?” said Naomi, “Not much of anything yet, no really useful skills, no affinity to anything.”. “Well done both of you. It gets easier, like flipping a light switch”, he then had to explain what a switch was, why a light had a switch, why was it called flipping. “Your skills will grow and help you as you do more.”. He didn’t think now was the best time to tell Naomi about what else Elaith had said, about living as long as you want to. That was a conversation for another time.

Now it was time to get cracking on the days work.Prepping for the ore run, getting the barges out to sea, installing the tow bollard and lines. Prepping cabins for the loader crew and stowing victuals.Busy busy day ahead.

They decided to stay together on the boat and let things come to them, rather than splitting off.Minnie and Naomi seemed a bit distracted now and then and it was probably them checking their menu.Like kids and cell phones, thought Will, never leave the things alone.He laughed aloud “Next it will be, get off my lawn, no, get off my deck.”.

The day wore on, many crates and barrels of foodstuffs were delivered and Minnie or Will would escort the wagon drivers along the quay to the Rose.Matt had sent a team of workers to install the tow mechanism.A hours long process as the bollard needed to be tied into the cross beams of the boat in a precise location.Too far astern and the could be swamped under, too far forwards and the engine might not engage properly, not to mention danger from the cables.

The right spot amidships was found and the process of bolting to the frame began. Will got himself quite disliked by the install crew by insisting the bollard was removable. The lead hand scoffed at him at first, saying it was impractical because of the weight of the piece. He said it was much too unwieldy and much too heavy to be taken off the mounts and stowed. He quieted down when he turned around and saw that Will and Minnie had been holding the bollard between them the entire time he had been talking.

Enough said, it was made removable.

The man’s team had made things worse by snickering at him, but he eventually got over it, possibly by seeing Will easily one-hand 100 pound bags of potato’s into the hold.The job was done and Will made a point of thanking each man, especially the leader.

While this was being done the ice box had been brought on board and installed in the galley. Around 6 feet high four feet wide with double doors and three feet deep. They marvelled at the well made appliance, all polished wood and tin sheets on the inside. Several hundred pounds of ice would be loaded on trip day, not before because of melting. Will was quite used to refrigerators of course but to Naomi and Minnie it was wondrous.Minnie for the possibility of her fresh milk at night, Naomi for the expansion of their menu ideas.

The crew cabins had been aired out and bedding brought out of storage, mattresses unrolled. Menus had been planned, the mess set up for more seating. Privy’s emptied and supplied with necessities. Tomorrow the young crew would arrive and it was important to make them feel welcome and appreciated.

It was decided that, as first mate,Minnie would be the one to greet, lay down the rules, shoo them down below where Naomi would separate them into the two cabins.Will would stay back as the aloof father figure of authority and Minnie would be the fun team leader, Naomi as caring big sister if anyone was homesick or seasick.

After all this work was done the crew was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Samantha and Ed, with several pounds of beefsteaks to grill on Wills bbq, jacket potatoes and cobs of corn.The bbq worked like a charm, the potatoes cooked up quickly in the intense heat and the corn boiled happily away.Minnie found that rare steak was nearly as good as her beloved milk, and was in a tired full heap, eyes glazing as she listened to Ed talk about life in Newton.Samantha and Naomi had hit it off well and were deep in conversation about change and traditions.

Will sipped on yet another cup of tea and contemplated how the next days might go.He hoped for the best but made many mental plans for the worse.Tomorrow they would be hauling the barges off of the beach and practising towing.Should be fun.

The light had dimmed and the lake was quiet, just the occasional splash of a hungry fish.One more thing to do before good nights and good byes,

Menu

William Harris

Age 44

Intelligence 17/50

Strength 27/50

Vitality 26/50

Stamina 25/50

Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,

Captain of the heartboat Rose

Navigation 3

Mechanic 3

Mason 1

Minnie

Best dog of all

Age 5

Intelligence 10/25

Strength 14/25

Vitality 18/25

Stamina 18/25

Affinities for fishing, swimming, mariner

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Piloting 3

Mechanic 2

Crab Catcher

Shrimper

Naomi 0’Malley

Age 16

Intelligence 17/50

Strength 13/50

Vitality 12/50

Stamina12/50

No information at this ti……recalculating….recalculating…

Affinities for cooking, fishing, gardening, swimming, mariner

Second Mate of the heartboat Rose

Management 1

Cooking 2

Homemaker 1