Chapter 25 Sea Day
The Rose steamed on throughout the rest of the day after leaving the Turtle Island chain.As he took his shift in the wheelhouse Will was sketching out plans for the steam powered skiff they had been talking about.Minnie had gone below for a nap, exploring tired her out.Naomi was preparing dinner, it was a very quiet boat.
The lake was very calm with clear skies but clouds to the north promised a storm this evening. “Hmm, maybe this time we will have to face it head on,” Will muttered. But there was plenty of time to think on it, hours til the bad weather.
Will was checking the charts looking at the way they were heading when he saw a small notation, like an afterthought.Off of the coast to the direct east was a wide river emptying into the lake, a small note with an arrow pointing read “shrimp here.”.Oh Minnie is going to love this Will thought.
Reaching over to the speaking tube rack he selected the one marked ‘captains cabin’, gave a short whistle into it and waited.No answer, trying ‘mess’ next.He heard Minnie’s squeaky voice…”hey dad, what’s up?I won two games of rummy so far, and I had cookies and milk and it was good cold too, I like warm best but yummy cold.”.Will snorted back a laugh, he loved that little person so much it hurt sometimes.“Just checking in on you guys, nothing going on now.But a storm might be brewing to the north of us.” he replied.“Ok dad, let me know if you need us,I’ll get us storm ready below, well me and Naomi, she was making dinner but stopped to play cards, dinners in the oven though, some kind of noodle thing with red stuff”, said Minnie. Will heard Naomi laugh in in background.
Roping the wheel into place Will headed outside to check they were storm ready here too.He trusted Minnie to take care of things below, up here was all his right now.The dory was lowered to the deck from her usual hanging on the stern davits.All lines dressed and tight.Side cranes locked in place.Anchors tied tight so they wouldn’t bang around on the hull.In fact, everything ready.
They were making good time at half ahead and Will was hoping to find a safe anchorage for the night.That storm was looking more and more like it was going to hit at early evening now.Heading back to the wheelhouse he took another look at the charts.There was not much ahead for them, just the coast and anchoring in the storm off of a rocky coast was not a good idea.Nothing to the east, couple of big islands north but the storm was that way, land south and they had come from the west.“Not a lot of choice here” muttered Will.
Checking the barometer he found it was holding steady, and the wind vane was spinning lazily from a north wind.Was he being paranoid about the weather he thought. Worrying about something that might not happen or being prepared for the worse, a hard thing to balance. A storm on the water was nothing to ignore, luckily the Rose was powered.Sail ships depended on wind power to steer, and usually the wind was coming from the storm front.The best way to meet a storm was to meet waves head on so the hull can cut through the wave…heaving to.
Only problem with this, Will thought, is that the storm might last too long.But that’s a plan if the weather is very bad, ordinary waves and rain we can stand if anchored.Time for dinner now though.Turning to the voice tubes once more he was going to call the mess again when Minnie and Naomi entered the wheelhouse carrying trays.Will quickly cleared the chart table and the fragrant trays were set down.
The noodle thing turned out to be a delicious vegetable casserole, and apple crisp and custard for afters.Minnie had carried up a huge pot of tea and a smaller pot of warm milk.Cups too.Chairs pulled up, plates and mugs filled, then quickly emptied.Small talk about cards, weather and so on until Will made his announcements.“So, two things.Storm coming from north, if it’s just bad weather we will anchor close to land as usual for the night.If it turns nasty we will hove to as long as we need to.” He continued “Naomi if that’s the case stay close to us, one at least, lifebelt at all times okay”?”.She nodded with a worried look. Minnie patted her arm “ don’t worry, I got you”.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Second thing, I was checking our charts for the route ahead and came across an interesting thing”, Will smiled.“Your going to get your chance to try shrimps soon Minnie, very soon.”.“Yay, I think”. said Minnie.They cleared the remains of their meal and Will headed down to check storerooms for fine shrimp nets.Minnie had the wheel and the lake was still mostly calm but the wind had picked up and the occasional whitecap was seen.
Will had no trouble locating what he needed for shrimping. It was nearly like the boat knew what he wanted and steered him that direction. For all I know that’s exactly what’s going on, thought Will. Not a bad thing though. He had owned a few boats before coming here to the Rose, much smaller of course. But all of those seemed to have a mind of their own…steer left and go right, pull back and surge ahead. He used to have a saying about boats; that there’s only two good days as a boat owner, the day you buy it and the day you sell it.
Before heading backup on deck Will stopped by his cabin to pick up something.Stepping inside he stopped short.The cabin looked like a whirlwind had hit.Small clothes everywhere, cupboards open, draws emptied on the floor.“What the….”, sighed Will.“It’s like living with a teenager again.”.However, a messy room was both their concern and Will was probably as much to blame as Minnie.Busy days made for early night but the schedule needed an added item or two.A cleaning day or days, every other day maybe.He would talk it over with the others.
Finding what he came in for Will headed back to the wheelhouse.Entering he found Minnie on the helm and Naomi was playing her violin.“I always wanted to play the fiddle, but I had shoulder problems” said Will.“Oh hey dad, she’s good huh, I sure like it, music, and the cookies too,” said Min, eyeing the plate in front of them.“I think you have had plenty, save some for the captain.”, said Naomi.“Aww fine”, groused Minnie “but I call dibs on dessert first tonight.”.
“How’s she handling Min?”, asked Will. “Weather holding or worsening?”.
“So far so good dad”, answered Minnie “No storm yet, it might miss us, just a few heavier waves and no rain.”.“That’s good, I hope it misses us, but time will tell us.”, replied Will.Asking Minnie if she was okay on the helm still and getting a resounding yes in reply, he sat and worked on his latest project.
It was a book of stories that he remembered from their old world. Fairy tales and folk tales, movie and tv shows…all the things that Minnie would never know. He would try his best to give her the best that he could remember. Being an avid reader helped, he had started with writing down all the titles of everything he had enjoyed over the years. Luckily his memory had improved along with his physical skills, this helped with his recollection.
Currently he was working on one of the popular children’s movies that his children and grandchildren had watched many years before.The story of Aladdin and his magic lamp.Being in a whole new world gave him the opportunity to write the story as he like to, but the only real change had been the removal of the monkey sidekick.Yuck monkeys he thought, horrible little poo flingers. The rest of the story would stay the same, the heroic Aladdin who meets the beautiful princess, the all powerful genie, evil bad guy.Minnie will love this, he thought.
I know they have books here, and printing presses.I might be able to make a deal with someone to provide all these stories that I know.Not having to worry about things like copyright and plagiarism will make things easy.And think of how many people will love these stories, Will was going to give credit to the original authors, if he could remember their names.Seemed the fair thing to do after all.
He had been lost going this for a couple of hours, lost in memories too.Time to get back to the business at hand.Looking up he saw clear skies ahead and the lake had settled to the regular even swells.“So guys, how’s it going?” he asked suddenly.“Gaaaah!”, screamed Minnie “I thought you were asleep.”. Naomi had given a start as well when Will had started talking but laughed at Minnie’s exclamation and said “I had forgotten you were there, so quiet and all.”.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you both, just got lost in writing for a while.” apologized Will. But now that the weathers lightened let’s full speed ahead and get shrimping.”.
Menu
William Harris
Age 47
Intelligence 16/50
Strength 24/50
Vitality 24/50
Stamina 24/50
Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,
Captain of the heartboat Rose
Navigation 2
Mechanic 2
Minnie
Best dog of all
Age 5
Intelligence 7/25
Strength 12/25
Vitality 18/25
Stamina 18/25
First Mate of the heartboat Rose
Piloting 3
Mechanic 2
Crab Catcher