Chapter 58. Shrimp for All.
The night had been quiet.Will slept like a rock with a rock friend beside him.After waking and morning rituals they met in the galley for an early meal and planning.“So later today we’ll be at the spot we found shrimp at last time, have a good feast.Then plan an early catch tomorrow and full speed to Newton.”, said Will.“I am so looking forward to that, so good last time”, Naomi was so eager to go.Minnie nodded her head, mouthful of bacon.Their meal over, except for tea, they headed out for various tasks.Will to the boiler room and checked levels, Minnie to the wheelhouse to plan a course and Naomi to tidy the kitchen and galley.
Everything was fine with the boiler so Will headed on deck and began pulling the anchors.The large hand crank clacked as he turned it, pulling up the heavy anchors.It would have been quicker if he pulled by hand, but still would have had to use the crank for the chains.Port came up easy, but the starboard gave him some resistance.It was moving, but as it came up there seemed to be much more weight on it than usual.Looking over the side Will tried to see if something fouled in the anchor chain, but it was too deep below.
Calling to Minnie and Naomi to come on deck, they lined up at the rail, peering down.“What do you want to do dad, we could just pull it up and see.”, said Minnie.“If it’s something dangerous, I don’t want it on the boat.Could be something like that sea serpent from a while back.”, he answered.“Is it moving much Captain?”, asked Naomi, hand on the chain.“It’s still pretty deep, there’s some current down there, might be that causing the movement.It’s really deep though.”, replied Will.“Let’s be ready, Min, go grab a couple of harpoons and gaffs, Naomi go get some of those arm sleeves, we used them for the sharps, the leg ones too”, Will asked.As they left to get the gear, Will held the chain..he could feel a lot more movement than before.It felt like having a fish on the hook.
It was only a few minutes until Minnie and Naomi returned with everything. Harpoons, axes, all the protective gear they had. They all dressed in the thick leather smocks, leg and armguards, thick gloves and tight hats. Minnie and Naomi held a harpoon at the ready as Will started pulling up the anchor again. What a weight was on there! The Rose handled it, but was definitely dipping on the starboard bow as whatever it was came higher and higher. The anchor itself weighed 300 pounds at least, but this was more like three or four anchors, still moving too. Every few turns Will would pause and they would look over to see what was on there. A dark shape with moving legs or arms could barely be made out. Will lifted it higher and higher, coming closer to the surface. Finally it broached and they braced for the battle to come.
“Is that a tree? With a bunch of long branches?”, asked Minnie. “Looks like it.”, answered Naomi,”but there’s something else too.” Will looked down and yes, it was a length of tree. Top half of a mature fir tree it looked like. Would have been about 50 feet in height, now around 20 feet. But it had been thrust through some sort of structure. If Will didn’t know better it looked like a travel trailer of some kind. But that was impossible in this world. The boxy structure had a metal frame, that the tree was entangled in and through. How it had been driven through it was anyone’s guess. The trailer was mostly rotted and gone. And as it hung off of the chain pieces were falling back into the water and sinking down. All that would be left soon was the rusty steel frame.
Using a gaff and a harpoon they managed to poke and pry the anchor out of the branches and the trailer frame.This was made difficult by the massive weight of the tree forcing itself into the anchor blades, but they did manage to finally free it.The tree, with its burden, fell with a splash and was on its way back down to the lake bed.They had felt a bit silly in their protective gear but, as Will said, better safe than sorry.Naomi had never heard this term but liked it immediately.There were a few pieces of debris still floating where the mass had been and Minnie used a long net to fish them up.Just a few pieces of wood, apparently preserved enough to float.
No idea how long it had been there but they were covered in muck and mire. The crew look at them curiously, Minnie rubbed at one and red paint showed through. “What is that dad, why is it red?”, she asked. Will took it from her hands and rubbed at it with his thick gloves. More red paint showed and writing as well. A stylized S..K..I..P..P..E, and a few more smaller words. Will rocked back on his heels. “This is from our old world.”, he managed to get out, “But how it’s here is a mystery. I’m gonna think on this, I’ll tell the story tonight at dinner. Get us moving Min.”.
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The Rose was back on course and speed, running well.Will and Naomi took all the gear back down to the storerooms and put it away, after cleaning.Will was a big believer in being ready for anything and putting it back where it belongs was a big part of that.While putting the harpoons back he, of course, sharpened them and rinsed off the salt water, oiled the blades to keep rust off.Reorganizing the sharpening stones and strops too a little while too.Busy work, while his mind was racing about their find.The protective gear was stowed by Naomi and he had stop himself from checking her work.Part of delegating was trusting people to do it right, so he fought off the urge and went on deck.
The wood had been left where it was dropped and for a moment Will was tempted to toss it over the side and pretend it never happened.It was in his hand…hanging over the side, all he had to do was let go.No, Minnie and Naomi deserved better.He couldn’t just make a decision just because.That's not how this worked.A family should talk about what’s happening, not have things done ‘just cause I said so’.He realized now that the three had become a family.Minnie and he always were family, but Naomi had been added to the mixture.By luck or by someone’s plan she was here to stay.
Min saw him poking around and opened the door “Hey you…what ya doing?”.Will laughed at his friends antics “Just tidying up, I’ll be in a bit to take over though.”.Minnie opened the rest of the windows of the wheelhouse.A breeze blew through rustling the maps on the chart table but they were always well secured with weights.Minnie sat in the captains chair, wheel roped in place, she would check the compass every now and then, just to make sure. She was reading over some of his story notes, figuring out which one he should concentrate on.
When Will entered she was deep into reading about elves and dwarfs, trolls and dragons.She still noticed him coming in, her hearing was incredible.“So, you like that idea for our first book”, Will asked.“Yeah it’s pretty exciting, I really like that ranger guy, not the little guys too much though.”, she answered.Will laughed “The first time I read the original I skipped all the little guys stuff.My dad, who gave me the books did the opposite.He skipped the ranger and dwarf story.”.“Weird right”, said Min.Will asked her if she needed a break, she agreed and was going to lounge on the deck for a while.She had been building a set of really small tools, tiny screwdrivers and so on, to start working on copying Wills watch.It was slow going but she was patient when she had to be.
He could see her working away at a table in the bow. The boat was heaving with the waves, but neither really noticed anymore. They missed the motion while ashore and it just felt odd not to be moving. Naomi came up just then. “Hello captain, how long til we get to the shrimp spot?” she asked. Will checked the chart, the compass and answered “About an hour, then a hour or so setup, then we can start catching…I hope.”. Nodding she said “I’ll be up on the bow with Minnie if you need anything.”.
As she sat by Min, she reached and patted her friends shoulder, just to let her know she was there. Will saw Minnie laugh and turn back to her work. The time passed quickly and fairly soon they were in familiar waters. A deep hole where the mouth of a river entered the lake. The shrimp had been easy to catch before and Will hope this time too.
After sounding for a deep spot the Rose anchored in two hundred feet. Shutting down the boiler and engine they came to a calm rest. Minnie and Naomi had readied the nets and started dropping them to the bottom, and hauling them back up with the two loading cranes. Will was shrimping too, but pulling his up by hand. A much wetter job, but the day was still warm so he dried quickly. The first few net drops were nothing, but them Minnie hauled up a huge catch of large white shrimp., each around four inches long. There were several dozen in her net so that was plenty for them tonight.
But first the hard parts.Shrimp were dumped into barrels of fresh lake water to purge, the heads off, armour off, rinsed with fresh and then ready to be cooked.Can’t get any fresher then this, thought Will.Minnie was not as shocked at the preparations this time, but still complained of shrimpy fur.
The bbq was on, a pan of vegetables and butter baking away. Several fry pans of shrimp were frying in butter and garlic , skewers of shrimp were ready for quick cooking on the grills. Dinner was on. Naomi had made rolls and bread earlier and the smells from all around were heavenly. They ate to bursting, and while eating Will told them what he suspected.
“Quite a few years ago a tornado touched down in a campsite, we had just left so we were lucky. Others weren’t. Trailers full of people were picked up and tossed into the lake. It didn’t last long but the destruction was awful.”, he took a sip of tea. He could still see the scenes shown on television. The once busy campground with a scar cut from top to bottom, ending at the lake. “There were big trailers, not as long as us, but some as long as thirty feet. Weighing tons, just picked up like toys.”. He picked up the wooden pieces, “This says Skipper, a type of trailer, one was lost at the campground, never recovered. How it got to this world…..”, he trailed off. “That’s pretty weird dad. It was just luck that our anchor grabbed it, I don’t think we’ll ever know how.” Minnie said. Naomi nodded along too “Mins right, it’s just a mystery.”.
Will agreed. “I’ll make a separate log book for weird things, and we’ll store stuff in a special part of the storeroom, maybe I’ll call it the X-Files.”. He dissolved into laughter. Minnie and Naomi exchanged looks and shrugged….what a weirdo he was sometimes.