Chapter 24 Turtle Fun

Two hours later found the Rose nearing the turtle isles.A small chain consisting of about 10 islets ranging in size from 15 yards in diameter to the largest at about 100 yards.Will decided to drop anchor off the shore of the main isle as soundings showed the lake was still deep, even close in.Dead slow as Will continued to check the depth, when he found the lake bottom rising he yelled at Minnie to cut engines.

Dropping port, then starboard anchors, the Rose swung for a bit then settled.As night was coming fast they thought to leave exploring the isles until tomorrow.Their usual evening routine of cards, dinner and tea, then off to an early bed.Of course after the boats chores.

Will was woken the next morning by Minnie, who seemed excited to see turtles. “Will they try to eat me? Do they have big teeth, what colour are they?”, she said excitedly. “Probably not, no and I don’t know what colour their teeth are.”, replied Will. Getting dressed was so much easier. He could actually reach down and put socks on…just like that. No huffing and puffing, no wearing himself out. Being young again.

Minnie had also dressed in her customary overalls with her favourite yellow rain hat on.No high boots today though, just some sandals she had managed to find stashed away in one of their mysterious store rooms.Will kept trying to remember to poke around in one of them, but it just kept slipping his mind.Something always came up.

When morning ablutions were finished and they were dressed for the day, the bed was made and cabin tidied.Heading for the mess they could already smell the wonderful presence of bacon.Minnie scampered ahead and was already dashing into the galley to find Naomi before Will even made it in the door.Running out with a mouthful of bacon and juggling another hot piece in her hands, ”busted” said Will laughing.He could hear Naomi threatening the next bacon thief with dire consequences.Minnie laughed too, “she loves me, I stop the lake from eating her.That’s why she sleeps next to our cabin, so we are still close.”.

Naomi exited the galley with a loaded tray, dumped it on the table beside them and sat down beside Min.She reached over and hugged her, “yes I do, but stop stealing your dads bacon.”.Serving himself from the loaded platters of eggs, bacon and fried tomatoes, Will looked at his happy little first mate and thought he was lucky that she had made this journey with him.The thought of being alone was unpleasant to say the least and he didn’t think that he would have made it by himself.

Coffee was poured, so was milk for growing Minnie’s, and the day was planned.“We can all fit in the dory comfortably so that’s not a problem, for exploring that is.”, said Will.“I wish it had a steam engine too,” Minnie added, “that’s a lot of rowing for us all.”.Will contemplated the idea, a small smile on his face, “we could do that you know, a small boiler.”.“Not now dad.”, interrupted Minnie, “we got turtles to see okay, hope no crabs, brrrrr.”.

Laughing Will patted Minnie’s arm, “I am still wanting to get some crabs for a boil up, and we need to find some shrimp too, yummy shrimp.”.Naomi said “Oh yes, I love shrimp.It’s been so long though, years and years.Magnus didn’t like to get them.”.“What’s a shrimp dad, will I like it?”, asked Min.“Umm well basically it’s a sea bug, you tear off its head, arms and skin and fry or boil it.Very tasty indeed”, said Will.His first mates eyes nearly bugged out of her head she was so shocked.“Yuck yuck yucky, never gonna eat sea bugs, or mean crabs, or bad fishies.”, she exclaimed.

“You just wait ti we find some, might change your mind. But for now let’s get cracking.”, Will stood up and headed for the deck. Still thinking of a steam powered runabout for the Rose, it sure would be nice not to have to row everywhere. Have to wait for now though. Minnie had run ahead and was untying the dory, Naomi had prepped a lunch basket for them and had already stowed it away. Will lowered the boat and the three of them stepped in and found places to sit, Will handled the oars and off they went.

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With his increased strength and stamina Will found tasks like this easy now. A few weeks ago having to do this would have killed him, now they fairly flew across the water. Oars flashing, Minnie steering like a maniac, swooping the small boat away from the Rose. Heading towards the first of the small isle chain. “All right,” said Will, “what’s this one called then?.” “Sleepy?”. Will laughed, liked that story did you Minnie? Sleepy it is.”. It was a tiny island, rocks mostly with a couple of scrubby bushes. Not much so they moved on to the next which was called Happy, then onto Bashful, Grumpy. The islets were getting bigger now, actually large enough to beach the boat and take a look at. Still not much here, a few trees and bushes. A few larger rocks had somehow been deposited in the middle of the land. Now onto the next few…Doc, Sneezy and…. “You really want to call this big one Dopey?.” asked Will. “Yeah, why not. Can’t not have a Dopey, all his friends are here.”, said Minnie. Naomi laughed, she had been writing all this down “Dopey it is.”, she said.

The next ones were still unremarkable.“Where’s the turtles then dad?”, asked Minnie. “Not sure Min, maybe they just died out over time.”, said Will.“Or maybe they all live on the biggest, it’s a fair way over there, let’s go check.”.Boarding the boat again they made good speed towards the last and biggest in the island chain.“What should we call this one Minnie”, asked Naomi.“Thinking of that.Ran out of those dwarf guys, maybe Snow White, or Prince Charming…nah not him.”, said Minnie.“Well, keep thinking”, Will replied “nearly there.”.

Again the little boat dashed through the water as Will pulled on the oars.As they beached he pulled the dory onto the sand and they moved inland.A much larger island .This one boasted several copses of trees, varied terrain, even a tallish hill in the centre.The three crew sat there, having a picnic lunch.Hard boiled eggs, bread and butter, cheese and flasks of tea and milk.A raspberrycake for afters and the day was good.“Hah, no crabs dad, or shrimps”, said Minnie, hoisting a slice of cake into her grinning mouth.

“It’s a very big lake Min, I am sure we will find some.” said Will.“No turtles here either, what’s going on I wonder”, added Naomi .“Like dad said, they just died a long time ago, now we have to rename the islands, maybe call them the cake islands, all different kinds of cake, except chocolate , I can’t eat that.”, Minnie added “or maybe the cookie islands, I do like cookies, anything but the turtles.”.“I love turtles, used to have them a lot, back where we came from.”, said Will.“You eat turtles.” gasped Naomi, horrified.

“Oh yeah, once a year. On a special holiday.Our family would eat turtles every day, sometimes I would eat 8 or more and feel sick.” Will continued.“So sweet on the outside and nice and crunchy on the inside.But these ones were made of chocolate and nuts..”, he laughed.“Good one dad,” said Minnie.

“Well now that we know there’s no turtles here, we need a name for this one.” said Naomi.“How about Minnie’s idea of Snow White, surrounded by her dwarf friends, cause I am ok with that.” said Will.“ Naomi nodded “ I like that.”.“Me too” said Minnie.So Naomi wrote down the islands new name in her notebook.“We might as well head back to the Rose, there is really not much to see here”, said Will.The others agreed so they piled back in the dory and started rowing back.

They passed through and by the other small islets and were soon back to the Rose. Dory lifted aboard, lunch baskets taken below. The boiler was lit and heated up quickly, the anchors were lifted and it was full steam ahead to the east, keeping to their plan of skirting the shore, they hoped the mild weather would stay.

If they had bothered to use their spyglasses to look behind at the isles they just left they would have seen something astounding.The largest island was moving at a slow but steady pace to the west, surrounded by all of the smaller ones.Large feet were paddling along underneath, and a huge head lifted out of the water to look at the disappearing steam boat.The other islands lifted their heads out of the water too, revealing that that they, like the largest, were really huge turtles.But it was now too far for the crew of the Rose too see.

“Why did we need new names.” asked the turtle Minnie had called Sleepy. “I guess they didn’t know our real names”. said the turtle now called Grumpy. “They just didn’t know we were alive, they thought we were islands.” said the biggest turtle who was really called Brighton not Snow White, “if we ever meet them again, we will let them know, does that sound good?”. Cries of yes, uh huh, oh yeah and you bet sounded out from all the turtles. “Now let’s get moving, got a long way til we get home.”, said Brighton. With that they all began to dive under until there was no sign of them at all.

Perhaps they would meet up with the turtle islands in the future, or perhaps not, after all it’s a very big lake with many wonders.

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William Harris

Age 48

Intelligence 15/50

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 6/25

Strength 12/25

Vitality 18/25

Stamina 18/25

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Piloting 3

Mechanic 2

Crab Catcher