Chapter 4. The North is Pretty Cold This Time of Year.

  The previous night had been nice, nothing fantastic or wonderful, just nice. Friends coming on the boat, showing their support to Uma, providing dinner. And boy what a dinner, dozens of pieces of chicken, dozens. All battered and deep fried to perfection, and not little anemic bits like the ones from his old world. From one of the many chicken vendors that served millions everyday. These chicken pieces were huge, juicy and tasty. Will laughed to himself, remembering Percy eating a thigh roughly the size of a brick. Then the chips, nice and thick and fried up just the way the crew liked them. Still no ketchup, but there were quite a few bottles of hot sauce left over. Howard had been gifted a couple, just so he could reverse engineer it, Will stopped writing then, called Minnie over. They were in the wheelhouse, he was writing his diary, journal, logbook…didn’t matter what he called it. Min was at the helm but the seas were still calm, she threw a loop of rope over the wheel spoke, “What’s up pop?”. He pointed proudly at his book, “Read that bit.”. She did “So he could reverse engineer it.”. Looking up at his smiling face, how happy he was, “I like the way that sounds, makes me feel smarter.”. Will nodded enthusiastically “I know right? I’ve never actually written that before, it’s just one of those phrases. Makes me think of a superhero who finds an alien device and needs to figure out what it does, so he can save the world.”. Minnie didn’t get most of what he said but he was so proud and happy right now there was no way she was spoiling his moment, “Well done pop, well done.”. He sighed happily and went back to writing, she unhooked the wheel, course corrected for a bit then tied it off again.

  So, as Will wrote, no ketchup yet but he talked it over with Howard and uncle Andy. Describing all he could think about ketchup. “It’s pretty thick, doesn’t pour easily, and it’s bright red, like a tomato. No chunks of skin or seeds, it has a smooth consistency. Hints of garlic and onion, a bit salty, sweet too but not too much. Oh and vinegar to give it a tang. No one flavour to overpower the mix but a nice blend of everything.”. Andy nodded, “Sounds very tasty indeed captain.” Will interrupted, “Call me Will please, you too Howard.”. Howard blinked, “I’ll try cap..Will, I’ll try.”. This was at the last visit to the tea house, just before leaving. And before getting the bad news. Seeing the family was ready to go Will stood up, shook hands with both, “No tearing hurry, and besides tomatoes aren’t in season yet. But I know I can trust you both, I’d like to mess around with it myself but I just don’t have the time.”. Minnie called out, he waved to her, “Coming coming! See you lads in a few weeks.”.

  Will picked up where he left off, he flipped back and reread a couple of pages to get in the flow again. Ah yes, dinner. Besides the chips there was another side dish, potato wedges. He’d never seen it here before and when he asked Evelyn she smiled, “Your idea I think, young Ed overheard you talking to Ron about them, then he told Reg, the head cook at the Blue. He messed around with them, tried a few ways and came up with these, are they as good as you remember?”. “These are much better, because they’re made by hand. I could nibble on these all day.”. Evelyn laugh, “I can see it now, rough seas, water everywhere, lightning flashing and the gallant captain at the wheel. Tea cup in one hand, helm in the other, nibbling on a piping hot wedge.”. They dissolved into laughter, “I think I might have one too many hands though.”, that set her off again. Along with the chicken, quite a few bottles of wine had been opened as well. John passed on anything alcoholic, “It doesn’t sit well anymore, it’s pity cause I loved my ales. When Matt and I were younger we made our own, didn’t always turn out but, well you know. Sharing a hobby with your partner is pretty nice.”. He sighed “I’ll miss him forever.”. Will covered the older man’s hand with his own, “There’s lots of stuff people say, they’re always with us, we’ll meet again, love never dies…it’s all true. But, for me, it just come down to what you just said, I sure miss her.”.

  They hadn’t noticed Uma, she was sitting beside them, a bit sleepy but listening in on Will and Johns talk. She spoke up now, with the artless honesty of a child “Have you lost people captain?”. Will looked at the young lass, it was very good she was talking and taking an interest. “Yes I have. My parents passed many years ago. Father died in his sleep, mother about a year later. They were very old, in their nineties.”. John was struck for a moment. How could this young man be talking about his elderly parents, and many years ago? Uma’s eyes were tearing up again, “I’m sorry captain, you don’t have to talk about it.”. Will just laughed a bit, “I’ve made my peace with it, it’s part of life really. The old ones pass and the young ones slowly become old ones..”. He snorted, “That’s not to say…I don’t mean to get used to it. Losing a loved one is terrible and sad and it’s perfectly all right to let your feelings out about things. To rage and scream and cry, just don’t let it be all you feel. Remember the good times too.”.

  John thought for a moment, “Once when we were trying to make beer I didn’t sterilize the bottles and an entire batch had these things growing inside. I felt so bad but Matt wasn’t annoyed or mad. We just dumped it and went for a walk. Nothing special really, I just think of him. Looking at the gunk, pouring it out and laughing about it.”. He sighed. Ed spoke up, “I miss my dad, I always do but when I see a father and son shore fishing…it shows me what I missed. Uncle Dave took us in and treated me like one of his own. I love him so much, and I should tell him more often.”. Dave came over and hugged the young man, “You just did, love you too Edward.”. This broke the ice and soon the stories came fast. It might have been the alcohol, relaxing everyone enough to say what’s on their mind. And hearing Uma laugh when she heard about a cake incident between Gemma and Evelyn, that was a good thing. Minnie caught Wills eye, ‘Thanks pop.”, she mouthed.

  It was late when the crew escorted everyone down the pier towards land. Still chilly but not overly so. Night and Day were quite comfortable in a small lean-to. Blankets on, a good amount of hay and fresh water, and a windbreak to keep the snow and chills away. Loading the happy people into the carriage took a few minutes but eventually everyone was in and ready to go. “Good night all.”, Will called out as the carriage clopped away, “See you in a few weeks.”. Farewells rang out, echoing from the sleepy town towards the endless waves. It had been a very good night. The five turned back towards the water and headed home. Will holding a mostly sleeping Uma. The little one had been withdrawn at first but opened up as the evening progressed. Hearing others tales of loss and remembrance helped. She wasn’t alone, and never would be. Will wasn’t sure what waited for them in the north, if she and her sister could make peace. If her brothers blamed her for their parents deaths. A month could temper things, put what happened into perspective. Yes there was a direct line from her actions to the horrible results, and then again she was barely ten years old and children rarely thought ahead. Minnie poked his shoulder, “Stop worrying, we got a long way to go and a long time to wait before anything happens.”. She had a point, “One day at a time right?”.

  So here they were, steaming away from Newton. Three hours out and looking good. The course was marked on the charts, a pretty well known trip now. Safe harbours were marked clearly, water resupply points as well. The ship fairly bulged with supplies. And right now Minnie and the lads were repositioning ballast and cargo, balancing the ship out so they could safely tackle the dangerous seas ahead. Will was in the wheelhouse with Uma, keeping a straight course to help the work below. “Captain Will, how long til we get there?”, the young girl asked. Will went to the chart table and spread out the world map he and Minnie were working on, spread it open. “Take a look here,”, he pointed, “This is Newton, this red line is our proposed course and we’re right here.”. She looked at it, “We have a long way to go still…it’s going to be days and days and days.”. Will smiled down at her, “Yes, sea travel isn’t too fast but it’s steady. We are making five leagues every hour and I think we’re going to travel through the nights too, stopping every other day.”. Uma was measuring the distance and the numbers were high, “It’s going to be thirty days until we get there?”. Will shrugged, “That’s under perfect weather, it’s not going to be. If we can go six hours a day when the waves are high we’ll be lucky. We might even have to take a day between, it’s hard on everyone bouncing along.”. Uma nodded, “I remember when we all moved, it was scary.”. “That was a bad time for your people.”, Will agreed, “Very brave of you all though, to pack everything and move.”. The voice tube whistled then, “All done pop, how’s she handling?”, Minnie’s voice was tinny and far away, but he could hear it. “Much better than she was.”, Will answered, “Good job guys.”.

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  A few minutes later Ron brought up a tray with lunch up to the wheelhouse, they took advantage of the mild weather and sat at the front of the boat. The water was still mild enough to tie the wheel, not for much longer though. In a few days where they were sitting would be one big splash zone, water roaring over the railings then rushing out the gunnels. Then would come the ice buildups as the temperature dropped, even the salt water spray would freeze as thinaQq layer after layer built up. Big deposits could damage the boat if not taken care of, and foul equipment. The anchor chains and windlasses were vulnerable to this so Will and Minnie had cobbled together a canvas cover. Just to keep the ice off of the inner workings, time would tell if it worked out. The next step was a more permanent cover that could handle the inches of rock hard ice. “Should have done this the last couple of times we were here.”, Minnie said. Will laughed, “There’s a saying about a leaky roof, can’t fix it when it’s raining and don’t need to when it’s not.”. No, she was not too impressed with that kind of thinking. “I think it’s better to fix it then it never leaks.”, was her answer.

  Eating lunch on the bow was pretty nice, a good time to relax. All the work was done, it was just travelling on now. Ron made soup and sandwiches today, leftover chicken sandwiches but the soup was fresh. Some kind of vegetable mix, very good. Percy brought up the idea of travel on through the night, “Is it safe to just keep going in the dark, can’t we run into things?”. Again Will brought out the chart of their course, “It’s open water between us and Iceland, a straight run up the coast. There’s no boats to lookout for, whales know better and we’re too southerly for icebergs.”. Minnie looked over, “Wait…those things that hit the Titanic in your story, they’re real?”. “Yeah, of course, did you think I made those up?”, he answered. Minnie laughed, “Kinda, I’ve never seen one yet.”. “Best time of year is spring to early summer.”, Will went on, “Might see some on the way back.”. Percy seemed to be a bit better, but even after being on the boat for over a year, certain things still made him nervous. And the thought of a huge chunk of ice just floating around…that bothered him. “If we hit one, by accident, what would happen? Would we sink?”, Percy continued. “Nah,”, Will said, “At our speed, and how strong the Roses hull is we’d bounce off, or get stuck on the berg and have to dig her out. Either wise we’d be okay.”. That settled Percy’s mind, he did tend to worry about…everything.

  Minnie had brought her instrument cases up, she now had three different recorder types besides her original penny whistle. Percy played the fiddle and recorder, Ron loved his guitalele and his smaller pipa. Will thought it looked like a ukulele and called it that a couple of times, being corrected every time. When Uma joined the crew she did not have anything to play and had looked a bit left out when the others were limbering up and tuning their gear. Now, in the past, Will had heard that everyone should learn the piano first. His wife did and in fact could play just about every instrument there was. She was musical as heck, Will was not. His parents had given his sister lessons on the accordion, he got a used bike, then they tried guitar lessons for her. Neither instrument got any use, he rode his bike daily, so that worked out okay. Maybe the reason he wasn’t much interested in music stemmed from those early years, not much to be done now. Going back to Uma’s problem now though. Pianos didn’t exist here, she was a bit small for any type of guitar too. She tried a spare fiddle Will had but didn’t really care for it. So the only thing left was one of the wind instruments and of those the recorder was the simplest to learn. Will had three spares stashed in his cabin and gifted her one a couple days after she joined up. Since then she had practiced and practiced until she was quite proficient. Easily able to keep up whenever the mood caught them all, to have a play and sing along. Like now. Will was on duty so he was mostly in the wheelhouse keeping an eye on the compass, making sure the heading was good. So he wasn’t able to join in too much as the familiar tunes were played. He could sing along though, all the windows wide open. The unicorn song was followed by Puff, then ‘Those were the days’, a few more of the Rovers hits. Last of all was the Rose song, played and sung at full volume with much stamping of feet and clapping at the end.

  The sun dipping below the horizon was when afternoon started turning into evening, along with this change came another. The ship was now coming out of the relative calm of the Newton area and into the western coastal waters. Heading north still, if you looked to the east you knew the coast was there, sometimes visible mostly not. But looking over the port railing, where the sun had just disappeared…that was the great unknown. No maps of what could be out there existed. None of the charts and map tucked away in pigeonholes under the map table showed anything. Atlases didn’t exist, at least ones of the waters didn’t. They had several books, mostly ones used in school, aboard. Showing the lands of Laketown or Newton. Fairly detailed and about as useful as a table with three legs. At least to the crew. These people’s world ended at the shoreline. “Makes sense I guess.”, Will said to Minnie. She shrugged “There’s a way to find out what’s over there.”, she pointed vaguely to the west. Will laughed, “I know, just a matter of time I guess, and timing.”. The trip they were on now was unplanned and unexpected but there was never a thought of not going.  “One day maybe.”, Will mused, “That and south, I still want to see FarHarbour one day.”.

  Dinner time came, Ron had prepared cottage pie today. An easy meal for a travelling day, prepared well in advance and kept warm until everyone was ready to eat. With just the five aboard it was easy to bring everything up to the wheelhouse so they could eat together. It wouldn’t be like this for much longer so it was good to take advantage now. Cards after for a couple of hours, Minnie destroyed Will at cribbage, while Percy narrowly beat Uma. The the winners played while the other three had a go at Sorry. Will decided to go for a wash and clean clothes after, leaving the ship in Minnie’s hands. When he returned refreshed and dressed warmer she too went below, Uma in tow. While she was down below Minnie would settle her in bed. Not that she needed constant care but it was nice to have someone to care about you. Ron and Percy went below to clean up the galley and hit the hay, when Will looked up at the bridge clock he was a bit surprised. He thought it was around eight thirty…nine o’clock maybe. Nope it was two in the morning, no wonder the little one was fading.

  The remainder of the night passed drama free. No high waves, no snow storms, just steadily steaming along. Leagues ticking away. Tomorrow would be another travelling day, then anchoring in the first safe harbour. A day of rest, no. More likely a day of preparation. Shutters on most of the wheelhouse windows, same with the boats portholes. The canvas covers put on the small boats and all the various cranes and davits, hold hatch covers too. All the chairs and gear boxes at the bow would be stowed away below. The barbecue and smoker covered tight, they wouldn’t be used for a while now, for the duration of this trip all meals would be prepared below. And finally double checking all the stores and trade goods were tightly secured in the fore and aft holds. If one thing broke loose it could destroy an entire holds worth of goods. Same in the various storage lockers, workshop and so on. A last check to make sure the ship was rigged for the coming seas.

  While anchored in the safe cove there was one thing that needed to be taken care of. A good chippy. It had been a few days since they dined on fish and chips and it was time. “I think you’d eat this every day father, if you could get away with it.”, Ron laughed. He wasn’t wrong, Will loved fish, any and every kind except for one. Tilapia tasted like nothing, had a consistency of oatmeal and was too small. You need a few to make a meal out of them. So far he hadn’t run across them, and even if they did he still would pass on them. The readily available floater was far superior to any of the fish from before. Vast schools of them lived in the lake, no danger of them being overfished. Three or four tonight should be just the thing.