Chapter 59. Last Day Off in a While

  The morning dawned fresh and clear, Will was sitting on deck with a mug of the special tea. Spiralling up from the cupo were the most amazing aromas, he couldn’t even find the words to describe them, but he sure enjoyed the tea. The sun was rising, lifting and blowing the night clouds to nothingness, stars fading and lifting the gloom on the boat. “Ahh the best time of day indeed.”, he muttered. “You said that about sunset last night though.”. Will nearly jumped over the side at Minnie’s voice beside him. Sitting up on the rail swinging her feet over the cool water below, she smiled up him, “Morning.”. How was she doing this, sneaking so easily around him? Those thoughts were quickly tossed from his mind as a sudden gust started whipping the water up so much that the Rose rocked back violently for a moment, then all was clear again. “That was weird, felt like when we bouncing around a while ago.”, Minnie said, now standing on the deck beside him. “Yeah it did, it was always windy there though, dunno it that’s part of it.”, Will answered. “But now I need another cuppa, this one went for a swim.”.

  Going into the galley they found a yawning Naomi, woken by the boats antics. “We in one piece?”, she asked. The kettle was on again, and starting to sing. Minnie nodded at her “Another weird bump thing, got really windy then nothing.”. She had poured a pan of milk and was warming it on the hob. “Any movement from the boys yet?”, Will asked, finally pouring another tea, regular this time though. The other two shook their heads, “Nope.”, Minnie said, “I listened at their door and could only hear breathing.”. Hmmm, Will thought, still early though. “Well, we got everything ready yesterday, for the crew. So todays our last day off, easy day then.” he mused, blowing on his cuppa. Naomi was all for that, when the teens arrived her life got much busier. All of theirs did, but being belowdecks more, she dealt with the kiddies nearly twenty four hours a day.

  Minnie noticed Will had his notebook open and was doodling quite intently, working on something. She casually sat across from him but couldn’t see well, then sat on the table next to his book. Craning her head around until it was beside his own, she had a look. “Yes, interested are you?”, he asked with a snort of laughter. She might have thought she was being sneaky, but when someone nearly climbs on top of you it’s kinda obvious. “Just wondering, it’s not a secret is it, cause that’s over for a few months, then we can start again, but wha ya doing?”, Minnie asked curiously. “I’ve been making notes of the weather, the earth shakes, weird waves and so on. Trying to see if there’s a pattern, but nothing so far.”, he answered. “Is it dangerous for us, or the shore people? Is it those tsunamis we were talking about before?”, Naomi looked worried. Will sighed, “There’s just no way to predict when it could happen, if it’s going to happen, nothing to be done really, maybe mention to start coast watching.”. “Have waves hit here before, bad waves and why would this be happening now?”, Minnie asked Naomi. She shrugged “We don’t really pay much attention to the water anymore, only when the Rose is here. There’s been big waves washing ashore before but we don’t build too close to shore.”. “We noticed that, just the dock here by the water.”, Will was interrupted by calls from the cabin down the corridor, “Hello, is anyone around, hello, are you still sleeping, hellloooooo?”. “Sounds like Percy’s awake.”, Minnie laughed.

  Will went to see what was up today, not really expecting any big changes in the lads. But then again, he thought, walking down the corridor towards the cabin section, I don’t really have any guide to this. A small head was peering around the door frame, “Hey Percy, morning morning. How’s my little lad today?”, as soon as the words left his mouth he saw he had been a bit wrong. Percy had finally grown comparable to Minnie and Ron. They weren’t tall by any means but at least three and a half feet, to four in Minnie’s case. “Look at me, I’m huge father, just huge.”, he was so happy he was jumping around their cabin. Ron was just lounging on his bed, awake but still in that blinky just woke up stage, bright coloured quilt tucked under his chin. “Mind if I come in?”, Will asked. Percy gaped at him, “It’s your boat, you don’t have to ask.”. Will laughed “This is your space, of course I have to ask.”. Percy grabbed his hand and dragged him in, “Then yes, come in come in. Mark my height on the door.”. He pointed to the door frame where several marks were, each on the side the beds were on. Handing Will a stub of pencil he stood proudly while his mark was made, “Look Ronny, nearly as tall as you, not as fat though.”, he crowed happily. Will smiled down at the happy little man “You know, it might have been the lake water yesterday, when you fell in, made you grow.”. Well, that made him stop for a moment. “You think so?”, he asked. Will nodded, “I do in, in fact, Hey Minnie, Minnie, go get a bucket of nice cold lake water, let’s give these guys a good splashing.”. Percy and Ron both were looking at him in horror and when they heard Minnie’s voice with a cheery “Okay dad, be right there.”, they both darted out of the room in a flurry of bedsheets. He heard Naomi squawk with laughter as they went to hide in the galley.

  Settling down for breakfast, a light one today, toast and of course jams. Will was delighted to find a few jars of marmalade had been sent with the resupply wagons, along with the regular strawberry and raspberry. After several pieces of thick buttered toast liberally slathered with marmalade he asked what everyone was doing, or planned anyway. “Well what are you doing dad, cause I usually do that too.”, Minnie answered first. Good point, “I’m going to find Stephen, got a couple of things to ask about.”, Will answered. Naomi was going to spend a bit of time with her sister, Percy asked if he could tidy the tool room and parts storage, because it was a terrible mess. He didn’t think it was that bad but Will told him to go ahead, Ron whispered that he was going back to bed and cuddle his pillow. “There we go, day planned. Now just one more cuppa and I’ll be off, anyone else?”, Will asked, holding out the teapot. Ron held out his mug, Minnie sadly shook her head.

  Before he and Minnie left Will had to make sure the boys could be alone on the water, they had lived in the dock for weeks but that was very close to shore. With Minnie at lands end and him at the Rose he asked them to walk back and forth a few times, away from their influence. They appeared to be okay, no urge to jump in the water and swim away. He was still a bit nervous so Naomi volunteered to stay with the boat until he and Minnie returned. “Thanks sweetie, I just…”, he started. “I know, it’s fine. I’m in no hurry.”, she laughed. But when Percy and Ron found out they were going to poke around the various warehouses and storage of Laketown they were excited to go with. “Of course you can, I don’t think we’ll need a cart this time, will we?”, he asked. They both shook their head, “We won’t get so tired this time.”. Will hoped this wouldn’t be ‘famous last words’, but off they went, cartless and care free.

  A fine day, and considering how warm it was Will was having to think about where they were. If this world really was an analog of their old world, or something different, yet the same. The temperature was easily in the low seventies, so it couldn’t be the upper west coast. That area was nowhere near as warm as this, at this time of year anyway. The walk to the bakery took twenty minutes or so, continually stopping to look at this store, that kiosk, chat with passersby. But when they did finally get there word of the crew in the town had spread and Stephen came out to meet them. “Well well, so finally come in the daytime hmmm?”, he joked with Percy and Ron. It’s of the boys had met him before so they knew he was just joking. Minnie was examining the glass display case with glee, where all the most delectable cakes and tarts were kept. When the clerk asked if she wanted anything today, she broke into a smile.

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  “Now let’s see, I’ll take three of those strawberry cream things, all of those iced little yellow guys, Ron…hey, you want anything, how about you Perce? Yeah we’ll take a few of those thick donut things too, and maybe two pies, that yummy apple one and the rhubarb strawberry guy, in the back there. Yup, that’s the one, should be enough for now. Hey dad, we’re gonna go eat out in the garden k?”, and with her order of baked yummies the three went to sit at a table in the small bakery garden. “So, what can I do for you Will, cheese buns maybe or a fresh rye loaf, just came out of the oven.”, Stephen asked. Will held up a hand with a smile, “No thanks, well actually yeah, those cheese buns look amazing, but I did have another question.”, he replied. Stephen was packing up a dozen of the fresh buns, looked over “What’s up my friend?”.

  “When the quay was built, what happened to the piling driver, it’s not in Newton, and I thought it might be stored here.”, Will asked. Stephen stopped packaging up the loaves and thought for a moment. “It’s been a long while since I thought of that, I mean the quay and dock were built long before me. But my great grandfather helped with the construction, he told my father the story’s.”. Will nodded “Must have been a huge job, hard on the builders.”. “Oh it was, I think some were taken by the waters. But the equipment, what would have become of it I wonder.”, Stephen mused. “Bob!”, he called out, “Bob…where is he, Bob!”. A young man came running in the front door, “Sorry uncle, I’m running a bit behind on deliveries.”. Stephen waved his hand at him, “Never mind that for now, go get a cart and get back here, we’re going exploring.”. The young man ran out again, it seemed to be the only speed he had. A few minutes later he drove up in a small cart, not a hauler but with several comfy seats. “You driving uncle?”, Bob asked as the group met him. Stephen nodded, “Oh yeah, I don’t get out enough, let aunty know I’ll be back.”. Minnie smirked at Will hearing him say that, “He’ll be back.”. Gathering up the sticky third mates who had managed to eat all the donuts by now and the iced cakes, they all piled into the carriage and trotted off down the Main Street. “We’ll check the warehouses nearer the water first, then work our way out.”, Stephen said, over the clatter of hooves and the rattle of wheels. Minnie looked decidedly curdled over spending time near the horses, Will knew she didn’t think much of this type of travelling, “It’s quicker than walking you know, and we might be at this a while.”, he said as they hit a particularly vicious bump. “Oh I know,” she gritted out, “But horses are kinda bleargh, they smell bad, they’re dumb, and too tall.”. Percy was hanging on to the edge of his seat, it looked like he shared Minnie’s feelings. Ron however was sitting beside Will and Stephen and it appeared he was enjoying the ride very much.

  They reached the warehouse area soon, tied off the horse and went inside the oldest looking building first. Mostly filled with broken wagons, carts, old tack hanging on the walls but not what they were looking for. The day waned on, as they searched warehouses, sheds, outbuildings and found nothing. The boys did enjoy scampering around the old places, it was here they had searched for a place of their own when arriving. The search moved from the town to the farms and orchards closer to but still nothing. “Well, it looks like we’ll have to construct our own.”, Will finally admitted after six hours of fruitless searching. “Sorry captain, I thought for sure we would find it, such a big piece should be hard to miss..”, Stephen said. “It shouldn’t be that hard to carve the driver head, just need a nice big stone, really big though.” Will replied. “The frame won’t be difficult to construct but we can’t make it on the Rose, those support beams are too long for us to carry.”, Minnie added. She was sitting with the lads, having a cool drink of apple juice, from a friendly farmer. Sitting on a big rock, a really big flat rock, a really big heavy carved rock. “Uh, hey dad.”, she called as she noticed,

  A few minutes later the remains of the retaining frame had been located as well, however they were not salvageable. “They weren’t made of ironwood, just oak, couldn’t last the years lying here.”, Stephen remarked. “I’m not familiar with ironwood, is it common, will we be able to find some when we leave tomorrow?”, Will asked. “I hope so, that’s what the pilings are, last forever in the waters, second only to heartwood. But there was ever only one of those.”, Stephen answered him. Hmmm, thought Will, maybe not, but said nothing. “So we’re going to need at least thirty ironwood’s to be able to build another quay.”, Will said to Minnie. “Well, we can bring this back to the dock, then build a frame that will fit on a barge, that's the easy part.”, Minnie replied. Stephen looked at the huge piece of granite, he couldn’t imagine how much it weighed but by how deep it had sunk in the ground it must be considerable. “I’ll get a team out here, and one of our toughest carts, probably need a crane or something to lift…”, he stopped in mid sentence as Will slipped his fingers under the side and he and Minnie lifted the immense block, first on its side, then off of the ground completely. “Yeah, it’s pretty heavy. Five hundred pounds if it’s an ounce, probably lighter if you two clowns would jump down.”, Will pointed at Percy and Ron who were still perched on the block, examining it in detail. They hopped down, Ron pointed at indents on the sidestep seemingly carved, Minnie nodded “He figures that’s how it’s held and lifted, can you imagine if it dropped in the deep though?”. Will ran his hand over the surface, thick dirt had dried and crusted over the years but he did find another indentation, poking at it with his pocket knife he found it went all the way through, “Aha, run a chain through here, safety line.”. Stephen looked at the sun, Will at his watch, “Getting kinda late, shall we pick this up tomorrow,?”, Stephen asked. “No need, we know where it is, we don’t need it for a few months. It’s fine here.”, Will answered. “Can we go home and get some dinner, pretty hungry we are.”, Percy asked plaintively. “A very good idea, me too.”, Stephen laughed. Piling back into the carriage it was top speed back to Laketown and hopefully supper.

  Naomi had visited with her sister most of the day, and now it was coming on to early evening, “Where are those guys, gone all day and not a word.”. Regina shrugged, they were sitting at the crews usual table in the tavern. “If they were searching the town it could take a while, and then the area…lots of places to look, things get forgotten over the years.”. A clatter of hoofs and wheels, whoops of joy and maniacal laughter came through the taverns open doors. “Oh there they are.”, Naomi laughed. And in the door tumbled all the missing crew members, wind blown, sunburned and dusty. “Hey sweetie, hi sis, hello hello,”, they greeted her. Regina had to laugh as well as the ragtag bunch came in, Percy riding on Minnie’s shoulders and Ron on Wills. The two new crewmen looked so tired and so hungry that Regina beckoned one of her servers over and asked her to start bringing out todays special. Thick sausages sputtering in the pans, golden buttery fried potatoes, Brussels sprouts fried in mustard and syrup and of course Stephens cheese buns. The sight of the food brought cheers from the hungry bunch and without much fuss started devouring.

  Naomi joined in and once the edge had been taken off their hunger Will started letting her know of their day’s adventure. “So you did find the thing, the pile driver is it?”, she asked. Will nodded, “Minnie found it, just the pounding head survived though,. We’ll have to build a new frame and so on, but not yet. After the gathering trip.”. “Yeah but we need those logs, the ironwoods, thirty or more big ones for the dock pilings, don’t forget.”, Minnie added. “The children are looking forward to going, at least the older ones are. Some of the younger are a bit annoyed you changed the age, but the parents are glad.” Regina said. “I missed the choosing didn’t I, darn it, I always enjoy that.”, Stephen sighed, “But fourteen summers is good, older and wiser.”. “These are good sausages dad, and the guys seem to really like them.”, Minnie said to Will. “They sure are, let’s remember to get a bunch of these on our supply wagon tomorrow.”, he replied.

  Seeing that the lads had finished and were nearly asleep beside him it was time to pack up and head for the Rose. A busy day tomorrow.