Saturday 29 September 2012

The Salk Island West Legacy, Gen. 3, Ch. 3

Chapter 3
Though they might all have different colour hair, the boys had definitely inherited their Uncle Jake’s curls! Ben quite liked that. As the twins grew up, he had a bit more time on his hands, and he’d made some new furniture for them.
“It’s a bit rough and ready – I’m a carpenter, really, not a joiner – but it’s all right, isn’t it?”
“It’s lovely,” Astrid had said, kissing him.
The wine trading had worked! Jacob had found a ship, the Windrunner, and the captain and crew were prepared to make Salk Island West a regular port of call.
“Once a year,” the captain had said. “But the war’s affected production in both Istria and Sautach, so there’s a market, and we can make Salk Island West a re-watering stop at the same time.” And the first cargo had paid for windows with glass in them – at least on one side of the house. They’d also built an upper storey – the first one on the island.
The actual upstairs room was still pretty bare, and only contained the boys’ beds, and Thorold and Perdita’s old bed, but one day they’d split it up into two rooms – and put some more windows in too!
Jon was teaching his brothers to fish – and remembering Thorold teaching him, with a slight pang.
Sal came round to see her brother – and to tell him that she was pregnant!
Ben was delighted – as well as being a father, he was going to be an uncle. And each new child arriving on the island made their future seem a little brighter, a little more certain. Jon would have to do a re-count soon.
Astrid got the cots out of the roofspace to pass on to Sal.
“You’d better have both of them – after all, you never know!” She laughed as she thought about her own unexpected twins. “The other one’s fallen apart though – even Ben couldn’t mend it. I think Jon bounced in it one too many times.”
But the two cots that Lars had made were still sturdy, and Anders would be so pleased to be putting his child into a cot his father had made.
Sal really appreciated Astrid’s support and advice during her pregnancy too. Jacob and Ade were coming to the island soon, but they had to pack, sort out what they were bringing with them, make Waverider over to Jake – they hoped to be there for the birth, but it wasn’t a certainty. The sisters-in-law grew much closer during that time.
Jon, Toby and Barney loved to explore the island, loved the freedom that they had. Today they’d gone up to the woods near the graveyard.
It was Toby who noticed how the ground was scarred and scraped from all the tree-felling that had been going on recently.
“I like the woods on the other side of the island better. I know it’s further, but shall we go there tomorrow. This is boring – there’s no animals or insects or birds to watch.”
“You were right, Toby,” Jon said the next day. “This is way more fun. Give me a count of a hundred, and I’ll bet you two can’t find me, and that I can sneak back here without you tagging me.”
They ended the day fishing in the same pool where Bella and Cecelia had learnt to fish.
“Bet I catch the most!”
“Bet you don’t, Barney. Toby’s pretty good now, you know!”
“Bet we’ll be popular if we take some fish back home with us.”
Ben and Astrid’s house wasn’t the only one getting glass in its windows! Jacob and Ade had finally arrived on the island, for the last time. They’d brought with them a large and well-planned cargo of useful things.
A by-now-very-pregnant Sal was really happy to have her mother there. She was also pretty pleased with the wood-burning stove – it made a very nice change from cooking outside all the time. Ben had made them some cupboards, and she’d put away the plates that Ade had brought with her, touching each one with a kind of amazement.
Really, really pleased that her mother was there! When she went into labour a few weeks later, at least her mother didn’t panic. Unlike everyone else…
Jacob laid his grand-daughter Rachel down in her crib. Sometimes he missed the lift of Waverider’s deck beneath his feet, the smell of the wind changing, and the cry of the gulls. But this wasn’t too bad an alternative – in fact it had quite a lot to recommend it!
Anders was so grateful to Sal for giving him Rachel as well. Sometimes he felt like everyone he loved was getting old – Janet was beginning to show her age now, and Petranella was complaining about her joints aching. But then he looked at his young and lovely wife, and his even younger daughter, and his hopes for his future were happier than they had been since Penny died.
And the next big surprise was one of Windrunner’s crew falling in love with Bella! Patrick Fletcher wasn’t a seaman born and bred – he’d joined Windrunner to avoid being dragged into the war.
“Fletcher by name, and fletcher by trade. And both armies were going around picking up any armourers, fletchers, blacksmiths or whatever that they could find. So, being neither Sautach nor Istrian, I thought I’d get away from their paths. I could turn my hand to most things, so I turned it to trading. But I can turn it to farming and fishing as well.”
And not long afterwards there was another wedding, another frantic house-building session (the crew of the Windrunner helped!), another two-storey house on the island, and another house with glass in the windows.
And given how hard Bella and Patrick found it to keep their hands off each other, there was probably going to be another baby as well!
Jon was following in his father’s rather squishy footsteps, and enjoying it!
Astrid was finally beginning to get the quality of vines that they needed. The vineyard was looking a bit sparse at the moment, but the vines were producing good wine-making grapes. Ben had to agree with Astrid – they might have a lean year next year, but the wine was improving in quality by leaps and bounds. And Windrunner’s captain agreed too: he was getting a better price for it with each cargo he took for them.
They invested their latest profits in another wine-maker: now Jon was learning from his father, and Ben was still learning from experience! And as soon as Toby and Barney were old enough, they were going to be learning too, from both parents. Astrid wanted the extra help in the vineyard.
Sal was pregnant again – and very happy too! Astrid shared Sal’s pleasure; Sal’s previous pregnancy had brought them so close, and this one was going to be exactly the same, they could both tell.
It seemed no time at all afterwards that Sal was laying little Sarah down in her crib.
And outside, Anders was teaching Rachel to walk, encouraging her to take her first rather doubtful steps towards him. In the background, Janet and Petranella had finished work on the garden for the day, and Janet was earnestly telling Petranella about something she wanted to do.
“Before I get too old to be able to do it and enjoy it.”
Just as everyone had predicted, Bella was pregnant! Apart from Astrid’s twins, there had never been two babies on the island at one time. This was breaking new ground with a vengeance!
“How are you finding things? Better, I suppose, now you’ve stopped being sick!”
“Oh, it’s fine. But…”
“Go on,” Sal said.
“It’s Cecelia – she’s finding it really hard, me being married and pregnant. And we always used to be so close. And the house feels too small, even with the new floor.”

“That’s really hard. And I’ve no helpful suggestions at all, I’m afraid – it’s never happened to me.”
Janet did what she wanted to do – went up to The Hut for one last time, with Joshua and Petranella.
“Do you remember the night of the great storm?”
“I don’t remember it!” Petranella said.
“You were still a toddler. I’m not surprised you don’t remember it!”
“I do,” said Joshua. “It was really scary. We had everything inside The Hut, didn’t we – the metal fire pit, the tents, everything. It was a bit crowded. I remember Nell hugging me and telling me it would be all right, and not to be scared. But I was. And then when the knocking came on the door…”
“And I stayed in The Hut with you two, while everyone else went out into that windy night. I remember hugging Petranella so close, feeling her little heart beating against mine. And then Brigit and Thorold wer found and we put them to sleep on the floor – but no-one else came back in at all that night.”
“And now Brigit and I have two children, and a grandchild on the way. Such a long time ago, that night…”
The Hut had been well-built, and it was still standing. David had patched up the roof where a tile or two had slipped, when he’d been up – it made no sense to let rain in. Nell’s garden was gone though, apart from the fruit trees – David had taken the last of the plants.
They went down to the beach that Nell, Jon and Penny had been washed up on, all those years ago.
“I remember this so well,” Janet said. “All the time we spent fishing here.”
“Yes,” Joshua said a bit drily, “trying to get enough to eat all the time.” Then he relented. “But you’re right – it was a good childhood, even if it was busy.”
“Is that such a bad thing anyway, being busy?” Petranella asked.
They fished together again, as the sun set, enjoying each other’s company and their shared memories.
Then they lit a fire in the fire pit – there was still plenty of wood around – and roasted their catch, still talking about their past.
“I remember teaching Brigit to fish – she’d not done land fishing before.”
“Brigit was always special to you, wasn’t she? Right from the start, you looked after her.”
“Yes.”

“I remember Perdita’s wedding,” Petranella said. “It was so amazing, so unlike anything else that had ever happened to me.”
“And all that sewing, all that clothes making!”
“They’ve worn well,” Joshua said. “You did a great job on them – we’re still wearing some of them now.”
“Well, when you only wear things for special occasions, they last. And that was special.”
“Nell and Jon would be pleased if they could see us now, wouldn’t they?” Petranella’s voice was thoughtful, but Joshua’s reply was very definite.
“Yes.”
They sat and talked until darkness fell. Eventually they stopped reminiscing and talked of things that were happening now. Joshua told them of their problems with Cecelia, and Petranella did have something useful to suggest.
“Send her to live with David and Ingrid. I know how hard I found it at times, with you and Penny and Perdita all having children – but I had Janet for company.” She smiled very lovingly at her older sister.
“Cecelia’s got no-one. And she’s lost Bella – I don’t want to be mean about her, but Bella and Patrick do practically wear each other at times. No wonder she’s feeling left out.”
“Are you sure about this Cecelia? It’s going to be really hard work, and nowhere near as comfortable as your house.”
Cecelia looked at her cousin.
“Yes. Anything is better than being there, watching Bella get ever bigger, and knowing that it probably won’t ever happen for me. And she won’t miss me – not now she’s got Patrick and the baby coming. And you know I’ve always been so fond of you and Ingrid – all my life. I’d like to help you both.”
“Well, we’ll be glad of the help!”

Saturday 22 September 2012

The Salk Island West Legacy Gen. 3, Ch. 2

Chapter 2
For Thorold too, this, the first of his grandchildren, was very precious. Like Perdita, he was very aware of time slipping away from between his fingers. The life they had led here had been hard, physically, and his body was beginning to tell him so. Quite loudly on occasions!
Astrid had been right – Ben did enjoy treading the grapes! He also liked the feeling of trying something new, liked the thought that this might well turn out to be a way of bringing more prosperity to the island. And it would be something to hand on to his son as well, when he could no longer manage to do this himself.
When he’d finished, he stood back and admired the juice ready to be turned into wine. They’d need to make a decent amount (and of decent wine too!) to make it a worthwhile cargo, but this was the beginning.
Jon was going to have a baby brother or sister – though Ben was adamant that it would be a boy. In a way, Astrid wasn’t sorry that she’d got pregnant so quickly after Jon’s birth, though she did intend to make sure that it didn’t become a habit. She’d had a very interesting conversation with her mother on the subject.
It wasn’t another boy. It was two boys! Twins were not really part of the plan! But despite the shock, Tobias and Barnabas were very welcome additions to the family. And a big surprise to everyone else as well!
Thorold was teaching little Jon to walk.
“My father must have felt like this with Anders,” he thought to himself. “Creaky joints and all, probably.” It was nice to think of Lars enjoying the son of his old age, just as he was enjoying his grandson. And now there were two more!
Ben was just as delighted.
“This is my son,” he thought, as he lifted Jon out of his cot one morning. “We’ve named him for his great grandfather, and he might grow up like him. Or he might not. Who knows how the three of them will turn out? But we will do our best to bring them up strong, healthy, honest and happy.”
Thorold had turned out to be a surprisingly good cook. Ben pointed out to Astrid that she was going to have to master the new stove at some point. She made a face at him – Astrid much preferred being outside in the garden to being inside cooking! Ben laughed at her, and they sat at the breakfast table, enjoying a rare quiet moment together.
But in real life, happy times are always balanced by sad ones. Anders stood in the graveyard, and wept for the loss of his mother, even though he was nearly a man grown now.
“I wish Sal was here,” he thought, but Waverider was far away at the moment.
They buried Penny next to Lars, the husband with whom she’d had such a happy time, even though it had been short compared to her parents’ time together.
Janet and Petranella wept too – they had loved their oldest sister dearly. Anders was glad that he still had them, could still keep the home Penny and Lars had built together – he’d never have managed it on his own.
Perdita was making the long journey from their home, up round the head of the river and to the graveyard.
“I used to be able to do this so easily,” she thought, as she paused to catch her breath once again.
It took her most of the day to get there, but eventually she arrived. She wanted to say goodbye to Penny properly.
Memories of the two of them filled her head – Penny and herself exploring the island, in the basic clothes that Nell had made for them out her precious store of fabric. And the easy friendship that the two of them had always shared.
She remembered talking to Penny about her fears for the future, with only their family on the island – and then the Svensons had arrived, swept up onto the shore in another great storm. But she and Penny hadn’t known that would happen, hadn’t known what joys – and sorrows too – lay in store for them both.
“You were the best of sisters,” Perdita thought, looking back down the years.
Perdita was very tired the next day from her long walk, but not too tired to pick up Barnabas and marvel again at the joy these three boys had brought to her. And once again, she was so glad that Penny had known the joy of having a child of her own.
Astrid was thinning out the vines, keeping only the best stock and propagating from that. Ben asked her why – after all, fewer grapes meant less wine here and now.
“Yes, but better grapes means better wine later on. If we’re going to trade with it, we need quality more than quantity: we haven’t got the market for large amounts of medium-quality wine. We need to grow and make a really good wine.”
Ben saw her point, and she continued her careful tending of the vineyard. The children were growing almost as fast as the vines, she thought, working out there one sunny day.
Thorold was teaching his eldest grandson to fish – and telling him stories about his namesake as well. Jon was very proud to be learning from his grandfather. He was beginning to look very like his uncle Jake – it was the curly hair, Ben said!
Tobias had turned out to be as fair as Astrid herself – the two younger ones were definitely not identical.
And Perdita, getting down to Barnabas’ level with great difficulty (and privately wondering how she was ever going to get up again) thought how like his great-aunt Brigit he was.
Thorold had taught his first grandson to walk, but by the time Tobias was taking his first steps, Thorold wasn’t around to see it. Jon, fishing alone now, missed him quite dreadfully, and for Astrid too, life had a shadow on it.
Ben, encouraging a rather wobbly Barnabas to take his first steps, could see that Perdita wasn’t going to last long without Thorold there. Much as she loved the rest of her family, the deaths of Thorold and Penny had hit her hard.
And not long afterwards, there were two more graves in the graveyard, and Astrid went there and wept over them alone one day.
But life goes on, and the needs of small children are a great distraction from grief. The light came back into Astrid’s eyes, and Jon stopped crying himself to sleep each night. Astrid finally had to come to terms with the stove!
“These are nearly as good as Thorold’s!”
And now they could mention him without it being so painful.
“And, I’ve got something to show you after breakfast.”
“Look! We’ve finally made enough wine for it to be a worthwhile cargo! Next time Waverider is here, we can ship it. My father said he’d take the first batch for us, but he’d also look out for someone who might be interested in making this a regular run, if the wine’s good enough.”
Life was going on in the other households too. Bella and Cecelia were no longer children – and Ingrid and David were adults grown.
“Joshua, you don’t really need us now at all. Ingrid and I thought we’d try and start up another homestead, take over another of the ruined sites.”
And though Brigit and Joshua were sorry to see them leave (and Bella and Cecelia were more than sorry), they had to admit that David was right. And the house was getting very crowded now.
The site they had chosen was on the edge of the island, looking out along the trade route.
“We’ll be the first ones to spot Waverider when she returns!”
But there was a serious amount of clearing and building to do! The brother and sister set to and made a start.
As they cleared away the rubble (and found a rather nice bench on the way), the rest of the family found time to cut and haul timber for them. It was so much easier with more people on the island.
“I counted,” Jon said proudly. “There are fourteen of us! But I don’t think Toby and Barney should count as two people yet, so there’s only thirteen really.”
David moved more plants from Nell and Jon’s old garden up by The Hut, and they had an instant garden of their own. The house was small at the moment, but they were confident that they could improve and extend it – and it was nice to have a bit more space, both for themselves and for Joshua and Brigit.
Waverider was back! Back and ready for some huge changes. Sal’s huge change was going to be marrying Anders. Both of them had missed each other so much. Time apart hadn’t dimmed their love for each other: it had merely caused it to burn more strongly.
Anders, as he sat at the fire, couldn’t think of anything that would make him happier. His only regret was that neither of his parents were here to see this wedding.
Jacob and Ade were planning changes as well. They were going to make one more voyage in Waverider, to get Ben’s wine trading set up, and then they were going to make their share over to Jake and settle down here on the island.
“We’d like to be near our grandchildren for what’s left of our lives. And with two of you settled here – and it’s a long way from the war here – this seemed like a good idea.”
Jake was going back out to sea though.
“After the wedding,” he said, looking at his twin sister’s serenely happy face. Hannah wasn’t going to settle either – she’d thought about it, but the call of the sea was too strong in her blood. And she had no children or grandchildren to pull her back to the land.
Once again, the whole family was gathered together for a wedding, as Sal and Anders exchanged vows. And once again, they’d managed to make a whole free day to get together and enjoy themselves.
Jon thought that he could almost feel the happiness in the air – if he stretched out his hand, he’d be able to touch it. He’d never seen so many people all in one place before.
Anders held Sal in his arms and knew a contentment that he hadn’t felt since his mother died; a sense of belonging to someone else so closely that nothing could come between them. And for Sal, the knowledge that her parents would be settling here too, and that she’d be near her older brother, if not her twin, crowned her day with glory too.