Nell was watching Penny tend the garden.“My little Penny,” she thought, remembering that dreadful storm, and how she had clung on to Penny as they fought to get the boat into some kind of harbour. “She’s nearly grown up now – and so capable and competent. But what is her future going to be? We’ve been here for years now, and seen no sign of any passing ship.”
“All we can do is our best, day by day,” Jon said to Nell, when she told him her worries. “And look, we are getting somewhere with our lives.”It was true – the little hut was getting bigger yet, Penny slept in there as well as the latest baby, and the family was growing again.
This time it was a little girl. Nell named her Petranella after her own grandmother. But this would be the last baby, Nell rather thought.
Although Nell worried about their future, the children took life day by day. The two girls, fishing on a beach at sunset, were content in each other’s company.
Looking at the horses by the fishing hole Jon wondered if they could ever be tamed – and then thought a bit more carefully about trying to feed them, and how difficult that would be. It was a nice idea though.
The other thing Nell worried about was the children’s education. They had taught them all to read and write, and were teaching them as much maths as they could remember between them (quite a lot in Nell’s case), but again, it wasn’t the education they had received themselves.
Nell and Jon had hung their certificates on the wall of the hut (or The Hut, as it was now called). All the children now slept in there, but Nell and Jon had stuck with the tent – it gave them a bit of privacy at night! Penny and Perdita had both asked what they were, but found the whole idea of going to school all day, for year after year, very strange.“But how did you manage to get all the fishing and gardening done?”
“We didn’t have to catch or grow our food. We went to a shop and bought it.”
“What’s a shop?”
“What does ‘bought’ mean?”
“You mean you had to stay inside all day, every day? Yuck!”
That last, heartfelt, comment went a long way towards easing Nell’s worries about the children’s upbringing.
Penny’s private worries about her future were coming to the surface more and more. She talked to Nell about it when they were fishing. Nell listened to her, but could offer her no reassurances about any of it.
Jon, on the other hand, was sitting talking to his youngest daughter. Nell’s rosebush was in bloom – he smiled, remembering her pleasure when he had brought it back for her – and the scent from them wafted over to where he was sitting from time to time.
On the other side of the cove, Janet was fishing with Perdita and enjoying a chance to talk to her older sister on her own. “You’re a really good fisherman now,” Perdita said, and Janet glowed with pleasure.
“Joshua’s old enough – well, big enough, as well – to handle a rod now – you can teach him.”
“Me? You think I’m that good?”
“Oh yes – easily. And that means I can go and fish a bit further away, with you helping Joshua.”
There were six of them sitting round the fireplace now, eating what they had caught that day. Nell looked at them all, and thought, we are doing okay, even if we can’t guarantee a definite future for them. I am just going to have to take one day at a time. It’s no good worrying.
Joshua watched Janet, as he began to learn to fish, and couldn’t believe he’d ever be as good as her!
Nell tossed Petranella in the air and laughed up at her. The last child always was a bit special, she thought – knowing that there wouldn’t be another one along after them. She resolutely closed her mind to the thought of grandchildren.
Jon and Nell had built a fire-pit down on the beach – they spent so much time down there, fishing, that it made sense to be able to cook there as well. It was a measure of how much easier things were now, Jon thought, that they’d been able to find the time to build it, and to cut wood and store it down here.
They’d got wood cut and stacked and seasoning nicely back at their home as well. Those early hand-to-mouth days were well in the past now.
The Hut was quite a respectable size now. Nell had taken cuttings, split plants, spread them around, and the whole area looked a lot less like a deserted mine, and a lot more like a homestead.
That night, after a day’s very successful fishing, the five of them sat on the beach and ate at the fireplace there. It was Perdita’s turn to stay at home with Petranella, and Nell enjoyed the freedom and the novelty of being away from a small child for a little while.
As Perdita sat alone at the fireplace in front of The Hut, she couldn’t help asking herself the question Penny had asked her mother earlier. What was going to happen to her when she grew up?
Penny and Perdita were out together a few weeks later. It was a long time since it had been just the two of them – normally, one of the younger children was always around. But today they had made a break for it. It was almost like being young again, when they had spent so much time together.“Look. This must have been the old pier. Nell said that traders used to come to Salk Island from time to time.”
“What for?” Perdita asked. “Why couldn’t they catch their own fish?”
“There used to be mines here – we’re living next to one, don’t forget. And Nell says people used to go to shops for things, and do other jobs instead of just getting food.”
“I can’t imagine that.”
“But we’ve only got to look around this end of the island. All these houses had families living in them once.” Penny fell silent.“Penny – do you ever wonder…?”
“What will happen to us as time goes on? Yes, more and more now. Janet and Joshua don’t – they’re too young. But you do, don’t you?”
Perdita nodded.
The girls walked on in silence for a while. Perdita was oddly comforted by the fact that Penny felt like she did. Then they both burst out laughing at what they found half-buried under the rubble of the next house they came to.“Who do you suppose lived here? A pirate?”
“You never know your luck. Perhaps there’s buried treasure here, like we used to play when we were little.”
“Yes, and sometimes Nell would bury something for us to find – an apple, or some cherries even.”
“She does it for Janet and Joshua now!”
Perdita went to see what she could find in the garden, but Penny walked over and looked through the remaining windows, wondering what it had been like, living in the house when it had been all standing. She gazed out at the sea, absent-mindedly at first, and then with more attention. Of all the children, Penny was the most weather-wise, and she suddenly realised that the sea and sky were looking quite ominous.“Perdita! Perdita, we need to get back home! Now! And as fast as we can!”
Joshua had gone with his father and with Janet to the fishing hole in the hills. It was the first time he’d been old enough to go with them. The hills were so different to the beach where he normally fished – and the plants and the wildlife were unfamiliar too. He crept up close to a bird he’d never seen before, and observed it closely.
Jon was keeping one eye on Joshua, and chatting to Janet at the same time. This particular pool was heaving with fish, and it was only the distance that stopped them from fishing there more often. Suddenly he realised that the water seemed to be changing colour – and the air felt strange around him. He looked up at the sky – and hastily began taking his rod to pieces.“Janet! Joshua! Get the fish – we have to get home as soon as possible. I don’t like the look of this weather.”
They made it back ahead of the growing storm, but it was a close-run thing. Jon chased Joshua into The Hut as fast as he could. Nell has already struck their tent and brought it inside, along with everything else that normally stayed outside.“Jon. What if someone else is out at sea in that storm? What if someone else is in trouble? We could light a fire on the beach – they might see it, and could head for safety.”
Jon thought about it, and agreed with her. He raced down to the beach, thankful that they had left the fire ready for lighting last time they’d been there.
It was only about three in the afternoon, but already the sky was darkening over, and out at sea Jon could see the storm that was heading towards them. And where were Penny and Perdita?
Nell looked out of the window at the rain lashing down outside, and hoped that no-one was out at sea in this weather. They’d hung a lantern at the door of The Hut as well, and that was all they could do, really. Penny and Perdita had been glad of it, as they came running home in the growing darkness.
Everything they owned was in The Hut with them, and the stone walls would stand up to any amount of wind. Jon and Nell weren’t so worried, now that they had all the family under the roof together. The little ones were still scared though.
“Here,” Jon said to Nell. “You’d better have a hug too, in case you’re scared.”“Oh yes, I’m very scared,” Nell said. “I think you’d better hug me again. That one wasn’t enough.” Even Joshua laughed at that.
“Perhaps I’d better kiss you as well,” Jon said – but just as he was about to suit the action to the words, there was a sudden banging at the door.
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