Five Sisters (6 page)

Mary and Emy, the two sisters most annoyed by untidiness, spent most of their days that first week cleaning up the ship of all
it's
dirt and grime. Starting from the bottom up, they scrubbed their room, then the boys, then Charlie's, and finally the dining room. After that they moved up to the deck. The sailors insisted that the deck was supposed to be dirty and that it always would be so the girls might as well not do anything, but Mary wouldn't hear of it.

Gail and Nora met Rory Gelke, the man whose job it was to keep lookout, and found that he was very willing to allow them to take turns joining him up in the crow's nest. Gail felt like a pirate, looking out over the miles of ocean surrounding their little ship and searching for enemies to engage in a battle with. Nora felt like a bird, with the wind blowing her skirts and her hair, as she looked out over the choppy dark waves.

While one of the girls enjoyed the crow's nest with Rory, Zachariah Owens, who was known as Zooey, offered to teach the other how to fish. He'd stand behind her and show her how to cast out and reel in. Neither girl caught any fish, but it was still fun. Rory and Zooey became fast friends with Nora and Gail and they all sat beside each other during meals.

Sara, meanwhile, spent her days reading in various places around the ship. Her favorite spot was to sneak into Charlie's office when he wasn't around and curl up in his nice armchair. He did end up catching her eventually, and she told him she was very sorry since she knew how he liked to keep that room private. Charlie just smiled. His emerald eyes, which Sara noticed always looked a bit tired, seemed to laugh.

"You remind me a bit of myself at your age," he said, "Always reading."

Sara grinned.

"But your father was always dragging me away, saying that I spent too much time at the library absorbing information I'd never really need. He was right. But I don't regret any of it. Not even for a moment."

Through time, the girls got to know each of the men personally, although each sister gravitated towards different sailors.

Mary got to know most of the older sailors, around her own age, including brothers Cary and Noah McAdams, Buddy Ross, Dick Cohen, and Nora's crush, Ben Leslie. Most of them were so captivated by her beauty and charm they found themselves forgetting she was betrothed at all.

Sara met a few of the older men, most around the ages of thirty or thirty-five: Carl Linwood, Billy Shaw, and Sidney Wilburn. She was surprised to learn that quite a few of them enjoyed reading as well and she could discuss her favorite novels with them.

Nora and Gail shared most of their new friends, including Rory and Zooey, as well as Jacob Crawford, Michael Schmidt, Jessie Wilson, Nicholas Dorsey, and Emery Milford. They enjoyed playing games with their new friends and listening to the sailors' stories.

Poor Emy was too quiet to meet many new people, but she did make one new friend, the boy who had handed Nora her butter
knife
their first night aboard. His Christian name was Seymour, but most knew him by his surname, Sawyer.

Charlie had offered to take him on because although he was rather small and weak and didn't have the build of most of the other sailors, Sawyer knew everything there was to know about ships as well as the ocean. Even though Charlie already had enough knowledge of such things, and didn't really
need
a secondhand man, he figured that it was nice to know if anything ever did happen to him he could count on Sawyer to take over and guide Violet safely to shore. The other sailors knew a lot about ships as well, but only the mechanical aspects, not the steering and the orientation.

Sawyer was by far the most unattractive of all the sailors, with short, wavy flaxen hair, gray eyes that changed into tiny slits whenever he laughed, and very large, round, tortoise-shell glasses. He was only about five feet and six inches tall and weighed barely anything. He hadn't any muscles, since he usually didn't have to complete as much physical work as hard as the other sailors, and his face was covered in tiny brown freckles, as well as a few blemishes.

He and Emy got along quite well, which suited both fine.

Nine days into their journey, Nora had just finished a terrible fishing session with Zooey and was looking for Emy to see if she might perhaps like to play a game of cards when she saw Ben up ahead.

Instantly backing up against the outside wall of Charlie's office so he wouldn't see her, Nora froze and tried to get a glimpse of Ben without him noticing. Ever since the first night she'd seen him she couldn't get him out of her head. It was terrible, she knew, to dream about him so constantly, but she couldn't help it.

Normally, she wouldn't be so shy about it all and would have tried to get to know the man a little better. That way, she might actually have the chance to pursue something with him. But this time was different. Ben was just so amazing, in her eyes, that she thought she'd never have a chance with him and it would be useless to even try.

But that didn't stop her from dreaming about it.

Mary was leaning over the side of the boat, letting the wind blow through her dark ringlets and the smell of the saltwater reach her nose. After spending a few days on the ship, she'd become used to all the smells that come with the ocean. Although she still didn't enjoy them, she didn't cringe and scrunch up her nose at them anymore either.

"Hello Mary," said a voice behind her.

She turned around to see one of the very large, broad-shouldered McAdams brothers and returned, "Good afternoon, Noah."

He smiled, "Would you like to see something beautiful?"

Mary raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be?"

He slipped an arm through hers and led her to Violet's bow at the front of the ship. Once they'd reached it he leaned over the railing and laughed, motioning for her to join him. She did so and found herself giggling as well as she saw a group of about five dolphins swimming alongside the ship, riding on the waves the bow created. They swam and jumped around like merry children.

Mary finally found herself truly enjoying the voyage, a thing she thought was impossible.

Emy sat on the floor cross-legged near the stern of the ship. Across from her was Sawyer, his glasses falling down his nose a bit as he tried to decide what to discard. They both held a hand of cards and were playing a friendly game of Gin Rummy.

Nearby, Ben, Nicholas, Jacob, and Jess had out their fishing poles and were trying to catch something to eat for supper that night. Jess suddenly became very excited and reeled in his line quickly; Emy and Sawyer stopped to watch and see if he'd caught anything good.

They waited a few moments before Ben began to laugh. Jess was reeling in a piece of driftwood covered in a bit of seaweed. The other sailors chuckled as well and went back to their work while Jess grinned and cleaned off his hook, throwing the driftwood and seaweed back into the ocean.

Sawyer went back to the game and discarded, but Emy's eyes were suddenly distracted by something other than the sailors and their catch. She noticed Nora standing flat against the wall of Charlie's office, peering around the corner and gazing wistfully at Ben.

Emy tapped her hand on the wood to catch Sawyer's attention and then motioned over to Nora.

He smiled and leaned in, whispering, "I think your sister has become a bit enamored with Leslie."

Emy drew and discarded, murmuring as she did so, "That's what I was thinking too."

"I'm not surprised."

"Me neither. It's not hard to see why."

Sawyer nodded, looking once more from Nora to Ben, "It's a shame he never seems to notice her."

"But he sure doesn't have any problem with Mary, does he?" whispered Emy.

"And Mary doesn't really need any more admirers anyway," Sawyer added.

Emy called out Nora's name, but it took a moment for Nora to get back to her senses. When she did, she walked over and took a seat between her sister and Sawyer. They offered to start a new game and Nora accepted the offer, although she was weary about sitting so close to Ben. Her hands were rather clammy and she kept fussing with her hair, hoping she looked all right.

As Sawyer dealt out the cards, Emy leaned towards her sister and whispered, "I see you've got a bit of an infatuation started with him, haven't you?"

Nora jumped and stammered, "Who . . . I . . . I don't have any idea who or what you're talking about."

"Mr. Leslie, of course," Emy replied with a small smile, "You're mad about him, aren't you?"

Nora shook her head, but grinned, "I haven't any idea what you're talking about."

Sara set down her book, left Charlie's office, and was beginning to head to the bow of the ship when she got the sudden urge to look up instead.

Charlie stood on top of the office. She could only see him from the shoulder up, but knew his hands must be on the steering wheel.

She walked over to the ladder and began to climb up. When Charlie saw her she grinned, "I hope you don't mind."

"'Course not."

He wore a casual navy collared-shirt under a rather oversized brown blazer that didn't fit his thin frame very well: the shoulder seams came halfway down his upper arms. Although he'd been a sailor for at least twenty years, he'd never seemed to catch on to the dress code most of the other men swore by. While they wore dirty old shirts and sailors' hats so old they were falling apart, and walked around barefoot, Charlie never took off his shoes. And although his clothing choices were casual, they were almost always clean at least. He did wear a Captain's hat sometimes, but today it sat nearby on a wooden post.

When one's higher up on a ship, the gusts of wind seem to gain strength. They blew Charlie's hair, a mix of light brown and silver strands, wildly around his face and into his eyes.

Sara walked around the small area, looking down at her sisters and the sailors from above. It was easy to see why Charlie preferred this life to the business one his parents had wanted for him. One felt so free when they were out on the open sea that it was hard to imagine life on land again.

"Would you like to try?" Charlie asked, tapping the steering wheel, "It's not so hard, really."

Sara nodded and walked over, placing two hands on the wheel. Charlie showed her how to use to compasses on the side and she was soon a pro in no time at all.

Gail, meanwhile, was downstairs, searching for a sweater. She was coming back up the stairs when Zooey appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Do you mind grabbing my hat while you're down there?" he asked her.

"Not a problem," Gail replied, "Where is it?"

"Last bunk on the right."

"Alright," said Gail, "I'll be right up."

She turned to the right this time and opened the second door. The sailors' room was rather like theirs only it was larger. It didn't seem that way though since it was crammed with five more bunks than theirs and was filled with all the men's clothing and junk. They weren't very tidy boys.

Gail found Zooey's hat quite easily though and headed back out into the hall. She had a hand on the rail when suddenly a sound rather like a cough came from the room beside the sailors'. Charlie had told them that the room was used for storage, but when Gail heard several more coughs she knew he must have lied.

Slowly, turned the brass knob and opened the door only a crack. She stared in for a moment, and gasped at what she saw.

Inside there was a boy, a boy she'd never seen before, fast asleep in
bed.