Brooke Engles
When the Storm Hits
“Wait!” Mum cried as she wheeled her trunk behind her and held on to her favorite hat through the breeze. She couldn’t be late, she had told herself as she weaved through out the people. Not today. But, per usual, the tall brunette somehow became sidetracked. The poor horse was just begging for a drink! And now, she was racing to catch the boat just as it made it’s final boarding call. “I’m here!” she huffed when she neared the boarding dock with the man she presumed was the ticket master.
The man looked a little tired and amused as Mum smoothed her skirts. She fumbled for her ticket, and smiled at the man. “You know,” he said, “a lady like you should not be boarding a ship like this by herself.” Mum’s smile wavered for a second. Then she brightened it right back up as she remembered what her mother had said about things like this.
Ladies were not equal to men, but she could sure make him think the opposite.
“You know,” she lifted her chin, “a gentleman like you should not be talking that way to a lady like me.” The man gaped as she handed him her ticket, turned her head and marched straight up the board walk without so much as a thank you. Mum knew it was a bit rude, but so was saying such things to a paying costumer.
Mum twirled around in wonder as she boarded the ship. She sighed. The ship that would take her to her new home, America. Her parents had traveled to America a month before she had for business. They fell in love with the place instantly. As soon as she had gotten word, she dropped what she was doing, and packed immediately for the trip.
The ship was a beauty with three masts, a huge deck, and a large amount of people. This is going to be great, she thought. Mum explored for a bit before deciding that it was time to put her bags away and find the living quarters. The journey was to take about two months’ time, and she was eager to put her stuff away.
“So what if I’m alone?” A voice asked, “ Doesn’t mean a thing in my opinion.” Mum turned to catch at a girl around her age speaking indignantly to another man. She was quite pretty with a royal blue dress, lace gloves with a sunny yellow ribbon. Light blonde hair curled to perfection, and a wicker sun hat like her own. As the man moved closer to her, Mum realized what was going on. He was going to take advantage of her!
Mum set down her trunk, stormed over and swung between the two. She grabbed the girl’s arm and exclaimed, “Good gracious child! Don’t gave me a scare like that!” She scolded the surprised looking girl. She turned back to the man. “Do excuse my little sister, she has a, um, broad, imagination.” Mum then trudged away with the girl in tow, leaving no room for argument. As she returned to her trunk, Mum finally heard the girl speak.
“Thank you for that! That man just came up to me and I didn’t know what was going on at first, then he asked what I was doing, and I told him going to America of course, and then he asked if I was alone and I said yes, and he asked me why, and that I didn’t tell him, and then you came over-“ The girl gasped for air. “And you know the rest of the story.” She smiled and stuck out her hand. “I’m Lucille. Pleasure to meet you.”
Mum smiled right back and took Lucille’s hand. “The pleasure’s all mine. My name is Mum.”
“So, Mum,” Lucille winked. “what shall we do now, after you oh so heroically saved me?” She put her hand to her head in false woe.
“Well, I was about to go find out where the living quarters are.” Mum gestured to her trunk. “I just got here.”
“Oh!” Lucille blinked. “I know where that is. My stuff is already in there! Follow me.”
Mum did follow the shorter blonde across the boat as she hummed a random tune. Glanced around at the other people as they passed. It seemed like everyone there was going in the same place based off of their amount of luggage.
Lucille lead them down a long hallway. She made a left turn and stopped at the first door on the right. She spread her arms wide in a ta-da sort of gesture. And then proceeded to fall down as the ship lurched forward. Mum laughed as she reached down to help Lucille off the ground as she grumbled. “That was supposed to be grand, wasn’t it?” Mum asked.
“How’d you guess?” Lucille’s voice was laced with sarcasm. Mum laughed again and brushed the dust and dirt off of her new friend.
“Come on, then let’s put my stuff away.”
The days passed, and Mum and Lucille become closer and closer until the two were practically sisters. They ran around the ship all day, causing all kinds of havoc. One time they stayed up all night trying to get a particularly stubborn sailor to let them into the mess hall to grab a late night snack. Their charade went on for about two hours before he finally snapped. He yelled at them to kindly return to their living quarters or he’d... well, let’s just say he was creative with threats.
But then, one day their paradise became a little bit less like a, well, paradise.
It started out a completely normal day. Mum woke up, got dressed and ready for the day, then woke up a gently snoring Lucille. While she waited, Mum combed through her precious family recipes. And once the both of them were ready, they would venture to the mess hall to get a hardy breakfast before Mum’s stomach’s rumbling woke up the rest of the ship. Lucille liked to remind her that if she wasn’t so tall, they would have to be roll her through the hallways.
As she and Lucille climbed the stairs to the main deck, Lucille become suddenly quite, face white as a sheet. “What’s wrong Luci?” Mum asked. There was no response. “Lucille?” Mum was starting to become worried, her friend was never this quite. “Luci!” Lucille finally responded with a shaking finger pointed towards the sky.
When Mum turned, she understood why.
A mean looking storm cloud was probably about 3 miles east, and judging from the wind, headed their way. Mum immediately was terrified. As a kid, she was told ghost stories of ships that were capsized by huge storms passing through- leaving nothing but a ship full of vengeful ghost sprits! She doubted the last part would happen, but the threat of a storm is real.
“We need to find the captain.” Lucille said in a small voice.
When they finally found him, he had already seen it. And, was making preparations- “Make sure the food is well in order down there!” He hollered. “I refuse to death take me from starvation.”
“Um, excuse us, sir.” Mum said. “But what are we to do? We have no clue how big that storm is, and no contact to the land. Will we make it out of this?”
He shook his head. “I honestly have no idea kid. If I were you though, I’d make peace with the world and help others do the same.”
And so Mum did just that.
It was a bit scary, she had to admit. Ever sense her and Lucille had their talk with the captain two days ago, they had been working with the women to calm the children’s fears. It was also torture waiting and waiting for the storm to hit them. She wished it would just hike up it’s skirts and hurry up. And, whether it was good luck or bad luck, she got her storm- and it came with a vengeance.
Mum listened to raging storm, along with the sailors’ yelling, above. She felt the sway of the boat underneath her- her only ray of sunshine came in the form of a very sea sick Lucille. It was fascinating the way a human face can go from white to green and back again- it was a good source of humor for her. Though she doubted it was quite as funny as it was for Lucille.
Days passed, and Mum began to worry. How many days would they be stuck in this storm? What if she never saw her mom and dad again? She wasn't ready to die. She was too young to die! She wanted a family. She wanted to fall in love, have kids, and live in America.
Days passed, and Mum began to worry. How many days would they be stuck in this storm? What if she never saw her mom and dad again? She wasn't ready to die. She was too young to die! She wanted a family. She wanted to fall in love, have kids, and live in America.
She began to lose hope.
Lucille and Mum emerged carefully, taking their time. Mum guessed it had been four days since they were ordered to head under deck. It had been a strain being curled up for so long, so it felt good to stretch.
The first thing Mum noticed was the the wood under her feet was soaked. The next made her worry: the sailors look a little panicked. She glanced over at Lucille to find her looking worried too. She glanced at Mum. “Let’s go find out what’s going on.”
Lucille walked over to a random sailor and asked him what was wrong. His response scared her. “The boat’s been thrown off course.”
Mum began to panic. The boat had been thrown off course!? How were they supposed to know where they were? The only land marker around was nowhere to be seen! “What are we going to do?” She squeaked.
The sailor chuckled. “Don’t worry the captain has a plan. It just might take a while.” He explained. “We’ll have to wait for nightfall though. He plans on charting the stars to locate where we are.”
Lucille blinked. “Oh! I’ve heard of that! You mark where the stars are each night, then find the constellations. Then research where they appear.” She sounded excited. “I love the stars so much.” She sighed.
Mum sighed, worry leaving her in small bits. “Well at least we have a plan.” Lucille nodded happily, and Mum smiled. It was good to see her friend without a green tint.
“Got it!” The captain cried out. “I know where we are!”
Mum dropped her boot and the polish and vaulted over. They had been sitting in whatever cursed water they were in for 6 days. She had polished her boots 34 times now. It was pure torture, not knowing.
The crew and the rest of the passenger gathered around him. The murmurs like a stream, tension like rocks. “I’ve got it!” He cried. “We're going home!”
The next month and a half was filled with smooth sailing for the most part, and Mum was perfectly ok with that. She’d had enough adventure to last a lifetime.
Everything was blurry as Mum hugged her friend on the banks of America. The country was vast, so it wasn't a surprise that the two had to split. Lucille sniffed, “I’ll miss you Mum. I really will.”
She took Lucille’s hands. “Thank the stars above I meet you.” Mum shed a tear.
“You know I love them.” Luci weakly laughed.
“And one day, you’ll join them.”