Stone

Chapter 47 – Jason at Sea II

After the ship docked at Westport after a successful voyage Stone and Rayla were at the dock to pay the soldiers, with Stone again offering a bonus of a silver to each of the sailors, who again were paid to their wives and girlfriends. Rayla pocketed Jason’s salary, planning to save it for when he was older. She hoped that his sea days were over, and as they walked home he agreed that he would skip the next voyage, as he had promised, but made clear that he intended to sail on the following trip in two weeks.

“What was all that giggling about earmuffs by the sailors?” Rayla said.

Jason just turned red and Stone had to explain. “It comes from the way you hugged Jason when he got off the ship,” the big man said. “You pulled him into you, and your … uhm … assets were in his face, and around his ears.”

Rayla thought that through, and suddenly it was her face that went red when she pieced it together. “Oh my,” she apologized. “That must be quite embarrassing to you, Jason. I will try not to do it again.”

They reached the houses and went in for lunch. Jason went up to Cass and gave the broad woman a hug. “I told the cook on the ship that his food was good, but it was nowhere as good as yours. Eating here for the next few days will be heaven.”

“Next few days?” Rayla said with alarm in her voice. “Where will you be after that?”

“I dunno,” the boy said. “I’m not going to hang around here all the time. I think I will go out to the lighthouse at Blue Point to see the ship off. I don’t have plans beyond that.”

“Oh,” Rayla said sadly. “We do have a birthday party for you on Sunday. I know you won’t turn 12 until Tuesday, but we decided to have a party for you two days early so more of your friends could come.”

The party was a success, with the boy getting many gifts. With the building of the ship and the school, most of the Kithrens in town were working, and could afford a silver or so for a modest gift. But it was late that night that Jason got his best gift. Almost all the men from the ship arrived and they had chipped together to get him a sailor’s outfit, with bell bottom jeans and the red and white striped shirt that they all wore on board. Jason was thrilled at the gifts, and put them away for his next voyage.

The ship sailed on Monday’s early tide, and Jason was there to wave the men off, and then headed off at a jog to the lighthouse. He arrived there and introduced himself to the elderly couple that manned the station. He soon could see the ship approaching and begged for permission to watch the ship sail away to the east. Soon he was in the tower, watching mournfully as his friends sailed east.

Meanwhile, Rayla sat at the table in the house, eating lunch with Stone and the girls. “Where’s Jason?” the woman asked. “I was hoping to have the full family together for a meal.”

“Did he leave on the ship?” Stone said, starting to get angry. “He swore he would not.”

Rayla looked dazed for a moment, and then said: “Arthur was flying this morning and saw Jason heading to Blue Point after the ship sailed. He didn’t break his vow. Hopefully he would be back for supper.

He was not; and did not return to the house that evening. He missed breakfast, and after missing lunch Rayla decided something had to be done. She had taken the week off from school to spend time with her boy, and he was nowhere to by found. She had Beauty saddled up; and headed out towards the lighthouse. She found Jason, standing on a ladder, putting another layer of whitewash on the tower.

“What are you doing?” Rayla called up to Jason.

“Just helping out,” the boy called back. “They gave me dinner here last night, so I need to pay them back. I slept in the lighthouse. It is nearly as good as the ship, although it doesn’t move the same. The smell is the same though.”

“You missed a good dinner last night,” Rayla said. “Cass worked hard making some of your favorites. Were you planning on coming home tonight?”

“I dunno. I love the sea air out here.”

“Get down and come on. You are not too big to ride in front of me on Beauty.”

She paid the lighthouse keeper’s wife a silver for looking after her son, and soon they were headed back to town, with Jason riding behind, which was more comfortable for the boy, due to Rayla’s bosom.

The ride was largely silent for the first half, with Rayla thinking and Jason constantly looking out to the sea until it could no longer be seen. This idea of having Jason only sailing on alternate trips was not working out, the woman realized. If he would spend the two weeks at the lighthouse, she would barely see him. He had vowed not to sail, but had not decided where to stay on shore.

“I wonder if we can change our deal,” Rayla finally and grudgingly said. “I was hoping to see more of you when you weren’t sailing, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen. What if you were able to sail every trip, but promised to spend the two or three days between trips at home?”

“Every trip?” Jason hugged his mother tightly, and her soul was warmed. “Yes … if father agrees. It was to him I made the vow.”

“He will agree, I promise you that,” she replied, and they rode the rest of the way making light conversation.

Jason spent the rest of the week at the house, thrilling Rayla. The following week, when she was back at school, he found himself staying at the lighthouse, where he finished painting the tower, and also a picket fence. The elderly couple who manned the station loved the boy. There was a younger orphan boy of eight as well. He ran messages to town when a ship was seen arriving, often getting a tip for doing so. Thus he called out ‘ship’ from the tower one day. Jason set down his paintbrush and ran up to the tower, looking at the vessel through the big telescope.

“It is the Sun Goddess,” Jason said as he recognized his ship. He tore off down the tower to quickly clean up his painting gear. Then he ran into town and stopped at home for only a few minutes before heading down to the dock. Stone followed at a more sedate pace with Rayla, so they could pay off the sailors when the boat came in. Jason danced about the dock for nearly an hour until the tide turned and the ship came in. You would think he hadn’t sailed in months, and not just two weeks. He ran ahead of his father, and shook each man’s hand as they disembarked, getting smiles from most of them instead of glowers from delaying their visit with the boss, and his bonus coins.

“Can I stay on board tonight?” the boy begged his mother after she had paid the last of the sailor’s wives.

“Only if you come home for supper and come back for breakfast tomorrow. You eat all your meals at the house, and you can stay on board the rest of the time.” He kissed his mother and practically flew up the ramp where unloading was starting to take place.

The next morning, after breakfast, Stone made Jason pause before running back to the ship. Kalosun was there, and performed a ceremony to annul Jason’s former vow. At the same time Stone made a presentation: “I acquired this knife several years back, and was waiting until you grew big enough to merit it. I think that time has come.”

The knife was more than a foot long, and was in a sheath that went around the boy’s waist; strapping onto his leg just above the knee. “It is humming,” Jason said.

“I can’t hear it,” his father said. “But I have stored it next to Pate for many years at night, so it is possible that some of her magic leaked over to it. She is a sword that sings, so I guess a knife that hums only makes sense. I hope it serves you as well as Pate has served me over the years.”

They sailed two days later, and Jason discovered that the old cabin boy was gone, and there was a new one, several years younger than him. The captain told him that as ship’s monkey he was in charge of training the boy, who Jason later learned was the son of the first mate, brought on in spite of only being nine. He immediately showed he was not as lazy as his predecessor.

Thus Jason acted as a cabin boy for the first few days. Kookla took some time to get his sea legs, so it was Jason who served the meals for those days. On the second day Kookla tried serving tea, and spilled, breaking the captain’s bone china cup. He managed to serve the replacement tea safely, but the first mate had to drink his tea from a tin cup until Lakeport, where a new cup was purchased.

When not serving, the boys roamed the ship, and Kookla was quickly earning the affection of the crew. He was afraid to climb the rigging with Jason: spending his time on deck watching his mentor climbing the ropes and helping the crew. Later, when the boys explored the holds, Kookla followed Jason everywhere, including into some small spots that Jason was too big for.

It was not until three trips later that Kookla attempted to go into the rigging, and then only the lowest levels, barely 10 feet off the deck. But when he came down again, terrified silly, all the crew on deck and in the lower rigging cheered him, causing the boy’s face to turn red with pride. Jason clasped him on the back, and made like he had been in the upper sails. Thus the boy started to climb, and several trips later he was climbing all but the top reaches of the rigging.

It was eight trips in when Jason came on deck early and discovered that there was a gorgeous sunrise in the east. “That is beautiful,” Jason said. “Mom and Emily would love to see that.”

“Mebee not,” the nearby master said. “Thet’s a hurricane sunrise. Means thet thar’ll be a big storm afore sunset. Yer don’t want ter see a hurricane if’n it’s a bad un.”