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Two Sisters Times TwoSerial #34byJeffrey AndersonCopyright 2015 by Jeffrey AndersonReading and Recipes EditionALL RIGHTS RESERVEDNo part of this manuscript may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express permission of the author.This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.Two Sisters Times TwoSerial #34Spring ThawPart XV15The ferry station that Leah remembered as a two-room modular had grown to a large clapboard-sided Visitor’s Center complete with a gift shop (selling what?), vending machines, a large display of maps and tourist info, and bathrooms that were spacious and sort of clean. Outside were rockers lined up on a veranda overlooking the dunes leading to the beach and several picnic tables, all empty this day as the rain that had held off for most of their trip now fell in slow but steady determination. Leah stood at the windows looking out at the empty ferry dock. Despite the expansion of facilities, for some reason the station looked smaller and much grayer than on her last visit, a round-trip pass in the spring—about this time of year—to spend a week on the island with Brooke and Onion and their new-born baby Jodie Michelle. She remembered that trip as being a jumble of unprecedented experiences—the beach in the spring (cold and blustery for most of that visit), her sister as a housewife, her sister as a mother, learning how to change a diaper. But mainly she remembered her sister’s brooding discontent, already pushing back against the walls closing around her—her moody husband, her nosy in-laws, her unchanging routines. The long gray island winter only briefly lightened by the springtime birth of her daughter (at a mainland hospital) now threatened to become a gray island summer—at a beach no less!—and how could she bear that? She had endlessly questioned Leah about her semester just ended and her upcoming trip to Europe as part of her college’s summer program abroad. Leah never forgot the image of Brooke standing on the ferry dock, her newborn budding from her hip, waving in forlorn misery, as if sentenced to a lifetime in exile. That day had been sunny and warmer but did little to lift Brooke’s spirits or Leah’s concern.Jodie came up from behind, her pedestrian’s ticket in hand. “Looks like it’ll be a choppy crossing,” she said.“You want to wait for calmer weather? Tomorrow is supposed to be clear.”Jodie laughed. “Oh, this is nothing. On at least three occasions I was on the last passage before they suspended service. Once a car shifted off its blocks and slammed into the pickup in front of it. The crew got everyone out of their vehicles and in the passenger lounge then handed out life preservers and made sure we all had them properly fastened. Then the lights went out. Passengers, and not just kids, were puking everywhere. The toilet was overflowing. It smelled horrible. One of the crew members was my Uncle Mike and he pulled me aside and said that if we ran aground to stay near him no matter what.”“So what happened?”“We made it across and docked and I stayed afterwards and helped Uncle Mike and Dad clean up the vomit and the broken taillight from the pickup. They joked about being able to tell what each person had had for lunch from their leavings on the floor.”“Gallows humor.”“Island endurance.”“How old were you?”“About eight.”Leah shook her head—the things she didn’t know about her niece.“So this crossing should be a piece of cake,” Jodie said as the rain started to fall harder.Leah felt a hole in the pit of her stomach. She’d never worried about Jodie before. Why now? “Your father will be waiting on the other side?”She nodded. “Probably sharing a nip in the harbor master’s office.”“How will you get to the airport for your flight to Seattle?”“I’ll catch a ride with someone driving up that way, or maybe even on a plane. I’ve done that a few times too—skipped the ferry all together and flown directly to the airport.” She leaned over and hugged her aunt. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”Leah peered into the rain. Just then a faint light rose out of the gray haze. Ever so slowly the silhouette of the ferry formed below it, pushing landward through the storm. Two foghorn blasts penetrated the walls of the building.They watched in silence, as if mesmerized, the bustle of activity beyond the window as tenders in yellow rain gear directed the big boat into its tire-cushioned slip with waves and gestures and soundless shouts. Then they raised the dock’s ramp and unchained the ferry’s gate and directed the handful of cars and SUVs off the boat and toward the exit road, onward to their lives inland.After just a few minutes of straightening up the ferry’s deck and checking the lounge, the dock master waved toward the Visitor’s Center to begin loading, pedestrians and bikes first.“That’s you,” the ticket seller said from her desk to Jodie, the only paying pedestrian on this passage.“That’s me,” Jodie said, barely a whisper breaking their long silence. She turned to Leah. “I guess this is good-bye for now.”Leah grinned tight-lipped. “I’ll walk out with you.”“It’s pouring.”“Got to go out in it anyway to get to the car.”Jodie shrugged then opened the door and stepped out onto the veranda, followed closely by Leah. The rain and the wind and the sea and the ferry’s diesel engines and the engines cranking up and down the line of waiting vehicles all combined to create a near-deafening roar after the stillness of the indoors. Jodie paused at the top of the steps leading to the path to the dock and pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head. Leah unfurled her black umbrella. Then together they stepped out into the midst of the storm. ................
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