Leaving Port

  Exhaling deeply, George could finally feel himself relax, the mounting pressures seemed also to fade? So many problems, so much yet to do. As they passed the breakers where the ocean met the bay, he turned and looked to the horizon, to see what was ahead. It was a beautiful day, the ocean calm and soft.
But there on the horizon, it looked like foul weather ahead? Well, he said to himself, might as well make the best of it, and a little prayer tonight, one for safe passage wouldn't be bad either. He had booked passage on this ship, he had been saving for it for years. It was on one of those three mast wooden ships, a marvel of wood and craftsmanship! As soon as he first got on board her, he could smell her! A texture of fine wood oils, that smelled like the finest perfume! He loved it immediately, the ropes and the rigging looked just as he had imagined they would. It was perfect!
The deal was of course, that in addition to his fee, he was to work as a mate on the voyage. This was to be no pleasure cruise? Room eight, George said to himself, while struggling with his gear. Where the hell is room eight? The entrance to below deck was right in front of him, and he took a step and stopped to admire the door. Just out side the end of the stairs was the galley off to the right. And just beyond the galley, a huge timber stood at the hallway, where the galley ended, and the hallway begun. Room eight was the first on the right. His roommate was to be a man named Gunther, a man who had worked on this ship for going on 7 years now. Or at least that's what the brochure had told him? George threw his sack onto the cot that had to be his? The other side having that lived in look. He reached into his back pocket and began reading the intinary The passengers where to board at ten, and they were to meet their new crewmates at 12 sharp for lunch at the galley table. It was 11 o'clock already, I'd better hurry, he thought. Stepping into his room, he slung his gunny sack onto the cot. The same gunny sack that he had just bought the week before at the Army Navy store. The door to below, and the doors to all the rooms were solid on the bottom, and louvered at the top, everything he had hoped it would be!