Prologue
The ship’s horn blew. Seagulls could be heard, but the flock was far away. Immediately, the horn blew again. It was loud enough for at least half of the passengers to hear. One family (in particular) consisted of a father, his wife, and their daughter; the latter had apparently fallen asleep.
“Wake her up,” the father told the mother. By the looks of it, all three of them shared the same room.
“Kelly,” the mother calmly called out to the daughter, as she patted her on the back with both hands, “Wake up, Deary …”
Finally, the daughter did just that. “Mum …?” she lightly asked while lifting her head off of the pillow. “What is it?”
The mother then leaned in and whispered into the daughter’s left ear, “Made it we have.”
The daughter leaned upward and cocked her head, looking over towards the circular window. She then cocked her head again and faced her mother. “Really?” she asked while attempting to smile.
“Get dressed you must,” the mother told her.
Having left the room, the father knocked on the door. The mother opened it.
“Ready yet are we?” the father asked, as he stood on the other side of the door.
“Not quite,” the mother answered. “Our daughter is getting dressed, she is.”
After turning his head and looking over to the left-hand side of the hallway, the father responded, “Well, she best hurry.”
The mother didn’t know where her husband’s attention was at that moment and she knew she didn’t have the time to ask. Upon that, she closed the door, turned around, and faced her daughter. The child had apparently just finished getting dressed. The mother was visibly pleased. “Alright,” she belched while clapping her hands together, “Grab our things now, let’s.”
