When I wake up and it’s still dark outside. The house still feels like something is missing but it isn’t as noticeable as last night. I’ll take that as a good sign, it seems like I’m getting on with my life.
I walk downstairs, still in my night gown, and go to the kitchen. Like it’s a routine I walk over to the stove and pick up the kettle. I fill it up from the tap and put it beside the stove, light a flame and place it over the flame. In the door less cupboard above my head I pull out a slightly dirty cup and fill it with an old tea bag. I hear a whistle from the kettle, a sign the water has boiled and fill up my mug. I stir it around a bit and stand by my window, overlooking the view.
From the kitchen window I can see everything, even before sunrise. To the east are the hills, wide and rocky, but they protect us from the easterly winds in the winter. To the west are flatlands, the most farmable and fertile land we have. Without it we would surely starve in the winter. And to the south are the Bay and the main village; both of which are beginning to show sign of life.
From where I stand the houses and shops are small but you can see the road perfectly. The village is built around the main square where the market is on a Sunday. In the middle is an old fountain that hasn’t been working in years. Surrounding the square are many empty buildings. Some are still open such as the only pub in the village run by Mr Drummond and his mean faced wife Rita. The fisherman will usually make that place their first stop after a large haul, especially during the winter when the sea is at its wildest.
Two doors down is the bakers run by my friend Anika and her mother Adrianne. It was run by her father but he died and her mother remarried Reg, my boss down at the docks. Sometimes I can smell the bread being baked from all the way up here.
Across the square is the tailors run by the stuffy old lady Mrs Faversham and her son Jude. She thinks she better than the rest of the town because her family was, according to her, a part of an old royal family from the mainland. Whenever I go in she usually has a story or two to tell me about her so called family. But I don’t really listen, I usually have a book under my nose in hopes that she might get the message and see that I’m not interested, she doesn’t. Everyone thinks she’s crazy and has delusions of grandeur, and her son isn’t much better. He thinks he is god’s gift to women, when he’d really not. He’s awkward-tall, with mousy blond hair and dull blue eyes. His nose makes me laugh though because it’s crooked and twisted slightly from when he wouldn’t take no as an answer from me a few months ago and Rayyan smacked him on the nose as a warning to stay away from me, he got the message.
The grocers are run by Auntie Jackie, an old widow who acts like she’s twenty and is as stubborn as an ox. At the ripe old age of 69 she still carries and lifts the heavy boxes of various fruits and vegetables off her cart when they come in off the ferries from the mainland. We’ve all asked her if she needed any help but it’s always the same answer; “If I needed help I’d make another one of me so I’ll be just as good.” A lot of people get confused by her saying that but I believe it’s just a polite-ish way of saying “Bugger off”.
Beyond the square is the Bay. There are two masters of this area. Reg runs the docks; he’s a kindly man and Anika’s stepdad. He organizes everyone in the morning to help gather the catch from the boats and put in on display for it to be sold to the public and to restaurants. Usually the men collect the catch and the women sell it. I usually do both, that way I get more money.
Shipmaster Jim handles the boats. He looks after the three boats that bring in the fish. He’s hardnosed and seems mean at times but that’s just his face. It’s gruff and aged from the years of being out at sea, but he’s a nice man who you can confide in. He’s also Rayyan’s dad, which is why Rayyan’s one of my best friends. He introduced us a while back when I first started at the docks and Rayyan was just starting on the boats with his dad. We became friends straight away and he introduced me to Anika through Reg and Adrianne. They grew up together but the made me feel welcomed and was really nice. We’ve been friends ever since.
