Timecrash

Chapter 5: Mayflower Fun

The ceiling was low and damp. The cargo hold was dark with a few rusty lanterns giving off an orange light. Mason steered his way through the many bags and towards a group of small boys huddled in the corner. They were all small and skinny.

"Who's up for a good game of marbles?" he called out rubbing his hands together. The boys looked up with surprised expressions on their faces. They looked up to see who it was and when they saw Mason, all I could hear was a cheer of "I want to play!" and "Don't forget about me!" or "I'm coming!" and "Count me in!". Mason's smile grew and he said,

"Okay, now calm down. Carl, Simon, Robert, Ted, David- this is Chelsey. She will be playing with us". All eyes were on me as I quickly muttered "Nice to meet you" . Two of the boys whispered something to each other and the others nodded.

"See you on the gun deck!" I didn't know where that was so I decided to follow the boy Mason said was Simon. I had no trouble sneaking past the crew's chef or keeping up with Simon. The only thing in my way was the long skirt and apron sweeping the floor everywhere I went.

"Watch out for that petticoat of yours!" Simon laughed. The boy named Ted skipped over too, and added,

"Don't worry, my breeches aren't the most comfortable either" he glanced down at his beige woolen pants. It amazed me how the people here used a word like "breeches" or "petticoat" so naturally. After all the boys had gathered by the huge black cannon, Mason announced,

"I have the marbles. Robert, is the chalk ready?" In an answer, Robert pulled out a small piece of white chalk. He began to draw a circle about three feet in diameter. Mason pulled out about twenty colored marbles and one big black one. After the circle was complete and all the marbles were out, Carl yelled,

"I'll go first!" he took the big black marble and shot the other ones with it. About half of them rolled out from the circle and Carl let out a disappointed sigh. David had a smug look on his face and took the big marble from Carl. He flicked it into the circle and all of them rolled out. David cheered and handed the marble to Ted. We continued shooting the marbles in a circle. By the time it was my turn, I had figured out how the game went: the goal was to knock out as many marbles as possible. When it came to my turn, I flicked the shiny, black marble into the circle and watched as it pushed a few out of it. Eight colored marbles flew out of the circle like a swarm of bees to honey. As we played, the scarlet red sun rolled down the horizon and got swallowed by the deep black ocean.

It got late and the boys made their way to the cargo hold and I followed them down. The cheery air on the ship began to quiet down and less and less people were seen on the main deck. Mothers were hurrying their children to bed and there was a peaceful breeze in the night air. I suddenly realized that I had nowhere to go. These people on the Mayflower were for real: with their luggage, family and somewhere to sail to. I looked at a family of four standing on the edge of the deck, talking and laughing. The father ruffled his son's straw blond hair and patted him on the back. The older girl's mother was stroking her beautiful, long hair falling down her shoulders to her waist. I sting of homesickness hit me as I remembered what I would be doing at home right now. I would have just gotten home from dance practice and would join my family to have some dinner. I would finish up my homework, and slip off to bed. This all was so normal, that it made me miss it even more. I even missed homework!

But I was far, far away from home. Three hundred centuries before. At first, getting away from home to go on an adventure seemed like the best idea. I now realized how much I missed my home and family. Staring out into the cold, vast black ocean, I made a decision. I had to go home. I didn't belong on the Mayflower, in the 1620's. I was about to reach for the Time Capsule Tx7, when I became aware of the people around me. The family I had seen before had left but a few people still remained on the deck. As I stood there, daydreaming and staring out into the night sky, I didn't see Mason come upto me and stand next to me.

"You going to bed?" he asked softly. From surprise, I took a step back. He was much taller than me so I had to look up to see his eyes. He was already dressed in white pants that I guessed were pajamas. He had a large bulky jacket over his sleeping shirt that went down to below his knees. What was I supposed to tell him? I certainly wasn't going to bed but I needed to tell him something.

"I'll go down a little bit later," I said. "I need to stay alone for a little," Mason nodded, then replied,

"Good Night, then. I'll see you in the morning,". Sadly, I thought: There won't be a morning here for me.