Humble Beginnings

New Jersey

America was certain that the cosmos was laughing at him. Certainly some form of cosmic irony was in place in his existence. England had come back a few weeks after America made it home. Walking up to the door, England looked ragged, tired, and sour. He didn't tell America much, only that the King (Charles II) had called him to Europe to deal with Holland. He had managed to cut out early so as to return to the Continental Colonies. After that, all America could get out of him was that France was a "bloody wanker" whatever that meant. And for a while they were together fairly frequently. Occasionally England would sail south to have a look-see in the Caribbean, or sail north to Newfoundland. While he was away Virginia and her brother would stop by for a few days and talk about their goings on. They would leave well before England came back. And England would always return to the Plantation and spend time with America.

This pattern went on for many years, until suddenly, about 7 years later, England told America to pack his things and took him north to New Castle. They had a nice house near the center of town, set away from the river. The soonest chance he got, America went to find Delaware. Some days later he grudgingly came to the conclusion that she was gone. Asking after the Fawcett's led the the discovery that Mr. Fawcett had been sent to Pennsylvania, and he had taken his household with him. When he asked about Delaware directly the results were even more disheartening. Her whereabouts were unknown, some thought she escaped and moved elsewhere, some thought she went with them to Pennsylvania, but no one knew for certain.

And so, America came to the conclusion that the cosmos was laughing at him.

~~Many Months Later~~

England had been called away on business to Europe. At least this time he had the decency to tell Alfred he would be gone for some time. He was sad to see Iggy go, but was also rather excited. The call had come again, this time to the north. So perhaps the random move to Delaware wasn't for naught, after all he now had less distance to travel.

The next day saw Alfred down around the docks. He was looking for a quick ship that would take him up the river. Eventually he found an opening in a mail boat that was traveling upstream. The sailor was just past prime, slightly graying. He had an interesting accent, and when Alfred asked about it, learned that he had immigrated here from Liverpool. All in all, aside from the sea-sickness, the travel from New Castle to Trenton was quite pleasant.

When they docked 6 hours later, the day was just beginning to darken. There was a package of letters to be passed out, and Alfred willingly took them to the inn for the skipper. Having accomplished that errand, he went around to the stable of the inn to sleep in the hay.

He spent a few days wandering the streets, nabbing bread and other foods from street vendors when he was hungry. About midday 6 days later, he found himself lunching on the Jersey side of the Delaware River right near the banks. He was entertaining himself guessing where the boats were going. One boat was very interesting. Most of the vessels had sails, but this one was a simple row boat. Once it got closer, Alfred could see a boy of about ten was rowing. The boy had blond hair that stood up in spiky tufts. Finally he made it to the banks near a copse of trees. He grabbed a rope and tied the rowboat to some of the exposed roots. Alfred moved to watch him as he reached to tie up the aft as well. Unfortunately the current had shifted the boat so that it was almost out of reach.

"Would you like help?" Alfred asked eventually.

The boy started in surprise and fell in the river. Alfred ran up to the bank to help pull him up. He had managed to grab an oar, and Alfred reached for the edge of the boat to pull him back up.

Finally Alfred helped pull the boy up onto the bank, where he lay coughing and gasping for a few minutes. While he was recovering Alfred quickly tied up the aft of the rowboat and stored the oars.