Sally Was No Longer Certain
How observant the females- slipping cautiously into the mist
- wrong end first, only compounded the confusion
- letting her own need flower
- exclamations crowded her brain
- overhanging the poop deck
- a rumbling chuckle ruffled her curls
Sally was no longer certain she should have come on the voyage, and the sight of Alphonse’s vessel slipping cautiously into the mist, wrong end first, only compounded the confusion in her mind. She raised the spyglass, leaning far out over the railing overhanging the poop deck, but the heavy mist made the instrument useless. Alphonse and his ship had vanished.
A rumbling chuckle ruffled her curls, and she cursed the rat-sneak who styled himself captain of this tub, but not aloud. He had an eerie way of sneaking up behind her. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“How observant the females, and still, ah, vot is the word…” the grizzled Russian stared off into the ice-choked distance. “Stupid. Yes.”
Exclamations crowded her brain, and Sally’s eyes widened, but she checked her indignant reply.
“I brought you nice coat. Sealskin and arctic fox.”
Sally hadn’t felt cold, too intent on Alphonse’s fate, but now realized she was shivering violently. Hating herself for accepting anything from the vile captain, she reached for the garment and greedily shrugged into it. The captain chuckled again.
Sally hid her tears in fox fur. Alphonse had been content back home on the farm, but she had needed an adventurous man. And now she stood here, freezing, alone, sorry for letting her own need flower into her beloved’s doom.