by CJ Klinger
The captain stood up abruptly. “Be ready next Falling Season. Bring only what you can carry. Any money you have goes into the clan coffers. Understand?”
“We’ll be ready,” she said, desperately hiding her excitement.
The clansman left and Margaret collapsed in tears. Jonny stood next to her and put his hand on her back to comfort her. He had already endured several fights with some of the children in the village over his mother’s unmarried status. The children didn’t understand what they were fighting about, they were just echoing their parent’s attitude.
Finally, gathering herself, she took her son into her arms and said, “We’re going to go live on a clanboat, Jonny. I promise you, there will be no more fights.”
Jonny was ecstatic about going to live on a clanboat. He wanted to see all the places the clansmen talked about when they stopped to trade. “Wow, Mom, when do we go?”
“When the clanboat returns next Falling Season, Jonny, in six months. I’ll have a job and you’ll start training to be a member of the crew.
“Can I train to be the captain?” Jonny asked seriously.
Margaret laughed. “You know, Jonny, I believe you will somehow manage to do that.”
The six months passed slowly for the boy but the day finally came when he and his mother moved aboard the clanboat. Apparently, there had been discussion amongst the clan members on why the captain was taking a single woman and her son aboard, but the captain’s word was law and all objections ceased.
Within a week, the pair had settled in and were accepted by the clan members. Jonny’s education began at once. He had chores after classes and was always expected to behave. Above all, Jonny had one fascination that drew him to the top deck at every opportunity. To the clan members who had been born on the boat, the passing scenery was all too familiar and the villages were the novelty, but to Jonny, just the opposite was true. He sat on the bench next to the old oarsman and watched the passing islands with a fascination born of sharp intellectual curiosity.
The eldest oarsman took a liking to the inquisitive young man and tried to answer his many questions, most of them starting with the word, “Why.” Gradually, he began to teach the boy how to use the big sweep to control the boat’s sideslip and as the years passed, the clan members accepted that Jonny Oarboy would become the next oarsman when the old man retired.
THANK YOU FOR READING the Islandia: The Lost Colony, A Prequel. I’m excited to announce that book one, Islandia: The Lost Colony, is now available on Amazon. You can head there to preview and purchase the book today!
I know you will enjoy the adventure.
Thank you,
CJ Klinger