After three days, late on a Thursday afternoon, the city hall calls back, informing me that the ‘item’ has been located in the Morristown docks – some twenty miles down the coast. According to regulations, if I show sufficient identification which proves I have reached the age of majority, the ship is mine to keep. Grinning from ear to ear, I hang up the phone in the kitchen and turn to share the news with Fay.

“Guess who owns a boat now?”

A smile spreads across her face. “They said you can have it?”

“Yeah, something to that effect.”

Jumping up from her seat, she wraps her arms around me and suddenly kisses me on the cheek, her face glowing.

“I’m so glad to hear that,” she laughs. “Come on – lets go tell Mr. Carleton. I bet he’d want to know.”

Unwillingly, I let her slide away, trying to ingnore the voice that continues to whisper slightly less then platonic thoughts in my ear. Grabbing our coats, we dash out the door and run through the town, arriving breathlessly at the bookstore.

Mr. Carleton is nowhere to be seen – instead, sitting behind the small counter is Marc, a pair of reading glasses perched precariously on his nose, and “The Guide to Ship Handling” spread out in front of him.

While Fay falls helplessly into a fit of giggles, I ring repeatedly on the little silver bell sitting on the counter. Looking up, Marc smiles benevolently at us.

“Why hello children! What can I get for you today? Perhaps I could recommend some Dr. Suess for you? Or maybe…”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe this book would be more appropriate?”

I raise my eyebrows. “A guide to ship handling? Uh-huh. Well, what makes you think that I need a book on that.”

He leans forward, a grin playing around the edges of his mouth. “Well – a little bird told me that you might have an interest in ships nowadays.”

I shrug my shoulders eloquently as Fay wanders off to the other side of the shop. “I’m sure if I had a ship, I would know how to use it by instinct. After all, it is in my blood.”

The enigmatic stranger leans back and shakes his head. “You might think that. Don’t be fooled though – my first time on a ship - well my first real voyage, was quite rough. Never count your chickens…”

“Until they hatch,” finishes Fay, coming up behind me and leaning on my shoulder. “Any more cliches you want to throw at us? And by the way, where is Mr. Carleton.”

“Excellent question young lady,” beams Marc, sweeping off the glasses and giving a short bow. “I will have you know that currently he is completing a short pow-wow with this young man’s mother and will soon return. In the duration of the time – I am looking after his shop.”

I stare stupidly at him.

“M…mother? My mother is talking to Mr. Carleton? About what?”

“Oh you know,” shrugs Marc, flipping the book back and forth in his hands. “This and that.”

“Come off of it,” I snap irately. “Tell me what they’re talking about.”

“We were talking about your future.”

I freeze at the sound of my mothers voice. Ever so slowly I turn around, finally seeing her at the door, where Mr. Carleton is helping her out of her jacket.

“Don’t gawk at me like some fish out of water,” she commands sternly. “What will your girlfriend think?”

Behind me, Marc giggles as I turn a bright red.

“I wasn’t gawking,” I protest defensively. “I was just…wondering what you were talking to Mr. Carleton about is all.”

“We were talking about your sudden flair for duplicity. Why didn’t you tell me that you were going after your inheritance? It’s quite shameful that the city hall leaked the information to Mr. Carleton before I even heard a whisper of your plan. Well?”

Inwardly, I curse every employee of the city, as I tactfully respond “I didn’t want to worry you.”