Katherine reluctantly stowed the book in her bag and started off down the street. The wind blustered in off the harbor, ambushing Katherine as she crossed the spaces between buildings. It lashed her hair around her face and her skirt around her ankles as she hurried across the street.
No leisurely walk home along the wharf tonight, she thought, holding tightly to her scarf as the wind tried to blow it away. She was glad to reach the Harborside block and have a little relief from the biting cold of the wind. Stepping into the doorway she saw the Captain hunched over on a little three-legged stool in front of the old wood stove.
“Good morning Captain!” she said cheerily. Without looking up, he replied,
“Good mornin’, Missy,” and continued to stare into the stove, blowing gently now and then and adding kindling.
Katherine had never seen the wood stove in action. The fall had been so mild that until this morning, she hadn’t even thought about how the old part of the shop would be kept warm in the winter. She took off her coat and scarf and smoothed her hair, using her reflection in the shop window as a mirror. Then she quietly slipped on her apron and stepped behind the counter to get a clean dust rag.
Usually, several rags sat in a neatly folded stack on one of the shelves. Not seeing any there, she straightened with a question at her lips, but seeing the captain so engrossed in tending the fire, she abruptly disappeared behind the counter again. This was her chance to “snoop” without snooping.
She quickly surveyed the rows of drawers next to the shelves, wondering which to open. She knew she might only have one chance before the Captain asked what she was doing. She looked at the drawer which had held the candy.
No, I know what’s in that one, and he does open it sometimes, so I might get to look in it another time.
Finally, she decided to open the drawer directly below it. To her disappointment, she only found a ball of string and some scissors. Emboldened by her attempt, however, she pulled on the next drawer down.
It stuck, and the faint thud caused the captain to look up from his task with a gruff, “What’re you looking for back there?”
Katherine quickly jumped to her feet, trying not to look as if she were up to anything. “I needed a rag, and didn’t see any on the shelf,” she said, inwardly cringing at her half-truth.
“Oh, yes, I forgot to put the clean ones out. I’ll get one for you.” And with that, he disappeared into his office and returned with two rags, carefully folded. He handed them to Katherine, who put the extra one in its place on the shelf. “And next time you need something, you can ask me, instead of rummaging around in drawers.” The captain had a note of warning in his voice, and Katherine could tell he had seen through her excuse.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I know I should have just asked.”
Captain Braddock seemed taken aback by such a prompt and open apology and, not knowing just what to do with it, turned back towards the stove with a confused, “Yes, well… about yer work, then.”
Katherine quickly began dusting the jars. Now and then she looked over at the Captain, still bent over the stove. Finally, she asked, “Captain, does that stove heat the whole building?”
“Nope. Just the old bit. The rest had radiators put in with the brick. They don’t work very well, but the rest of the building doesn’t need to be as closely looked after as the shop does.”
“Is that because it’s old?” asked Katherine, looking at the walls and trying to remember any facts she might have read about preserving old buildings.
The captain shut the door of the stove and stood up with a groan. He held his back and peered at an old thermometer on the wall before answering.
“Not really, although I guess it might be a good thing for the wood to be kept from extremes. It’s because of the tea. You see, if tea gets too hot or too cold, its flavor will be damaged, and then the tea’s no good. It has to be kept at a constant temperature.”
He looked to the thermometer again, then, as if something had just occurred to him, he turned and beckoned her over. Pointing at the thermometer, he said, “If you ever see the mercury above 77 or below 68, you just shout for me right away.”
Katherine nodded solemnly, feeling as if she had been given a grave responsibility.
“But what if you’re not here?” she asked, thinking of how Captain Braddock would often leave her to mind the shop while he went on errands.
Considering, he rubbed his chin and finally replied, “I suppose it would be good for you to learn how to tend the stove…but you’re not to go messin’ with it without permission, you hear?”
Katherine did hear—and what was more, she silently resolved to heed this order more faithfully than she had his earlier prohibition of “snooping”.
He opened the door and let her peek in so she could see what a proper fire looked like. Then, he laid out kindling on the floor and showed her the process of building the fire.
“How do you know how much wood it will take to keep it up to temperature?” Katherine asked.
The captain scratched his head. “Well, you kinda just know. It comes with doin’, I suppose. Tell you what, I’ll have you help me whenever the fire needs tending today, and tomorrow when you come for that woman’s order, you can peek in and tell me what you think it needs. Then I’ll know how much yer soakin’ in of what I’ve told you.”
Katherine liked that idea. Once the fire had been set in order, she went back to dusting. Her hands moved deftly, though carefully, as she picked up the jars and knick-knacks. She was just itching to get to the book Miss Harriet had loaned her, and that shabby little chair by the stove beckoned, being just the place to sit and read on a dark, blustery November day.
She wondered if the captain would let her read while she watched the door if her work was done.
I guess I’ll never know if I never ask.
She still felt awkward and nervous whenever she had to ask the captain anything. She told herself she felt that way because she had been enjoying her time at the Harborside so much, and didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize her position there.
But whenever she dared to take an honest look into her heart, she saw (but did not yet have the courage to admit—even to herself) that she enjoyed her time at the Harborside largely because of the time she got to spend with the captain. He had begun to be more open with her, and above all, she feared offending him and causing him to close up again.
Unbeknownst to Captain Braddock, he had become an important part of Katherine’s life, just as Miss Harriet had. Somehow, with all his gruffness, he had found his way into Katherine’s heart, and she often found herself wondering if he was at all like the grandpa she had never known.
What the captain did know, was that he liked having this bright young girl around the shop. She did her work well, and that was a help, for sure, but he had to admit it was nice to have someone to teach things to, who would listen so attentively to his stories.
The captain’s experience with children had not been extensive, and he had never known the joy of having a youngster around the shop, since he and his sister had been the last of the Braddock children. Seeing Katherine there reminded him of his own childhood, and, if he had known what to call it, he would have admitted to feeling a fatherly sort of delight in being listened to and respected by such a smart, capable young girl. (For “young girl” she was to the captain, who thought of her as being yet a child, even though she was in her twenties.)
Pushing aside her nerves, Katherine finished dusting the last shelf, blew the dust off the sails of one more model ship, and laid the dust cloth in its place. She walked up to the captain’s desk, where he was poring over an inventory sheet.
Clearing her throat so she wouldn’t surprise him, she began tentatively, “I’ve finished the dusting, and there are no packages to sort today. All the jars seem to be topped up as well, so I wondered… while I watch the shop, can I read?”
As she spoke, she searched the captain’s face for an answer. Unable to tell what he was thinking, she rattled on. “Of course, I’ll be careful to pay attention, and I’ll put the book down the instant anyone comes in—”
The captain smiled, and Katherine breathed a sigh of relief as he answered, “Of course. In fact, I often read while watching the shop. So long as yer work’s caught up, and there’s nothing more important to do. Why don’t you sit by the stove? There’s a chair there that’s pretty comfy, and there’s a light right overhead, so you won’t hurt yer eyes.”
Katherine took a deep breath feeling she had confronted a dragon in its lair, and found it instead to be a lamb.
