“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”

She closed the book and gazed at the sea, the horizon glimmering to her right.

The railing of the ship that she was on slanted up and down from the straight line of water 20 miles away, causing her to stand up to vainly try and get a closer look.

The other ship was all white, different from the one she was on and the smokestack had a familiar insignia. She knew the line. A pricey, European company with a name that when spoken, evoked a feeling of cool air and razor sharp breaths in white hued spaces.

She imagined the quiet of the expanse of a frigid desert with no populace. She longed for the quiet there.

And she’d found it for a minute, on deck four. For the five minutes left before she met the rest of her party, she knew she’d find it on every deck of the ship to the right.

There, she could leave off being the mule of the world, like Janie. Over there, she could perhaps float through a verandah cabin, the curtains blowing in her accommodations with her on the laying on a settee like care-less Daisy.

For a minute, it was if she were weightlessly floating over to the other ship, Daisy calling Janie over to talk.

Then, she became tethered to the deck of the ship again. Her sweet earth was beckoning.

“Pamela?” “Mommy?”

She turned around and smiled. Firmly anchored on deck four.