After Adam got home that evening, he called Carolyn, just to make sure their plans were still on the rails. They were; she seemed anxious to get going, and suggested that they start a little earlier than they planned.

“I’m not sure we can sail much earlier,” he told her. “I’ve still got to check in at the company, and if some problem has come up it could eat up some time. And I’ve got to get the Knick-Knack on the trailer, along with getting groceries and a few other things. That’s going to eat up a day by itself, easily.”

“But if things go well, we could still leave early, couldn’t we?”

“Well, yeah, I suppose. It’s just that I don’t want to try to make predictions right now, but I’d like to get on the road early, too. After all, we more or less have a deadline on account of your having to get set up for school.”

“It’s not a hard and fast deadline. I could probably delay two or three days if there was a reason to, or we could come back early if the weather doesn’t look promising. But I’m really looking forward to getting out and exploring up there. And, uhhh, the other stuff, too.”

“Especially the other stuff, if I know you,” he teased. “All right, tell you what. Get your gear packed and ready to go. I’m figuring on blowing up tomorrow at the office, but if things go well, by Tuesday night I ought to have a better reading on it.”

“That sounds like it has all the favorable aspects of being a plan,” she replied with a laugh. “Is there anything I can do to help you get ready?”

“Hard to say. Let me think about it, and I’ll let you know in a couple days.”

“Sounds like it might work. But Adam, I’ve been thinking about a few things. You’re contributing a lot to this, and I suppose I ought to do more than just be there. How about letting me get the groceries, and do at least some of the cooking?”

“That would be a huge time saver,” he said. “If you want to do it, I’m not going to say no. All I can say is don’t buy more than we’re going to need, and keep it simple. It’s almost impossible to do elaborate cooking on the boat, you know that. And we’ll probably eat out at least a little when we can. Oh, and remember, we don’t have room for much that has to be kept cold since we’re restricted to ice chests.”

“I’ll try to keep it pretty simple,” she said. “I mean, I don’t want to spend a lot of time over a hot galley stove, either. We are going to be able to stop and get ice someplace, aren’t we?”

“As far as I know. Look, if you’re going to do the food, that means there’s a good chance we could get on the road on Wednesday if things at the office work out all right.”

“Tell you what. Let me know tomorrow night how things are going.”

The next morning, Adam was in the office bright and early, wearing a suit that was becoming more and more uncomfortable, and prepared to deal with whatever disasters had occurred. As it turned out, there weren’t any; things were going along smoothly, according to Bob, Fred, and Marcia. The new Ford job was finally a go, and machinery was already on order, and there was space in the Meridian plant for it.

“The only real problem I see,” Bob told him, “Is that if we get another big job we really don’t have the space to put it. The way things are going I can see another big job or two coming our way by the end of the year, and I don’t think we want to get caught flat-footed on that.”

“I don’t think so either. Have you got something in mind?”

“I think so, but it’s something you’d have to approve. You’ve been to the Meridian plant enough. You remember the next building to the east?”

“Yeah. Moderate size, looks to be in good shape, and it’s been empty for a while.”

“It’s been empty for three years now, and it could be had at a real good price. It’ll probably need some work, but if we were to pick it up now we could have it done without being under the gun about it. Then, I figure we could pull a line or two out of the Meridian plant, and maybe three or four out of other plants. That’d give everyone a little more elbow room without having to increase administrative staff, and give us room for expansion in several places if we need it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Adam nodded. “Go ahead and work out the details, but let’s not sign any binding paperwork until I get back in two weeks or less. Get someone who knows what they’re doing to go through the place and see if we’d be in for any building headaches, and if it looks good to you, go ahead and take out an option.”

“All right, I’ll look into it. With any kind of luck, we ought to be ready for a decision by then.”

“Good enough. Anything else?”

“Not really,” Bob shrugged. “Production is a little down since we’ve got people on vacation everywhere, but not enough to worry about. That’ll ease up a lot as soon as school gets back in session.”

“Happens every year,” Adam agreed. “So is there any reason for me to stick around?”

“Not unless you really want to.”

“Good enough. Bob, I guess I’ll stay just long enough to glance through the paperwork on my desk, but there shouldn’t be much except reviewing routine reports. You and the gang have done well, and it’s good to know I can turn my back and know this place is in good hands.”

Going through the reports and a few other issues took until noon, and at that Adam was taking his time about it. By the time noon rolled around there wasn’t a lot left to do. He decided to have his sub sandwich lunch and a bottle of cola in the lunchroom, just so that he could hear any informal gripes and gossip, but if there was, he didn’t hear anything much. That told him things were going along well, and he could turn his back on the place again. By one, he was in his car, heading back to the apartment to get out of his suit.

It felt better to be wearing shorts and a polo shirt on this hot day; a suit and tie was beginning to feel more and more restrictive. He had a list of a few things he needed to get at the marine supply store, and a couple things from a good hardware store, but neither errand took long, so he headed down to Frenchtown Harbor to work on the Knick-Knack. The boat needed a good cleaning, and he spent the rest of the afternoon on that, making a list of anything else he thought he might need. That evening, he called Carolyn and told her that unless something came up, they could plan on hitting the road on Wednesday morning.

The next morning, he called Chuck to arrange to swap the sedan and the pickup. This was another pain in the neck, mostly as a result of wanting to lie low in case Brittany still had detectives looking at him, but since he wasn’t planning on taking the pickup near Blanche Tickle again anytime soon, he thought it was worth the risk. He’d already taken the sails off and bagged them up the day before, so there was little else he could do to get ready with the boat still in the water.

Remembering the trouble he’d had with backing up the trailer when he’d launched the Knick-Knack there a couple months before, he hooked it onto the back of the pickup and spent a little time practicing backing it around the largely empty parking lot. After half an hour’s worth of practice he didn’t feel like he was an expert but at least had some idea of what he was doing, so he backed the trailer into the water at the launch ramp and loaded the boat on it. Getting the mast down was a pain in the neck, but he got the help of one of the dock hands for a few minutes, and soon it was nestled in its cradle above the boat.

By noon he’d done everything he could to get ready; it would have been much worse if he’d had to get groceries, too. Finding himself without much to do, he decided to head home, do his laundry and get packed up for the trip himself, and spend any free time studying charts and books about where they were going.

Right according to plan, Carolyn showed up at the marina at seven the next morning, and he already had the pickup there. Getting the gear and groceries aboard the boat was a little complicated thanks to the mast being down and in the way of the hatch, but between the two of them it didn’t take long. Still, things would have to be sorted out below before they went anywhere on the water. By 7:30 they were on the road.

Like the last time he’d trailered the Knick-Knack, it was a long, hard trip; he wouldn’t want to say the weight of the boat and the trailer overwhelmed the little pickup, but it was getting close. That meant it was a slow trip up the highway to Toronto, then north from there to Victoria Harbour, the place he’d picked out to launch for the trip.

Getting the mast up wasn’t as much trouble as it had been the last time, since the dock hand down at Frenchtown Harbor had showed him a couple of tricks. While the boat was on the trailer they spent some time getting the sails bent back on and getting things put away below. It was getting along in the evening before they finally got the boat back in the water, and the pickup and the trailer parked for a few days.

Adam and Carolyn didn’t go far that first evening, just to a good anchorage not far offshore; they were tired after the long day driving. They had a simple meal in the cockpit and a couple cold beers to go with it, watched the sunset, then made the dinette into the double berth and went to bed – this time just to sleep, although it was a comfortable sleep from being close to each other.

The next morning they set out to the northwest. Although they hit places of open water where they could sail for a mile or two, Adam soon learned that the information Audrey had given him up in Blanche Tickle was dead correct. Although well-marked, the channels were winding, and it wasn’t a good idea to get outside them because there were rocks all over the place. So the actual sailing was rather restricted, and they probably spent the majority of their time with the sails down and the Honda providing the power.

They didn’t mind; they were there to see the sights and enjoy the countryside. The first night they got no farther than Goblin Bay on Beausoleil Island, a part of the Georgian Bay National Park, before they found a place to anchor for the afternoon. There they swam off of the boat, had a nice dinner, and went to bed early, this time getting a little more enjoyment than the night before.

The next day they continued to the north, taking their time, sometimes poking into places the charts seemed to indicate had sufficient water for the Knick-Knack. Sometimes they got so lost in the maze of islands, rocks, trees and clear blue water that it took the GPS and a little plotting to work out where they were. The whole area is wooded toward the mainland, but the mainland has a shield of large to small rocky islands, and the closer they got to the open lake the more scrubby and stunted the trees got until finally there were no more. This side of Lake Huron was considerably different from the west side of the lake they were familiar with from sailing out of Winchester Harbor.

They were in no hurry. There was plenty to see, and always new places to explore, sometimes wild and scenic, especially toward the lakeward side of the islands, sometimes studded with cottages toward the landward side, although variations it made generalities pointless.

It took them a week to make it to Parry Sound, halfway up the northeast coast of Georgian Bay, and at that they’d thought they were pushing it at times. However, at Parry Sound they had already come to realize that they weren’t going to make it as far north as the French River, where the coast turned to the west and things became a little different. There was absolutely no chance of their getting as far as Adam had been with Jake the previous fall. Their gas supply was getting low as they got to Parry Sound, and they’d run out of ice; the only way they’d been able to have halfway cold drinks had been to put them in a sack and dangle them beneath the boat in the cold, clear water.

But with essential supplies restocked, they found another quiet place for the night toward the northwestern side of Parry Sound with a few cottages visible in the distance. “I hate to say it,” Adam told Carolyn that evening as they lay back in the cockpit with freshly-cold beers in their hands, “but I think we’re getting to the point where we’re going to have to turn back. It’d take all summer to see all there is to see up here.”

“I don’t know but what I could spend a summer doing it,” she agreed. “But you’re right, we need to be heading back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take our time about it.”

“Right. And at that, we still didn’t really get out of cottage country. I’m told it gets quite a bit wilder to the north, up around the French River.”

“Well, something to do another year,” she smiled. “This has really been a joy, but it’ll be something to look forward to.”

“Maybe the smart thing to do another year would be to tow farther north, say to Parry Sound, and put in there. Oh, well, live and learn.”

The next morning they headed southeastward, still taking their time, and taking a different route as much as possible. Occasionally the wind was right for them to go clear outside the complex of islands, and sail out in the open lake for a ways; it was a joy to be free of the restricted channels, but it never lasted for long. At one point they sailed straight as an arrow up Twelve-Mile Bay with the wind directly behind them, and spent the night near the head of the bay. They had to get back out of the bay the next morning on the strength of the Honda, since the wind was now ahead of them.

By now, gas and ice were getting low again, and they didn’t have enough to get them back to Victoria Harbour. There really weren’t a lot of places to take on supplies around there, and the next chance would be Flower Harbour, a few miles ahead of them. By a little judicious sailing and being careful with the outboard, they were able to make it in there running on fumes. “I’ll tell you what,” he told Carolyn as they threaded the narrow channel into the place, “If I come up here again, I’m bringing an extra gas can.”

“Maybe an extra cooler too,” she suggested.

Finally they crept up to the fueling dock with no little degree of relief. By now they were getting tired of the simple meals, and Adam suggested that they give a little restaurant visible from the fueling dock a try. Once they’d fueled up, the dock attendant had them move down the pier a ways, and as they headed for the restaurant, Adam happened to notice a woman sitting behind an easel, happily painting away.

Somehow that seemed familiar to Adam, and there was a good reason for it. “Audrey!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Adam! What a nice surprise! Is that your little boat?”

“The Knick-Knack? Yes, it is. We’ve been having a good time with it. Oh, this is Carolyn, she’s a long-time friend of the family who decided to come along with me. How’s the painting going?”

“Reasonably well. I’ve been working up some of the scenes I saw in Blanche Tickle, but it’s such a lovely day out today I decided I had to get out and enjoy it a little. I’m about done with this.”

Adam cringed just a little bit. He hadn’t told Carolyn about Blanche Tickle, not at all – as always there was the fear that somehow someone would slip up and Mary and Matty’s location would get to Brittany. Well, there was nothing to do about it now but carry on, be friendly with Audrey, and have a long talk with Carolyn later. “If you’re about done, why don’t you come to lunch with us? I seem to recall I promised you a dinner, but I never had the chance to make good on it.”

“I’d be delighted,” Audrey smiled, “but I’m afraid the only place in town is nothing to write home about. I’ll come with you anyway though. Like I said, I’m just about done with this watercolor and I’m not very happy with it anyway. Give me a few minutes and I’ll pack up.”

Adam and Carolyn watched as she made a few more brush strokes, frowned, and made a few more. From looking over Audrey’s shoulder it didn’t seem that bad, but Adam was no expert when it came to art. In a few minutes, Audrey had packed up and was walking with them to the restaurant. “So how are you enjoying Georgian Bay?” she asked.

“I really like it,” Adam said. “There’s a lot of places to poke into to see what’s there. Have you been coming here long?”

“Oh, my, yes, years and years, since before Bert and I were married. I still enjoy it here but sometimes it gets to be old hat. I think that’s one of the things I liked about Newfoundland. Everything there is new to me, but I certainly miss being able to see some of the places Bert and I used to enjoy. I really envy your being able to get out and cruise around here. It’s been too long for me.”

The restaurant was all right, although certainly not the best small-town restaurant Adam had ever been in; he’d learned to avoid the only one in Betzer like the plague, for example. This one was adequate, if for no more reason than they didn’t have to cook it aboard the Knick-Knack or clean up afterward. They spent most of the lunch listening to Audrey talk about Flower Harbour and some of the sailing she’d done with her late husband, and it was interesting enough that they sat around talking well after they’d finished with their dessert, a cherry pie that wasn’t bad at all.

Eventually they got back outside. “I’ve seen it worse in there,” Audrey commented. “But I’m afraid I’m not showing you very good hospitality. Tell me, are you in a hurry to get anywhere?”

“Not really,” Adam said. “We’ve got to be getting back but we can stretch it out a couple days if we want to.”

“Then why don’t you come over to our place tonight? Bertie and Josette are down in the city, and won’t be up until next weekend. It gets a little lonely around there at times, and I’d be glad of the company.”

“I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Oh, not in the slightest,” she smiled. “It would be a privilege. I know I have some steaks in the freezer and there’s time to let them thaw. You can sail right up to the dock in front of the house. Bert and I used to keep the Alberg there, back when we had it. Maybe there’d even be time for you to take me sailing a little. I haven’t been sailing since the last time, when we were out in the Mary Sue.”

“I guess I’m up for it, if Carolyn doesn’t have any objections,” he replied.

“Fine with me,” Carolyn smiled. “I’ve seen a lot of cottages around here and have wondered a little about what it’s like from the landward side. Is it hard to find your place?”

“Oh, heavens no. It’s only a few miles by water, although it’s farther by land. I’ll point it out for you on your chart, and I’ll be waiting for you on the dock when you arrive.”

In a few minutes Adam and Carolyn were back aboard the Knick-Knack, following Audrey’s directions, including one unmarked spot where they needed to be sure to stay in the center of the channel. It had been just deep enough for Audrey and Bert’s old boat, but Adam wasn’t concerned about getting through the spot with the keel up.

They were out of earshot of the dock before Carolyn asked, “So what was all that about Newfoundland? I’ve never heard you say anything about it, but she seems to know you pretty well.”

“Look, Carolyn,” he sighed. I’ve been trying to keep this a secret, and when I tell you you’ll know why. Blanche Tickle, Newfoundland is where Mary and Matty are living. It’s mostly a fishing village on the South Shore, but it’s becoming a little bit of an artist’s colony. I was up there to see them two weeks ago, which is why I’ve been a little vague about what I was doing, again for obvious reasons. Mary keeps the Mary Sue there and uses it to ferry artists around sometimes. I won’t get into the background because it’s not necessary, but I picked up Audrey at an abandoned outport village on the Mary Sue a couple weeks ago and brought her back to Blanche Tickle. As you can see, she’s a friendly woman, a bit of a talker, but she manages to talk about interesting things.”

“She does seem to be pretty personable,” Carolyn smiled. “And she seems to like you.”

“In my limited experience, she seems to like everyone,” he laughed. “She’s that kind of person. But Carolyn, in a way I’m sorry we ran into her here, because now you know something I’ve tried very hard to keep Brittany from knowing.”

“Don’t worry about it. I realize the problem you have with that and why you’ve been shy about it. But think about it from my point of view. If I told Brittany where Mary and Matty are living, she’d want to know how I knew, and I don’t think she’d be very happy that you and I had been out cruising together for over a week, just the two of us.”

“Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that.”

“It would blow my whole cover to hell, too,” she smiled. “So we’re both just going to have to keep our secrets.”

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