NOVEMBER 6

Another day spent lolling about at anchor, while the wind and rain have evidently agreed to blow us back to the city to find if we have any mail. It makes me groggy not to walk about, but it makes Sophy more energetic, and she has one fixed idea, which is to get out of our cabin and explore the ship. After dinner I thought to let her wear herself out running the length of the companionway and climbing up and down the steps to the hatch, which she can do handily now. As I opened the door, she shot out past me, and as Mr. Richardson was lying in his bunk with the door open, she burst in upon him, crowing at her own cleverness.

I followed, calling after her, but of course she didn’t answer. When I looked in, Mr. R. was sitting up, having laid his book aside, and Sophy was attempting to crawl up on the chair at his desk. He was smiling at her, somewhat bemusedly, and when I apologized for her intrusion, he said, “Not at all. She’s a welcome visitor,” which I thought a nice bit of politesse. I went in and picked her up, rather hoping she wouldn’t make a fuss about being carried away. “Shall we go and play on the steps?” I said. She knows the word “steps” and nodded in the vigorous way she has, reaching her arms out toward the door, so I set her down and out she ran.

“She’s easily distracted,” observed Mr. R., and I said something to the effect that this was true. I, too, was distracted, because I was looking about the cabin, taking in various bits of information. There was a letter addressed to Fanny Richardson on the desk. He’d laid the book with its spine turned away so I couldn’t read the title, he had a hole in one of his socks, but most interestingly, as I turned to follow my wayward child, I noticed a round clock screwed to the wall – the oddity of it was that it had no hands and was hanging upside down.

I looked out the door to find Sophy up the steps and trying to shove the hatch open, so I bolted out, waving gaily to Mr. R., who lifted a few fingers from his knee in reply.

Why would anyone hang a clock upside down, even one with no hands? Was it some sort of joke?

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 582