liked him immediately and we got on well. We went out to the pub but sat in the garden rather than the bar, because the weather had turned mild and we had Will with us. While Sam and Ellen talked, I asked Edward about his job.
“It’s pure organization,” he said. “I enjoyed math at school, especially geometry, and it’s just as well. My job is all about timing and layout. Say a ship comes in, from the West Indies, for example. I’m told by telegraph when it’s coming, what size it is, and how long it’s going to be with us. So I allocate a berth. All well and good, assuming, of course, that it’s in a convoy and doesn’t get torpedoed. I arrange the customs inspection, handle any quarantine problems, make sure all the paperwork is in order.”
“But… ? I sense a ‘but’ coming.” Too right. He smiled. First off, I don’t control the rate at which ships arrive. If the port is full—and it happens—ships have to anchor in the estuary. That’s expensive for them, and so is hardly popular. And it creates work for me, since I have to alert customs, who will keep an eye on them.
“Then, some ships overstay the amount of time they have told us. Ships are big things, so you can’t just tell them to move. But if they stay, they are fined—and getting the money out of them can be a problem, though they know that if they mess us around they can’t come back. Then, of course, sailors who have been at sea for weeks at a time are apt to go overboard when they reach the shore. They drink, go whoring, get into fights, get arrested, in some cases get sent to prison. I don’t have to deal with all that but I do have to keep abreast of it, insofar as it affects when a ship leaves and we can bring in the ones waiting outside.” He smiled. “As a job it’s more interesting than it sounds, and I enjoy it. Of course, over time, certain ships and certain captains get a reputation and you learn to look out for them.”
“Can you ban the black sheep from the port?”
“Oh yes, it happens all the time. We also impound ships that haven’t paid their fees. That’s always a lot of fun.” He grinned.
“How many ships come in and out of the port each week?”
“There are between a dozen and two dozen major ports in Britain, depending on how you count. The Port of London is the biggest, of course. About thirty oceangoing ships—not coastal traders—come in and out every week.” He pointed to my glass, which was nearly empty.
I nodded. “Thanks, I’d love another.”
He picked up my glass. “If you’re interested, come and have a look around one day. Ports are interesting places. They’re a world all their own.”
“I’d love that,” I replied. “It would make a change from walking Will.”
“I heard that,” said Sam, standing behind me and placing her hands on my shoulders. “As punishment, you can take us for a walk this instant.”
I hadn’t been home for Christmas, but I did get down to Edgewater more often now. I still didn’t take Sam. I didn’t think my mother was up to it and my father continued to insist that he didn’t approve of my living arrangements. I might be happy enough but they were a different generation and couldn’t adjust.
My mother was not good. Her complexion was even more florid than it had been, the coughing fits were getting worse, and though she had always been a fierce character, she was now turning irascible, angry at everyone and everything, even Einstein. I had been as good as my word to my father and Izzy and had found a psychiatrist to examine my mother. She had steadfastly refused to be seen. Worst of all, her emphysema was now so bad that her walks were limited—forty minutes was all she could manage, twenty out and twenty back and that didn’t take her very far. Einstein was putting on weight.
On one occasion, when we had walked down the lane near the house and were leaning against a wooden gate into a field, she had broached the subject I dreaded, which we all dreaded.
“Do you think you’ll get married before I die?”
Fortunately, I was looking across the field at some rabbits when she dropped this little bombshell. I turned to her. “Of course, Ma. No hurry, is there?”