Page 51 | Chapter 2 | The Ghost Ship | A Free Serialized Online Novel by Scott Telek

At last they decided to make the walk to the end of the wharf, where they were to be ferried to the vessel. Iris, who had been walking slowly beside him as they made their way down the length of the wharf, lined on one side with warehouses and stores, the other with vast tall ships, spoke in a quiet voice. “Do you really think we’ll be all right with this captain, John? I know this is the last ship we’ll be able to find…”

He looked at her. He hoped she wasn’t already pregnant. Not so soon. They had only done it twice. Before they were married. After a gathering, he had drunk too much. She had been enthusiastic. And again, once later. They had not done it since. It was these things his father had warned against. John could almost hear his father’s voice as he stood squinting at her belly. He hoped she wasn’t already pregnant. She probably was not. She could not be. John’s father was a minister.

John pulled his lips into a smile. He used her question to penetrate his lurking thoughts. “Oh, I think so, my dear,” he said, attempting to sound like the stable, brave husband he must learn to impersonate. “You must remember how superstitious these people are. It’s hard for us to understand, being,” he lowered his voice, “educated, but, if we can manage to smile politely, and keep the real separate from the unreal,” he smiled broadly at her, “and if I can manage to keep from calling any of them outright insane,” he laughed, “I think we have nothing to worry about.” He walked quietly for a moment. “Nothing in the real world at least.”