Chapter 1
A stiff wind was blowing across the deck of the ship that would take them to the New World. Megan felt it as she climbed onto the deck along with her little sister Heather, who gripped strongly to her sister's hand despite being young. Megan led them across the deck and down into the lower level where passengers in steerage would travel for this journey, although she could see the other passengers who would be traveling in the proper cabins on the upper levels. Megan wished they could travel in the upper levels, but she knew that it was all her brother could do to afford the steerage tickets to send her sister and herself to the United States from their homeland of Ireland after the death of their parents so recently.
Their brother was older than them, by less than a decade, but he already had a wife and three bairnes to care for and could little afford to house his younger sisters. Although nearly fifteen, Megan still looked several years younger and with the care needed for her seven year old sister, Heather, who was blind and partially deaf, she thought she couldn't consider working outside the home or to marry, although her sister-in-law Katie tried to push her burly and course older brother on her. Megan didn't care for Katie's brother and thought that he was too much of a bawdy slob, so she was pleased when her own brother Aiden had been able to purchase the tickets for the journey.
The girls walked down the stairs and were able to find an area in steerage where they would be able to hopefully ride out the journey in relative peace. Megan motioned for Heather to lay on one of the few available bunks to sleep, while she went around to investigate the rest of the travelers. There were men, women, and children of all ages gathered in groups doing various tasks about the ship.
Megan watched as one woman did her mending and rocked her baby in a sling. She walked up to the woman and asked her her name, to which the woman replied that she was named Peg and that her children were Myra and Liam. Meg thought that the children were little dears, although a bit noisy, although when Peg learned that Megan had a little sister she suggested that she take the children over to meet her. Megan did that, but unfortunately the other children didn't know what to think when they learned that Heather was blind and deaf.
For the rest of the trip Megan and Heather stayed together for the most part, enduring the ships food on the bad days and enjoying it somewhat on the good days. Every morning they walked around the top deck so that they could experience the ocean the best ways possible. Even if Heather was blind and deaf, Megan felt that her sister's mind was still constantly busy and needed to be occupied, so she felt that the daily trips around the deck were a necessary therapy. Megan would often notice the curious stares of the other passengers, as well as the crew, but she tried to ignore them as much as possible for her sister's sake.
One day, while walking the deck, Megan noticed a young sailor standing off to the side, just staring out into the ocean. She would've ignored him, except that when they walked by him, Heather bumped his cap off. "Oops sorry..." Megan whispered under her breath as they walked by. She stooped down to pick up the young sailor's cap, but he bent down at the same time. "Oh it tis fine lass, no problem...How'dya do ma'am my name's Gaz, what's yours then?" the lad asked, his eyes sparkling a brilliant blue, while his dark hair caught ever so slightly in the wind.
"Oh sorry sir, my name's Megan and this here's my sister Heather." "We're sorry we disturbed you right then." Megan said trembling slightly. Gaz gave her a cheeky smile then and said "Oh it weren't no bother to me. Still though what's up with your sister? Cat got her tongue?" Megan stared back at the boy and shook her head, replying "No the child is just blind and deaf, tis all. Nothing to worry about." "Oh okay whatever you say, just be careful taking the child around the ship, or else she'll fall in and will be swimming with the mermaids!" Gaz said with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh you've got to be kidding now aren't you?" Megan said exasperatedly. "Oh I might be or I might not be...Alright yes of course I am kidding..., but I did get you there for a few minutes now didn't!?" Gaz joked.
Megan didn't think he was that funny, but she enjoyed his company, so she stuck around him while she showed her different aspects of the ship and his job on it. He also treated her well, more like a brother closer to her own age, which was something she'd missed as of late in her dealings with Heather. So then every day for over a week Megan sought out Gaz from the other sailors to visit with for a while and in the end their developing friendship was one of the aspects to daily life on the ship that she looked forward to every day.
One night though there was a fierce storm on the ocean which rocked the ship to and fro on large waves. The storm woke many of the passengers up, including Megan and Heather, but in the end the ship and most of the travelers faired quite well. Megan went up to the main deck the next day to look for Gaz, the ship's crew approached her and told her that most likely during the storm her friend and their fellow crew member Gaz had been lost at sea. This news broke Megan's heart, but she didn't want to appear with anything less that a stiff upper lip, especially since she still had her sister to take of.
When she got back to her bunk, she cried to herself, until she remembered what Gaz had told her once told her, how she had to see the beauty in life, although she wondered why he didn't tie himself to the mast before the storm could end. Sometimes there just weren't things you could explain, so perhaps this was one of them. When Peg found her, she also attempted to reassure her that the good Lord has his time and place for the events that happen in one's life.
The rest of the trip went by fairly quickly after that, with some people talking to her, while others ignored Megan and Heather as they continued to make their daily trips around the ship to breathe in the sea air and experience the vast horizon that could be seen as they continued to sail all the further westward.