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The ride to Martha's Vineyard was longer than I ever dared to imagine and I was worse with boats than I knew. I had only ever been on the Astoria ferry a few times before this ride and I had never been this queasy. Mei seemed okay though. She was enjoying the wind and the sea air, though she continued to worry about how rusty her bike would get.
We arrived to Martha's Vineyard at 9 am. We missed the first ferry and the next would be leaving in an hour.
With Mei's parked in the lot at the visitors information center, we headed off to the nearest convenience store to get some snacks for the rest of our journey. 30 dollars and a whole lot of junky food later we were lugging it back to Mei's bike just in time to get tickets for the ferry and board.
When we arrived in Barnstable, we made a stop for gas and hit the road once again. It felt like it would take all day for us to reach our destination.
It was noon when we stopped to get a real meal for lunch at a pub. It was nearly deserted beside one man who sat at the bar nursing a beer.
"Take a seat wherever you like. I'll be right with you." A old man with salt and pepper hair called from behind the bar.
"Let's sit here!" Mei said as she plopped down in a booth across from a big window. It was pretty to see the field of tall grass blowing in the wind.
"You don't see stuff like this in New York, huh?" I smiled, staring dreamily out the window. I wondered if my dad had seen this too. I almost hoped not. I would bring him to see them with me if he hadn't.
"What can I get you to drink, ladies?" the man asked.
"I'll take a Sprite." Mei smiled.
"One for me too, please."
"Sure thing! Menu is at the end of the table, let me know if you want any food. I'll be right back with your drinks." he said.
Mei and I talked about the scenery, how excited I was, and drank a ridiculous amount of soda.
Eventually we were the only ones in the pub.
"So what are you ladies doing out here?" the man asked, "On vacation?"
"We're looking for someone." I smiled, "I never got to meet my dad and when I did a DNA test I got a match to someone out here, but she's my great grandmother. I'm not even sure if she's still around."
"What's her name?" he asked, "It's a pretty small world out here, especially among people who've been here a long time. Maybe I can point you somewhere specific and save you some trouble."
"Her name is Victoria McCaffrey." I said, "She's supposed to live out past Wellfleet off Route 6."
"My parents knew Vicky. She passed about 20 years ago. Sorry to burst your bubble kid."
"Oh..."
"It's okay, Ellie, we'll find another hint. We'll find your dad." Mei took my clenched fist in her hands.
"Forget what her married name was, but she had a son named Jimmy. He lives in his bar in North Truro by the camp ground. It's only about 30 minutes down Route 6 toward Provincetown."
"Ellie! That would make him your grandfather! We're a step closer to finding your dad!" Mei jumped up and nearly knocked her soda over.
"Thank you so much!" I felt like crying when I heard that. I was so close. I was finally going to know who he was. I was finally going to meet him.
"Not a problem, be safe on your way ladies." he smiled as I collected my stuff and put some money down on the counter.
He was right. 25 minutes later, because Mei was seriously speeding, we rolled into North Truro. We stopped at a gas station so Mei could fuel up and I ran inside to ask the woman behind the counter if she knew anything.
"Pardon me, ma'am?" I said as I put a pack of gum on the counter and she rang me up.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"Do you by any chance know of a bar owned by a man named Jimmy near the camp ground?"
"You look a little too young to be going to a bar, doll, he owe you something?" she raised a brow.
"No, um... His mother, Victoria McCaffrey was my great grandmother and I found out from a DNA test. A nice man in Orleans said Jimmy was her son."
"Wow, that's wonderful!" she smiled, "Jimmy had two sons, maybe one of them is your father do you know his name?"
"It started with an A but my grandmother only said his name once and it sounded more like a drunk slur."
"Aslan is your father?" she seemed incredulous, "How old are you?"
"Seventeen, ma'am." I said.
"But then he'd have been..." she was doing math on her hands and then she held up a hand. "Wait just a moment, alright?"
She jogged off to the back and had a conversation with a young boy who came to sit behind the register.
"I'll take you to Jimmy's." She saw Mei on the motorcycle and paused, "Follow my car."
She headed off to her pick up truck and we followed her down the road. After a few turns we pulled down a dusty dirt road and off into the grass in front of what looked like a house. The woman jumped out of her car and headed up to the door, banging on it, but stopping when she saw the paper stuck to the glass.
"Crap!" she frowned, "He's out fishing this time of day. He'll be back tonight."
"Do you know where he goes?" I asked, "I can't just wait for him when I'm this close to finally finding my family."
"There's a cottage off that way," she pointed down the dirt road in the distance, "There's a walking path behind it down to a cove. He goes fishing down there."
"Thank you!" I yelled as I got back on the bike with Mei Lin and we took off.
We arrived to the cottage a few minutes later and I just about jumped off the bike and ran around the cottage, throwing my helmet down in the gravel driveway. I sprinted, breathing heavily and feeling my long braid coming undone in the wind.
I finally saw a man sitting in a beach chair in a cove and yelled out to him.
"Excuse me?"
"What?" The man didn't even look at me, just turned his head enough for the harsh wind to carry his voice up to me.
"Are you Jimmy?"
"Who's asking?"
"Your granddaughter!"