Chapter 9

River of Dreams

The light blinded him as he walked out of the tavern. The day was overcast, and the boy was grateful for it. How much brighter might it have been if it wasn't? The clouds were high but the canopy was thick and hid the sky in all directions. The overcast gave the earth a clean look. Everything sparkled as if it had been washed recently. The time he was here he recalled no showers, but everything seemed wet anyhow. The grass was as green as lime all around.

They walked out onto the same lonely street that Delphe and he had come in on. This new man held his case. A black horse, pulling a dark brown carriage had waited for them on the road. The new man opened the compartment door and slid the case to the far side, turning to the boy now. As the boy climbed the first step he looked back. The fatherly type was leant against the frame of the door. He had come to see him off. Neither exchanged smiles. As if neither knew what was to become of him and neither felt good about it. That would be the last time he would lay eyes on that man. He climbed in and took his seat. His new companion took the seat next.

They rode away from the still water. Down the lonely road. The road went past the length of the river.

The boy had become used to the shelter of the shack venturing to look out just the one time. He had chosen to keep himself in, finding comfort within those walls. Now, finding himself back in the cart, that feeling of wooziness was beginning to creep back in. He leaned in close to this new man as he had with Delphe. Unlike her, this man made no extra effort to comfort him.

They drove until they came into some neighborhood. Only seeing them one time the houses had a different look to them in the light of day. He found a new marvel in them. The fear that had overtaken him days ago was repressed with wonder. The houses were white with red tiled rooftops. There were flowers everywhere. So much so, that they were even painted onto the houses, over the doors and windows. There was color everywhere here. Red's and blue's and greens like he's never seen. Green's, there were lots of that.

He doesn't think they went off this road so much as curved with it. They carried on through this neighborhood. Houses slowly molding into businesses. Shops and town offices and factories. The noise had returned. It wasn't the same noise as he had heard before. This time it was different. It wasn't the cackling laughter of painted women or boisterous men with round bellies outside colorfully lighted shops that spilled out parade music. The only music he heard now came from a single accordion a half-suited gent played at the corner. He found the sonorous melody soothing. It would have pleased him greatly if he could stay and listen but on they went, soon crossing the street and on down the next until the tune was drowned out with the bustling of people.

They came within view of a shipping yard. The coach stopped in front of the depot office.

"Here's where we get off." His companion ushered him out. The driver got down and helped to remove some luggage that had been strapped to the back which his companion took possession of. It was up to the boy to carry his case now as the man had his own hands full.

It was her hand he held days ago. Now his hand was slipped into the stranger's Something about the way he held the boys hand seemed dispassionate. He took it as if accepting the responsibility of him and no more. Still with no other to guide him the boy held on. Giving all his trust to this man he has never before laid eyes on. He tried not to dwell too far in that. There was an entire world of people he had yet to lay eyes on. He'd lived his life up until two days ago having only seen a handful of them. If he didn't count the faces he would see in the streets from his window. He was only ever allowed to look out at night. That was Grandmother's rule, which he was sure not to violate for fear of losing even that privilege. Though Delphe held the key in the nights, that could be taken from her at any time and those shudders locked tight forevermore.

His companion came away from the booth with two tickets in hand. Past the booth he took him into a protected gated area. What was beyond that gate was astounding. I mean first and foremost was a large open area. Men and ladies bustled about to and fro large boats that sat just within the open water. Workers carried, and even threw, boxes to other areas and other workers. Boxes and crates stacked high. Large carts of suitcases were drug about but all this bustle was not the amazing part of it.

It was the water which was large and wide open. Some of the biggest boats in the world were right within these waters. The boy affrighted at the sight of them. They were larger than anything he could have imagined. Larger than the largest house, he was sure. That still stream that Delphe called the bayou had nothing on this water. She talked to him many times about the river. He never would have imagined something like this.

"43:2." He glanced over at the strange calling of numbers. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you." A man in a black suit read from a black bound book to the crowd passing busily in front of him.

The ship they went to was thankfully comparably smaller to the two that sided it. It was two stories high and had a white fence surrounding both decks. A large turning wheel on one end. Men, women and children, dressed scantily, were led in chains to the larger ships. What they had done to get themselves in those chains he wasn't sure.

Gentlemen and ladies piled with them onto this smaller boat. None of these ones wore chains. He was better for it. He didn't feel equipped to handle being in such close proximity to criminals. Only his first real day out in the world.

He wondered if Delphe was waiting for him on this boat.

His companion handed the tickets he had just bought over to a blue suited man at the bottom of a ramp who put holes in them and handed them back. It must have been the normal way of things because his companion slipped the tickets back into his waistcoat. Taking Prince's hand, he guided him up the ramp which took them to the second deck of the boat. There was another ramp to their side that went more straight and led those people to the lower deck. The other line of people seemed to be in poorer clothes and poorer spirits. Livestock had already been loaded onto that deck and it seemed to Prince that these people paid to live among them. His line was comparably better dressed.

When they were off their ramp people dispersed out among the floor. His companion took him to a spot in the center of the deck to look out on, though his companion didn't do much looking out himself. He had his face turned in for the most part. When he was looking out, his eyes were busy overlooking the people still on deck more than anything.

"Come on, let's bring it in." He encouraged Prince away from the deck, but Prince was so fascinated with the water beneath them. The way it danced and shimmered. The way the sunlight made it glisten. It had nothing on bath water. He couldn't tear his eyes away. His companion didn't make him, but took up his own position against the wall shielded by the shadow of the upper deck. He seemed perfectly content with his arms across his chest, hiding his eyes.

It took a while longer for the boat to start to move. At times Prince would think it had started moving but that was just the effects of the water pushing it about. When it had started to move, for reals, it did so with a lurch that Prince had to hold on to the railings to keep from toppling over. Nobody else seemed to have as dramatic of a start as he had. He had barely had the chance to get used to the feeling of being in a buggy, feeling the earth move beneath him without any effort of his own two feet. Again, his world moved around him. Though it had a similar feeling as the buggies it definitely had its differences. There was a heavy circular swaying motion. He felt that even before he knew the boat was moving. Once it had started moving that swelling became more pronounced. His eyes had difficulty focusing on the shore before him as the swelling motion kept his eyes from locking in. As a funny feeling rose in his stomach, he felt it better to shut his eyes.

Delphe had not come to them. Perhaps wherever this boat was going it would take him to her.

~.~

"Canal Street. Canal." A man in a red pinstriped suit and handlebar moustache was ringing a bell walking across the deck shouting this. This was done again at the next stop. Only this time he shouted, "Algiers."

The ship stopped at many ports. Donaldson, Plaquemine, Baton Rouge, Port Hudson, Bayou Sara, Red River Landing, Fort Adams, Natchez, Waterproof, Rodney, Saint Josepf, Grand Gulf, Warrenton and Vicksburg Mississippi.

Each time Prince looked up to his companion who only shook his head. The boat only stopped with enough time to let some passengers off with their luggage and more to get on, before they could move again. On the last stop they grabbed their luggage and departed.

Moving through crowds again they found themselves moving towards another boat larger than the first, though not by much. It still had nothing on the big ships he saw earlier. Still Prince was regretting having to get on another boat. The first boat had set his stomach raw.

~.~

This one had a similar set up. Fancier folks on top. The poorer ones below with the livestock. Delphe was not on this boat either.

His companion pulled the ticket out a second time and read what was on it. He took Prince's hand again and wig wormed his way through the crowd. When he came to a room, he opened the door and guided the boy in.

A single bed lay against the right wall of a very small room. Instead of laying the suitcase on the bed he plopped on it himself. He opened his arms motioning for the boy to climb in.

"You're looking a little ill boy." Prince did crawl. The man allowed Prince to lay his head on his lap. This man didn't seem so bad after all. "We're going to be here for a while. You're going to have to get used to it." The man allowed Prince to lay there for a time. So much so, that he felt himself falling asleep.

An hour later a rap at the door awoken him from his half slumber. His companion crawled out from beneath him to answer. Prince sat up half hoping it would be Delphe. It was not. A man dressed in all white clothes stood on the other side with a cart of plates.

"How many?"

"Two please." Handing in two plates and two sets of utensils to go with it.

"Thank you." His companion said before closing the door. The man pushing the cart beyond. It were the only thing Prince had had to eat all day. Still, he wasn't quite sure how his stomach would handle it. "Come on. Let's eat up. It might do you some good getting something in that tummy of yours." They used the man's luggage as a table.

His companion cleared his own plate. Prince got about halfway through his before his stomach protested. His companion didn't admonish him. Instead, he took both plates and their ware and set them outside the door.

"I think perhaps you'd be better off if you slipped into something more comfortable."

"What do you mean?"

"Well don't you have a nightgown?"

"Are we going to sleep here?"

"I told you kid; we're going to be on this boat a long while." Prince dwelled on this. "I'll give you some space while you change."

"Where are you going?"

"Relax kid. I'm just going out. I'll be back in an hour. I'll expect you to be in bed when I return." He gave one final warning before he left. "Whatever you do. Don't leave this room."

When he was gone Prince felt alone. He half-wondered if his companion would return or would he disappear like Delphe had. They were on a boat. He wondered how one could disappear off a boat. He'd have to jump and swim to shore. That would be a silly thing to do.

Satisfying his worries, Prince pulled his yellow suitcase up and opened it on the bed. The first thing that stuck out at him was the doll that Delphe had made for him many years ago. It had stopped being his favorite toy a long time ago, so why Delphe had chosen this one to go with him and not the train set, he didn't know. As he stared at it though, tears swelled up in his eyes. He was only reminded of the person who wasn't with him now. He picked up the shabby doll and embraced it. Nothing else in that suitcase mattered to him now. He'd forgotten the charge of getting dressed into something more comfortable. He laid back in the bed with his face to the wall and slept with the doll in his arms.

Sometime later the man came back in. He had a putrid smell to him, somewhat like the smell of the people in the shack nights before. Like the smell of the medicine Delphe would sometimes use on him if he got hurt. The man took a moment to move the case that Prince had left on the bed, then laid down next to him. A moment later the man was snoring. Prince who had been awoken by him stayed with his face to the wall wondering about this man and who he was.

Where was Delphe? Was this man taking him to her or away from her?

~.~

The man was right. This boat they were to stay on for many days. At first his companion seemed uncomfortable with Prince leaving his room. Prince didn't debate. He'd started out feeling a bit queasy in the stomach. As hours melted into days that feeling of queasiness only worsened. He felt the best place he'd rather be is in bed. The boy ate all of his meals in that room. His companion was there for most meals.

Seafood was common. They'd have baked redfish, broiled pompano and even stuffed crab. They had other meats there as well. Beef, turkey, pork and lamb. Plenty of fruits and vegetables. Even a variety of cakes, pies and puddings.

Although there was plenty to eat, Prince found that the less he ate the more he could stave off that feeling of unsettlement. He hadn't known it then, but he was only weakening himself.

Most nights the man would be out making his body smell of that stuff and come back in after Prince was in bed and lay down next to him. Many mornings the man would be up first. Using the small loo he'd dress himself. The boy had made himself very comfy in this shabby room. His stuff was strewn about.

After about a week in bed which the man encouraged he stay, saying it would be better for him, in time he started to change his words.

"I think it's time you start to get up, walk around a bit." The man said with a handheld glass to his face. He was shaving the dark hairs which had grown in the week's time.

He thought about the three men he'd seen in that restaurant shack with their unshapely, scraggly beards. Thinking about them now, he mourned for them. Only knowing them a short while, he remembers their kindness. Never knowing who they were, he again thought of the lost opportunity. He was fresh to this world. How could he know that the proper thing to do was to get to know them? He considered this man with him now. He'd wanted to ask him days ago but had lost the nerve. He had travelled such a long way with him now and again he was failing. He wasn't sure where they were going or just how much longer their trip was supposed to last. This man was different from those other guys. Oh, sure he fed him and kept him safe but with this one it seemed more like he was carrying out some task he'd been assigned to do. They'd been together long enough that he felt it was finally safe to ask.

"What's your name?" He looked at the boy eyeing him.

"Simon." He finally said and went back to shaving. "What's yours?"

All at once he felt chagrined. "I don't have one."

"Don't have one?" He stops again. "That uh, servant gal. The Negro woman, she's got a name for you." He shaves off the last few lines. "What does she call you? Uh, Prince is it?"

He nodded at this.

"But that's not your name?" He set the mirror down and grabbed the rag and wipes his face.

"It's what she called me because she didn't know what else to call me. I was never given a name properly." Prince explained.

He picks the mirror back up and this time some scissors to give his sideburns a trim.

"That's not what Madame said." He said this so nonchalantly. She told me she had a name for you too. The boy looked up inquisitively. "She said your name is dirt." He was hurt by these words.

"How about I go on and just keep calling you boy and you can go ahead and keep calling me sir?"

"Yes sir." His companion snickered and went back to cutting his whiskers.

"So, how about that offer to go outside. It'll do you good to see the land we're passing."

Prince had become accustomed to his new room and although knowing the world was passing him by became perfectly content with not seeing it.

"Yes sir. I'll try." He placated.

He got a funny feeling about this man, this Simon and for some reason didn't feel like seeing him again for some time.

Prince had waited about five more minutes after his companion had walked out before he left the room.

The world had changed in the weeks' time. He stood leaning against the railings looking out at the shore line. At the scarcity of houses among grass and trees. Beneath him the water rushed by giving him a dizzying feeling. Making him want to shut his eyes again.

He decided it was best for now not to focus on the moving waters. It was nicer to look out at the scenery. He also found an enjoyment at exploring this boat.

This vessel, as with most others, was made up almost entirely of wood. It was about 150 feet from the front bow to the stern and about 60 feet from port to starboard. It had an internal mast to support iron trusses. There were stairs on both ends and one in the middle that led to the bottom deck. There was also a galley and a parlor. Coal burning boilers were a little forward of center mass. The engines were amidships. A large paddle wheel was at the stern.

The river was wide and very active. Most boats looked like theirs. Some larger (three decks high and multiple stacks), some smaller. About half of them with side paddle wheels. Aside from these subtle differences they carried a similar look to them. There were smaller fishing boats along this river too. He'd close his eyes and get to feeling the sun on his body.

In time a new problem began to emerge. When his companion urged the boy to feel the sun the boy listened and even began to enjoy it. He'd find himself for hours sitting on the deck watching the waters and passing boats. After two more days he began to feel sick in a whole new way.

"I don't think the sun likes you very much." This struck Prince oddly. He didn't think the sun had feelings.

"Why not?" He couldn't think what he could have done to upset it.

"Well, I don't think the sun has known you for very long. Give it a chance to get to know you. You'll become good friends before long." He hoped so. After spending so many years not seeing it, he'd hate the idea of not being friends with it.

Even he could admit that the sun had started to not feel so good to him. At first, he thought he was the only one the sun would affect in this way, for looking around most people didn't seem to be bothered by it. As time went on however more and more of them complained, mostly the women, and Prince could see their skin change in color. Most of the women, at least the ones on the top deck already had hats though. They covered their faces and arms with scarves and shawls too. It seemed the fairer you were the more the sun didn't like you. Prince was among the fairest.

He liked the sun, so it didn't seem fair that it didn't like him back. Perhaps it was like his companion said. They hadn't known each other for all that long. Once the sun got to know him it would start to like him.

~.~

The scenery had changed over time. Strolling along the upper deck became one of his favorite things to do. That was until someone would comment on his sickly appearance.

"That boy is not well." They'd whisper as he walked by. If his companion would be with him, he'd get put off and end up taking Prince back to their room.

"For all I know, you've probably got the fever." He said one day after one of these occasions as he leaned against the door frame and stared in at him. Prince knew what he was talking about. The yellow fever. It's what his parents had died from. He feared that one day it would reach up and get him too. He was kept indoors away from all that. It would be only fitting that his first time outside and he goes and catches it.

~.~

"You're getting too much sun boy." A negro man said to him one day. He learned that that was what they called people that looked like Delphe. They had other names for them too but this one seemed to be the most commonly used and the nicest.

"What?"

"You're turning red. Looking like a crawfish." Prince didn't want to be turned away from the sun. "Here. Wear this." The man had given him a wide brimmed hat which shaded his face. It was his own in fact. Took it off his own head. He was a poorer man judging by the way he was dressed. Prince didn't think he could afford to give his own hat away. His look must have been pretty bad to some eyes. Enough for a man in worse straits than he to be giving away what they can't afford to be. It was unusual for a man of his caliber to even be on the top deck. He didn't think the man was a passenger. He made himself off to be a member of the people that worked on the boat. There were some people that worked on the boat that dressed nice. Others dressed halfway decent and then others like him not so well at all.

The hat was wet with moisture where it met his forehead but Prince knew better than to complain. He accepted his gift graciously. The man gave a jaunty laugh that sounded like a loud hiccup and ruffled Prince's head over his newfound hat.

This was an acceptable compromise for whenever Prince wished to feel the sun, he could just lift his face.

"Where'd you get that?" His companion asked of the hat when he saw him that evening in the room.

"A negro man gave it to me."

His companion didn't seem to like that answer very well judging by the look he gave.

The ship would stop at ports. Sometimes several ports within a day. The average though was once a day. Many of the ports would be small in comparison to the Port of New Orleans. Consisting of a ticket office and a few small buildings. Others might be a bit bigger indicating a growing town. For the most part it would spend on average 30 minutes to an hour at a port. At other times the boat would be docked for 3 hours or more.

It transported hundreds of passengers and tons of cargo, stopping at rural backwaters to pick up 400 pound cotton bales for the textile mills.

A couple of days later the ship stopped at one of these ports. It stopped at others in the last few days, but this was the first time he and his companion had disembarked since their journey on this boat began. He'd gotten used to the earth swaying beneath him and wasn't quite sure how to handle the earth staying put with each step.

There was a shop there not far off from port. A busy market that sold all kinds of goods. They had one whole section for trail food and dry goods alone. His companion put a couple of things on the counter like jerky. His real interest was in the clothing section. He admired a few coats and pants. Took a look at the boots and eyed the belts. He stopped at the hats. Lifting some off the rack and trying them on.

"Here, come here." Prince came over. "Try this on." He said drooping one over his head, admiring it, noticing it was a little big and wiggling it around, before discarding it for another. Prince tried on many such hats like this until they settled on a particular size and style.

His companion also continued to try on more hats for himself. He fitted the boy with a long sleeve shirt and went to the counter to pay for it all. They both walked out with bowler hats. Prince's black and his companion a dark brown. Prince came away with a few more shirts too.

His companion pulled something from the bag as they made their way back to the boat. One of the other items the man had bought and had been waiting for him at the counter. They were yellow in nature. He pulled three from among a handful and placed them in Prince's hand.

"What are these?"

"They're lemon drops. You'll like them." Was the only introduction he gave to them. He was right. They weren't bad.

When they had re-embarked his companion had made Prince find the man who gave him the hat which wasn't an easy feat. He was back on the lower deck in the boiler room.

"Here." Prince handed it over. "I won't be needing this anymore." The gentleman took notice of his new hat and the look of Prince's companion which stood tall at the boy's side.

"Well, I can see you've got one all to yourself. It's looking pretty spiffy too. That's a fine hat. A fine hat indeed." He took his back and placed it on his own head.

"Come on." His companion nudged Prince to get him on their way.

~.~

The following day, Prince found this man in the boiler room.

"I'm sorry about taking your hat sir."

"Did your father ask you to apologize."

"Oh no sir. My father's dead."

"That man you're with. Uncle?"

"No sir. I don't really know who he is. I only really met him before this journey began." The man seemed to be curious with this admission. Prince was curious about other matters. "What's that?"

"This thing?" Prince nodded. This opened up a whole world to him as this man explained what the boiler does and how it makes the boat move. In time the man even taught him about different styles of boats. What kind of ships could be found on the ocean and how they work. This man new much about boats. He admitted that he didn't have to know all he knew about these different ships but that it was a passion of his.

Prince had spent the day with this man and boy, what a day it had been.

He was sad when the sun had gone down, and it was time for him to find his room.

"You're a good person. Nice, like my friend."

"Who's your friend?"

"Delphe. Oh, she was a good person. I wished you could have seen her."

"Was?" He asked, thinking she died.

"I don't think I'll ever see her again."

"Well, sometimes that happens. But life will give you new adventures and new friends."

It was nice to meet this man, but his words didn't cure him. He didn't want to meet new people. Not if it meant giving her up.

~.~

After three weeks of living on the boat, it was just after breakfast, his companion had already left the room. Prince was slow in doing so. He had dressed but found himself hesitant to walk out. He thought he could go back to his new friend and wanted to, but he had a guilt, a pull that was keeping him back. It was his memory of her. The thought of making a friend that wasn't her, it just felt so wrong. Like he was giving up on her.

His doll lay over the bed which had been made. He looked at it and stared and thought what he'd rather be doing is cuddling back up with it instead, and thinking of her. He had no real reason to get back into bed. He'd have to face the day at some point but some days it was just more difficult to do than others. He'd just get to missing his friend. Cuddling with that doll was the closest thing he had to cuddling with her. Why she hadn't come back for him hurt him. By now Prince had come to accept that he wasn't being taken to her at all. Of course, there was always that little seed of hope but they had travelled far and for too long to give that hope any room to grow.

All the things he's seen and experienced he wished she could have been there to see and experience it with him. But she wasn't here, and he just had to come and accept that. That didn't keep him from missing her any less.

As he was ruminating in his own heartbreak a large boom like cannon fire rocked the boat. Of course, he wouldn't come to know the sound of cannon fire for years to come but for lack of a better description that's what it sounded like. People ran about on the deck this way and that. Peering out the door there was great panic.

"The boiler room!" He heard people shout.

The boat had slowed until it was dead in the water. It didn't take him long to figure out which people were running towards the event and which ones away. He followed the people who were running towards. He almost got trampled by both of these sets as people rushed by.

When he had made it to the bottom deck, he saw men slung over the arms of others carried out from the boiler room which smoke billowed from. The man who gave him the hat was among them. He was without the hat though.

There was apparently a fire which had to be put out. The people worked together to dump buckets on it. Prince's companion was not among the chaos of people helping with this. Where he was through all this Prince didn't know. When the fire was out, the wounded men were gathered together. Some of the women had designated themselves to care for these wounded men. Prince had decided to help out too although all he could really do is offer them water.

"Are you okay?" Prince asked of the man who gave him the hat when he got to him with water. He didn't really ask of the others, and he felt bad for it but he didn't really know the others. He didn't really know this one either, but this man had done something for him and now he felt bad that he was among the injured. The man accepted the water graciously.

"I'm alright. Just a little burnt up is all." His cheek was black with char. His clothes were charred and torn over his left shoulder and arm. He was breathing in an unusual way too. More like panting but so were the injured men at his side.

The women and a few qualified helped to treat and bandage the injuries. The boat which had stopped in the water through all this, an hour later pushed on again.

They all seemed to be hurt in some way or another though not that bad. One guy who seemed the worse judging by the bandages they wrapped over him was laying down. He had a bandage wrapped around his crown that slipped on over his left eye.

The injured men stayed in their spot. It weren't until about two hours later when the boat pulled in to port. They off loaded the injured men first. Four of them were workers. One was a male passenger. The passenger had a female companion that accompanied him off the boat. There were men in white shirts that helped to carry them off.

Prince ventured into the boiler room then. A couple of men were in there and moved around but they didn't tell him to leave. On the floor against the wall was the Negro man's hat. It was in worst shape than it was before, charred and scraped up but still Prince had felt bad that the man had left it. He snatched it up and ran out to go find him. But when he disembarked, some of the other passengers had told him that those men had already been put on carts and been taken away.

"What are you doing down there boy?" His companion called down from the top deck. Where had he been until now? He certainly hadn't been among those putting out the fire or those treating the injured. "Come on back up here. You want the boat to leave without you. But the boat hadn't left for some time still. There was an exchange of passengers. Several getting off and some new faces getting on.

He ran along the dirt road.

"Where are they? Where have they been taken?" He brought the attention of others, but no one answered. He didn't stick around long enough to give anyone further explanation on who "they" were supposed to be.

Reaching the end of the road, it tee'd off in both directions and even the buildings in front seemed streets deep.

"Excuse me ma'am." He pulled the dress of a fair lady. "Where were the men who were taken off the boat."

Suddenly shocked, she answered. "Well, I don't know who you're talking about, but the station house is just down that road." She pointed to her front. He thought about following her direction but wasn't sure if this was where he really wanted to go.

"No ma'am. I'm looking for the injured men. They were taken off the boat only moments ago."

"There's a hospital down that road." A gentleman, hearing the request spoke up from behind her. The boy took off where the gentleman had pointed out. He ran about two blocks down when he saw the men in question laid out before a white bricked building. He saw one and then another. He was looking among the faces.

"Hey kid. What you doing out here?" He turned at the voice. The man had his arm out as he called to him.

"Your hat sir. You forgot your hat." An unexpected laugh came from the man as the boy reached out to hand it over. Looking at the old thing, black with smoke, dust, one big hole in the seam and frayed around the edges, it seemed silly to him now to make all this fuss over it.

"Thank you, son." He wasn't used to anyone calling him son.

The man took it graciously. "You came all the way out here to give this to me?"

Prince gave the subtlest of nods, still in doubt over his exploit.

"Would you like my hat instead?" The man chuckled again.

"I don't think that would fit me quite right. No, it's best I just keep mine and you keep yours."

"Prince!" The call snapped him around. The man opened his arm for Prince to come over. Though it didn't seem as kindly as the man at the bayou. He opened his arm more like it was an order for him to obey. Prince did obey. Mr. Simon looked down on him. "You are never to run off like that again. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Come on." He turned to leave and Prince turned to obey. They'd only gotten a few feet when Prince stopped. Something was pulling him back to that man outside the grounds of the hospital.

"Sir? Would you mind if I went back one more time?" Simon looked back at the burnt and injured man. He didn't really see himself too inclined to let the boy. His eyes glided around the streets as if looking for the permission of the of the passerby's. The boy's eyes pleading up at him.

"Go. Make it quick." He settled. Prince ran back.

"Sir."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you your name?" The negro reclaimed that smile which had dissipated.

"Bernard."

"Bernard."

"And you're Prince." The boy gave an odd look, realizing the man did just call him that.

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?"

"Hmm! Hmm!" Simon called him back with the clearing of his throat.

"It's time to go boy." The two men gave each other such a look of suspicion then. "Come on." Prince looked back then.

"You called me Prince." The boy queried when they reached the long road back to the boat.

"You should not have run off like that. Listen boy. You are my charge. It is my job to keep you safe. I can hardly do that if you go running off, now can I."

"No sir."

"Furthermore, it is not your prerogative to go around asking people what their names are. It's best that you just keep to your affairs and let them keep to theirs. There will be no more getting to know people. These people are not your friends."

"Are you?"

"What?"

"Are you my friend?"

"You have no friends."

In hurt, the boy and his companion reboarded the boat.

The boat continued on, leaving without its injured comrades.

The boy had stopped leaving his room. He fell into a sort of melancholy state and this was where he was to remain until his companion came in a few days later.

He began cleaning the room and repacking the boy's belongings.

"The next stop is ours." He explained. Everything packed and put away, they left that room for the last time. Hand in hand with this stranger they stood on the deck for the ship to port.

They had arrived at Port de St. Louise.