Zetland 14
darthcourt10
Well worn.
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Weaver
Friday, 27th September 2013
Five days after her commissioning found Patricia on leave and en route to finally visiting a certain lifeboat for the first time, her son at her side.
They'd almost got to where her hull was kept when a young woman who looked like she might be one of the museum's staff came around the corner and recognised Dan.
"Hello. If you're here to see Zetland she's sat outside the cafe having a cuppa."
"Oh. Thanks."
The woman nodded and continued on her way to the museum while they walked around the side of the building to the garden behind it.
Sure enough, sat at one the picnic tables outside the cafe with a pot of tea in front of her was a woman who looked no more than ten years older than Dan at the very most, wearing a greyish sou'wester, blue gansey and heavy duty white trousers, who was also a boat; thirty feet long, double-ended and curved hulled. She looked up at their approach.
"Hello."
Dan returned the greeting.
"Hi Zetland."
She nodded in acknowledgment before looking directly at Patricia.
"You must be Dan's mum. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Zetland."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Patricia. I've heard a lot about you too "
The corner of Zetland's mouth quirked upwards in a wry smile.
"Seems like that that can be said of most people around here."
She gestured at the other side of the table.
"Take a seat."
After they sat down, Patrica noticed the lifeboat opposite giving her an odd look.
"Is anything wrong?"
"No. I'm just fairly sure I've seen you before."
"When I was a hull?"
"Nah. I mean, I think I recognise the name HMS Patrol since even I heard about what the bloody Germans did a century ago even though I was still in my hull at the time, although not until a while after it happened. I'm sure you sailed past my bathhouse plenty of times but you would have probably have been too far out for me to get a good look at you. No, I think I saw you when you were a little girl. I noticed something odd about you at the time which is why I remember, although I didn't know what I was looking at back then and I was still in my hull."
Patricia shrugged.
"I did visit the lifeboat museum a few times when I was a kid."
"That's probably it then. As I recall, there was actually two like you a couple of times, you and another girl."
Patricia felt a sudden hitch in her engines.
"Are you sure?"
Zetland looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded.
"Fairly sure, although I admit that I'm not completely certain. It was a long time ago after all, a lot of people have visited me over the years and I was in my hull and half asleep a lot of the time."
She continued on, completely unaware of the impact what she'd said had had on Patricia.
"Of course, looking back it wasn't the first time I've seen people like that. There was the daughter of one of my crew, sometime before they got around to naming me. There was also a girl who came to see me a few times between the two big wars that happened before this one. I only saw her during the summer bank holidays so I assume that her and her family were day trippers from somewhere. I remember that they were a bit mystified about why she wanted to see me every year and that the first time I remember them visiting me, she'd have only have been five or so at the time, she kept hanging onto my hull for some reason."
The lifeboat shrugged.
"Don't know who she was. I might've heard her name at some point but I can't remember. Anyway, enough about the past, how's everything going for you?"
Pushing what the lifeboat had said and the thoughts it had inspired to the back of her mind, Patricia thought briefly before replying.
"Pretty good to be honest. I definitely don't have any regrets about any of it. I'm still getting used to being a ship though. To be honest I think that that is going to take a while."
Zetland grinned.
"I know the feeling. I'm still getting used to all of this."
She gestured at her seemingly human body.
"Over two hundred years as a boat and now I'm a person as well, with arms and legs and everything."
Dan spoke up.
"That reminds me, have you decided on a surname yet?"
The smile fell off the lifeboat's face.
"No. I haven't."
The conversation moved on to more inconsequential topics after that and continued on for over an hour until Patricia noted the time on her internal clock.
"It's been lovely talking to you but we should probably be going. We want to pick some of the plums from the trees across the road before we go home; the Flower-class corvettes love anything involving fruit so I thought I'd make them a pie or crumble, but we need to get a move on.
"Need any help?
"Not really, but an extra pair of hands is always appreciated."
* * * * * * * * *
If anyone who passed by noticed the world's oldest lifeboat picking tiny yellow plums with a teenage boy and an unusually mature shipgirl, none of them commented on it.
Friday, 27th September 2013
Five days after her commissioning found Patricia on leave and en route to finally visiting a certain lifeboat for the first time, her son at her side.
They'd almost got to where her hull was kept when a young woman who looked like she might be one of the museum's staff came around the corner and recognised Dan.
"Hello. If you're here to see Zetland she's sat outside the cafe having a cuppa."
"Oh. Thanks."
The woman nodded and continued on her way to the museum while they walked around the side of the building to the garden behind it.
Sure enough, sat at one the picnic tables outside the cafe with a pot of tea in front of her was a woman who looked no more than ten years older than Dan at the very most, wearing a greyish sou'wester, blue gansey and heavy duty white trousers, who was also a boat; thirty feet long, double-ended and curved hulled. She looked up at their approach.
"Hello."
Dan returned the greeting.
"Hi Zetland."
She nodded in acknowledgment before looking directly at Patricia.
"You must be Dan's mum. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Zetland."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Patricia. I've heard a lot about you too "
The corner of Zetland's mouth quirked upwards in a wry smile.
"Seems like that that can be said of most people around here."
She gestured at the other side of the table.
"Take a seat."
After they sat down, Patrica noticed the lifeboat opposite giving her an odd look.
"Is anything wrong?"
"No. I'm just fairly sure I've seen you before."
"When I was a hull?"
"Nah. I mean, I think I recognise the name HMS Patrol since even I heard about what the bloody Germans did a century ago even though I was still in my hull at the time, although not until a while after it happened. I'm sure you sailed past my bathhouse plenty of times but you would have probably have been too far out for me to get a good look at you. No, I think I saw you when you were a little girl. I noticed something odd about you at the time which is why I remember, although I didn't know what I was looking at back then and I was still in my hull."
Patricia shrugged.
"I did visit the lifeboat museum a few times when I was a kid."
"That's probably it then. As I recall, there was actually two like you a couple of times, you and another girl."
Patricia felt a sudden hitch in her engines.
"Are you sure?"
Zetland looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded.
"Fairly sure, although I admit that I'm not completely certain. It was a long time ago after all, a lot of people have visited me over the years and I was in my hull and half asleep a lot of the time."
She continued on, completely unaware of the impact what she'd said had had on Patricia.
"Of course, looking back it wasn't the first time I've seen people like that. There was the daughter of one of my crew, sometime before they got around to naming me. There was also a girl who came to see me a few times between the two big wars that happened before this one. I only saw her during the summer bank holidays so I assume that her and her family were day trippers from somewhere. I remember that they were a bit mystified about why she wanted to see me every year and that the first time I remember them visiting me, she'd have only have been five or so at the time, she kept hanging onto my hull for some reason."
The lifeboat shrugged.
"Don't know who she was. I might've heard her name at some point but I can't remember. Anyway, enough about the past, how's everything going for you?"
Pushing what the lifeboat had said and the thoughts it had inspired to the back of her mind, Patricia thought briefly before replying.
"Pretty good to be honest. I definitely don't have any regrets about any of it. I'm still getting used to being a ship though. To be honest I think that that is going to take a while."
Zetland grinned.
"I know the feeling. I'm still getting used to all of this."
She gestured at her seemingly human body.
"Over two hundred years as a boat and now I'm a person as well, with arms and legs and everything."
Dan spoke up.
"That reminds me, have you decided on a surname yet?"
The smile fell off the lifeboat's face.
"No. I haven't."
The conversation moved on to more inconsequential topics after that and continued on for over an hour until Patricia noted the time on her internal clock.
"It's been lovely talking to you but we should probably be going. We want to pick some of the plums from the trees across the road before we go home; the Flower-class corvettes love anything involving fruit so I thought I'd make them a pie or crumble, but we need to get a move on.
"Need any help?
"Not really, but an extra pair of hands is always appreciated."
* * * * * * * * *
If anyone who passed by noticed the world's oldest lifeboat picking tiny yellow plums with a teenage boy and an unusually mature shipgirl, none of them commented on it.