November-Charlie by Clare Revell

Author:Clare Revell [Revell, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian Fiction
ISBN: 9781611164855
Publisher: Pelican Ventures Book Group
Published: 2015-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

9

The land on the horizon grew larger and less hazy. It was late afternoon by the time they arrived at the island.

Jim had radioed ahead and arranged a berth for one night. He didn’t want to stay any longer.

At customs, they needed their passports and logbook to show their ultimate destination. Then they docked in the large yacht harbor of the island capital—Santa Cruz de La Palma.

In the fading light, he could see houses lining the hillside.

The girls were all for going ashore now, but Jim insisted they wait until morning, so instead they spent the evening playing a vicious card game which Staci eventually won. It was nice that they could all be together for longer than ten or fifteen minutes without having to be on the bridge. But the nicest bit was yet to come—the whole night in bed. Although he still woke early by force of habit.

The next morning over breakfast they decided to explore Santa Cruz first. Jim bought a guidebook in the first shop they passed, and amazed the girls by speaking fluent Spanish.

“Where did you learn that?” Lou asked.

“School. It was offered as a second language. I thought it might be useful.”

“It says here that it doesn’t rain at all between June and August and apparently some of the beaches have black sand because of the volcanoes.” Lou thumbed through the guide.

“Let’s find a food shop,” he said. “And we’ll start restocking the cupboards.”

As they walked down the street, Staci pointed at each site. “Look. A concrete ship.”

“Don’t be silly, kiddo,” Jim said without looking.

Lou scowled at him. “No, she’s right. It’s a replica of the Santa Maria—even though Columbus never actually landed here. It’s the maritime museum.”

“I knew it was a mistake to give you the guidebook,” Jim said.

“Can we go in please, Jim?” Staci asked. “I know we’re not sightseeing, but as we’re here and not likely to come back again. It won’t take long.”

“OK, kiddo. Deefer, you stay here.”

“Next, I want to go see the black beaches and the volcanoes.” Staci folded her arms across her chest. “I’m gonna keep asking until you give in.”

Jim rolled his eyes. This wasn’t a holiday. This was why he hadn’t wanted to bring her in the first place. He put his foot down. “We’ll come back,” he promised. “I want to get going, find Mum and Dad.”

“OK,” Staci sighed.

“Before lunch how about I go and food shop? There’s a beach just down there, according to the road signs.” Lou pointed. “You can take Staci to see her black sand, and I’ll meet you back on the boat. We can have a late lunch and then set off.”

“Seconded,” Staci said quickly. “We should make a list. I’ll make the suggestions while you write them, Jim.”

“OK.” Jim pulled out a pen and paper.

Staci quickly rattled off a list of food, which included dried milk powder.

“Eyuk.” Lou interrupted.

“Even if we freeze milk it won’t last five weeks the rate we drink it. The freezer isn’t big enough. Anyway, Mum used to make up a pint at a time and keep it in the fridge.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.