Adelsverein - The Gathering - The Book Locker

Adelsverein: The Gathering
and blankets were crusted with old vomit and urine. At least, the dirty
water washing around on the deck had drained away. She swung her
legs over the side of the bunk and scrambled down. Her knees nearly
buckled under her. Hansi crawled out of his bunk, moving as carefully
as if he were an old man and crippled with arthritis. Liesel still slept,
the baby a small lump in the blankets beside her. He caught Magda’s
eye and grinned like a boy.
“Well, we’ll know what to expect in the next storm! Anna
sweeting, come down to Papa, don’t sleep the day away.”
He lifted Anna down from the bunk, grimacing slightly as he did
so. “Liesel is still sick and so is Mutti. I guess it’s up to the boys and
us to clean things up. Not such a pleasant way to spend a morning,
hey?”
“You’re very cheerful,” Magda answered, sourly.
“We’re alive, and it is morning — what’s there to be glum
about?” he answered jauntily, as Pastor Altmueller came to refill his
bucket of water from the cask at the foot of the stairway, which the
sailors always kept full.
“That is the proper spirit,” the old cleric remarked, approvingly.
“The purser said that he could make some fresh hay available, too.
But salt water is all there is for the washing, which is most
unfortunate.”
“It will not make things truly clean again.” Magda straightened
her shoulders. “But it will have to do! Friedrich! Johann! Come help
me with the blankets, boys - we shall need to wash everything.” She
felt like groaning again, thinking of the labor of washing all the
blankets in a wooden tub. Friedrich fairly bounced with excitement.
He and Johann were quite recovered.
“Magda, shall we do what the sailors do for their laundry? They
do the funniest thing … they throw it overboard!”
“What?” she exclaimed.
Johann said, seriously, “We watched them, one day. They tie
their dirty things to a long rope and drag it after the ship for a while,
until they are clean.”
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