Catch the Wind: My Journey with Caroline

If that girl needs help, Caroline and I had better move fast. We wait for a wagon to rumble past, dash across the street, and duck into the tavern right on her heels.

Tobacco smoke fills the single cramped room, and men crowd every rough table and bench, hunched over cards, arguing, or trading stories.

Near a table where three men sit slumped over pewter mugs, I spot the girl again. A happy roar bursts from one of the men. It seems the girl is his daughter, Annie.

Annie begs her father to come home, but he waves her off. He claims he’s having too much fun with his friends to put up with her nagging. Sighing like she’s repeated this argument a dozen times before, she watches him slump back against the wall and start singing about mermaids.

A glance passes between Caroline and me, and we silently agree it’s smarter to pull Annie away than to argue with her father. I hold out my hand the way I would for one of my sisters, asking if she’ll step outside with us. Looking far older than her years, she hesitates before finally taking it.

Mentioning that her family owns Abbott’s Shipyard, Caroline introduces herself, and something in Annie’s shoulders eases at the name. We lead her out into the sunlight.

Once we’re clear of the door, I ask if she’s all right. Annie tells us her mother’s sick and there’s no food left in the house. She was sent to drag her father home before he drank away his lumberyard wages, and she’s too frightened to go back without him.

My chest aches with sympathy as I wrap an arm around her. Back home, I’d know exactly who to call for help like this. Here, I have no idea, but Caroline does. She tells Annie to come home with us for food, promising her grandmother will walk straight to Annie’s house afterward to help her mother. Wide-eyed, Annie asks if that’s really true, and Caroline assures her it is.

We walk toward Caroline’s house with Annie between us. Under her breath, Caroline apologizes that we never made it to the inn to find me work. But I tell her this matters far more. I trust her and her grandmother to take care of Annie and her mother. Still, something in me feels sad and unsettled. 1812 is incredible to witness, but it keeps reminding me how hard life here can be, especially for kids and women.

It makes me realize how lucky I am that Dad will still be around once Mom leaves, ready to look after me and my sisters. I remember Mom telling me, right after the twins were born, that she was counting on me to be a good big sister to them. Only now does it hit me how much they’ll need that from me, with Dad stretched thinner than ever. Once Annie and her mother are settled, I’ll tell Caroline I’m giving up on finding work after all. I never want Sasha or Britney wearing the same tired, lost look I just saw on Annie’s face. It’s time to go home.