Show Me a Sign: Chapters 28–37

Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?

I can nearly taste the delicious crisp skin we ate together, after thanking Our Lord for the bounty.

Nora has canny instincts. She believes Mary is quick and responsive.

Was there some other incentive? Did he promise them a share in his fortune, if he ever makes his name?

I would like to disabuse you of certain notions. I did not leave the Vineyard willingly with Andrew Noble. My parents did not agree to let me travel with him.

He is already estranged from his father, who is a friend and a respectable man in Greenwich, Connecticut.

I run through throngs of Bostonians.

“Mary,” he signs, with a twinkle in his eye, “I’m glad to see you, but I can’t say I admire your frills and brass buttons. You’re dressed a mite too fancy for the Dog!”

The back Cape can be perilous to navigate, even with a capable captain at the helm.

The morning that malefactor absconded with you, Bayard had his hackles up.

The morning that malefactor absconded with you, Bayard had his hackles up.

You know how finicky horses are; they only like who they like, and you can naught change their minds.

“Since when does that haughty chit deserve your consideration?”

“But like all good Christians, his conscience troubles him.”

“Whaling boats are sunk by injured whales trying to escape the harpoon. In some cases, the whale crashes its head into the hull of the boat, smashing it to splinters and causing it to sink with the terrified whalers struggling for their lives on the open sea.”

Andrew Noble is pursuing us. I am counting on my roguish captain to vex him.

Still, I feel it in his movements, the way he watches as he alternates between tasks, checking the rigging, navigating with the deftness of an old sea hand.

I play with Smithy for a time, but she saunters off eventually to attend to her own feline affairs.

But in March 1776, the Hariot was driven into the shoals between the Vineyard and Nantucket.

“His Majesty’s ship?” I ask, incredulous.

He concludes, “We weren’t commissioned, so the profit was divided among us. I can tell you it wasn’t small..."

“Was privateering legal at that time?” I ask.
“Not exactly,” Ezra Brewer admits. “The law had not yet been passed and letters of marque, or authority, were not yet being issued. Privateering was done in the name of piracy and patriotism. It wound up being an asset in the War for Independence.”

When he no longer needs my help, I fetch us hard biscuits and dried fish from the larder down below.

Do I see a hand reach out of the roiling ocean, then disappear?

When at last the storm starts to abate, I slump onto the deck.

He tells me to wait and goes belowdecks to retrieve a salve for my wounds and scraps of cloth for bandages.

Is this truly the end of my ordeal?

Ezra Brewer scratches his chin, and the corners of his mouth form a puckish smile.

I feel a gentle peal of laughter.

I feel no shyness stepping out of my clothes in front of Mama, though I wish to shield her eyes from my injuries and gaunt ribs.

We must move ahead, never forgetting, but embracing the tangible world.

Because of him, we live in a community where being deaf doesn’t hinder us from living a full life.

“My old stories seem too frivolous now. I will have to find another, more important subject.”

He knows he did wrong by fleeing the way he did. He was hurt by the accident too. Not in body, but in mind and spirit. He wants to make restitution, perhaps with a college scholarship in George’s name.

He is freeing Nancy from her choleric father’s influence, though I’m certain her mother will miss her.

It hurts to think of another boy going to college in George’s stead, but it is a kind gesture.

His other hand is poised under the coat, and when it is removed, I see why.

“May I keep the kitten?” I plead.
“Your father and I have already agreed to it, as soon as she’s weaned from her mother,” she signs.

It is made from suet and treacle with delightful candied orange slices.

If people in Boston and the other colonies see them as teachers and great thinkers, maybe they won’t disparage the deaf anymore.