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"Huwwo, thir," mumbled little Edward Peters.
The young boy poked out a foot,
placed his right hand over his stomach and his left behind his back. He bent
quickly at the waist, tottered, recovered his balance, then scurried the two
steps backwards to clutch at his mother's thigh, burying his head into her
jacket's long tail.
Lieutenant Mrs. Lila Peters patted the boy on the head.
"Don't be shy, Edward.
Mr. McKay doesn't bite," she told him.
The person to whom she referred and to whom Edward had bowed his best bow
grinned widely. Mr. Midshipman Ashley McKay bent his knees, sticking out his
hand and leaning in closer to the cowering boy.
"Well met, young
sir," McKay
said. "Friends?"
"Shake hands, Eddie," Lila urged.
Edward shook his head instead, his black curls shivering from the quickness of
his move.
"Dear, me," Lila said, then shrugged. "So sorry, Mr. McKay. Edward is a bit
shy at times. I think all the other gentlemen here are intimidating him."
McKay straightened up.
"I am surprised, Ma'am, that a child of yours would be
shy!" He winked.
"He takes after his father," Lila stated. She nodded toward a tall, thin man
conversing with another across the large room. The hall in which they stood
stretched several dozen feet in all directions, it's half a dozen windows
covering the one outside wall and towering nearly to the vast, echoing ceiling.
Men of all sizes and ages packed the chamber, some pacing, some conversing, some
reading. All wore the blue and white uniform of the Royal British Navy from the
latter years of the eighteenth century.
Including Mrs. Lila Peters. The difference in her uniform from the others was
the rank insignia, the white cuffs and lapels of a commissioned lieutenant. The
men in the room all bore the white collar patches of midshipman rank, lacking
any other white adornments to their jackets.
The tall man turned and noticed that Lila had company. He bowed to his
acquaintance and made his way to Lila and her companion. He had to dodge past
other midshipmen who either nodded an acknowledgement of him, or ignored him
completely.
Lila took his arm as he stopped beside her. "Jack, dear. This is Mr. Ashley
McKay. I met him some years ago when he was serving aboard Velox under Captain
Thompson."
McKay bowed. Jack reciprocated. They clutched hands, muttering greetings.
"You are here for your examination, too, Mr. McKay?" Jack asked. "Not nervous,
I hope."
McKay cleared his throat. "N-no. I have every confidence in my, uh,
abilities, sir."
Lila grinned. "You've learned much, then, Mr. McKay, since last we met. I
remember the debacle your little dog made of Captain Thompson's dinner."
McKay clasped his hands behind his back, shuffled a foot. "I don't make nearly
as many mistakes now, Ma'am."
Lila grinned. "Call me 'sir,' Mr. McKay. I am your superior officer, after
all."
McKay's eyes widened.
Lila put her hand against her mouth. "Dear me! No, no, Mr. McKay! I didn't
mean to imply that you made another mistake! I merely prefer to be addressed as
'sir,' so that the crew doesn't view me any differently than any other officer."
"Except perhaps that you are a better officer than most," interjected Jack. He
gave an abbreviated salute, grinning widely, then bent to Edward. "Are you
making new friends, Eddie?"
Edward threw his arms around Jack's neck. Jack swept him up and straightened to
his full height, clutching the boy to his shoulder. Edward buried his face into
the crook of Jack's neck.
"Here now, boy. Don't be anti-social," Jack said, giving a kiss on the
boy's black curls, the same black curls worn by his father. No one could
question Edward's parentage.
McKay smiled. "Mrs.-the lieutenant says that the young master is shy, like
you, sir."
Jack's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Shy? Me? I would say I choose more
carefully what I say than most do." He eyed Lila. "Than some who should know
better do." He winked at McKay.
Lila gasped. "How dare you, Jack! Lucky for you I am not on that panel of
examiners in the office beyond. I would lower my consideration for your
promotion because of that comment alone."
Jack blinked rapidly, his eyes rolling toward the ceiling. "I know not of what
you speak. I am innocent."
Lila sniggered. "Have a care. You may be next through those doors."
The words had barely left her mouth when the huge oaken doors at the far end of
the chamber opened and a sweating midshipman, tugging at his neckcloth, exited.
Lila had a glimpse of three of the five admirals she knew who lurked in the
other chamber, the five judges of the fates of every young candidate present who
hoped for promotion.
Admiral Gordon's face was red. He appeared enraged. Rear-Admiral Burton, to
Gordon's left, stifled a yawn. The youngest of the lot and not wearing an
old-fashioned powdered wig, Rear-Admiral Martin, sitting on the other side of
Gordon, tapped a pencil repeatedly on a pad of paper. None of the men looked
amenable to the poor midshipman who had just left their presence, and Lila
wondered how patient they would be to the next.
"Mr. Jack Peters, Athena," called the clerk.
Lila gasped, gazed up wide-eyed at Jack.
He bussed her on the cheek, deposited Edward at her feet.
"Don't worry,
dearest. I've had the best teacher. You!"
"Good luck, Mr. Peters," McKay wished him.
Jack smiled, nodded, then squared his shoulders, inhaled and marched to
the chamber of Doom, clenching and unclenching his fists.
McKay swallowed audibly as the massive doors clanged shut behind Jack.
"Whewe is Daddy going, Mummy?" Edward, his arms firmly back around Lila's
legs, asked.
Lila patted Edward on the cheek, smiled reassuringly. "He's to see the
admirals, dear. He takes a test."
"Whuf 'at? Whuf a teft?"
"The admirals wish to ask him questions," answered Lila.
"Whu kind o' quethions, Mummy?"
McKay squatted to Edward again. "The kind o' questions that'll make your
Da an important man, Eddie."
Edward's bright blue eyes, just like his father's, widened and he looked
at McKay's feet. His thumb disappeared into his mouth.
McKay straightened. "Here. I've an idea. I'm going to go see if I can
find a sweets vendor. D'ya mind, sir?"
McKay vanished into the crowd before Lila could say yea or nay.
***
"I think I did well, in spite of it all," said Jack, pushing a stray curl
from his blue eyes. He mopped at his forehead with a handkerchief. "They
seemed pleased with my answers and I know I didn't get any of them wrong.
Especially your-"
"Mr. Ashley McKay, Velox," interrupted the clerk. "Mr. Ashley McKay!" he
repeated when no one stepped forward.
Lila inhaled. "He's not back yet! He's going to ruin his chances for
promotion!"
"Where'd he go?" Jack asked.
"To get candy for Edward."
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes," countered Lila. "McKay strikes again! He's his own worst
enemy."
"McKay?" called the clerk again. The man shrugged, regarded the list in
his hand. "Mr. McKay seems not to have had the patience. Next candidate Mr.
Jeremy Mayf-"
"Wait!" a voice from the outside door stopped the clerk in mid-word.
"I'm here!" McKay waved frantically as he hurried across the chamber,
shouldering aside the other occupants. He stopped long enough to shove a small
brown paper bag into Edward's waiting hands, then trotted up to the clerk.
He saluted crisply. "Ashley McKay, Velox, at your service, sir."
The clerk ha-rumphed. "Not my service, young man. But to the service of
the King-and to the admirals who do not like to be kept waiting!"
McKay threw a look over his shoulder at Lila, his crossed fingers raised
above his head.
"Good luck!" Lila called.
"Good luck!" Jack added.
Edward sucked on a lemon drop.
***
"Shall we go?" asked Jack.
"No," replied Lila. "I want to see how Ashley fares."
Jack ha-rumphed, much like the clerk had.
***
To read what happened
Click
Here
***
McKay exited the admirals' chamber, his head bowed and his shoulders
slumped.
Lila nudged Jack. "Here he comes. He doesn't look happy."
"I would suggest we be gentle to him," said Jack. "Perhaps he would like
a drink at the Arms."
"Good idea, love," Lila agreed.
McKay heaved a sigh once he had made his way to Lila and Jack. "I've
failed," he said in a small voice. "I know I have. They looked at me so
sternly and spoke so harshly. I don't think they liked me very much."
"Oh, poo, Ashley! Doesn't matter if they like you or not," argued Lila.
"Matters only if you answered their questions to the best of your ability."
McKay spread his hands. "I-I tried. I know they tripped me up on that
rhumb line question, but I remembered at the last moment about the weather
gauge." He scratched his head. "What was it about the weather gauge?" he
muttered. "It's advantages? Disadvantages?" He shrugged.
"Perhaps I could put in a good word about you to my uncle," suggested
Lila. "He could speak to the Examining Board."
Jack clutched at Lila's arm, bowed his head. "Hmmm. Dearest." He ooked at McKay, gazed at Lila. "As I have tried to confess all along-Admiral
MacHenry sits on the Examining Board this very day. I spoke to him of how I
thought my own examination was biased, but it got me nowhere. Uncle insisted."
Lila sighed at the news. "Well, Mr. McKay. We'll just have to wait for
the announcement's delivery. One way or another."
***
Jack stood in the ward room of HMS Athena, handed over the folded mail
packet, addressed to him, its freshly broken red wax seal prominent. "You had
every confidence in me, sir. I have been commissioned."
Lila threw her arms around him. "Oh, my dear! I am so proud of you!"
She backed off, pulled at his jacket. "We will sew on your new insignia
immediately! We shall outfit you proudly to the King's service!"
She stepped back, her fingers to her lips. "I wonder how McKay fared?"
***
The envelope snapped open.
"Who is it from?" queried Jack, tugging at his new jacket, rife with
crisp white lapels and cuffs. Little Edward played at marbles in the corner of
the Peters' tiny cabin aboard Athena.
Lila smiled. "Why, Ashley McKay writes to us." she exclaimed. She
stepped up to Jack, adjusted his lapels.
She leaned in close, whispered in Jack's ear. "He has been commissioned,
in spite of it all!"
Jack laughed. "I wouldn't have believed it!"
***
Ashley McKay, newly appointed lieutenant, stood upon the quarterdeck of
HMS Fairie Queen and tugged at his bright, new uniform. No one aboard believed
that he had passed his exam, but there he stood, parchment and uniform in hand.
In spite of it all, he had passed the Exam.
He gazed at his commission again, for the hundredth time. Signed by
Admirals Gordon, Burton, Martin, Stewart and MacHenry.
Wait. MacHenry. Lieutenant Lila Peters, nee MacHenry.
In a flash, McKay realized how easily Jack Peters had gained his
commission.
Had McKay earned his as effortlessly?
McKay refused to sit at the other midshipmen's urgings. He would no
longer dine in the Gunroom table.
The Ward Room was his new domain.
The End
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