<div class="floatleft"><div align="center">(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/cdc1/04s7432n614occi4g.jpg)<br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">Chloe Dawson<br/>  ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾  </span></span></div></div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>… I force myself to eat, knowing what this night will bring … Kimmie doesn’t seem to be … lean over toward her …</em></span></span><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">  “Kimmie, please eat. We, um, we won’t be able to for quite a few hours.”</span></span><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>… she may not have seen in my mind our mode of transportation for tonight … this will be rough … only I and the several sisters who operate the mansion for us know the plan … and I know it by means only recently learned …</em></span></span><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>… after dinner, we separate from the remaining guests of the mansion … gather in a back room with our little bits of luggage … the sisters distribute plastic bags and show us how to seal the bags … then we are given rain suits and boots … put those on over our clothing … we’re shown how to seal the wrists, ankles, and hood … then we step back to the walls and the floor opens to reveal a staircase … we walk down … lights come on as we pass and extinguish behind us … the floor closes behind us and we follow the tunnel down and down … finally reach the end where a stairway goes up to the ceiling … the ceiling opens and we climb … emerge inside a classic New England boathouse … a low, fast boat bobs gently next to us … two dressed as we are help us aboard … fasten lifejackets around us … and four-point seat belts … when we’re all seated, a hard cover is drawn over the seats … where the two who helped us – our pilots I assume – is unknown … reach for Kimmie’s hand … and cradle my most precious cargo within me …<br/><br/>… no one speaks … then a low hum and vibration … the boat has started … feel the boat move forward slowly … warily perhaps … the waves of the bay rock us … hope I don’t have morning sickness though probably too soon for that … slowly we head toward the east … somehow Foresight doesn’t see here … as if the tunnel and boat and its occupants are masked … a void in my vision … after what seems a long time, the boat picks up speed … seems to be skipping over the water now with an occasional lurch … guessing we turn north toward where Foresight picks up again … my brain does some calculations … 1200 miles or more of open ocean to reach Gander … the boat crashes on and on through what has to be the night … try to sleep … manage to go lightly and then bounce back awake by a particular rough lurch … and on and on …<br/><br/>… sometime later, the canopy takes on an eerie glow … getting light outside … we’ve been at this for perhaps 10 hours … I want to throw up … I want it to stop … but no respite … hold Kimmie’s hand and look to our future … hold Isis as my gut churns and she grows in spite of how I’m bounced on the waves …<br/><br/>… finally after a last bone jarring lurch, feel the boat start to slow … the light through the canopy has begoun to dim again … the boat slows further and then accelerates and comes to a scraping halt … we’ve grounded … intentionally I hope … the canopy opens and we’re helped off … water laps around our feet … the two pilots point up the beach to a path … then turn and work the boat back out into the water … we hear the engine start and it accelerates smoothly away … turn and head up the beach … as we arrive at the narrow path a figure in white waves us forward … up the path … between dunes and up a cliff … a sturdy house with windows lit … door open shining brightly like a beacon … we stagger inside … strip off our rain gear … I drop into a soft couch … a mug of something hot is presented me … a sip … ah yes! cocoa! … look for Kimmie … she’s next to me … with cocoa … look inside … find our Isis … she grows and sparkles … somehow she is calming me … wonder child! …</em></span></span><br/>