It was a stormy, terrifying night when I found my place in the crew and earned my respect and freedom from the prying eyes of the men.
A storm tossed the ship about, our rigging flying and sails snapping back. Water poured down on us from the sky and both sides of the ship.
We were lucky to have survived.
It was all thanks to me, Daniel said after.
I couldn't agree more.
⠴⠴⠴
Daniel yelled from the helm. What he said I couldn't hear but I knew he needed help. He gestured frantically downward, which I deciphered as he needed to go belowdecks, but he couldn't leave the helm for fear to the ship lurching and bringing us down in the storm with it.
No one seemed to know what to do and not many people were paying attention to their captain. I made the quick decision to abandon my post and ran to Daniel, even as Jessica and Jonathan, who were both with me at my post, yelled after me to come back.
Upon reaching the helm, I put on hand on the wheel. I looked Daniel square in the eyes.
"GO!" I said. "Whatever you need to do, go. I've got hold of her!"
He stared at me a moment longer, then turned and ran belowdecks, shouting for Jonathan to follow him and for Jessica to find Phoebe. As he hurried down the companionway, I found it disconcerting that I couldn't hear the usual stomp, stomp, stomp of his boots on the wood.
I wiped my eyes with one hand and stared ahead, something clicking in my mind. I suddenly felt as though this was where I should be, where I was needed most. That was true, of course, but I also felt a different sense, one I'd never felt before and almost didn't recognized.
I felt like I was home.
I felt like I belonged here.
I felt like I had spent all my life at the helm.
I felt like everything I'd ever done had led up to this.
I felt a piece of my past snap back into place.
⠴⠴⠴
A memory washed over me for the first time. The memory was bathed in golden light. I was a little girl again. I held a much larger hand—my father's hand, I realized. He knelt next to me at the helm of a wooden ship, the deck laid out before me and the three masts standing proud and tall.
"This is where you belong, little one," my father said. "At the helm of my ships. You may be a woman, but one day everyone will see what my daughter can do and they will never underestimate a woman like you or your mother and any other woman ever again. They will believe in you."
I was confused. "What do you mean, Papa?"
He smiled at me. "One day you will see, little one. They will see you the way I see you, my lion of God, and then you will understand."
⠴⠴⠴
Just like that, the memory was gone. Barely had passed and I snapped right back into the present. I held the ship steady and steered her straight on, listening closely for the lookout's shouts.
"ROCKS TO STARBOARD!"
I steered to port.
"CORALS DEAD ON!"
I let the ship swing farther port.
"BANK STARBOARD! QUICK!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON?" I shouted.
"NOW, NOW, NOW!" the lookout yelled. "SANDBAR AHEAD!"
I realized the direness of the situation and quickly banked to starboard again, praying I would not hit the rocks or the corals on the way. By some miracle, I steered us through clear.
And so it went, the lookout giving warnings and I responding to them as quickly as I could.
Miraculously, I got us out of the storm alive.
Daniel surfaced just as the storm faded away. He stared at me.
"Well," he said, "from this experience, I think it's safe to say... Welcome to your new place aboard the Sally Lass, helmsman."
And from then on, I was known as Summer, the helmsman of the Sally Lass.