The ferry showed up just before four o'clock in the afternoon. Slowly, it took the shape of a big flat metal barge towed by an ancient tug with a tall smokestack that belched black smoke into the sunny sky.
It took a long time to dock because of all the intricate maneuvers required to bring the barge in parallel to the pier. By that time, quite a few people had assembled into a surprisingly orderly and peaceful queue. It looked as if the barge would be at least half full.
Harper made sure their group was close to the front of the lineup of expectant passengers. Two grim-faced naval cadets stood in front of the queue: one had set up a small folding table, and put a metal cash box on top. Half a dozen other cadets lined the side of the tug, smoking cigarettes and watching the proceedings with alert eyes: Li Yang noticed all of them carried holstered pistols. A couple more cadets manned the barge, one standing at the front, the other in the rear: those two cadets were armed with assault rifles.
The ferry brought no more than half a dozen passengers, a small pile of cartons and crates that looked as if they contained packaged food, and a couple of mournful-looking cows. Getting them off the barge proved to be a problem that got worse when one of them squirted liquid shit on the man that was pushing it from behind. In the moments that followed, Li Yang learned several new swear words, and he already knew quite a few, being from New York.
Everyone waited patiently for the unloading to end. Finally the disgruntled cow was led off the pier, and one of the cadets waved the first person forward: a single middle-aged man wearing an elegant hat and overcoat. He was carrying a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, and the cadets seemed to know him well. Harper noticed that he was allowed to board without any money changing hands.
The people that followed answered a few questions, paid for the passage, and got on board of the barge, donning life jackets from an untidy pile speckled with cow shit: it was right next to the portable stairs distrusted by the second cow. Harper had confirmed earlier that the ferry cost a hundred old dollars or one new, silver dollar; he was relieved to see everyone was paying with banknotes, and that they were accepted without a qualm.
Naturally, he stood at the front of the group. When his turn came, he stepped forward and said right away:
"The five people behind me - we're traveling together. They're with me."
"We're the ones who decide who is with you and who is not, bud," said the cadet pleasantly.
"But I'm the one with the money," said Harper.
"Good to know," said the cadet, and his companion with the cash box laughed. The cadet standing in front of Harper grinned, and said:
"What's your name, and where are you coming from?"
"Harper Lee. And this is my sister Charlene, and this -"
"Enough. Got any ID?"
"Sure," Harper said nervously. He'd noticed that the passengers who had been let through earlier hadn't been asked to show any ID. He pulled out his wallet and handed his driving license to the cadet.
"New York," remarked the cadet. He gave Harper a sharp look. "Where are you going to? Annapolis?"
"Well, yes, I understood that's where the ferry's going."
"I'm asking about your final destination."
"Oh. Fairhaven. It's a small town on the -"
"I know Fairhaven," interrupted the cadet. He took another look at the driving license and then at Harper's face.
"What's the purpose of your journey?" he asked.
"We're all moving there, I mean myself and the others. I have a friend who owns some property in Fairhaven, and we're going to stay with him."
"What's your friend's name?"
"Jimmy Dow."
"Doe?"
"Dow. As in the Dow index."
"Ever heard of a Jimmy Dow?" the cadet asked his cash box companion.
"Nope."
"Neither have I. I guess that's good," said the cadet. "You can pass. Pay the gentleman over there one hundred dollars, or one new dollar."
"I want to pay for the people with me, too."
"You'll pay if and when we let them through. Stand over there."
Harper obediently paid, and moved to stand a few steps from the table with the cash box. As he waited, he wondered what all those questions he'd been asked were about. They didn't make sense to him, but then many things didn't seem to make sense any more.
Charlene went through without any trouble, and so did Olga and Bobby. Harper was asked to pay an extra hundred dollars for Bobby's rickshaw, though.
"Everyone's allowed a bicycle or a moped," the cadet explained. "But this thing takes up as much space as a couple of people with bicycles. Weighs a lot too, from what I can see."
Li Yang was next, and for some reason he appeared furtive. The cadet examining the prospective passengers got suspicious when Li Yang couldn't produce an ID other than a dated library card. Jake Donato saved the situation.
"Hey, give the guy a break," he piped up. "He just lost his mother and his sister. Couple of weeks ago."
"Is that true?" the cadet asked Li Yang. Li Yang nodded dumbly.
"It's true," said Harper. "We rented rooms in the same apartment, his mother and myself, and my sister. I can vouch for him, I've known him for years."
"Okay," the cadet said wearily. "I guess there's some truth in that, and I don't have the time and energy to separate the truth from the lies. That's a hundred dollars, mister banker."
A moment later, Jake was also let through and they finally boarded the barge. Everyone took care to pick a relatively clean life jacket. They were told to move to the rear by one of the cadets with the assault rifles. The man that had a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist was the only one allowed to stay in the front of the barge, and they all wondered who he could be. Finally, the guard at the back got tired of their half-whispered conversation and said:
"That's Mr. Sherman, one of the couriers to the governor of Maryland. We see him a lot."
"A courier to the governor of Maryland? What does he do?" asked Harper.
"He does what a courier does. Delivers documents. You're beginning to get on my nerves."
Harper promptly fell silent. It was clear he didn't want to get on the guard's nerves.
They finally got under way over half an hour later, close to five. By that time, the barge was two-thirds full of people and diverse baggage. One middle-aged woman was carrying a huge comforter, rolled up and tied with string; a young couple had brought a blue baby pram; an old man was carrying half a dozen oil lamps threaded by their handles onto a rope looped over his shoulder. He sold a couple right away to other passengers, and Li Yang noticed that the buyers were paying with shiny new copper coins.
The tug's engine started up with a bang that made some people jump. It took a while for the tug to turn around and pull the barge free of the pier; it was moving at a snail's pace. Fortunately, once they were clear the tug's engine began thumping in a newly determined way, and a small bow wave formed under the blunt prow of the barge. The waters of the bay were almost perfectly still. This was a lucky development for Li Yang. He was on board of a vessel for the first time ever in his life, and the undulating motion of the barge made him nauseous.
Night was falling by the time they docked at Annapolis. The area around the ferry's wharf was surrounded by a tall wire fence; three helmeted cadets with assault rifles guarded the exit gate. There was a delay while the governor's courier chatted with the guards, waiting for a jeep that eventually arrived to whisk him away. The small crowd awaiting exit was very docile. There were no complaints at all about being forced to wait.
One of the guards asked everyone leaving about their destination, and then just nodded and let them through. When it was Harper's turn, things changed.
"Where are you headed?" asked the guard.
"Fairhaven," Harper told him, and went into his spiel about the group and his friend Jimmy.
"I'd strongly advise you not to make that trip at night," said the guard.
"You mean it's dangerous?"
"Could turn out that way."
"But we can't stay here. We don't have a place to stay. We don't want to end up in lockup."
"Lockup?"
"That's what would happen in New York. Someone's from out of town, and they're camping in the street, they get taken in."
"There's is a place just half a block from the academy. Right in front of the main gates. You'll see a big tent and a couple of guards and people waiting for daybreak. You can get a bed in the tent for twenty bucks. Or twenty new cents."
"Thank you," said Harper.
They had no choice but follow the guard's directions. They located the tent, pitched on a big lawn just outside the academy's perimeter. The stink of old sweat and dirt inside the tent was suffocating, and they elected to sit together under one of the enormous trees lining the edge of the lawn.
Li Yang fell asleep almost instantly; he was exhausted, mainly by the effort he'd had to make to keep himself from throwing up. The waters had gotten a little choppy towards the end of the trip, stirred by an evening breeze blowing off land.
It seemed to him he'd hardly slept at all. He'd shut his eyes and almost instantly, Jake was shaking his shoulder and saying:
"Wake up, man. We're about to set out."
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