Chapter 64
‘Stop! Stop!’ Daisy dropped the rope she was holding and ran towards the front of the lock.
‘Daisy!’ Yvonne called after her. ‘What are you doing?’
It wasn’t the best idea to leave the boat without her guiding the rope down, but Yvonne knew what she was doing, and the September Rose was safe. Unlike the other boat at the back of the lock. By the looks of things, it was already at a forty-five-degree angle. If they didn’t sort it now, it could be hanging down vertically in a matter of minutes and she had no idea how much weight those ropes could hold. Or the knots, either.
‘Stop. Close the paddles! Close the paddles!’ Daisy yelled, waving her arms as Johnny chased behind her, barking loudly.
‘What’s going on?’
The woman was dressed in cargo trousers and a long-sleeved top that seemed ridiculously hot for the weather, but she looked like she knew what she was doing.
‘He’s hitched his boat,’ Daisy said, breathless. ‘The lines are too short. Please, there are children onboard. You need to stop draining the lock. We need to refill it. Now!’
The woman nodded. She didn’t question Daisy or ask to see for herself. She yelled at the man with her, ‘You heard her! Sort it. Close that now.’ She turned to face Daisy. ‘Can you go do the other end? Open up the paddles there?’
Daisy nodded. ‘I’m on it,’ she said as she turned and raced back towards the September Rose. Johnny was once again on her heels.
‘Yvonne, pass me the windlass!’ she yelled. Yvonne also didn’t need telling twice. Without hesitation, she passed Daisy the long, metal key that was used to open and close the locks. Even if it took the other end some time to get the paddles closed, extra water coming in would slow the drop of the hire boat.
Next to the tilted boat, the father was standing on the towpath, pale-faced, shaking as he reached for the knots, only to change his mind and try to reach for his children instead.
‘Get them in the boat!’ Daisy yelled at him as she sprinted past. ‘Somewhere things aren’t falling out. If they fall in the water, it will be even worse.’
She didn’t wait to see if he’d listened to her or not.
When she reached the gate, two men were already there, letting the water in.
‘Bloody idiots,’ one said, shaking his head. ‘Honestly, we’ve had one of them every week this summer.’
‘You work here?’ Daisy said, standing back. He was already doing a great job himself and the last thing she wanted to do was get in his way and slow it down.
‘No. Well, I work in the restaurant just there.’ He nodded a little further up the bank. ‘But I feel like I should get paid for this now. I boat myself. Saw this one coming.’
‘Well, I’m grateful you did,’ Daisy said, feeling a flicker of guilt as she spoke. After all, polo-shirt man had told her what he was doing, but she hadn’t taken it seriously. If she had, the poor children could have been spared all this terror.
‘That’s it. I think we’re filling up again now,’ the restaurant worker said. Daisy looked down at the water and nodded in agreement. It was slow, but the level was definitely rising.
In only a couple of minutes – that probably felt like several hours to all the people aboard – the hire boat righted itself. A flood of relief filled Daisy as she headed back to the September Rose, where Yvonne had dropped some extra fenders onto the sides, ensuring the boat didn’t hit the wall too hard. Yet before she could speak, polo-shirt man grabbed her hand.
‘Thank you. Thank you,’ he said. ‘I didn’t… I thought…’
Daisy could feel her teeth grinding together. People who didn’t know what they were doing shouldn’t be allowed boats, she thought, before swallowing the sentiment back down and forcing herself to take a deep breath in. If that was the case, then she wouldn’t have ever been allowed to live the life she had now. Learning about canal boats and life on the river was a journey, and you needed people to help you along it, just like she had.
‘Now you know,’ Daisy said as kindly as she could manage. ‘But next time, perhaps you should try listening to people.’
With that, she walked away to where Yvonne was standing on the stern with a bemused expression on her face.
‘Perhaps we could try to have an afternoon with a little less entertainment?’ she said.