“What?!” 

Among the myriad of voices quickly rising into a hubbub of the same general question, there was one that emerged a little more indignantly than most, though it was rather lost in the overall noise. Shrill though the shout had been. A lot of people had been looking forward to seeing this moment. One of those pinnacle moments when you could tell your kids ‘I was there. I saw the Arabella off on her maiden voyage.’ A historical moment that didn’t involve wars was a pretty damned big deal. You’d think someone would have at least tried to have every problem solved before the big day rolled around. But nope, there she was. Still docked even, she wasn’t even floating, still had her sails all neatly tucked up. Huh, it was probably something stupid. Like they’d forgotten to get the fuel loaded. 

“Bah, y’damned creaser. Been up since sparrow-fart to save myself a seat here and we don’t even get us a merry ole explication?” Well, what else should he expect from a crew couldn’t even get their ship launched on time? If that was his da captaining that lady, wouldn’t be no miserable mix-up nor waiting about overlong for some whifling apology about conveniences. Oh no, they wouldn’t have needed to apologise in the first place and he’d have been on board too, sure’s a rat always found the cheese. Whether or not his da wanted him there, besides. 

Slouched, grumbling, chin in hand and scowl as dark as a thundercloud on his face, the young boy stayed seated on the lamp post platform he’d put so much effort into claiming as the gathered crowd began to disperse. He wasn’t the only one muttering dire imprecations under his breath either. A few of those he overheard lifted his spirits a small bit, impressed with the rough language. Mostly, however, he simply sat and glared at the ship that wasn’t going to be moving. Almost certain that after such a letdown she’d slip off when no one was watching. 

Finally, however, even he could admit defeat. Still, when he hopped off his post and set off, he wasn’t going away from the ship. He wanted to see if he could find out what the trouble was, or at the least get a right proper look at her. Maybe he could find some feather-head to convince that he was owed a look around just for having waited all that time and not a word as to why everyone got to be so disappointed. And if they thought to ask why he was the only one demanding the privilege, he’d just throw in the lot and tell them that everyone else was too damned swerked to think of it.