Jennifer Bohnhoff
  • Home
  • Upcoming Events, Presentations, and Classroom Visits
  • In the Shadow of Sunrise
  • Summer of the Bombers
  • Rebels Along the Rio Grande Series
  • A Blaze of Poppies
  • On Fledgling Wings
  • The Bent Reed
  • Code: Elephants on the Moon
  • The Anderson Chronicles
  • The Last Song of the Swan
  • Raven Quest
  • Thin Air: My Blog About Writing and My Books
  • Store

Boarding the Boat: A Fable for our time

7/20/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
There was once a very determined young girl who decided to go on a very long trip.  to a far, distant land. She packed her carpet bag and walked down the hill to the harbor. There she looked at a great number of vessels lying at anchor.
The girl saw big ships and little ships, wooden ships and metal ships, ships with sails and ships with smokestacks that belched rolling clouds of black, sooty smoke. She walked up and down the shore for a very long time before she found the one that seemed just right for her: a great cruise ship with tall, golden sides. A nearby marquee promised that all who boarded it would have a lovely adventure. But no sooner had she stepped onto the gangplank than a man in a uniform blocked her way. 
     "Do you have a ticket?" the man asked in a stern voice.  The girl confessed that she didn't, and he turned her away. She walked back up the hill to her cottage feeling very downhearted.
     The girl worked for years before she earned enough money to buy a ticket for a golden cruise ship. Finally ticket in one hand and carpetbag in the other, she walked back down the hill to the harbor.
     But this time, she could find no golden cruise ships at anchor. There were still big ships and little ships, wooden ships and metal ships, ships with sails and ships with smokestacks belching black, sooty smoke, but none looked like the one she had bought the ticket for.
     "Times have changed. Nothing is as posh as it used to be," the man in the uniform explained when she asked him. He assured her that there were still plenty of berths on the other ships for a determined young girl who wanted to go on a very long trip to a distant land.
     For many days the girl returned to the shore each morning. She walked up and down, trying to decide which ship to embark on.  Some looked too big, and she feared she would get lost on their vast decks. Other ships were decked with sparkling garlands and had fine bands playing aboard them. When she approached of of these, the steward sniffed and said that it wasn't built for the likes of her. She sniffed right back, then marched away, her head held high.
     Once she saw a ship that seemed to be listing to one sided and taking on water. She watched as the crew manned the pumps, determined to keep it afloat. She walked away very quickly.
     As she walked along, one of the boats cast off its lines and left the harbor. She waved her handkerchief at the excited passengers and wished that she could be among them. Feeling sad and discouraged, the girl sat down on an overturned bucket and put her head in her hands.
     The girl was on the verge of tears when she heard a little bird twitter. She looked up and saw that it was perched on the edge of a little rowboat. The rowboat seemed to be dancing as the gentle waves lifted it up and set it back down. Its oars lay across the seat, waiting for someone to set them in the oarlocks and dip them into the water.
     The girl decided that she was that someone. She set her carpetbag into the boat, settled onto the seat, and began rowing. Before she knew it, she was leaving the harbor.
     The girl is rowing still. Sometimes she sees others standing on the shore, waiving their handkerchiefs at her, and she waves back. Sometimes a large ship passes by and she must row hard to keep its wake from swamping her. But she is on her way, and although she does not know for sure just how long her very long trip will be, she knows she is closer to that distant land than she had been the day before.


2 Comments
www.aussiessayservices.com link
2/9/2017 01:57:19 am

It's superb blog that you share history with us I like your page always because you tell the history of different person or different thing like that this boat she was very brave that she has decide to go on the trip or too far is very interesting.

Reply
writing a dissertation link
3/2/2017 11:14:58 pm

For the most part individuals know just about their working field of paper composing and distinctive things yet they don't know anything about Gas Chromatography. This essayist has given us opportunity to find out about it and we can see he did hard battle to expound on it more obviously with clarification.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    ABout Jennifer Bohnhoff

    I am a former middle school teacher who loves travel and history, so it should come as no surprise that many of my books are middle grade historical novels set in beautiful or interesting places.  But not all of them.  I hope there's one title here that will speak to you personally and deeply.

    What I love most: that "ah hah" moment when a reader suddenly understands the connections between himself, the past, and the world around him.  Those moments are rarified, mountain-top experiences.



    Can't get enough of Jennifer Bohnhoff's blogs?  She's also on Mad About MG History.  

    ​
    Looking for more books for middle grade readers? Greg Pattridge hosts MMGM, where you can find loads of recommendations.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    A Blaze Of Poppies
    Ambrose Bierce
    Animal Stories
    Baking
    Baking Mixes
    Baltimore
    Baseball
    Beowulf
    Biography
    Bobbed Hair
    Cemeteries
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Civil War
    Classic Western Writer
    Code Talkers
    Cookies
    Cowgirls
    D Day
    Dickens
    Drummer Boy
    Educators
    Exclusion
    Famous Americans
    Famous Women
    Fathers Day
    Feisty Women
    Fiction
    Folsom
    Fort Craig
    France
    Gabriel Rene Paul
    George McJunkin
    Gettysburg
    Ghost Story
    Glorieta
    Graphic Novels
    Great Depression
    Hampton Sides
    Hiking
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Novels
    History
    Horses
    Howitzer
    Isle Royale
    Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
    Juvenile Novels
    Karen Cushman
    Kit Carson
    Lewis And Clark
    Lindenmeier
    Middle Ages
    Middle Grade
    Middle Grade Fiction
    Middle Grade Novels
    Mother's Day
    Muffins
    Mules
    Museums
    Nanowrimo
    Native Americans
    Nazi
    Neanderthal
    New Mexico
    New Mexico History
    Normandy
    Paddy Graydon
    Pancho Villa
    Poetry
    Poets Corner
    Pony Express
    Poppies
    Prejudice
    Presidents
    Pumpkin Bread
    Punitive Expedition
    Race
    Rebels Along The Rio Grande
    Religious Persecution
    Sacajawea
    Scottish Americans
    Sleepy Hollow
    Song Writers
    Southwest
    Sports
    Spur Award
    St. Bernard Pass
    Swiss Alps
    The Last Song Of The Swan
    The Worst Enemy
    Travel
    Valentines Day
    Valverde
    Vichy Regime
    Western Writers Of America
    Where Duty Calls
    Wildfires
    World War 1
    World War Ii
    World War Two
    Writing
    Ya
    YA Fiction

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014


Web Hosting by iPage