Chapter 11: Maggie's Memories

When Kate gave her a puzzled look she continued, "Do you remember when Biddie was talking about your stories you shared, and how much everyone enjoyed them?"

She blushed a little from the compliment. "Of course I do ... but honestly they weren’t that good. They were just old stories I had in my journals. After I shared one or two, everyone wanted more, so we started sitting around before bed and I would read a few chapters. It was just something to pass the time, but it was fun."

She paused for thought and chuckled. "Why ... I remember the time I was reading this part where the couple was sitting on the swing and just about the time they were gonna kiss, the rope broke and they both fell down. Peggy and Biddie laughed so hard and then I remembered ..."

Her voice trailed off as she repeated the last two words, "I remember ... I really do remember."

For the first time since she’d awakened in a world that knew her as Maggie, something seemed real. Finally, her character had description and background. She'd unlocked a page or two of the script, but how, and what did it mean?

Doctor Mike knew her question before she asked. "Associating yourself with familiar places and people, reliving memories for instance often helps you sort out what’s real and what’s imagination ... but these things take time and patience."

"Well time and patience was something I was in short supply of the day I met Miss O’Malley," Jason recalled with a smile. "It was the day we landed in New Bedford, and we needed a way to reach a hundred women, and we needed it fast. Joshua had designed a handbill stating our proposal, and we wanted to give one out to every marriageable woman in town, but all we had was the original."

"So ... we needed copies, and Clancy said he knew the owner of the local paper, the New Bedford Herald, and was sure he could make us the copies we needed. So off I went. Well, once I got there, I saw a young lad with his back to me. He was wearing ink stained pants and a shirt while donning a cap. I said, 'Excuse me sir, but I need some copies of this handbill made and, I need them as soon as possible.' "

"Without speaking or turning around, he takes the handbill from me and reads it while he continues to work on the printing press. Finally after a minute or two of silence, I start to lose my temper and then I raise my voice. I say 'Hey Mac, I need 200 copies today. Can you help me or not?' Well ... he slowly turns around, takes off his hat and says to me with a smile--"

Kate jumps in and beats him to the punch. "We can do that for your sir, but my name’s not Mac, and you’re only gonna need 199, because I want one for myself."

The room erupted in laughter, and no one laughed any harder than Kate, who added, "If you could've seen the look on Jason's face when I took off my hat and all my hair fell out."

With another memory recalled, another page or two of script fell neatly into place and the scale that balanced reality from fantasy, Kate’s world from Maggie’s, was starting to shift.

Doctor Mike, seeing the signs of progress, decided to keep the therapy rolling. "I remember the first time I met Candy, Biddie and Maggie. I had stopped for tea while waiting for my return train to Boston. I was talking to my friend, explaining to her that I didn’t want to join my father’s practice. I wanted to go west, out to the frontier, where they wouldn't care if I was a man or a woman. I remember saying loudly, 'I just want to go where I’m needed!' "

"Well the next thing I know Maggie's got me by one arm and Biddie’s got me by the other dragging me out of the tea shop while Candy keeps apologizing, saying they don’t normally shanghai doctors."

This time Jason stole the punchline, "The next thing I know there’s three women on the dock next to Clancy's ship informing me that unless I convinced this doctor to come to Seattle with us, not a single woman was coming aboard."

"Of course," Doctor Mike finished, "They didn’t realize they had me before they ever drug me out of the tea shop."

As the ladies hugged their favorite physician, more pages filled, fell into place, and were quickly forming yet another chapter in the life that Kate had awakened to find herself living. These new memories were coming to life for her, but without erasing what memories she had of her life before as Kate. For the moment, they coexisted in her mind, separated only by the increasingly blurry line between fantasy and reality.

Chapter 12: Captain Clancy

The line nearly dissolved when the captain made his grand entrance. "Now what in the name of Davey Jones is going on in here?"

Captain Clancy was a scruffy Irish seadog who bellowed like the North wind, but beneath the beard and barnacles was a soft heart that treasured four loves: whiskey, the sea, Lottie, who owned the only saloon in Seattle and the young woman who sat center of attention.

The others greeted him as he made his way to the foot of the bed and winked at the doctor. "So tell me now Michaela, how long will you be a lettin’ this layabout get the better of ya? Why I knew all along there weren’t nothin' wrong with this one. Look at her, laid back like some kinda Irish princess ina first class cabin."

A smile turned at his lips as he glanced at Kate, waiting to see if she’d taken the bait he’d offered. Receiving only a wide eyed blank stare and silence, he tried to prime the pump once again.

"Mary Margaret O’Malley, if you don’t open that porthole of yours and say somethin', I’m liable to hoist you up and throw ya to the sharks!"

Kate, having never seen this side of Captain Clancy in any of the 48 episodes, was utterly speechless. Fortunately for her, Maggie knew this old sea dog all too well, and was not at a loss for words..

"Randall Francis Clancy, you ol’ bilge rat," she fired back in a voice with an Irish flavor she hadn’t noticed before. "So, you’d throw me to the sharks would ya? Well ... that’d be the first decent meal anyone’s had round here since we left New Bedford. And I just might be daft enough to think of meself as an Irish princess, but I’m not so daft as to believe that this ... this menace to navigation, this broken down leakin' rag bagger is anything but ... a dirty ... stinkin' ... mule BOAT!"

The room fell silent as the pair stared each other eye to eye, then Clancy let out a belly laugh and opened his arms. "Aye, that’s more like me Magpie. Now come give an ol’ bilge rat a hug."

Maggie drew Katie along and dove into his arms. The familiar scent of sea and whiskey was sweet perfume. Tears threatened as it was high tide and another wave of memories rolled in. She snuggled against his overcoat and sighed, "I've missed you too, Salty Dog."

When the embrace was reluctantly broken, the captain was gushing with gratitude for the lovely physician. "Thank you now Michaela for all you done. 'Twas breaking me heart don’t you know, seeing her laying there sick like that ... all quiet and still. Why it was probably the only time in 22 years I've ever had any peace or quiet with that one around."

"Salty!" Kate shook her fist and smiled while everyone else shook their heads and laughed.

"Maggie?" Candy asked the question that was most on everyone else's mind. "How did you meet Captain Clancy? You said you were going to tell us, but you never have."

Kate, still putting together the pieces of Maggie's life, squirmed and gave her best impression of Samantha from Bewitched. "Well ..."

"Now Miss Pruitt," Clancy jumped in and rescued her. "I’d be the one to tell that tale and right glad to do it don't you know ... .only," he grabbed his throat and forced a feeble cough, "I got this dry throat. Parched I am, and I was wondering perhaps if the good doctor might have a little something in her black bag ... you know ... just for medicinal purposes."

Doctor Mike smiled sympathetically, "I’m sorry Captain I’m afraid I don’t."

"Well, that’s alright Clancy," Jason put his arm around him. "I’ve got a bottle back in my quarters, so why don’t you tell us the story, and then we can get you a dose of two of medicine."

"I don’t know Jason. I’m feeling might dry."

Jason laughed, "I've got a full bottle."

Just the hint of a cure, soothed the Captain’s vocal chords. "Okay now, well ... the first time I laid eyes on Miss O’Malley ... she was as naked as the day she was born."

"Oh my!" Biddie gasped as every girl there went wide eyed and stared at Kate, who in turn rolled her eyes.

"That’s because IT WAS the day I was born you sea devil!" Maggie scolded him, having taken the driver's seat from Kate.

"Okay ... okay now Magpie don’t pop your stays," he laughed along with everyone else. "I always start the story out like that so the people will listen, don’t you know. And now that I got all you's attention ... the tale really starts in Southampton where I was the captain of the Fiona. She was a grand lady who was the finest ... fastest clipper ship to ever sail the ocean. And there was this young Irish couple who booked passage on me voyage to Boston. Their names were Michael and Bridgette O’Malley. At that time, her ladyship over there, unbeknownst to me, was in the belly of the whale, if ya know what I mean."

Most of the brides blushed, some laughed but all knew exactly what he meant as he continued.

"Now had I known about this little stowaway, I’da never let them on board, but we was half way across before I found out. So ... all I could do was move them up from steerage to a first class cabin, keep the lass comfortable, and hope we made land before the wee one came."

"Well did you?" Biddie jumped in.

"Almost Biddie ... almost. We was 2 days from Boston when this one decided she wasn’t waiting for land and, that’s when I as captain had to take over and handle everything."

Doctor Mike eyed him suspiciously, "Are you telling me you delivered a baby?"

With all eyes on the captain he grabbed at his parched throat and coughed. "Well ... you see ... ummm ... actually--"

"Actually," Maggie jumped in, "He ran all over the ship until he found an old woman who’d been a midwife, and then he and me father got stinking drunk waiting for me to be born."

The Captain squirmed like a fish caught in the net, "Aye ... there’s a wee bit of truth to that. I did get the midwife, and she told me to keep the husband outside, and to give him something to do ... so I did. I got him drunk, but I’m telling the tale darlin', so kindly let me continue if you will."

Maggie obliged him and sat ready to correct the Salty Dog if he got too far of course, while everyone else, including Kate, hung on every word

"So ... about twelve hours and two bottles of whiskey later, we heard a baby cry, and came a runnin' to find Miss Mary Margaret O’Malley in her mother's arms a wailin' like a banshee ... and I don’t think she’s been quiet since," he added with a wink.

"Or you sober," Maggie fired back as laughter filled the belly of the ship

"Okay now ... okay now," Clancy quieted the room. "The story’s not over yet. Now where was I?"

Biddie jumped in and giggled, "Maggie was wailing like a banshee."

"Biddie!" Candy grabbed her arm and shushed her.

"Right you are Miss Cloom," the Captain started again, "Well ... when we made Boston the next day, Maggie's parents said they would always be indebted to me for all that I’d done. So, whenever I sailed into New Bedford, there would always be a warm bed, a hot meal and a bottle a waiting for me. But ... but best of all, they made me the Godfather of this little scamp, and Magpie’s been stuck to me like a barnacle ever since."

Maggie smiled as her eyes misted, "Salty, I swear you’re the only person I know who can call me a barnacle and get away with it."

"That’s me Magpie," he laughed with open arms that she fell into.

The moment was broken only by the ever inquisitive Biddie. "So I can see how he’d call you Magpie since your name is Maggie but why do you call him Salty or Salty Dog?"

Maggie reluctantly released from the embrace and eased back into her position under the quilt. "Because ... for as far back as I can remember, whenever he would show up at our door, my mother would say, ‘Well now, look what rolled in on the tide ... a salty old seadog,’ so I started calling him Salty Dog or just Salty."

"Aye ... tis true indeed. Just like I’ve always called her Magpie, but not just because her proper name was Mary Margaret. Oh no ma’am, I called her Magpie because she was just like that infernal bird: attracted to any shiny object I brought for her, long piggy tails that looked like tail feathers, and curious to no end. Why, every time I came, she’d sit for hours while I told her tall tales from every port I'd been in."

Maggie's’s eyes flashed as she sat straight up. "Tall tales indeed, and you told me some whoppers, but none so big as the one you told me parents and me when they agreed to let me come to Seattle."

Clancy cleared his throat. "Well now child, I haven't the faintest idea what you could be referring to."

Searching for an escape, he turned his attention to the lovely doctor. "Michaela me dear, I can tell the fever's still playing tricks with her mind. I ... I should probably go and let her rest."

While trying to exit stage left, he was thwarted in his tracks when Maggie said, "Randall ... Francis ... Clancy ... avast ye sailor!"

The Captain turned as if to walk the plank while she said, "I, that is, me, my parents and I’m sure the other 99 brides, want to know what happened to this fine clipper ship you promised me parents we’d be sailing to Seattle on."

Suddenly the captain was surrounded by a boatload of women waiting on his next word. "Well now poppet ... and kind, gentle ladies, I had every intention of purchasing a fine sailing ship as yar as the Fiona was. I had all me life’s savings and the title to the Shamus O’Flynn, but what I didn't have ... was good luck"

Maggie sighed and sank into her pillow. "Let me guess ... you had an ace high full house and he had four kings?"

"Only no darlin not this time," he pleaded his case. "This time I had the hand I been waiting me whole life for. I had a ten high straight flush. Nothin' beats that girl. Nothin'!"

Maggie shook her head. "Except a royal straight flush."

Clancy nodded silently and sighed, "But on the bright side, he let me keep my ship, and we can certainly be thankful for that. Right ladies?"

A quick look around the room made him realize a long walk off a short pier might still be in his future. Turning to Jason for safe passage he coughed. "Mr Bolt, I think me throat's getting the better of me. I believe you mentioned a bottle?"

Jason laughed, placed his arm on the Captain's shoulder and offered him deliverance. "C’mon Randall Francis ... let’s leave while we still can."