Every evening, Luke asked himself why in the good Lord’s name he made himself go out and work the docks. On top of everything else, why did he subject himself to the additional torture that was loading and unloading ships, rather than coming home to rest up, in the time he didn’t spend on the water?

Then every evening he came home and saw his mom, and his sisters, and he told himself to suck it up and just make it through another day. The less time he spent at home, the more money he could bring back to it. Just one more day – only, it didn’t bring much comfort when he said it every day.

Luke was in the midst of attempting to fix a hole in his shoe when a knock interrupted him. Within a few seconds, he’d picked himself up to go and open it.

“Uncle Ben?” he furrowed his brow, but quickly pushed the door open wider.

“How are ye? Did ye wanna come in?”