The entire experience seemed surreal to Maggie. The person - a woman, she could now tell - managed to make it to land, and addressed her, or at least it seemed she was talking to Maggie, like nothing was going on. She looked foreign, which made it more likely that she had come from a ship. There were people from all over working and traveling out on the North Sea. She may have come from a wrecked ship indeed. And yet she seemed all happy and healthy.

Maggie put a hand on her little John's shoulder and pulled him a little closer. The boy took hold of his mother's skirt and hid his little round face in it. Yet Maggie was worried about the stranger. She took a few steps closer, John running along, and hiding his face again when she stopped. "Y'alright?!" she called out.