Jane stepped inside the tower and stood at the
base of the stairs. She shivered, and was surprised
how cool it was in here. Looking up at the circular
stone staircase she waited a minuet for her eyes to
get aclimated to the dim light.
The staircase
wound it's way along the outside walls of the tower
to a point about 3/4 of the way up the tower. At that
point they disappeared through a wooden floor that
enclosed the upper part of the tower. As large as the
tower appeared from the outside, there was little
unused space inside. The stairs were not terribly
large and they were very narrow. A wooden railing
with lath turned ballisters ran along the inside edge
of the steps to keep anyone from falling.
The
chill that greeted Jane at the base of the steps
disappeared as soon as she started up the staircase.
She took slow deliberate steps, even with the
railing, she was none too comfortable climbing the
spiral stone stairs. To make matters worse halfway up
she made the mistake of looking down at the opening
in the middle of the stairs. She gripped the Oak
railing a bit harder and chided herself for looking
down. Just before she reached the wooden platform
that hung above her, there was a single paned window
that looked out over the sandy point. She could see
Pete sitting on the shoreline looking eagerly at the
tower, waiting for some sign of his mistress.
Jane reached the wooden platform as the staircase
dissapeared. The platform sealed off the lower
portion of the tower, and the view that made Jane so
uneasy. The planks of the floor were very old and
somewhat weathered to a pale grey. They however
seemed very sturdy and well built. The diameter of
the tower at this point was roughly 15 feet and this
platform was really quite roomy. Jane recalled that
the original keeper of this light lived in the tower
before the cottage had been built. Surely this must
have been his living quarters. There were 3 windows
that each had single glass panels that were hindged
and opened to the outside. Jane looked out the one
overlooking the lake as held her breath at the
view.
Even though she was still 25 feet from
the upper reaches of the tower, the view was
stunning. The shoreline to the north of the tower
curved towards towering granite cliffs that were
lined with stately pines. To the South the sandy
shoreline streched on as far as the eye could
see.
On the far wall from where the staircase
emptied out onto this wooden floor there was a metal
ladder that ran straight up to the upper deck. The
ladder was 20 feet high and went up through another
floor, this one was made of steel plates. Jane walked
towards the ladder and peered up through the hole in
the platform above her. Brilliant sunlight streamed
down through the hole. Gripping the first rung she
started to climb slowly to the upper deck.
Jane
reached the metal platform with only a little effort.
Her climbing was hampered somewhat by having the
bucket & cleaning supplies in one hand as she
climbed. She made a mental note to leave the window
cleaning supplies up there to avoid another such
climb. At the top of the ladder there were 2 metal
hand grips to help pull oneself up onto the metal
floor that surrounded the huge lens housing.
Jane
stood up and whistled at the grand panorama that
engulfed her. At once she understood the lure these
old nautical treasures held on the lightkeepers of
old. Nothing in her experience could measure up to
the vista that spred out in all directions. She
inwardly knew she would be spending time up here with
her sketch pad. Natures beauty showcased like this
called to the artist in her.
In the center of the
platform was the housing that protected the valuable
and meticulously crafted Frenzel lens that focused
the tower's light. Behind the lens was a suprisingly
small bulb fitted into a round mechanism that held
four other bulbs, all of the same design and wattage.
The purpose of the mechanism was so if a bulb was
burned out, it would automatically rotate to the next
bulb on the wheel. In the litrature she was given
Jane knew that the bulbs and the mechanism was
serviced every 3 months by the US Coast Guard. The
bulbs were replaced every 3 months even if none had
burned out. Such a fail safe system was necessary
once the US Lighthouse Service was disbanded and the
Coast Guard took control and automated the
lights.
Jane set to the task of cleaning all of
the inside windows. She was able to just reach the
top of each panel by standing on her toes. Working
her way around the tower, in about 2 hours she had
reached the one pannel of glass that was hindged and
swung out to the catwalk outside the windows.
Jane
stepped out onto the catwalk and was greeted by a
lovely breeze blowing off the lake. The catwalk was
made of iron grates with a black wrought iron
railing. Even though she was not afraid of heights
normally, the effect of standing on the catwalk, with
nothing but blue sky above and openess below her gave
her a slightly queezy feeling. Far below, Pete was
laying at the base of the tower by the door. Jane
called out to him. The dog eagerly looked around,
finally looking up he saw Jane waving. He Barked
repeatedly, wagging his tail. Jane called out to
him, "Ok Pete". Immediately he took off in the
direction of the woods,. Off to chase squirls no
doubt Jane thought with a smile.
The windows were
much dirtier out here, and Jane had to work harder to
get the satisfying gleem the inner windows had.
Humming as she worked the time sped by. She took a
few breaks, happy to sit on the iron grate watching
lake freighters silently pass on the horizon. As she
started on the last panel of glass her stomach
growled. Glancing at her watch she was stunned to
find it was already past 3. Breaking her train of
thought, a boat's airhorn blew from behind her.
Turning around she saw a small craft making the turn
around the point and heading directly towards the
tower and the small dock far below her. Squinting
against the brilliant sunlight she could make out the
boat and recognized it as the Albitross, Her
supplies were here! Finishing up the last panel of
glass, Jane placed her cleaning supplies inside the
light tower . Glancing quickly at her reflection in
the glass she absent-mindedly tried to fix her hair,
which was extreamely windblown. Giving up any hope
of fixing it without a brush, she continued down the
ladder and then desended the stairs to the base of
the tower.
Jane reached the dock as the boat
slipped gently against the end and Brian Chappman
stepped out of the cabin and tossed a huge rope loop
over the end of the pier. "Good Afternoon, Ms.
Tolenz."
Jane smiled and replied, "Please, call
me Jane."
"Fair enough Jane, but only if you
call me Brian. All of your supplies arrived, where
would you like them stored?"
"Oh Just place them
on the dock, I can get them up to the cottage."
Brian smiled warmly and looked down at Jane, "Tell
you what, I have a deal for you. I have nothing else
on board, and there is quite a bit here Let me haul
the stuff up to the cottage, and you will owe me
dinner date."
Jane could feel a warmth rise in
her cheeks, smiling graciosly she locked eyes with
him. "Hmmm, nope no deal!"
Brian was clearly
taken back for a moment, and a fleeting look of
disappointment surfaced on his weathered, but
ruggedly handsome face.
Jane couldn't help but
laugh, Here is my deal, You and I both will unload
and haul the stuff, Then you and I will dine here
tonight, but I warn you, I plan on puting you to work
in the galley."
Brian smiled and quickly said,
"Deal, but I warn you I'm mostly thumbs in the
kitchen.
Jane simply replied, "You will do fine.
Then while I clean up afterwards, you can tell me
about Amada Grey."
"Well it sounds like a much
more interesting evening than I had planned." Brian
repied.
They started to untie the tarp that
covered the load of boxes.
On the first trip up to the cottage with the
supplies Pete came racing up to them, curious about
the stranger who was with his mistress. Jane was
immediately impressed with the way Brian stood his
ground and then made a point of bending down on one
knee to greet the dog on his level. Pete took an
instant liking to him she could tell. After 3 more
trips all the supplies had been carted up to the
small shed off of the keepers cottage.
Jane set to
the task of making dinner, "Pick out something nice
for dinner music." she called out to Brian.
"Quite
the collection of the great masters." Brian replied
as he browsed through her collecton of cd's. Soon
she could hear the lovely opening notes of
Beethoven's "Pastorial symphony #6, mixed with the
sounds of Pete and Brian roughhousing as they played
like men & dogs will.
Dinner consisted of Sauteed
Chicken breasts in white wine, garlic and chives,
Fettchini Alfredo, and a quickly tossed spinach salad
with portabella mushrooms. The evening was still and
peaceful, a perfect backdrop to a lovely dinner.
Jane and Brian found conversation came easily
between them and they talked for almost 2 hrs while
eating. Brian was single and had never married. He
said he doubted there were many women who could
tolerate his working hours. He spent the better part
of the shipping season on the waters of the great
lakes, or in some small port waiting to be loaded.
They fond they both enjoyed many of the same leisure
activities and by the end of Dinner Jane found
herself intrested in seeing more of this gentle
handsome man, something that really came as a bit of
a surprise. They cleared the table and against her
protests he helped her with the dishes. They sat on
the dock for the better part of another hour before
they decided it was time to call it a day. Standing
up Brian said "I'll be Right back, I almost forgot, I
brought you something."
Really? Jane replied.
She was instantly pondering what it could be. He
returned from the cabin of the boat with a flat
package in a plain Brown paper. "I knew you would
find this very interesting", he said handing her the
package.
She quickly opened up the package and
gasped Wow! Why thank you so very much!" In her
hands was an aging book titled "Amanda Grey: Lady of
The Light" ..............
To be
Continued Oct. 1st
BACK TO LIGHTHOUSE PAGE
PART 12
