About this story
A well-meaning friend, hoping to win you respect, tells Captain Riga you are a rich man's son on a lark — and the captain promptly cancels the wage advance you actually need. Down to gun money, a red shirt, and one saved penny, you sign on as ship's boy aboard the Highlander, and the crew renames you Buttons before you have learned a single rope.
How it opens
Your brother offered an old grey shooting jacket because the family could buy no sea coat.
Elder BrotherTake the gun too, Wellingborough; sell it in New York for your outfit.
Failed plans and household need had turned childhood dreams of foreign travel into employment.
Mother RedburnWrite as soon as you reach the city, before any ship carries you farther.
Elder BrotherImagination furnished the cabin; wages will show you the forecastle.
Choose
I know work will differ from the voyages Father described by the fire.
Four months from now I will return with a truer account.