The entire bow of Bridget was gone. The place where her mother would stand was eaten by that leviathan of a cargo ship. The roof of the small craft was missing and the rest was covered in greenery.

“Mom.”

June watched the ripples in the water blur her vision of the boat. Her eyes began to burn. Was she crying? She stared at the boat through her tears for a long time. June wanted to do something. A pink flower petal came floating over to the shore of the cove. She remembered how, upon impact, the small cargo ship lost one of its containers. It was full of frozen carnations.

June’s heart ached. She wanted to do something. But what? Boating? It used to ease her mind to sit in her little red rowboat. But she couldn’t get the rowboat without her father’s help. Plus her father didn’t like her out on the water anymore.

After a few moments June untangled her crutches from the tall grass, and stood. Slowly she made her way back home.

“So,” said her father once she called him into the living room, “You saw Bridget.”

June nodded.

Her father put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, and gently pulled her into a hug.

Thoughts of her mother flooded her mind. June felt tears trying to form in her eyes, but she didn’t feel like crying again.

Her father must have felt the same, because he sniffled, but only once.

She buried her face into her dad’s shirt and waited out the storm of sadness.

After the long emotion-filled silence her father spoke, “I should call someone about that.”

The next day June was in better spirits. She spent her morning looking up recipes for peanut butter pie. Her dad already had everything ready for making his famous casserole. He said he would try making crepes, because that was his wife’s favorite dessert. June’s father was sitting next to his little “Junebug” on the couch, watching TV.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yes?” he replied.

“Should I make the crust chocolatey? Or would that be too much?”

Her father picked up the remote and turned the TV off. “I think it would be just fine.”

“Okay,” June closed her laptop, “I’m ready to go to the store.”

“Great!” Her father stood and fetched June’s crutches.

The two of them got into the car and drove to their local grocery store. It was just a trip to get a few things for the annual November feast. Her father took the cart while June held the list. The cart rattled quietly as the two walked around the store. June looked at the colorful labels that surrounded her and her father, as well as the plain signs that hung above each asle.

“Peanut butter is on aisle three.” June paused while looking at the paper. “I think.”

“Aisle three?”

Feeling more confident in her answer June nodded, “Yeah.”

“How much peanut butter do you need?”

“Um...” June tried to picture what the website said. She remembered how it had to be put in the freezer for two hours, but not how much peanut butter she needed. “A lot?”

He chuckled. “Did you look?”

“Yes… but--”

June stopped at the sound of an inquisitive child and their not-so-subtle parent behind her.

“Let’s just go to aisle two.” Her father said while nodding in the opposite direction of the loud duo behind them.

They found themselves walking down the breakfast food aisle. Her father put in a box of cereal before they continued on their way to aisle three. There they found, to her father’s convenience, baking supplies. But not peanut butter. June and her father filled their cart with just about everything they needed, save for the peanut butter.

As they walked out of aisle three June looked up at the signs, then wanted to smack her face. “It’s on aisle five.”

“What is?”

“The peanut butter.”

Her dad snickered.

“Wait a second, you knew!”

Through stifled laughter her father said “Did you forget? I work here.”

“Dad!” June groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I needed baking supplies.”

“Dad,” June rubbed her face. “Let’s just get the peanut butter.”

Together June and her father walked to aisle five and obtained the item mentioned. The rest of their outing had been going great until they got to the checkout counter. June’s father put all of their items on the short conveyor belt and began to make small talk with the cashier. She looked at the cashier’s name tag, “Jabez.” She heard her dad talk about him before. He was the new guy that just started a week ago.

Jabez let out a forced and nervous chuckle, “Yeah, good one.”

June’s father moved up, allowing June to move as well. Her dad turned around to wave goodbye to the cashier, but before he could Jabez spoke.

“Whoa! Where did you leg go?”

June froze. She hated that question. She hoped that no one would ask that question. June braced herself for the flood of emotions and images that would eventually cause her to drown in them.

“Jabez,” June looked up to see her father glaring at the cashier, “not now.” Her father put his hand on her shoulder, “Let’s get our things to the car, okay?”

June nodded, then followed her dad. Her leg and arms shivered as she walked behind her father to the vehicle.

Her dad turned on the radio to her favorite station, and June noticed that he took the long way back to their house too. It helped calm her nerves. Not all the way, but just enough to engage with the world again.

Once at home she and her father put away the ingredients for the casserole and crepes. June took a meat tenderizer to the cookies, while her father warmed up the butter. After pressing the crust into the pan, they cooked it, then proceeded to make the filling. Usually June would sneak little tastes as she baked, but now she felt hollow. She wanted to do something to fully bring her back. The only thing she could think of was floating in her rowboat.

Well, she thought, maybe I could go while he’s at work. That brought a smile to her lips. Yes, she could get a rope and tie the boat to her wagon and… This could work! Once the pie and crepes were put into the fridge, June decided to go through with her plan.

The next day her father left for work. She watched as her dad’s plain, silver car slowly drove its way down the street and turned the corner. June dashed to the backyard shed without a moment’s hesitation. She threw open the door to reveal the dust and dirt-covered interior. There was her wagon, her big garden wagon.

A long time ago she decided to take up gardening, but never followed through with it. But she loved playing with the wagon so much that her parents didn’t bother with giving it away.

Looking closer June saw that her rowboat was already on top of the wagon. The dust made the boat’s sides look like a red stuffed animal. June smiled at this thought, and brushed the cobwebs off the wagon, then wiped the webbing on her pant leg. After a few kicks the wagon was free from its dirt prison. The rowboat almost tumbled off, but June caught it with her side, and pushed it back onto the wagon. She grabbed some old rope and tied the small rowboat around the garden wagon’s plastic body. Now she was ready to pull it to shore.

Pulling the two to shore proved much more difficult than June originally thought. She held the handle in one hand and hopped and tugged the annoyingly big duo forward. After a block June had to sit and think of an easier way to do this. She pondered for some time there on the curb before deciding to push the wagon. June rose, and tightened her grip on the handles of her crutches. Then she quickly lifted her leg and kicked the wagon. The wagon moved a few feet forward, then made a terrible clattering sound as it went down the tilted sidewalk. June followed close as it rolled it’s way down the crosswalk.

And into the curb.

She wanted to collapse onto the ground right then and just give up.

“Hey!” said a stranger from behind.

June turned around to see a jogger approach her.

“Do you need any help?” the stranger said.

June thought for a moment, worried that her dad would find out if she said yes. He would be pretty upset if he found her with the rowboat. But her dad didn’t really talk to anyone outside of work or home. So he couldn’t know this jogger, right? “Yeah, I’m taking it to the beach just down that way,” June found herself saying.

“Alright.” And with that said the jogger took the handle of the wagon and followed June to the shore.

They didn’t talk much save for a few remarks about the weather. June looked up at the grayish clouds in the sky. She would have time for some boating before the weather got bad. June then began to think of what she would do with the rowboat after her outing. I can keep the rowboat covered behind some trees and leafs. She realized the wagon would still be a challenge, but less of a burden than both of them together. June suddenly found herself at the shore sooner than she thought.

The jogger placed the wagon near the water. “Hope I was of help.”

June smiled. “Thank you. I don’t think I could have done it myself.”

The jogger nodded in response before leaving. “Stay safe!”

“Will do!”

June untied the rowboat. She looked inside and was thankful that the oar was still in there. After pushing the boat through the sand and towards the ocean, June looked up. The air carried the familiar salty smell of the ocean. There she saw the clouded sky pull the dark blue water up and up until it crashed onto the sand. The cool hissing foam made its way to June’s feet, and stained the sand around her with a reflective shine.

June tossed her crutches in the rowboat and pushed the red craft into the waves.