The Captain and Commander walked out the door and it closed behind them. I had to hurry. I pulled down my hood and reached into my pockets. My mittens weren’t there. I turned back around.They were on my bunk. I wanted to just leave them there, go outside without them, but I knew the Captain would yell at me if I did. Maybe it was February 15, and practically mild compared to what the temperature had been, but it was still way below freezing and exposed skin would get frostbitten pretty fast. I ran back and got the mitts and pulled them on. By the time I got outside they were fifty yards away, walking toward the coast. I rushed after them. They’d told me they wanted to talk to me but they hadn’t told me what they wanted to talk about. I was nervous. No, I was scared. What would they say? What had I done wrong? I had tried my best to do everything that was asked of me and—no sense in getting my guts in a knot until I knew. I caught up and fell in right behind them. We walked in silence.Where were we going?
