Songbird
A (Potential) Novel by Eileen Kelly
Cedar Island Ferry Docks
The only way to travel to Cedar Island is by boat. No matter if you live on the island or not, you’ll have to shell out a pretty penny in order to travel to or from the mainland. It’s been a subject of controversy ever since the island’s two ferry lines converged into one--it’s a monopoly, and prices rise steadily each year. Tourists can afford to pay them for just one round trip a season, but it makes it difficult for most year-round residents to justify the expense for anything other than necessary trips.
Owners of island businesses like the grocery stores and other local markets are secretly pleased that venturing off of the island has become more of a luxury than a common occurrence for many island residents. Where in the past it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to spend a Saturday grocery shopping on the mainland, where items are cheaper than they are on the island, these days many residents buy everything they need on Main Street.
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The docks themselves are always busy and bustling in the summer months and all but deserted in the spring and fall--entirely so when the lake is frozen over and the only way to reach the mainland is by snowmobile. Most of the students at the island high school work there in the summer, a crew of red-uniformed teenagers pushing luggage carts up and down the docks. Once in a while, you’ll hear a splash, then laughter, and turn to see one poor employee or another swimming to the end of the dock to climb up, dripping with lake water, already plotting revenge by a similar method to their antagonist.