Mainland Soil: Mount Desert Rock

Amanda's fingers tightened on the railing of the windy lighthouse gallery. She shaded her eyes from the afternoon sun and scanned the gray horizon. A distant glimmer caught her attention, the sparkle of Isaac's shiny, brass  oarlocks. The dory took shape and ponderously crept closer until Amanda could discern the wool-capped heads of her two sons and Isaac's arms moving rhythmically at the oars. Nearly two weeks had passed since Isaac left for the mainland to get supplies and have the boys fitted for new shoes. He had planned to return to Mount Desert Rock in two or three days, but a gale blew in and turned the twenty-three mile void between the lighthouse and the mainland into a seething cauldron. Alone at the barren ledge with only her infant daughter and a tabby-gray cat, Amanda had faithfully kept vigil over both the beacon and the horizon.