Beyond the Bright Sea

As soon as she arrives in New Bedford, Crow realizes she has no real plan and is overwhelmed by the busy city. Asking around, she learns that the New Bedford orphanage is now a hospital. She decides to go there in hopes of finding someone who remembers Jason. At the hospital, she’s directed to a woman named Mrs. Pelham, who worked at the site when it was still an orphanage. When Crow asks Mrs. Pelham about Jason, Mrs. Pelham becomes serious, asking Crow why she wants to know. Crow tells her she suspects she may be his sister, and Mrs. Pelham radiates joy.

Mrs. Pelham no longer knows where Jason is, but she tells Crow about his past. Since he came from Penikese, most people at the orphanage avoided Jason, and he stayed in an isolated area. He did not speak until he was five years old, and then, only to talk to patients at the hospital. Jason grew up very independent and prone to wander. Mrs. Pelham tells Crow that trying to raise Jason was “like trying to keep a cat close” (152). Jason is now a sailor, and returns to visit the hospital now and then. Mrs. Pelham does not think he is on the Shearwater. Having learned all she can from the hospital, Crow leaves, since “all I wanted to do right then was to go home” (155).

Crow heads back to the harbor, but the ferry back to Cuttyhunk won’t return for a while. She asks the dockmaster about the Shearwater; he tells her it was sailing for Maine. To her horror, Crow sees the large man from Penikese. Since he does not notice her, she decides to follow him. He enters a pawnshop, and then leaves apparently upset. Crow asks the pawnbroker what the man wanted. When the pawnbroker tells her the man pawned some jewelry, Crow tells him “that man who was just in here stole that necklace,” infuriating him (160). As she flees the shop, she barely manages to avoid running into the big man on the street. Later, she sees him at the dock, “standing square and tense, looking right at me” (161). She makes it onto the ferry and heads back to the Elizabeths.