Chapter 15 - The Unbroken Tide
The morning tide was coming in strong along Pier 9, sending clean, salty green swells slapping against the newly reinforced granite bulkheads of Berth 12.
The air smelled of fresh marine paint, diesel exhaust, and cold ocean wind.
The massive gantry crane above the drydock groaned into motion, its steel cables lifting a fifty-ton structural keel section into place above the drydock cradle with mechanical precision.
I stood on the edge of the observation catwalk, wearing a white hard hat and a heavy navy canvas work coat.
Tobias walked up the metal stairs behind me, his boots clicking firmly and rhythmically against the steel treads, his cane hooked over the handrail behind him. He didn't need it anymore.
He handed me a warm paper cup of black coffee from the docks' diner.
"First delivery manifest from the naval yard in Norfolk," Tobias said, handing over a yellow clipboard. "Twelve container ships scheduled for overhaul between now and November."
I took a sip of the hot coffee, letting the bitter heat warm my throat.
Across the harbor, the black-and-gold sign of Vance Marine Logistics was being dismantled from the top of the Pratt Street tower, crane by crane, letter by letter.
In its place, the morning sun rose over the Chesapeake Bay, painting the wide, open water in brilliant sheets of gold.
I looked down at the ship in the cradle below, then at my brother standing tall beside me in the wind.
"Let's get back to work," I said.
Tobias smiled, turned toward the crane operator's booth, and gave the signal to drop the line.
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