1화The Third Boat

The island is four hundred metres long and the lighthouse takes up most of it. June measured it on her second day, walking the shore with the tide out, counting steps. There was nothing else to do and she liked having a number. The mail boat comes on Thursdays. The first Thursday brought a crate of tinned food and a note from the harbour office reminding her to log the lamp hours. The second brought nothing at all, which she took as a compliment. The third Thursday the boatman handed her a single envelope and would not meet her eyes. It was addressed by hand. Thomas Hale, Keeper, Saltmarrow Light. The stamp was current. The postmark was dated the following Thursday. She knew the name. It was painted on the inside of the lamp-room door, under three others, with dates. T. Hale, 1979–1986. The harbour office had told her the story without her asking. A storm, a rowing boat, a body never found. June did not open the letter that night. She put it on the kitchen table and looked at it while she ate, the way you look at a stranger who has sat down across from you and said nothing. In the morning it was still there, and the postmark still said next Thursday, and she opened it.