The Ferry Ticket Nobody Used
Chapter 1 - The storm warning
The last ferry was cancelled just as Iris reached the pier. She had planned to sell her mother's island cottage and leave before evening. Beside her, a man held a suitcase wrapped in clear plastic.
They waited under the terminal awning while rain erased the opposite shore. He asked whether she was visiting family. Iris said she was finishing some paperwork. He did not press.
The clerk offered refunds. Iris kept her ticket. So did the man.
With no rooms left near the harbor, the clerk let stranded passengers sit in the waiting room overnight. Iris and the man shared the only table near a working socket.
