My future had been the lighthouse. Without the lighthouse, I would have to begin again—again. ‘Isn’t there anything else I could do?’ I asked Miss Pinch. ‘Very unlikely.’ ‘I’d like to work on a ship.’ ‘That would be itinerant.’ ‘My father was crew on a ship.’ ‘And look what happened to him.’ ‘We don’t know what happened to him.’ ‘We know he was your father.’ ‘You mean I happened to him?’ ‘Exactly. And look how difficult that has been.’ Miss Pinch approved of automation. There was something about human beings that made her uncomfortable. She had refused to sign our petition. Salts, she said,
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