His enlistment had ended a short time ago and, being unencumbered by a family and not so attached to his home town that he had any lingering desire to return, he had made his way back to the one area of Europe that he had fallen in love with during his voyages as an able-bodied seaman.
His initial visit wasn't what anyone would call especially enchanting, and he hadn't made some magical connection with anything about the town. No, what had sold him on the place was specifically the fact that it wasn't a fairy tale perfect city in Europe dotted with castles and chalets with storied histories.
There was a castle of course, a big gray one right at the mouth of the Penfield river at what could be regarded as the entrance to the town. But he was not all that impressed by ancient castles.
What impressed him was the people. The people were friendly, inviting, something he had not imagined after hearing so many disparaging comments about them from shipmates.
And most importantly, the people were of the sea, which is what he considered himself, a man of the sea. It was why he had enlisted in the Navy right after graduating from High School.
His ambition was to be a sailor on a commercial boat, a small freighter or a transport ship that would allow him to be at sea for at least three weeks of each month. He thought of himself as a Mariner, true to the sea.
Picking up his duffel he started walking to the Recouvrance tramway station, involuntarily staring at the tall, sentry-like pylons of the huge vertical-lift bridge as he made his way east.
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