The Car Ferry

The car ferry leaves the small port of Greystone every morning at eight o'clock. It carries people, but it also carries their cars, and that makes it special. Many of the people who travel on it live on one side of the water and work on the other.

First, the cars line up on the dock. They wait in long, quiet rows by the water. There is a man in a yellow coat who stands at the front, and he counts them. He has to know how many cars can fit, because the ferry cannot take too many.

Then the big door at the back of the ferry opens slowly. It comes down like a bridge and rests on the dock. After that, the man in the yellow coat waves his arm, and the cars drive in. They park close together on the lower floor, near the engine. The drivers turn off their cars and climb the stairs.

Upstairs, there is a small café. People sit by the windows with hot drinks and watch the port grow small behind them. Some sleep. Some read. The crossing takes one hour.

The ferry sails the same route every day, summer and winter. It crosses the grey water in the morning, and it crosses back again in the evening. When it arrives at the far port, the big door opens once more, the cars drive out, and the day's work can begin. For the people who live by this water, the ferry is not a holiday boat. It is simply the road.