The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter

1Every evening for twelve years, Nell had climbed the hundred and seven steps of the lighthouse behind her father. She knew the sound of each one: the ninth step that groaned, the fortieth that rang like a bell, the last, narrow step where you had to duck your head. At the top, her father would trim the wick, polish the great glass lens and light the lamp, and its beam would swing out across the black water like an arm reaching for lost ships.

2Tonight, her father was not climbing. He lay downstairs with his leg in a splint, white-faced and furious with himself, after slipping on the wet rocks that morning. The doctor from the village could not come until the storm passed. And the storm was only beginning.

3“The lamp, Nell,” he said, gripping her wrist. “The Mary Rose comes past tonight with the fishing fleet. Without the light, they’ll not see the reef.”

4Nell had never lit the lamp alone. She had watched him do it a thousand times, but watching is not the same as doing. Her hands shook as she took the matches from the tin.

5The wind screamed around the tower. Halfway up, a gust struck the walls so hard that the whole lighthouse seemed to shudder, and her lantern went out. She stood frozen in the dark, her heart thudding. Then she began counting. Forty: the bell step. She kept climbing by sound and by memory, one hand on the cold, curved wall.

6At the top, everything went wrong. The first match snapped. The second blew out. Rain had found its way under the door, and the wick was damp. Nell made herself breathe slowly, the way her father did when a knot would not come undone. She dried the wick with the hem of her jumper, trimmed it with his small silver scissors, and struck the third match inside her cupped hands.

7The flame caught. Gold light filled the lantern room, and the beam swung out over the sea.

8Through the streaming glass, Nell searched the waves. For a long time there was nothing. Then, far out, a tiny light blinked, then another, and another, turning one by one away from the reef and towards the safety of the harbour.

9When she came down at dawn, her father was awake. He did not ask whether she had done it. He had seen the beam pass across his window all night long.