Crossing 17: Ruth sells the first ticket

"I've sold a ticket to every baby on this island, and most of their grandparents." Ruth Coombs has worked the window at the Rockland terminal for thirty-one years. In December she hands the drawer to someone else. We spent her second-to-last October Monday with her, from the 05:50 lights-on to the 06:40 boat.

Three moments we kept. First, Ruth counting the cash float in quarters out loud, the way her predecessor taught her in 1995, because "the drawer listens better." Second, a lobsterman named Teddy Ames buying a round trip he doesn't need, just to say goodbye properly at the glass. Third, the ramp going down on the Margaret Ellen while Ruth, who has made the crossing maybe forty times in three decades, admits she gets seasick in the parking lot.

Cal also admits he recorded the first eleven minutes with the windscreen still in his pocket. You will hear the wind. We decided it belonged.

Runtime 41:12. Out Tuesday wherever you listen, and the notes are here.

— I. & C.