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The
Docks
For a brief period
of its history, New London was a thriving port town,
passengers and, more importantly, products moving
through the industrial quarter as money changed hands.
The docks themselves slowly grew to allow more and
more ships to moor there, and behind them grew the
warehouses where the products were stored before being
taken in land, or being take out on to the waters.
Slowly, though, the industry began to die. The notorious
trouble associated with cultivating the lands of New
London never went away, and towns arose further down
the river who could transfer stock faster and cheaper.
The men with money moved on and away, leaving the
town to sort out the mess that they left behind. Those
who found themselves suddenly without jobs drifted
away or were slowly swallowed by the city, and the
area grew quiet and imposing.
Some of the warehouse space is still
rented out, and the occasional boat will still dock
and wait to be loaded, but the streets are now walked
by people with no where else to go or those who don't
want to be found, as often lit by the burning fires
in oil drums as the miss-firing street lights. Life
is brought and sold cheaply.
One of the old warehouses has been
converted into a shelter for the homeless there, somewhere
they can get a good meal, a soft bed and basic medical
care. It's not glamorous and seems to always teeter
on the verge of bankruptcy, but you'll rarely find
happier, more sincere service anywhere else in the
city. |
