(The Bloomfield)

The waves wobbled Isdabella's stomach and almost everything she ate was deposited in the ocean as she leaned overboard and vomited. At nights she spilled her guts into her chamberpot. She had made friends with two passengers on the ship, a married couple called the Bloomfield, who had stated that they owned a wealthy corn plantation in Mala. They were in first-class cabins, as the Sailor had said the worth of her necklace would ensure that she was exposed to only the best service onboard. The Bloomfields occupied the cabin next to Isdabella's. They were a week at sea and the Bloomfields said they travelled a lot and knew it would take several months for the ship to dock in Mala.

They told her of an exquisite place were corn was the master crop. Most

of the corn was sold as cornstarch, cooking oil, and other buy products of the crop in factories across the world. Corn from Mala sounded like a very demanding and lucrative commodity. With concern, they wondered just ho