The three largest ferry systems of North America, those of Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, stretch end-to-end in the Northwest. Their vessels carry millions of commuters every year, from city to island, from island to island, and from one water highway to the next. Along these inland corridors are hundreds of communities that depend upon ferries for their existence. This dependency has given birth to the ferry tale. Ferries provide more than a stage for these tales. The ferry becomes a character in the dramas, large and small, from tragedy to comedy, to the foibles of daily living. Birth, death, nature, history, memory, and love are all here, along with lost keys, six dachshunds loose on a car deck, and a guardian mermaid. This collection is not so much about ferries as it is about journeys all of us take. Through its passages the ferry emerges as a metaphor for life itself.