Pirates at Heart

Chapter 7: Jobs

For the next few days, the crew members were required to show me their jobs.

Bonnie called dibs on me for the first day. She told me that her job was to keep Bumblebee in tip top shape. I got the impression that she was looking to do more on the ship until she claimed that she was the ship's gunner. This meant she was in charge of the ships cannons. I was required to mop the deck but I found it very boring.

Tiger showed me to the training room where she practiced stabbing dummy's that were woven bags filled with rice. I attempted to throw a knife into a dummy as instructed but the knife flew through the air and punctured the wooden interior of the ship.

"Your technique is bad. You'll cause a leakage. Watch."
Tiger confidently pulled the knife from the wood and stood in an attacking stance. She pulled her arm back and sent the knife straight through the dummy bag. Rice spilled out from the dummy and Tiger smiled with pride.

"Wow." Was all I could say.

The next day, after a terrible nights sleep once again Scorpia showed me her job. She was the ship's second in command and navigator.

"To really become a navigator. You must feel the way of the water and become one with the ship." Her hands clutched the large wooden wheel as she glanced at the map and back at the deep North Atlantic. "We are travelling in a southern direction to Spain. We will be there within the next few hours." I didn't say anything and simply listened to her words.

"When I close my eyes. I imagine I am one with the ship." She shut her eyes tightly and faced straight ahead whilst breathing in time with the soft slosh of the waves.

"Can I try?" I asked, expecting her to say no. Surprisingly, she nodded and gently moved me over to the wheel. She took my hands and rested them onto the wheel and she stood directly behind me. She was a little taller than me and when she breathed, she breathed directly in my ear.

"Focus!" She bellowed in my ear. I obeyed and took a deep breath in before closing my eyes.

"Feel the ship beneath you." She whispered. I exhaled through my lips and felt a sense of tranquility. Behind my eyes, I imagined myself and the ship as one.

"Wow. You're a natural." Scorpia's soothing voice snapped me out of it and I was back. "Also you're starting to smell."

I audibly gasped. No one had given me clothes apart from Bonnie who's clothes were too small. I had showered once but I had no clean clothes to change into so I just changed back into my clothes from the night.
"Well I don't see you offering me clothes."

"Those clothes aren't very piratey. We can go into town once we reach. Go tell the girls to get their disguises on."

"Disguises?" I asked.

"Yes. If you haven't noticed, we aren't like normal pirates. You can just wear that. It doesn't look like you're a pirate anyways." Her comment stung a little for some reason. She started to walk away which I assumed meant she was going to get changed into her own 'disguise' whatever that meant. I had too much of a headache to figure out what she was talking about. I entered the dining room and echoed her message to the girls who hurried off to get changed.