The Tale of a Pirate: the Story of Jimmina Turney

Breath

I crouched down undernearth the cloth, even though the smell made my nose curl up in distaste. I placed my ear against the cloth, and held my breathe.

"Hals, you cannot expect the girl to believe that she actually had no mother." One of my father's sergeants, Kerel, said.

A deep voice, that of my father Hals, replied, "Listen to me, man. Jimmina's mother is gone. Gone, I tell you. Wherever her mother may be now, alive or dead, Jimmina will never meet her, I swear to you." 

"But Captain, she deserves to-." 

"Jimmina deserves nothing. She hasn't won a single battle at sea, she hasn't beat anyone in a duel. Jimmina needs to prove herself. She needs to toughen up, fight, earn some scars." Hals' voice was getting gruffer, a sign that I knew he was angry. 

"Captain Turney... with all due respect, she's just a kid. She needs time. Every kid yearns for their parents sometime or another, and right now is the time she is yearning."  Kerel was trying to actually convince Hals of it, which took courage to speak to the Lord of the Seas like he was.

I heard a sharp noise, and a slight groan come out of the mouth of Kerel. I had to bite my lower lip to keep from crying out. I liked Kerel, he had always been nice to me. He was rough, yes, but rough was what I was used to. He woud let me look at charts of the sea in his cabin, and he would let me climb up to the Crows Nest sometimes. 

"Don't you ever speak to me about my own daughter that way.  You need to learn your place, man. I am Hals Turney, Lord of the Seas, and Captain of the Savesi. Be gone." 

Boots clicked on the wooden planks, as Kerel quickly hurried away.

I had to cover my mouth with both hands, to not let Hals hear my heavy breathing. I felt like crying, but I had learned long ago that tears weren't worth anything. There was the day Hals had told me to my face that he didn't love me, and so tears were a weakness. Get it together, Jimm. If Hals sees your weakness, he'll have your head for sure. 

And so I swallowed the tears that were building up, and took a deep breath.