Pirate's Life For Me....

Drunken Sailor

[Deana's theme: The Derelict by Abney Park]

  Grunting as I lifted a heavy barrel, I tried to walk in a straight line, but it was hard with the weight of what I carried and how I couldn't see in front of me. Clenching my jaw, I took one step at a time towards the ramp- or at least where I hoped it was- and dug my fingers into the wood to try and keep my grip on the barrel. Placing my left foot down, I yelped when I stepped on something furry and heard a cat's yowl. Quickly lifting my barefoot as claws slashed across my shin, I lost my balance and went stumbling back.

  Trying to remain standing, the weight of the barrel was causing me to continue to stumble around before the barrel was suddenly lifted from my arms, and I finally fell down. Hitting the hard cobblestone beneath me, I cringed and balled my hands into fists to keep from vocalizing my pain.

  "The port's no place for a child." A man said roughly as I looked up, seeing the barrel I had resting on one of his broad shoulders. With his free hand, he grabbed the front of my shirt and yanked me to my feet. "Especially not a little girl." His comment made my face screw up into a look of obvious displeasure.

  "I was paid!" I retorted while holding out my small hand with my palm facing skyward. "I'll do my job!"

  "Oh, yeah?" The large man rose a brow while snarling, leaning down to get a closer look at me. "And does the Capt'n know he paid a poor girl to do a man's job?" He flicked the brim of my hat, causing it to lift up and barely hang onto the back of my head. From my expression and how my shoulders tensed, he got his answer. "I didn't think so. Get out of here before I take you to the Capt'n, and he gets his money back." He rose to his full height and turned on his heel.

  "Just wait!" I shouted after him. "I'll be an even better sailor than you! I'll be the best in the entire ocean, and it'll be me telling you to leave when you're begging for work!" Raising my tiny fist and shaking it at the back of his head as he was walking up the ramp to the boat, I yelled one last thing before storming off. "Watch! You'll soon know my name well as people will be shouting it from the rooftops, Father!"

  He shot me a warning glare as I turned, his expression seeming so fierce as if I had stolen his coin purse. With my shoulders squared and my head down, I yanked my hat back onto my head properly and stomped down the cobbled street. My dirty, bare feet slapped against the stone, and it was clear that I was furious. The coins in my pocket seemed like taunting pieces of metal weighing me down and teasing how I couldn't even do a simple job of taking barrels onto a blimey boat.

  Ignoring the angry calls of the people I ran my shoulders into, I kept my head down while angrily biting my bottom lip. 'How dare he?' I thought. 'How dare he tell me what's what?' Kicking a pebble as hard as I could, it flew off and pegged a woman on her rear. She gasped and turned to slap the man standing behind her, causing an argument to arise on who did what and why.

  'What's so wrong with a girl on a boat?' I mentally grumbled. 'I bet I could sail better than he could at my age!' Crossing my arms, I huffed in annoyance. Father had always despised me for being born female when he had wanted a son. A son that could carry on the family name and sail the open seas with him.

  However, he got me instead, and Mother left before they could try again for a boy. That was another reason my father didn't like me- he blamed me for Mother running off with a pirate because I hadn't been the dresses and bows she had wanted me to be. Though, not long after, the entire crew of the pirate she ran off with was caught and hung for piracy.

  I remembered that day only because Father had come home drunk and shouted at me how I had killed her. Between throwing bottles and shouting, he had wondered out loud if I wanted to join her and leave with a pirate the same way she had. At the time, I didn't understand why he blamed me, so I had reacted just as badly as he had, shouting back at him and threatening him with a shard of glass when he tried to throw me outside to live with the dogs.