The City of the Dead

Chapter 21

After sitting in silence for several minutes, enjoying the company of each other, Adonis slowly got up and walked over to the other side of the boat. I sat up and watched him, wondering what he could possibly be doing.

He tossed a piece of canvas to the middle of the boat and it I felt the rough surface brush my feet. He then pulled out a small basket and walked back over to me and reclaimed his old spot, pulling me onto his lap and putting the basket beside us.

"What do you have here?" I asked, trying to pull away the small piece of canvas that was covering the contents of the basket.

He swatted my hand and smiled. "You can wait another two seconds can't you?"

I returned his grin. "If it's food I can't. Haven't eaten anything all day."

He sighed dramatically and then flipped the canvas back. "I suppose I can't deny a lady her food." He pulled the canvas back and pulled out two plates. He then pulled out two sandwiches and put them on the plates. I wasn't surprised when a bottle of rum was pulled out last and no cups were provided.

"What's with pirates and rum? Don't you get sick of it?"

Adonis shook his head as his eyes widened in disbelief at my statement. "Believe me; you never get sick of rum. Have you ever had it?"

"No, I'm not much of a drinker. I prefer not to drink."

He nodded, considering the abnormality of my statement. "I can respect that. You have no idea how strange that idea is to me, but I've learned a lot of new things when I'm around you."

"Yeah, growing up as a pirate is a lot different than how I grew up." I picked up my sandwich and examined it. "For example I'm sure it is a luxury to have a cheese and ham sandwich here, but back home it is one of the simplest meals you could ever make."

I watched his reaction, hoping I hadn't offended him. I was very grateful for his gesture. His calm face didn't really change other than his eyebrows going up. "That's strange. You have no idea how many strings I had to pull to get the ham. The cheese and bread was one thing, but the ham was the most difficult thing I ever had to get my hands on."

I laughed, loving how different everything was in Tortuga. I definitely liked the pirate life better than my old life, where I had to seek adventures to get a bit of a thrill. Now, I could just wait a few hours and adventure would find me. It would be nice to have some peace and quiet, but I did like the craziness of it all.

"Well I appreciate it anyways. Ham and cheese are one of my favourite combinations." I took a bite and grinned. It tasted like a five star sandwich to me. "How did you know I would come? You did all that work just to make the food and you didn't even know if I would end up coming or not."

He nodded, and opened his mouth to talk, but it was full of food. I shot him a look and he closed it and finished chewing. "I didn't. I just figured that if you could come then perfect, we could do this exactly how I planned it. If you didn't come, then I figured I would have two delicious sandwiches to myself."

I shook my head, loving his simple way of life. We sat in silence for the next few minutes, both finishing our sandwiches. When we were done he picked up the rum and put the cork between his teeth and pulled. Pop, the sound of the bottle opening filled the quiet night. Besides the waves hitting the docks of Tortuga and our boat, and the far off sound of laughter and music, it was silent.

"Tell me a little about your life before you got here. I don't really know who you were," Adonis said after taking a swig of rum.

The smell of alcohol hit me and I moved over so I sat at his feet instead, not wanting to smell the vulgar scent anymore. I had smelt it enough for one day. "Well as you know I had a sister named Sapphire and a brother named Jasper. I lived with both my parents, but our families had a rough few years." I hesitated, but didn't elaborate not wanting to revisit the pain that had consumed me for two years straight.