Title: Life on the Venture
Author: LoNnI
Rating: T
Spoilers: If you haven't seen the movie by now…
Summary: Little story about life on The Venture on the way to Skull Island! Jimmy is main character!
Note: I don't really know what would make people offended, but IF anyone does get offended by something then I am very sorry. That is not what I want! And I know fine that Hayes isn't really Jimmys' father, so that's why I've written it like "father" in the end ;D I am not from an English speaking country either, so I have gotten this story Beta read as well as possiblebefore posted!
There is two chapters! (I planned to have this one as one shot, just like my first story Breath Of Life, but again as then it got longer thenexpected! Lol)
Part 1/2
Jimmy stood by the railing of the ship that had been his home for four years. His blue eyes watched the city of New York as they headed for open ocean. There were seven extra people on this journey. A film crew, led by the director, Carl Denham. Following him were his assistant Preston, cameraman Herb, soundman Mike, kidnapped screenplay-writer and friend of Carl, Jack Driscoll, actor Bruce Baxter and Vaudeville star Ann Darrow. Jimmy had seen Carl and Preston before and the captain of the ship, Englehorn, wasn't too fond of Denham. So far, Jimmy had only spoken to one member of the film crew, Preston.
"Jim, take this to our writer down in the cargo hold" the cook, Lumpy, stood in the galley, holding a plate with some not too delicious looking food on it. Jimmy grinned. He bet that the famed writer would be new to Lumpy's cooking, which could be fun. The young lad took the plate and walked through the small corridors before he opened a door which led him down a staircase and to the cargo hold. Now Jimmy had to find out which of the many cages the writer occupied. He found it at first try. "Compliments of the chef" the kid said, as he tugged his navy blue sailors' hat down over his dark blonde hair and entered one of the biggest cages where the writer had stopped typing on his machine. He looked at Jimmy. "Lamb brains in walnut sauce" he grinned, amused as Jack looked away, almost vomiting.
"Jimmy!" the tall, black first mate, Hayes, came into the hold as Jimmy came out of the cage. Jack's eyes rested on the plate with the disgusting looking food when the sound of his name made him look up. He saw Hayes' hard hold on Jimmy's wrist and soon his own pen rolled onto the floor. The kid ran off and Hayes picked up the pen and handed it over to Jack. "He means no harm" the well dressed crew member told him and Jack could only nod. Wondering what that pen was worth stealing for.
Ann sat on deck on the back of the boat enjoying the sunshine and the comfortable wind. When she turned her head she could see a young kid sitting on a bench some meters away reading a book. Now and then he would peek over the book at Ann and she had to grin. "Hello to you too" she smiled to the sailor and came over to sit beside him. "What's your name?" she asked as she looked at the kid. He was dressed in different shades of blue. Navy blue pants that matched the sailors' cap and a light blue t-shirt. His eyes were blue and very big and alltogether he was an handsome young boy. "Jimmy" he said simply with a half smile and extended his hand. Ann accepted it and grinned while pushing some blond locks from her face. "My name is Ann Darrow" she answered being as polite as the young man.
"You can't be very old. You're the youngest I've seen onboard so far" Jimmy blushed a little and nodded. "Sixteen" Ann nodded thoughtfully at the answer. "Are your parents a part of the crew too?" Ann felt she shouldn't have asked that when an uneasy look appeared on Jimmy's face. "This crew is my family" Jimmy smiled, much to Ann's relief. She understood that the darkness in Jimmy's kind eyes was there for a reason. "What about you? How did you end up here?" Ann smiled at the question and answered joyfully. They sat talking for a while, unaware that Hayes was standing on the deck above them, smiling, satisfied with the fact that Jimmy could actually meet new people in a decent way too.
Later that night just as people were starting to find their way to their cabins, Hayes could be found by the helm so captain Englehorn could get some hours of rest. Jack stepped out into the cool night to draw in some fresh air. He had locked himself up in the cage for hours. He sat down on a bench just as Jimmy came through a door beside him. "Mr. Denham?" he stopped when he saw Jack and turned to leave again. "Jimmy?" the writer's voice made the kid stop. "I was just looking for the director, Mr. Driscoll" Jimmy answered quickly and Jack just smiled and shook his head. "I pictured that, but I wanted to ask you something" The kid closed the door and looked down shamefully. The ocean seemed black in the moonlight and everything was quiet except for the sound of splashing water and the engine of the ship. "About the pen I tried to take?" Jimmy saw him nod, but also smile. "It's not a big deal. It's just a pen. I just wondered why? You could have just asked you know" Jimmy was taken aback at how nice this guy actually was. "I don't really have any reason. I like to write, I'm sorry Mr. Driscoll" Jimmy was really sorry about what he had done and he wanted to make sure the writer knew that. "Well it's okay" Jack clapped the kid on the shoulder as he realized the kid wasn't any bad boy at all.
The days went by really slowly and people had started to get bored and restless. Carl had probably filmed ever inch of the ship and every person on it. He was now reading the script for the movie for the second time that day. Mike and Preston sat staring at the wall with half open eyes, while Jack and Ann were walking around in circles on the ship. Talking and laughing, looking anything but bored. Englehorn and Hayes stood at the bridge, watching the endless blue horizon with a resigned look on their faces. They had been out here for weeks now and Hayes didn't even want to remember Jimmy's ways to cure boredom.
Ironically at the same time in the corridors, Jimmy was playing with a pen between his fingers, the one he got from Jack. He was looking for one special cabin. He opened a door. Bruce Baxter's cabin. He was nowhere to be seen so Jimmy entered it with a grin on his face. After drawing some moustaches and beards on the posters Baxter had of himself, Jimmy walked down the corridor when the actor himself came strolling his way with his head held high. He noticed the look Baxter gave him and hurried away while swallowing his giggle.
Jimmy was standing just around the corner when Baxter came storming out of his room and towards him. "You!" he pointed at Jimmy and swore when the kid ran past Choy as the small man came towards them, singing, with a big box in his arms. Jimmy passed him easily without even coming near the little man. Choy looked up as Baxter came after Jimmy and let go of the box right before he could pass. "Oh stupid box!" Choy smiled ever so happy and tried to pull it up again, taking good time as Baxter tried to jump past. "For heavens sake little man! Move it!" Baxter pushed past and was back on track looking for Jimmy. "By the way! The deck has been cleaned…" Choy raised his voice, but just shook his head. "Bet you didn't hear that…".
The boy stumbled out a door, receiving weird glances from passing sailors. He heard a bark behind him and started running towards the astern. "Watch out! The deck is slippery!" Jack had been sitting on the deck when the two came running towards the newly washed astern. It was too late. Jimmy slipped and landed on his back, but got a grip on the railing. Baxter wasn't that lucky. He landed on his bum and slid across the last bit of the deck and right into the sea. Some crewmembers laughed, but ran to the actor's rescue. The ship stopped pretty quickly and they threw out a rescue ring. Jimmy pulled himself up and ran back inside just as Hayes came to the scene. "Taking a bath, Mr. Baxter?" Hayes joked as the soaked actor spit seawater onto the deck. Baxter sent the giggling sailors a warning look. "You got no control over that kid?" Baxter knew the first mate was some kind of father for the kid and he would definitely not be happy with Jimmy now. The grin on Hayes' face slowly disappeared when he realized that all of this had happened because of one certain uncontrollable kid. "Excuse me" Hayes excused himself and turned to find Jimmy. "Where did he go?" he looked at Jack, who just lifted his shoulder as saying he didn't know.
As Hayes had guessed, the kid had found his way down to the cargo hold. "Jimmy!" Jack was following a very angry Hayes. The kid's eyes were full of regret and he backed away when Hayes came towards him. He grabbed the boy's upper arm and looked right into his eyes with angry, brown eyes. "You got any idea how seriously this could have ended?" Hayes held Jimmy's arm so hard that the kid winced in pain. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for him to fall off the ship!" Jimmy defended himself. "Do you ever think of the consequences of your actions? You got to think more, Jimmy! I can't watch your back like a hawk all day. I need you to manage to keep yourself together" Hayes let go of the kid and turned his back to leave. He surely loved the kid like he was his own son, but he was not an easy kid to handle. Hayes turned to Jimmy one last time. "You make it hard for me to give you my complete trust, Jimmy" he saw how sad the kid looked at this, but it was the truth. He then left Jimmy alone with Jack.
Jimmy looked sadly at Jack. "You're one strange kid" the writer smiled and sat down inside his cage. He took it all much more easily. Jack actually thought it was a bit fun to see a soaked Baxter. "Just out of curiosity, what did you do?" the writer saw the kid dry a smile off his face with a hand. "I may have used that pen you gave me" Jimmy put on an innocent face and Jack could kind of see where this was going. "You didn't draw on his posters, did you?" Jack had to grin now. Drawing on Baxter's posters is like begging for death, but maybe that was something Jimmy didn't fear. Jimmy stood up to leave, but paused and looked at Jack. The older man could see that Jimmy had something on his heart. "Did they laugh?" he asked. "Who?" Jack asked. "The crew" Jimmy drew a naughty grin on his face. "Haha yes indeed" Jack nodded, a little amused by the kid. "Then it may have been worth it" Jimmy almost whispered as he left the cargo hold. Jack sat staring into thin air. He really didn't know what to think of him. He really was an interesting kid, sometimes too much for Jack's curious mind.
"Mr. Hayes?" Jimmy knocked once on the door at the bridge were he knew the first mate would be with the captain. "We are so used to catch you in doing something unpleasant that we don't even need to say you're getting a punishment. You got to straighten up, Jimmy" Englehorn said with a stern voice. "Getting a man like Mr. Baxter on our necks is no good" Hayes continued. All the time Jimmy kept his gaze at the floor. "You're going to help Lumpy out in the kitchen" Hayes said as he led Jimmy out onto the deck and to the galley. "What? But Lumpy hates me" the kid complained. "Lumpy pretends to hate everyone, Jimmy. You know that. Now get in" Hayes gave Jimmy a little nudge through the door. "Well hey there Jim. Let's crack some nuts!" the cook winked with a cigarette in his mouth.