I Do Not Own Any Pirates of the Caribbean Movies
"Long ago ten people were shipwrecked here. I am a descendant of one of them. They started the village. Then, years later fifteen more people were shipwrecked also. That's how we got to the present. This island is abundant and we've figured out how to utilize it."
"Wait. Let me get this straight," Jack stopped in front of Jed. "Everyone here speaks English?"
"And their ancestor's language. When the people washed up here they spoke different languages. From what I've heard the two ships were making their way to the British colonies to the west. We have German descendants, French descendants, English and Irish."
Jed stopped at a hut. Every house was made of mud and straw and palm tree leaves. For doors they used animal skins. Inside, it was very bland. You had a window with a skin to cover it, a little fire pit, and a bed of leaves and animal skin on the hard dirt floor.
"This is my house."
"We aren't going to be sleeping with you are we?" Jack eyeballed the room and how tiny it was.
Jed chuckled. "No. Because I'm not married, I get a single home unit. We've got a special place for you until your homes can be built."
As they walked out of Jed's hut Luxora asked, "Is there a difference between a single and family hut?"
"Yes the family hut has two rooms—one for the parents and one for the children. We encourage families to have lots of babies in order to keep the population strong."
The special hut that Jed had planned for them to sleep in was the elders' long hut. There were two. When women and men got old they were moved to the long hut to make room for other families and unmarried villagers. Jack wrinkled up his nose in disgust. Jed took them over to the beach.
At the beach small boats were out fishing with nets. Besides fishermen, there weren't any other people who were playing at the beach. Not even the children were playing in the sand. François noticed this oddity and brought it to Jed's attention.
"That would be because they are all helping their parents work."
He didn't say anything else to Jed, even though he sensed something was off. After the tour of the village was complete, Jack, François, and Luxora joined the whole town for dinner. The hunting party had found wild boars which were prepared for the dinner. Berries and vegetation were passed around for everyone to take a portion of. In the middle of the village, everyone sat in a circle around the wooden bowls.
Jack sat closest to Jed with Luxora and François beside him. Jack kept looking over to Jed, not liking to be in very close quarters with him. He picked up a single berry from his bowl to examine it. Then he popped it in his mouth. He swallowed it with a sour look on his face.
"Do you happen to have rum?"
Jed shook his head. "We are an alcohol free village."
"That's wonderful," Jack smiled at him and looked away, upset.
Luxora and François ate their food without so much as cringing.
"Do you eat like this every night?" She asked Jeb.
"No. We only do this once a year to honor the Island god. For seven days, we eat like this. I can talk to the Island god. That's why they appointed me chief."
"Really? You don't say. When is the pork going to be passes around?" Jack looked to his left at the steaming mound of pork in a bowl coming down the line.
As he took his share, Jack muttered, "Real food."
Unlike the greens and berries that were untouched in one of his bowls, Jack worked on his pork. After dinner the three of them walked toward the long huts. Behind them, they sat in a circle to discuss the events so far.