Chapter 3: Drunken fits and Food Rations
After a few hours in the cabin, Katerina stopped pounding on the door. Without an answer for who know how long she though it useless to continue any longer. The sun was again below the horizon and for the first time she would have to sleep in a bed that wasn't her own and even worse was the fact that it was on a pirate ship. Suddenly she didn't feel too well and held her stomach and after unbuttoning the millions of tiny buttons slipped them off. It could be seasickness . . . or homesickness, she couldn't be sure of the cause of her nausea at the moment as she was trying to concentrate on not throwing up the only food she had in her stomach. She sat back on the bed and found it to be a little comfortable then she had originally thought. Laying down her head on the pillow and holding her sides she slowly fell into a sleep and felt so much better. More hours flew by along with her thoughts and pictures of her family.
She awoke with a slight pushing on her shoulder and opened her eyes to see a pair of dark brown feminine eyes staring at her. Katerina shot up and backed away toward the wall and tried to figure out in her own mind why another woman was in her cabin. The woman was African-American in color and her black hair looked somewhat matted and soiled possibly by the salty sea air. Her clothes were only a miniature version of Jack's with the difference mostly in the color and greatly by size. The woman stood with her hands on her hips until they both moved to cross in front of her chest. The woman looked over Katerina up and down and raised an arched eyebrow as she began to chuckle beneath her breath. Katerina started to become annoyed by the indecency of this woman. How dare she laugh at her predicament!
"What do you find so amusing, may I ask?" Katerina glared at her in a steady force in her voice and stare, "I hardly see what could make you laugh at me."
The woman stopped laughing and looked at Katerina incredulously. She leaned toward her, "Ye know, for one o' Jack's women ye like to talk and talk all proper."
"Jack's woman! I am not!" Katerina stood up in front of the girl as tall as she could go after kicking off her worn boots, "Are you?"
The woman's eyes grew huge and slapped her across the face. Katerina fell to the bed and held her where she was slapped. She looked up infuriated with the woman and stomped up to her face to face and slapped her back. The woman held her own face and still kept that incredulous look, but her face held an extra feature of an open mouth staring at Katerina.
"Who do you think you are slapping me because I asked a question?" Katerina yelled in her face risking to be slapped again or worse. The woman started to bring her hand back up but looked behind her after hearing a soft laugh from the doorway of the cabin.
"If ye mus' know, luv. Her name is Anamaria," Jack was seen by clear view of both woman leaning on the doorway, "She's one o' me best crewmates and usually follows me orders of no harm."
"Capn'," Anamaria looked at him then back at Katerina, "I was-"
"What ever it was we don't be needin' any more o' it," he pushed off the doorframe and nodded toward the door. Anamaria nodded back and bumped Katerina's shoulder as she left, making sure that she hit it incredibly hard. Katerina held her shoulder as the female crewmember walked out of the cabin grumbling as she went.
Jack lifted something into the room in a large, and what looked like soiled bag. He shut the door after Anamaria made her complete exit and gave a small smile to Katerina, "Now, wha' was tha' all about ye sayin' about yer dear papa bein' rich?"
***
Harriet walked as quickly as she could up the steps of the Benikin's estate with her husband and daughter in his arms right behind her. She pounded harshly against the front door, her whole body filled with rage. Her pounding fists kept pummeling the door never relenting; her anger had now reached a new point that it had never before.
"Arthur Benikins! Uncle! You open up right now! What did you say to her, uncle!?" she heard the door's locks begin to shift in the woodwork and the knobs start to turn.
Dena was on the other side of the door with an already soaked handkerchief in her hand that was brought up every so often to wipe her eyes or nose. She looked at Harriet and her husband trying to hide her sorrow as much as she could. With a final wipe of her eyes she spoke to the two with a soft voice.
"Sorry Mrs., Master Benikins is at Port Royal asking for the ships and captains that have passed through the port yesterday."
"Well he better be doing something useful to help find Katerina! That old windbag has hurt her for the last time! Imagine, he probably drilled the one horrible fact back into her mind again. And after she had made such progress on not mentioning it nor think of it from what I saw," Harriet hugged the young maid around the shoulders trying to bring them both comfort they desperately needed. They all stepped inside the house and made themselves comfortable in the large den.
"I don't understand something, Mrs.," Dena started, trying to choke back the tears that were still left in her throat.
"Dena, I have told you more then once to call me Harriet, and Katerina has told you once or twice at least to call her by her name as well."
"I'm sorry," she lowered her head.
"It is all right, Dena. Continue with your thought."
"The master has been gone for hours. He should have been back already even if he made the trip all the way to Port and back."
Her tears started to secede as little Olivia stopped asking for her 'kitty kat' and was sent to play in the other room with another maid. Harriet held her husband's hand as they both stared at the piece of paper on the small table. All it had stated is that some authorities had found half of Katerina's skirt by the docks, which pretty much meant that she was in the hands of pirates.
"What has he said?" Harriet asked, her eyes still focused on the parchment of paper from the local authorities.
"Nothing much, Harriet. All he said was that they were in an argument and she walked off down the road. 'Apparently not even taking the common knowledge of looking at her surroundings,' he said. He came back without her after the meeting thinking that he would give her a lesson about courtesy or something like it."
Harriet only squeezed her husband's hand tighter and let a small faint cry release from the back of her throat, "He just left the port without her?"
The note from the authorities was sent and arrived at the estate a day after Katerina began her walk. Mr. Benikins went immediately to tell the authorities about what happened and more than likely Captain Belstrude. Harriet blamed her uncle for her cousin's disappearance; Kat would have never walked off like that if Arthur Benikins hadn't reminded her about her mistake. 'What was he thinking leaving the port without his own daughter?' Harriet thought placing her head on her husband's shoulder.
All the adults turned their heads to the doors of the estate as a drunken Mr. Benikins stumbled though the doorway, yelling and cheering both profanities and toasts. Dena wiped her tears and grabbed his coat or anything else that he dropped on the floor in his blind, drunken fit. She bowed to Harriet and her husband and left the room, hoping that she would be far enough away from the yelling when it started.
Harriet looked at her uncle up and down unable to believe the shape that he was in. His clothes were wet with what looked like a combination of sweat, vomit and rum. His hair was an absolute horror and his once profound face was now in a state unrecognizable to Harriet. He slumped in the armchair acting as if he wasn't even aware of their presence. Harriet cleared her throat at least three times before she grabbed her uncle's attention. He turned his attention from his hand that was right in front of his face to her and her husband sitting right next to her.
"Oh- Harriet . . . I- I didn't see you . . . and, um . . . and," he struggled to remember her husband's name as he just continued to point and wave his hand at him.
"Robert, uncle," Harriet stood up and walked over toward him, stopping nearly three feet away from him and crossing her arms in front of her chest, "My husband's name is Robert. Would you like to hear the name of your daughter that is missing while you are here drenched with and probably filled with rum?"
"I went to a small celebration in Port Royal on my way to Captain Belstrude," his eyes focused in and out.
"Celebration?"
"Yes . . . I think I bought some good land while in port before I reached the authority office."
"You didn't alert the captain? Or ask for the list of ships as you planned?"
"Oh come now, he probably already heard about Katerina being a captain and all," he stood up and staggered a little bit waving his hand in front of him as if to shoo away the multiple Harriet's in front of him, "I had no need to tell him."
"No need!" Harriet yelled at the top of her lungs enraged by her uncle's disregard to the fact that the last person in his family is missing, his own flesh and blood, "Uncle! Katerina is missing and needs to be found! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"It was her choice to run off," he said leaning on the armchair.
"Was it her choice to be kidnapped?" she yelled louder, "She would have not run off if you hadn't yelled at her in the first place!"
"Robert, control your wife," Arthur looked over at the still silent man.
"Don't you dare bring him into this! He is here to give me support, not to keep me under his thumb."
"Is that so?"
"It is," Robert stood up and held his place by his wife, "And I agree, Arthur. You should alert the authorities. Property or not."
"They are already alert," he was the one now getting louder.
"Yes they are," Harriet began again, letting her hands rub through her hair, "Only because they found something that may be her skirt; not because a concerned father reported his daughter missing!"
"It was her choice!"
"And it was yours to leave her behind!" Harriet turned away and walked into the other room. She took her daughter into her arms and started to cry into the young girl's dark brown hair, keeping her tight to her body. The little girl's green eyes shone with the start of tears unknown why her own mother was no longer the strong person in her small life.
"Women, eh?" Arthur patted Robert's back with his awful breath washing over him.
"You are the worst father and man I have ever known," Robert pushed the hand off his shoulder and followed his wife to the other room to give both her and their child an embrace. Arthur was left in the room alone with his own drunken voice echoing in his head.
"It was her choice . . . it was always her choice."
***
"Are ye goin' to tell me about your papa's wealth or not?" Jack stepped closer to Katerina forcing her to back up and fall back on the bed.
"My father and I are very well respected! Well . . . at least for the most part," she thought back to the talk in the carriage, "I'd rather not discuss such things as this with a pirate captain," she gave a glare in Jack's direction.
"It's better talking to the captain then the rest o' the crew down in the galley, don't ye think?"
"You would think so wouldn't you? But I hardly talk to my father on such subjects and would rather not discuss it with a common pirate."
"A common pirate?" he pointed to his chest and feigned a hurt look.
"Yes a common pirate," she crossed her arms and tried to look smart, "I would think that a captain would be more considerate of my want to keep my thoughts to myself."
"Why so touchy on the subject in the firs' place?"
"Maybe because I don't want to go back to my father or talk about him-"
"And why not?"
"I might as well tell you Mr. Jack Sparrow, you will get no money or ransom from my father for my safe return. He would rather see me dead out on the sea then to see me safe at home. He does not love me nor dote on me as most fathers dote on their daughters. I only told you that he was wealthy to get on your ship in hopes that some how I would get home, maybe not to my father, but home. By any means, my father will not pay one gallon to get me back. No matter how many of my body parts you may send back to him," she gave a slight grimace looking away and remembering the stories she had remembered from the countless books.
She heard the captain chuckle and looked at him angrily. He slowly stopped laughing and whipped the tears out of his eyes that were from his laughing, "Body parts? I wouldn't think o' it luv. No . . . much too messy in me opinion. It would get blood all over me clothes. I would rather take the simpler and more civilized approach, wouldn't you?"
Katerina couldn't help but smile and let a small snicker escape her lips, "A pirate talking of civilized behavior! Never thought I would see the day."
"And so set against pirates! It seems almost as set as yer attempt not to talk about yer papa."
Kat ignored the reference about her father and almost yelled at Jack, "In my opinion all you pirates should be treated like dogs! Preying around the streets like you are doing nothing wrong, but at the same time looking for young women to torture. All of your kind should be thrown into a jail or prison for safekeeping . . . just so you wouldn't be mixed up with the civilized people, like I, on the streets," she looked down at the floor thinking about the two pirates who had first chased her into her predicament.
Jack began to make a type of tsk, tsk noise from his mouth and looked at her, "I hope ye know that not all us pirates are as scurvy as others, savvy?"
"Don't lie, Mr. Sparrow. All of you are just the same," she folded her knees into her chest and kept her eyes glued to the floorboards.
"I believe ye owe me an apology."
"For what?" she asked snapping her head to look at him.
"For insulting me and me crew, and on me own ship to top it off," he smiled watching the incredulous look upon Katerina's face, "I think tha' tha' calls to revoke yer meal ticket."
"Why revoke it? Were you going to give me free hand outs?"
"I was . . . but now I'm not too sure," he said in an amused voice, trying not to show his smile by turning away.
"Really? Then what am I to eat on this boat?"
"It's a ship, luv. Since I was going to 'ave ye for a short time deciding to head to Port Royal and all. But ye sayin' tha' a ransom is no use, it seems we are takin' a detour."
"Detour? How long of one?" she asked letting go of her knees and letting her feet drop to the ground.
"However long it takes," Jack looked at his fingernails as if he was enthralled with them.
"Then what am I to eat on this ship?" Katerina pushed herself up from the bed and walked up next to Jack.
"Whatever ye can find or whatever the crew gives ye," he put his hand down and looked at her, "Or ye could work for it."
"Work for it? I will not work under the captain of a pirate ship!"
"Ye don't work, ye don't get eat . . . unless ye find some from the crew, savvy?" he leaned toward her.
"I will not work for someone who is nothing but a sniveling dog!" she nearly spat in his face.
"It's yer choice," he leaned back and grabbed the bag from the ground where he placed it earlier, "Here are some clothes. They are work clothes and are men clothes so they might fit big. Still, it may be an update from what ye are wearin' now. Put them on and find me on deck if ye choose to work . . . our ye can stay in here and waste away."
"You are nothing but a cruel dog, Jack Sparrow! I don't even think you deserve the title of captain!"
"And until ye do, ye will stay in here," he threw the bag in her arms causing her to back up, but not fall.
She let a small grunt escape her as she rubbed her behind after it bumped into the bedpost. Jack very quickly looked over his shoulder and left the room. Katerina grabbed the bag and screamed into to it. After her face was red enough from screaming she took the clothing from the bag. She held the partially clean garments in her hands and let her mind wander for a while. Did she need food that badly to put herself under a pirate captain's command?
She bunched the clothing in her hands and threw them on the floor, throwing the shoes after them. Out of the porthole in the small cabin she could see the dark waves caressing the ship. She cursed herself for not staying with her father and the carriage. She should have known better, just like everything else in her life. She picked up the clothes from the floor and placed them back in the bag, then shoving them to the side of the room.
She took her place back on the bed and laid back down. Apparently what she felt earlier in her stomach was homesickness. Now the waves seemed gentle and calming, giving her a great sense of freedom and at the same time captivity. She began to miss Harriet, little Olivia, Dena and even Robert. She could care less about the man she called father at home. She just wanted to go back to her cousin and maybe live with her. After this, she wasn't sure if she could ever face her father again. Much less live with him.
"For once I miss Port royal and the estate. I want off this bloody BOAT and go back to my own kind of people! I want to go back to Harriet and the people who care for me!"
She partially collapses into the sheets on the bed, crying and unaware of the captain on the other side of the door listening to the whole thing. He tipped his hat down over his eyes and went back up to his cabin for at least a good five hours of sleep before sunrise.