"Wake up swabs!" I shot up and saw the blurry outlines of the captain with an eye-patch against a harsh white backdrop in the door. The events of last night flashed through my mind and I slapped my large brown beanie over my head, sloppily throwing my braid into the hat. I then rolled out of bed almost landing on Jasper.
"Hello bunk mate," I cringed in apology.
"Morning." He was noticeably tired. I could feel the bags under my own eyes as I yawned and stretched.
The crews' quarters happened to have a similar setup to the orphanage so most of the boys settled into the same old bunk pairs and neighbors.
"Chop chop!" An old pirate snapped at me.
I blew my tongue at him once his back was turned and pulled my musty, brown turtleneck and grey sweater vest over my head then shuffled out the door in my rundown tennis shoes one size too big for my feet.
"Orphans! Lineup!" Captain Gryphon stood staring down from the quarterdeck, the monkey perched on the railing in front of him.
I dragged my feet to the end of the line as the other orphans scuffled and giggled to their places.
I made room for Jasper who slipped into line before me, the same lack of enthusiasm on his face.
"Good."
The Captain then descended the steps to the main deck, stepping in front of Cliff, the first boy in line.
"Hm." Gryphon slapped his hands onto Cliff's shoulders.
"Not a flinch. Good, good." Gryphon looked him up and down. "But doesn't look to be one that goes well with orders... Name?"
"Cliff, Cap'n."
The Captain sent Howler a small nod. Howler pulled out a sheet of parchment and a feather pen then wrote something. Raven whispered to the first Mate his own comments. Gryphon then took a step to the next boy.
"I'm Shiloh, Captain!"
Gryphon stared for a moment then held a flat hand at Shiloh's forehead.
"A bit short. How old are you, Shiloh?"
"Ten, Captain."
There was a moment of silence.
"Six".
"Captain."
"Captain."
Howler nodded. Gryphon sighed and moved on to the next one. Each boy exchanged his name for an insult or two when the pirate stood in front of him. In front of Fay, the pirate leader was ruthless spitting at his use of gel in his hair and his classy snobbish air. Twelve boys and fifteen questions later, he stood in front of Jasper.
"My name's Jasper, Captain."
"My." The wrinkles in Gryphon's forehead deepened as he grabbed Jasper's biceps and gave them a bit of a squeeze. Jasper turned pink, as did I while I stared at his muscle.
"Very nice, very." He continued to feel my bunk mate's shoulders then ruffled his hair. "Besides being a bit pale, nothing a couple days on the Dragon Nest couldn't fix, this one's a fine specimen."
Raven casually slid closer to get a better look at Jasper. Standing right beside his father, Raven puffed out his chest and scanned him intensely with only his eyes.
"Thank you, Captain." Jasper bowed his head politely.
Gryphon laughed.
"A gent'! You'll make an interesting pirate, to say the least." The crew chuckled behind him. Raven laughed the loudest.
The Captain cleared his throat, ending the hilarity and continued to the last person in line: me.
"And you are?"
"Cal."
He waited.
"Captain." I pushed out, allowing a scowl to cross my face momentarily.
"Hm." He leaned back, chin up, then swooped in tilting my chin up. I jumped slightly, eyes wide. His chin an inch from my nose, he grimaced looking at me.
"Pretty boy face." He gripped my shoulders, then scrawny biceps, and forearms.
"Arms out." I complied. Red replacing confidence in my face as the man's large hands squeezed my waist then pat up.
"Girlish frame."
The wrinkles in his frown became my main concern-
Until I realized where he was headed.
I began to worry. Luckily, he stopped right before more bandages started. I began to put my arms down when he went straight for it.
I squealed.
A man's hands were feeling my chest, strangled to practically flat, but only practically.
"You scream like a girl," the upcoming Captain chuckled. I paled as I stared into the current Captain's unpatched eye for any hints. I felt his fingers press down slightly.
"Eh, we can work around that." He put his hands down, then pat my left boob. The rude monkey continued to stare from the captain's shoulder. I tried my best not to show my discomfort. "Great pecs this one has."
I felt like I was hit with a tranquilizer, suddenly finding it difficult to stand with my level of relief.
I buckled but Jasper slapped an arm around me keeping me up.
"But a bit weak in the knees apparently," the Captain commented before he turned to ascend the stairs. Raven took his place in front of me.
"Pecs huh?" Raven let his eyes slide to my "pecs". He lifted his hand intently, but I shifted my body away from him hiding in Jasper's muscle. The teenager hesitated then casually lifted his hat and scratched his head then put his hand down looking between Jasper and me suspiciously.
"Oh you two are pessimists!" He exclaimed turning back to his dad.
"Oh yes, from yesterday," the Captain nodded.
"Realists," I corrected.
Raven raised an eyebrow at me then walked over to Howler. I watched curiously as Raven whispered to him while Howler wrote, wondering what was on the paper.
"Now Orphans!" Captain Gryphon, who was now at the center of the forecastle, slammed his palms on the railing. We jumped. "Do you bunch know what swabbies are?"
Some orphans muttered to each other uncertainly. Personally, from all the pirate books I read as a little girl, I had a very good idea of what a swabbie was and didn't like where he was going with this.
"A swabbie, or swab, is the lowest rank of piracy, if it can even be considered a rank. They, surprise surprise, swab the deck." I groaned, letting my head hang. The boys stared at him blankly, seemingly unable to connect the dots.
"From this moment on until promotion, you lot are swabbies!"
The orphans began groaning and complaining, just getting it.
"Quiet!"
We went quiet.
"Now you'll be sure to learn from the current swabs. Swabs! Front and center!" A small group of seven weaker looking men stumbled into position. "Each of you take on two orphans and teach them the ropes of swabbing," Gryphon told the men.
They nodded fiercely before bumbling toward us.
I thought my nose had become numb to the ondeck stench, but, through close proximity with the swabbies, I was proven wrong.
I channelled all my strength into not lifting a hand to pinch my nose shut as one of the youngest, though still quite old, swabs approached Jasper and me.
"Hi! I'm Kyle! Can I be your swabbing guide?" the swab beamed with hope.
I glanced at Jasper.
"Sure!" I shrugged.
"Great!" Kyle smiled. "Follow me!"
We followed Kyle as he showed us mops, scrubbers, buckets, and a whole other sleuth of janitorial supplies and explained his life story.
"You see, my father and I never really got along. I always told my dad I'd run away and become a pirateⲻ I wasn't serious at first, but he never believed me. After ten years of saying it, I finally ran away and did it. I jumped on the first ship I saw… Of course that ship turned out to be a military one. So I got arrested and was sentenced to hang. But just my luck, one criminal to hang with me was friends with people who helped me escape! Okay, well helped him escape but accidentally distracting the guards enough for me to bolt as well. Anyway though, I saw a heroic looking man bring the criminal to a large ship. I saw it as my calling and threw myself on board as well. I blacked out from the drop and when I awoke, haha, I was kind of naked and tied to a chair. But I told them my purpose and asked to join them. And they, well, they threw me overboard without so much as a plank walk. But I'm a great swimmer and even with my limbs tied I latched onto the boat and once my ropes had corroded from the ocean, I climbed the side of the hull back on deck. Then I grovelled to at least be a swabbie and now here I am!"
Jasper and I sat there staring at the persistently stupid man, wordlessly.
Before, I wished nothing more than to push the man out of range of my nostril perceptors but I currently found myself wanting to give this man a hug, and a bath, but also a hug.
I stood up and pat the man on the back.
"There, there" was all I could bring myself to say.
"Anyway, the way of a swabbie is an art form!" Kyle breathed deeply and pushed through a potential breakdown. "Not just anyone can mop decks!"
Jasper and I both knew better than to comment and simply nodded.
Kyle then dove into the mechanics of swishing a mop in the bucket and the best distribution of pressure on the scrubber to result in the most effective and efficient scrubbing. As he droned on, I noticed the two captains observing us with Howler who seemed to be the only one who ever touched the feather pen.
I swallowed my disgust for the pitiful swab and worked my scrawny arms sore. After a couple hours, I found myself needing a break.
"Sorry, Kyle?"
The old runaway turned from his wood polishing.
"Yes? Need to change water?" He glanced at my bucket.
"Maybe, but first, where's the bathroom?"
"Bathroom?"
Jasper looked up as well, waiting for an answer.
Kyle chuckled then gestured to the ocean over the side of the ship.
"Haha, very funny. Actually can we have our tour now?" I asked momentarily worried.
"Oh you guys haven't had a tour? Sure! Sure!"
Kyle whisked off the cleaning supplies into a closet somewhere then pointed around us.
"This is the main deck. That is the forecastle deck, below it is the forecastle." He pointed to the higher deck at the front of the boat then the door in front of it. Then turned and pointed up the stairs in the other direction. "That is the quarter deck where the steering wheel is and the poop deck above that."
I hoped that didn't mean what it sounded like.
"Up there is the crow's nest. Great view I hear… Never been up there myself though."
We followed him downstairs through the door below the quarter deck, leading to where we slept.
"These are the crew quarter's. On this ship all the crew, swabs and officers alike, sleep in this room. The only exception being the Captain and his son who sleep through that door in the back."
Jasper and I strained our eyes to see through the dim lit cabin.
"That door's always locked though. We suspect the captains enter through the navigation room somehow. Nobody but the captains go in there, well, and the occasional lady."
It took me a second before I clapped my hands to my cheeks to keep the red down before climbing down the short ladder.
"This is the mess hall where the officers feast, but not swabs. Swabs get the leftovers." Kyle strained to maintain an overly cheery smile.
"And here's another capstan, like the one above, for lifting and dropping the anchor." I felt the wood of one of the pegs of the wheel as we passed it.
"This is also the gun deck thus the tiny windows, or gun port." The small square holes to my right allowed small slivers of early evening sun into the otherwise dim gun deck. "Don't mind the chickens." A fury of feathers raced passed us.
"Over there is where we store our rum and clean water." I took a mental note. "Below us," he tapped his foot, "is the cargo hold, where we hold cargo." We nodded, getting the jist. He disappeared down a lifted wooden panel. We hovered over the mouth in the floor as it burped up several clothing items then regurgitated the pitiful pirate. He gestured for us to pick up the clothes and told us they were a couple changes of clothes for us.
"Now back to work." He shuffled back and scurried up the ladder. Jasper and I rushed after him. Once back on the main deck, I saw Fay mopping with another orphan. Then I remembered.
"But you didn't show us the bathroom."
"I told you didn't I?" My stomach sank as he pointed over the edge again.
"For number one just whip it out through the gaps in the railing and make sure no one is looking out a gunport under you."
The blood drained from my face, as well as from the eavesdropping Fay.
"And for number two, there's a bucket-"
"At the poop deck?" Jasper took a guess.
"Actually no, at the beakhead before the forecastle." We all tilted our heads slightly and looked confused.
"Like a toilet?" Fay appeared next to me.
"No, like a bucket that you crap in then stand up, pick up the bucket and toss it overboard. Plumbing was going to be a project but we all just got used to the bucket."
I began to panic trying to figure out how I was going to pull down my pants in a place where anyone could waltz in and realize I don't have a dick.
I pressed my temples unhelpfully.
"I will not poop when there is the possibility of someone seeing!" Fay gasped appearing extremely disheveled.
"Same!" I nodded fiercely.
Kyle looked between the two of us and shrugged.
"What do you expect a swabbie to do?"
Fay turned to me instead.
"Cover me, I'll cover you." He stared at me with a surprising intensity.
I considered my options then realized I'd have to take him up on it.
"Deal."
We shook on it.
Fay turned about to get back to work.
"Actually, can we go now?" I crossed my legs.
Fay nodded with unnecessary seriousness and we headed through the forecastle to the head.
We spotted, or smelt, the infamous bucket immediately and cringed.
"Well have fun," Fay sympathized as he grabbed a large sheet from inside the forecastle and created a visual barrier with it.
"Thanks," I mumbled as I stared at the bucket trying to figure out how to sit on it. I tried sitting knees together on the edge of the bucket but discovered that was likely to end with a tipped bucket, which would be quite a bit more upsetting than spilt milk. I understood the only way to do it and found myself slipping off my baggy orphan pants while cautiously watching the sheet as it caught the wind. Luckily, Fay cleverly was holding it like a starfish, stepping on the bottom corners and stretching out the top. I then slipped off my right shoe and pant leg then slipped my foot back in the shoe to have a foot on either side of the bucket. I squatted and relieved myself.
I then realized though Fay couldn't see me, he could probably hear the liquid stream.
Struggling to pee quieter, my bladder didn't agree so I just hoped he wouldn't think much of it.
Once my pants were uncomfortably slid back on, I brought the bucket to the edge and poured it all out, looking down to see our momentum run into my waste. Nothing actually made it to the ocean. I cringed seeing all the humans with normal bodily functions' wastes before mine already having stained the wood.
Turning with a shiver, I told Fay I was done and put down the bucket. He put down his sheet quickly folding it then putting it down while we passed through the forecastle again.
"Honestly I have no clue how they've put up with that disposal system for more than one use."
"That bad?" Fay winced.
I looked at him and nodded solemnly. I practically teared up.
"There were no wipes."
*Author's Note*
Ello again! So yeah, this chapter was one of my favourites (I'm american idk why I spell like this...) just because it was fun to write. I promise the next chapter has a big reveal! Look forward to it- tomorrow! (oh and thanks for reading this far again! XD)