The Ship

Chapter 10


“And I- I will kill you! And- Stop it! No, get away from me!” I said furiously as he kept kissing me.

“Nah, I think a kiss will do ya good, Penny.” He said resisting my push.

“Stop trying to shut me up it ain’t gona wo-“ I tried to say, but he resumed with his kissing.


I tried to keep speaking my mind but his kiss was warming my body so much that his touch was addicting.

I began to kiss him back, and we found ourselves in a passionate embrace. A warm tingling sensation started

“What do ya say? Again?” asked the captain.

I gave him a look very defiantly saying that I wanted to but was entirely too tired. It was beginning to

her to be part of the crew; I want her just to be mine. Penny stayed sleepin’ and I ventured out about the

deck to see if anything was happening. Ain’t nothing going on, everybody was doin’ their job, no fights,

nothing wrong. It was weird. I had planned to head for an island I heard there was treasure on, but the map

wasn’t so good. Penny ain’t come out on deck till much later, had to be close to noon by then. She hadn’t

seemed to mind either, or perhaps she just ain’t notice what time it was. She went right to find something to

do on deck, without any commands or nothing. She didn’t even seem to notice me. I was busy at the hull and

ain’t have the chance to even talk to her, but I watched her, watched her all day long.

“Back up ya bastard!” Penny yelled at one of my crewmen. She seemed to forgotten the rule, though I must’ve

too because I never stopped her.

“Oh ya wench, ya should strip for us!” yelled one of the crewmen from across the deck. Penny was up on the

rigging during this time. The crew never seemed to pay attention to the fact that I was there.

“Enough!” I shouted in my loudest voice. It was hard to be so angry sounding, when I was in such a good

mood. But what those men were doing to her, made me furious very quickly, after they ignored my first warning.

The quartermaster manhandled the instigator and dragged him right below deck to the barracks. But he wasn’t

the only one causing trouble. I guess I hadn’t paid much attention the day before. Penny was right, those men

were harrasin’ her and it ain’t just a little neither.

“Ya scoundrels, ya best stop them comments or you gona find yerselves stripped to bone with that whip and

walkin the plank!” I shouted at them.

The crew finally stopped what they were doing, my wrath was back into effect. I could hear some whispers

from the crew later on but never deciphered what they was talkin’ about. It wasn’t till one of the other men

tried to rip Penny’s shirt off and actually did put a rip in the sleeve. I went to rush over there when

suddenly I watched Penny throw a well aimed punch right at the man’s face. Some other men went to attack her

but she kept throwing punches and kicks. I ain’t know she could fight like that, she didn’t seem to either cuz

once she managed to grab a sword one of the men had she was in shock. During all the punching and kicking,

the crew then again forgot I was there, and I had to break my way through a stampede just to get to Penny. Six

men was circling her!

“Penny!” I said right as I got to her. By this time Penny was holding not one but two swords at the two

men who were going at her the most. She’d manage to knock the other four to the ground. I have no idea how

she managed to get them, and the men ain’t even allowed to carry weapons around on my ship. I’d been so

focused on Penny I ain’t even notice what my crew was doing exactly. Within seconds the quartermaster was by

my side. The quartermaster was holding in hand a large cat o nine tails, and it ain’t till he swung it through

the air and struck some of the men at the same time, until they stopped and instantly turned to their cowardly

selves again.

“You men ain’t rememberin’ the rules are ya! And for that ya all gona pay the price. Ain’t nobody ever to

touch Penny here again! Quartermaster take them away!” I demanded. He was helped by some of the crew that

wasn’t involved in Penny’s near downfall.

“Penny come on,” I said as I took her by the waist and led her to my cabin, once again. She fought me the

entire way.

“Let go of me! Let me go! I can take care of myself!” She shouted as she fought me but I had a grip on her

that didn’t allow for much escape. She may have escaped the idiotic men, but she ain’t gona escape me.

“Captain! Free me at once!” she continued to shout. By this time she was trying to kick and I hauled her

up over my shoulder and carried her rest of the way. “Let me go!” she was punching and kicking, and I was sure

bruises was forming, but it ain’t changed my mind to let her go. I ain’t gona risk her gettin’ into more

trouble if I let her go.

“Penny ya calm yerself!” I demanded.

“No! Let me go, now!” she said furiously. Penny’s temper was never short in coming out and she was beyond

furious.

“Penny ya know ya can’t take care of yerself in circumstances like that, so give it up,” I said calmly as

I put her down.

“It took ya long enough!” she shouted

“Penny I tried, you was right I ain’t pay much attention yesterday.”

“You suck at being Captain!” she said as she found her way to my desk and started throwing things at me.

“Oww, Penny, knock it off!” I said as a small clock hit me in the shoulder.

“No!” she said as more things flung at me.

“Penny! Ya stop it right now!”

“Agh!” she said throwing a log book at me.

“PENNY!” I yelled right as it hit me flat in the forehead. She was still trying to throw things at me. I

fought my way through her attacking and get a hold of her. She went to grab something else out of my drawer,

as I grabbed her throwing arm.

“Penny be still. Throwing things ain’t gona get ya anywhere,” I said as calmly as I could, holding her

arms to her sides.

“LET GO!” she said kicking me in the groin.

“Ugh! That’s enough!” I said letting go of one hand and giving her a swift smack on her ass. This caused

her to let herself fall to the ground and break out in tears.

“I hate you!” she said balling. I kneeled down beside her and put my arms around her.

“I’m sorry…” I began to say but paused.

“No you aren’t!” she said pushing me away.

“Penny, ya listen to me!”

“No, I hate you!”

“Penny I’m sor-“

“Liar! How could you be sorry! You used me as your fucking whipping post, you let those awful men treat me

like shit, and you think- you think that you suddenly being nice to me and fucking me is gona change anything!

Well yer wrong! I hate you! And I want to get off this fucking ship!” she said as she stamped out the door.

I stood there wondering what to do, what to say. I was sorry, I should never of done anything to her.

Everything she said was true. My mind quickly shifted to her stamping out the door. She was back on deck with

those men. I needed to get her away from them. I ran out on deck to notice Penny up by the helm with the crew

trying to look at her but having fear struck into them by the quartermaster’s firm grip on the cat o nine

tails ready to strike at the slightest movement from the men. I left Penny up by the helm looking overboard

and went right to the quartermaster.

“Give me that! “ I said to the quartermaster. “Let’s get this over with! Quartermaster bind them two

first!” I said staring right at the main attackers. “Now put the rest right next to them!” The quartermaster

saw my fury and so did the men. They were terrified to fight back they allowed themselves to be bound for fear

of crueler punishment or death itself. Penny was going to see how much I meant I was sorry and how much I

cared for her, and those men were going to know how sorry they were. I swung the whip swiftly through the air

striking four men at once tightly grouped together on contact. The men screamed and moaned like little girls,

but they were never ever going to touch Penny, or even look at her again!

I let the quartermaster take over after I got the first four men and went to try and talk to Penny. She

made as if she saw nothing and heard nothing, but I could tell by looking at her from the side that she was

fully aware of everything that was going on. Her body looked beautiful the way she was standing there, her

hair flowing in the wind. She was so beautiful she looked as if she were painted to perfection, yet her tears

were melting away the beauty in her face.

“Penny-“

“Go away!” she said to me as she turned away.

“Penny, I- I-…” she continued to stay turned around and ignore me.

I ain’t quite know how to talk to her. I ain’t ever been able to say sorry to anyone before in years, let

alone someone who doubts every word I say. I joined her in looking off into the distance and we stood in

silence a little longer. There wasn’t any wind so we weren’t really movin’ anywhere, so nobody even stood at

the helm. It was just Penny and me.

“You see that island out there,” I pointed, “We goin’ there. Been trying to get there for some time. There

be some lovely treasure supposed to be there. Lots of things I think ya might like. Then we plan to make port

bout two days from now. But if ya like excitement I really think ya might enjoy that little island there.”

“Great, then ya can get yer damn treasure and then let me off at the next port, ya ain’t never see me ever

again. And I’ll be sure to warn everybody to never step foot on yer ship, especially if they women!” she said

as she walked to the other side of the boat.

I watched her as she went over to the other side, and then followed and took my place beside her again. We

both looked over the side for a few minutes, and as the things quieted again I continued.

“Ya know, I…” I began to say but stopped. I just couldn’t get the words out. She glared at me momentarily

and turned away again. “I- I ain’t want ya to go Penny,” I said finally after another minute.

“Why so you can treat me like shit again, I thought ya hated women, I thought wenches were bad omens! They

ain’t no good on yer ship!” she snapped.

I was without words for a moment. “Look Penny, I’m serious. I ain’t want ya to go. And-and ya ain’t a

wench! And I- I don’t think you’re a bad omen. I think yer the bravest women I ever met. Ya know they ain’t

too many people who can affect me like you. They ain’t too many people who…who have…have been able to...”

“To what!”

“To..to change me.” I said. It was so hard to say those things, but I truly meant them and they shouldn’t

of been so hard to get out. I could hear her breathing change, she was surprised to hear such a thing. “I know

it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”

“Yeh right! I’m sure your wife heard the same shamble before she left you!”

“She didn’t!” I ain’t know what else to say, she was going at my weak spots again. It was making me angry.

“She left cuz she couldn’t handle the sea no more!”

“Why because of you!” she snapped. She was doing it again, she was stabbin’ at my heart. I had to restrain

myself from grabbing her.

“No! Not completely,” she kept looking away from me, but I could tell she was listening for more. “It was

because-“ again the words were so hard to get out. “It was because of the death of our son. We married

young, we was only 19 when Georgie was born. Isabella loved the sea, she wanted to go everywhere with me, she

ain’t even care I was a pirate, we was both pirates, we met on a pirate ship, couple years before I made

captain and could captain my own ship. I was one of the youngest to make captain. She was the most talented

thief I’d ever met. She liked adventure; her Pa was a Captain himself. On one of our trips to a port Georgie

struck ill. We ain’t know what was wrong with him. Luckily no one recognized us as pirates. Otherwise we never

would have found out what was wrong with him. He- he was struck ill with the fever. A nice doctor helped to

save him, but he became weaker, and by time he reached eight, two years later, his heart was too weak, and

during a bad storm he left us. Left us with the winds..” I couldn’t go no further with it. I even kept looking

over the side as I remembered them. At the corner of my eye I could see Penny look at me, somewhat

apologetic, but then she turned around.

“Well, Captain, I’m sorry about your family, but what does this have to do with me.” I just poured my heart

out and that’s how she responded? She was angry, I never should’ve bothered, but I had to finish my point.

“Because ya remind me of her. I loved her, more than anyone could imagine. Ya remind me of her, ya remind

me of her, which reminds me of my family, which reminds me of my past.”

“Oh so your excuse for pouring your heart out is to make me feel guilty cuz you had a shitty past, nice,

real nice!” she stomped away. Several minutes later I found her in my cabin, I guess that seemed to be the

better place to go.

“Penny that ain’t what I meant.” I said to her as I walked in.

“Oh really, then what the fuck did you mean!”

“I meant that…that I care about you, ya remind me of the good parts of my past not the shitty ones. You

remind me of Isabella.”

“Oh so that’s why women are bad luck! Because she left you!”

“No! Yes she left me, I was angry, neither of us was handling Georgie’s death very well. I became angry,

cruel and unloving. I thought she was leaving me cuz she ain’t want nothing to do with me no more cuz Georgie

had my eyes. But I realize now she was grieving, just as me, she ain’t handle it well, it’s all she felt she

could do, to escape. And I felt all I could do was sail the seas and try to forget it all, when it was the sea

that reminded me of it all the most. It made me angry, it made me sad, it made me hate the world, hate

everyone in it.”

“Well if it’s so bad why ain’t ya stop, why ain’t go find yer wife!”

“Because just before we set sail for the Port of Loll, where you jumped ship, I heard she had died. It was

about a year before we made it to that port. We hit three storms on the way, and were turned off course and

lost at sea for several months.”

“Oh so it was the death of yer wife that caused all that, that caused all women to be bad omens and

wenches?” she said snappishly. “What a stupid thing to think!”

“I see now, I was hurt, I was grieving, mourning, I ain’t be thinking rationally. But ya see, you, you

brought me back to real life.”

“Oh I’m sure beating the crap out of me did a good job of that!”

“Penny, I know ya be angry, you have every right to be, but I really am sorry!”

“Yeh well I ain’t believe a word of it. It ain’t nothing but a lousy excuse to dig yerself out of the

hole of my rage! And the way ya just treated yer crew, the way ya always treat yer crew, the way ya treat me,

I think you ain’t changed. I think you’re full of shit! Hell I ain’t even know you by anything but Captain! I

want ya to drop me off at the next piece of land and I don’t give a damn if I starve. I just want to get off

this goddamn ship!”

I was beginning to feel that what I was trying to do was pointless, Penny ain’t ever gona forgive me, even

if I eased her by giving her what she wants. But I was gona keep trying.

“Ya still have to stay in this cabin Penny.”

“Yeh , and what are you gona do if I don’t! Beat me!”

“Only if that’s what you want. I ain’t gona hurt you no more Penny. But I will keep ya straight if I must.

You have to stay with me in this cabin.”

“Why!”

“Because I care about you!”

“Bullshit!” she started for the door again. I stopped her on her way and took her into my arms.

“Penny, look at me!” She refused to look at me her tears were building up again.

“Penny, please just look at me, I beg you to just look at me, to just listen.” She resisted but she did

eventually look at me.

“You may not believe me now, but when you do, please know, I am sorry. I ain’t been able to talk to anyone

like this, or apologize for two years, I’ve nearly forgotten how. I care about you, I ain’t want to put you

off on some deserted piece of land. I want ya to stay with me. I may be a cruel heartless bastard, but nothing

in this world can make me feel different about you. Penny, I think, I think I- I know you feel something for

me, your body, your actions, everything about you shows it more than you think. I might even be an idiot, but

there be something there, I just know it. And…and its James. Captain James Mitchell.