It’s A Pirate’s Life for Me

(There are topics that some viewers may find disturbing)

The oil lantern swung back and forth in rhythmic motion as if it were a person swaying to a slow song. It was hung from the ceiling of the hull, which was the bottom of the deck. The salty air had rusted the lantern's metal till it was orange and flaked off. The glass covering was nearly blackened with soot.

The light was enjoyed by four men. Two of them sat across from each other and close to the lantern. The Third rested against the hull of the ship, and the reflection of the flame in his eye was the only thing that gave his location away. The fourth lay on his back on the edge of the lantern’s light. He was stripped down to his undergarments and had his arms wrapped around himself. His skin was white like tallow, and his hair had lost its color. His bones could be seen straining against his skin.

Baily turned around to look at him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him. His grip was easy like a mother’s hand on her baby. With any more pressure, Baily was afraid his finger would go through his paper-thin skin. “Ahoy, Ronson! How are you holding up, mate?” Ronson looked back at him with his dirty brown eyes that sank deep. He opened his mouth and let out a low moan. Baily gave Ronson a rub and said, “Keep afloat, I’m sure we’ll find our way back to shore.”

Baily was young enough that his face was still smooth and soft. Though soft, it was not without blemish; his nose had been sliced at one point, and it was clear he had not eaten enough. His skin had a tan. Not the kind of darker skin someone is born with, but the color that someone gets after spending years under the sun. A clean white linen shirt and large baggy pants helped to hide his scraggly body. A faded blue sash was tied around his waist, which held his dagger.

Dayton, the one who was just out of view, said. “Leave him alone now, he is as sick as a dog. He's about as good as castoffs.” He spoke in a deep, clear, old voice.

“Nay! I say he is sicker. To be sick as a dog is to be like that one landlubber who spent the first week hanging over the deck, feeding the fishes.” Said Keriby as he started to chuckle to himself. He had three gold rings in his right ear. His hair dropped down to his bare chest but not past his rounded belly. He wore the same kind of baggy pants that Baily had on.

Dayton let out a chuckle, “Ay, I remember him, John, I think his name was, poor lad, got gutted by a British seaman.”

“He’s not sick, just starving like the rest of us. Have empathy for him. Except you Keriby, don’t even look hungry.”

“I meant no offence, but your friend, he just doesn’t look so good,” Keriby said as he pointed to Ronson, who was muttering to himself in pain. “he’s on the devil’s door waiting to be taken at any moment.”

“He’s not dead yet, just needs something to eat.”

Dayton slid himself from the dark and into the lantern’s light. He was an old man. A short gray beard flowed from his neck up to his cheeks and over his lip. He had wrapped his head with a scrap of white cloth. His shirt was stiff with salt, and the sea itself dispersed off of him. Tied around his waist was a fine sea turtle green sash that would have cost a good portion of his shares. His hands were blistered on the middle of his palms where the ropes would have slid.

“As I said, leave him. We’re out of food and supplies; we can’t do anything till we dock.” Dayton said as he waved off Baily.

“Dayton, don’t be so hard on the boy; he just wants to help his friend, you heartless old man.” Keriby leaned in close to Baily, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the old man was Davy Jones himself. So come on, tell me about your friend, you seem to care a lot.”

“I don’t know him well, but I owe him my life.”

“And how’s that?”

“When my father died, his debt was passed on to me. I couldn’t pay it off. Tried to, worked on a sugar plantation for a while, but one day the collectors came and cut my nose. They said if I didn’t get the money soon, I would lose my fingers next time. I found Ronson, and he said I could join a pirate crew, and the collectors would never find me. Now I’m here.”

“Ay, any other family or just your father?”

“My mother and sisters were kinder souls. Wish I didn’t have to leave.”

“Well, sorry about Ronson over there, we picked him up only a week before you, can’t say I knew him too well, but I can admire looking out for your fellow sailor.” Keriby’s voice got quiet, “Ye better say farewell, unless we dock today, he is as good as dead, just a pirate’s life.”

Dayton leaned forward and started to run his hand through his beard, “This reminds me of a different time when I was lost at sea. I had only been part of the crew for a year, long before Keriby had joined. We were out of supplies. The crew resorted to hunting down the rats, but that only lasted for so long. I was about as sick as Ronson there. Could hardly move. I was almost thrown overboard as dead. Eventually, we docked, lost half the crew, but I survived.”

Keriby started laughing, “That’s a good story. Reminds me of when I ran with Stich’s crew. We were shipwrecked for weeks, and it got so bad that we started to eat our leather belts. Just when we thought we were going to be sent to Davy Jones’ locker, a fishing boat came to save us. Poor souls, we robbed them and left them there to die.”

“I don’t understand. Why is that so funny?” said Baily with a puzzled look.

Before Keriby could respond, Ronson started to shake on the ground.

“Ronson!” Baily grabbed him as he gasped for air. He started to shake him to get Ronson to stop; soon, he did. Baily placed an ear next to his mouth and listened for a breath, but nothing.

“We told ye boy, he was already dead.” Said Dayton.

Baily got on his knees and closed Ronson’s eyes, “Got unlucky, if we did dock just a few more days sooner.”

“Lucky? Lady Luck can only help so much; she keeps ye safe from a stray bullet, but not this. It’s all in the spirit; he didn’t have it. He wasn’t willing to scrape the very bottom, to stoop as low as animals. I have seen men trade away their most prized treasures, their freedoms, and what is not theirs to give for a slice of bread. I have seen men kill for their own lives. And I have seen men hang their captain on the mast because he cheated them out of their share.”

“What are you saying?”

“The story I told ye, ye think I lucked out? I survived because of me alone. Some of us had already starved, turned into skin and bones.”

Baily shot up from the floor and narrowed his eyes at the old man, “What did you do?”

“SIT, boy, I’m speaking to you.”

Baily did as he was told, and Dayton took a deep breath, “You think I lived this long by thinking in circles? Difficult problems don’t have an easy way out; the weaker man would have given in to the temptation of defeat. I didn’t; I was the stronger man. I got creative. So, I ate a little of the dead crew.”

Baily pulled out his dagger and lunged towards Dayton. As quick as a gunshot, Dayton had his cutlass on Baily’s chest.

“Your soul is dammed for that,” Bailey said through gritted teeth.

“Dammed? Dammed! And I was as pure as a nun before? I am a pirate, I was born on the seas, and I have stolen and murdered. I have tied a man to the bow of a ship with his own guts just because he talked back to me. This is a drop in the ocean. They were dead anyway, and I was starving.”

“How! How could you eat your fellow seamen?”

“Easy, you make a cut on his side and take out the fat around the kidneys and cook it down. Hardest part is getting around the smell.” Baily's face filled with anger.

Keriby stood up and said as he made a calming motion with his hands, “Don’t get into a flap, boy; he meant no evil by what he was doing; he did what he had to do.”

“You too?” He dropped his dagger and cocked his head as he looked to Keriby.

“Ay, why don’t you think I’m not starving right now?

Dayton lowered his cutlass and threw his arm in surrender, “Keriby’s right, I don’t like to do it, I was between the devil and the deep blue sea. I don’t want to, but that's a pirate’s life, I know you understand.”

“I don’t understand, both of you are dammed!”

“Please, Baily, you have done the same, didn’t you leave your poor mother and sisters?” Said Dayton.

“No, I had to.” Suddenly, Baily froze stiff with his mouth open.

Dayton smiled widely, wider than Keriby. His eyes seemed to mock the boy. “Come on, say it, you had to. Even though they needed you, your father’s debt would have fallen on them, and by the sound of it, the collectors weren’t all that kind. How could your poor mother and sister ever get the money? But we don’t blame you, you did what you needed to do.”

Baily pulled at his hair as he choked on his words, “w-what have I done?”

Dayton’s blistered hand rested on his neck, and he could feel Baily’s pulse race. “Do you think the wolves make it by being a saint?” Dayton picked up the dagger on the floor. “You look thin, boy. I like you, boy, your heart is in the right place, but not your mind.” He placed the dagger in his hand. “I’m not the devil, I’m just an animal trying to survive, that’s the pirate’s life.”

Baily looked at Ronson’s dead body getting colder by the second before he gripped the dagger. His chest quickly rose up and down as little dots of sweat formed on his forehead. He closed his eyes and took a long exhale, “Ay, it’s a pirate’s life for me.”