From Sea to Shore

Two Men on a Dead Man’s Chest Harry was drunk, sitting below deck with a few of his shipmates. He’d had a rough day, fighting again with that blasted Abraham. They worked aboard the same pirate ship but were far from friends. From the moment Abraham had joined the crew, he’s been a thorn in Harry’s side. He disagreed with everything Harry said—hell, Harry was sure he could say the sea was wet and Abraham would swear on the good Lord above that it was dry. “You’re brooding. The whiskey was meant to help with that,” James, a friend of his, comments, sounding surprisingly sober and pouring another drink for them both like he meant to fix that. “Think if I throw Abraham overboard the captain will flog me? Might be worth it,” Harry muses drunkenly, taking a deep swallow from his glass and feeling his head swim. “He’d more than flog you. You know he’s fond of Abraham, has been from the start,” James points out, and that’s another thing that gets under Harry’s skin: that the sainted Abraham can do no wrong in Captain Greyfeet’s eyes. “Prob…probably sp…ppreads hiss legs,” Harry frowns at how garbled his words come out. He hadn’t thought he was that drunk yet. “Don’t think so. The Captain may be fine with those of your persuasion on board his ship, but I don’t think he swings that way himself. He has a lass waiting in every port.” James laughs. Harry tries to say you can like maids and fellas both—and any other gender—but he can’t get the words out past his numb feeling tongue and lips. He tries to reach for his drink so he can sniff it, fearing he’s been poisoned, but he can hardly see the glass, and he knocks it over instead of grabbing it. The next thing he knows, he’s slumped face forward on the table, strong liquor spilling all over his face and loose black hair. He hears a chair scrape the floor as it is pulled back. “Sorry, Harry, Captains orders.” James has poisoned him, he’s sure of it, and as darkness takes hold of him, he curses the ship, the crew, the captain, James, the sea, and mostly Abraham; and hopes to God he haunts the lot of them, especially that rotten bastard Abraham.