Getting Underway

The following morning, Suzanna, Will, and Elizabeth were at the dock just as a golden sun edged its way above the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Much to Suzanna’s surprise, Jack was out on deck and walked down to meet them and wish them good morning.

“Most of the crew are sleeping it off, but I managed to roust a few of the scallywags to help you with your things. Mr. Cotton, the Turners here will be in their usual cabin. You can deposit Madame Harcourt’s belongings in my cabin. I’ve had an extra bed brought in and contrived a kind of a curtain thingy, so there’s no use you thinking you are going to be able to have your way with me, you wicked woman. In all honesty, it’s the only place on the ship I can guarantee privacy and security, so I hope you won’t be making a fuss about it.”

Weighing a host of possible responses, Suzanna decided to start things off on the right foot. Besides she imagined that the Captain had decided to test her straight away.

“I’m sure that will be fine,” she agreed calmly.

Well, whatever he had expected, he hadn’t expected that, and he guessed that his surprise must have shown on his face, so he hastened to cover it with another teasing remark.

“Of course, if I may surmise from your easy acquiescence to sharing my cabin, luv, that you might not be adverse to some pleasurable company, I’ll be happy to draw you a map that you might find your way over to my side....You’ll find me spread-eagled on the bed, and X always marks the spot for the treasure.” His tone was light and teasing, exaggeratedly suggestive to provoke her, but those eyes let her know that it wasn’t all meant in jest.

Afraid she might actually be showing a bit of a blush after that one, Suzanna hastened to follow the man with the parrot to her new quarters.

She was nothing short of stunned by what she found. Although Elizabeth had recounted the story of her experience on the Black Pearl, and Suzanna knew there was some kind of dining area involved, Elizabeth had been understandably more preoccupied with small matters as to whether she was being poisoned, about to be raped, or what to make of a ship full of corpses. As a result, her story had been rather light on details as to the interior of the captain’s cabin. One of Suzanna’s biggest fears, in fact, when she contrived this scheme, is that she would be choking for lack of space. As someone who had lived her life in large rooms but with confining rules, she had developed an ever-worsening claustrophobia and was afraid that the cabin might be no bigger than a closet. Instead, she found an expanse of space, one area set apart through use of a drapery as Jack had mentioned, complete with a wooden bed, small table, candles, and a purple velvet coverlet. She moved through into the cabin proper and saw that Jack’s bed, which was considerably bigger, was also covered with embroidered pillows and a burgundy velvet coverlet, both obviously stolen as it was forbidden by English law for anyone not of the nobility to own velvet. Suzanna was forced to remember that, however charming he might be, this man stole for a living.

She was glad for this opportunity to peruse Jack’s cabin and discover what the things he owned might tell her about him. The furnishings were sumptuous and in rich colors of burgundy, gold, deep green, and purple. It was an incredibly sensual room, one that in some ways seemed more suited to the far East than anywhere in the West. This effect was enhanced by the smoke in the room, sandalwood incense, which imparted a slightly sweet smell and was actually rather calming. Calming was not a bad thing, considering Suzanna’s stomach was doing a jig, absolutely thrilled to be doing this and at the same time....

There were a number of trunks scattered about the room, and Suzanna took note that they all seemed to be locked. That was interesting, even here in his own cabin. Unless he’d locked them just because of her. There were also some very lovely things: beautiful candlesticks, made of silver, heavy enough to be a weapon in the wrong hands; a small exquisite painting of a beach featuring all the colors of the sea and sky, she’d never seen anything quite like it; and a chess set placed dead center on a mahogany pedestal table, the set itself a mosaic of ebony and ivory with each figurine lovingly carved. He may be a thief, thought Suzanna, but he certainly is a thief with good taste. Just over the bed there was a compartment built into the wall. Now that would be worth exploring, she thought, stepping closer. Suddenly the door burst open and in ambled Jack with suspicion written all over his face. She looked guilty.

“Oh,” said Suzanna, “I hope you don’t mind. I was just having a look around to see what a real captain’s cabin is like.” She decided flattery was the best defense.

“Umm humm” replied Jack. “Well I imagine you’d be in a different line of work if you weren’t curious,” he offered, quite graciously taking her off the hook. Damn, she thought. That is going to cost me in the long run.

“Did you find anything of interest?” he pressed, reaching for a bowl-sized cut glass brandy snifter, grabbing a few somethings—Suzanna couldn’t quite see what—and popping them in his mouth. She watched him crunch, forgetting about the question, and then it seemed to dawn on him, and he held the container out to her. “Almonds,” he offered, “have one.” An unsettling image flashed through her mind, brought on by her surroundings, of Barbossa offering Elizabeth an apple. But this was Jack, so she reached in and took one and bit down with a satisfying crunch. Her mouth was filled with a totally unexpected saltiness, but different then anything she’d ever tasted before.

Watching her, Jack was reminded of the other night at the Governor’s mansion. You could see her whole face thinking, eyebrows scrunched up, and tongue licking her lips—That was dangerous; she’d better not do that too often. Finally he had the sense that she’d reached the end of a list of possibilities she kept in her head, and she asked, “What is that? It’s wonderful.”

“It’s a sauce the Chinese cook with. The almonds are roasted with it.”

“Delicious,” she mused, and Jack could tell from her face that she took real pleasure in it. She licked her lips again. And he groaned inwardly. Christ, he was trying to be on his good behavior here, and she was torturing him.

“Yes, well, I’ve always got little nibbles scattered about so help yourself. You never know when you might want something. To nibble on.” She caught the expression on Jack’s face. She didn’t think he was teasing her this time. It seemed he spoke in innuendo even when he wasn’t totally aware of what he was saying...or of course, maybe he knew exactly what he was hinting at. Well, she was willing to play a little.

She tossed her hair just a bit. “So what else is there? To nibble on?”

If she were another woman, he might have grabbed her right then and answered that question the way he wanted to. Instead, he motioned her to follow him to a small glass bowl filled with little brown bundles dusted in coconut. She could smell them from here. “Rum balls. That shouldn’t surprise me.” She grinned and popped one in her mouth. He could practically taste the chocolate rolling around her mouth, so rapturous was the look on her face. Promising, he thought. Torturous at the moment, but promising.

“Actually, you know, they both go very well with rum. So why don’t I fetch us a drink.”

“Jack, it’s barely a civilized hour for breakfast, let alone drinking.”

“Ah, but that’s the point, isn’t it, luv. This is a pirate ship. We’re not ‘civilized.’ We don’t do elevenses or high tea or brandy and cigars in the drawing room. We do what we want, when we want to, and sod the rest of it. So have one welcome drink with me.” She took it and walked back across the room to the bowl of almonds and brought them over, helping herself to more.

“Alright then, Captain Jack Sparrow. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!” She was rewarded with a huge grin as their cups clanked and they both took a taste. Suzanna eyed the mischievous looking Jack suspiciously as a catalog of her first hour ran through her head, and she spoke it out loud. “Well Captain, it seems to me I’ve been on this ship for less than an hour, and you’ve already plied me with chocolate and foreign delicacies and rum.”

“Is it working?”

She laughed.

“Haven’t succumbed yet after an entire hour? I’m losing my touch. Right, then. Come milady, I’ll take you on a tour of me greatest treasure.” And he held out his arm like he had the other night at the house. I’m in trouble, she thought to herself. I had better remember that the rules are different here. But by God, I’m having fun! And with a little smirk of her own, she joined him for a tour of the Black Pearl.

********************

Over the next 2 weeks, Suzanna ingratiated herself with the crew. She didn’t do ship’s work exactly—she was paying them, after all, and she was a lady, so they didn’t expect it—although she had managed to insinuate herself into the kitchen somewhat, but hardly to take it over. In fact, she was nothing short of astonished at how good the food was. She loved food. Really loved it. And probably greater than her concern of small places was the idea that she would be living on hard tack and suspicious biscuits. But instead, she could honestly say that she’d had meals on the Pearl that rivaled those served in some of the haughtiest houses in London. She questioned Jack about it. “There’s a pirate lesson for you, luv. The only thing that pirates have in common with prisons is that the better the food is, the less problems there are. A well-fed crew is a happy crew. And our cook Woody is the finest in the Caribbean, I swear it. Of course we’ve also some lovely places to shop, commandeering the delicacies meant for all the swells when we find them. It works out rather well.” Suzanna decided then that Woody would be the first of the men she’d talk to.

********************

The lady knew cooks could be prickly about who they let in their kitchen—she remembered getting shooed out continuously as a child—so she approached with care. “Excuse me, Woody, but I was wondering if you might have some time to talk to me.”

“Cap’n says I do, I do. Hold on a moment.” He pulled some crates of vegetables off the top of a barrel and motioned for her to sit down. “If you don’t mind though, ma’am, I’ll just chop whilst I talk. They can be an ornery lot when they’re kept waiting for a meal.”

“Actually, I’ve been told I can as well. But really, I was especially anxious to talk to you because I think you’re…well, just extraordinary. Jack told me you’re the best cook in the Caribbean, and I agree after a few weeks of eating your food.

“Ah well, ma’am, you know the captain. Everything is the best or the worst or the biggest with him. I do my job and I enjoys it, so it’s good for all.”

Suzanna was intrigued straight away by the fact that she couldn’t place his accent or dialect, and she usually had a very good ear for that sort of thing.

“So where did you learn to do what you do?”

“Well, my father was captain of a merchant ship. I know, it’s a strange world me becoming a pirate then, eh? But unlike most captains, he took my mother and me with him. She did the cooking on the ship—which is wild rare you know for a woman to be allowed to do such a thing—but since she made such delicious things, no one really complained. We traveled all over the world, Europe, India, the Orient, and here, several times around for each, trading and selling and whatnot. Each port we’d stop in, my mum would take me ashore to the markets to buy provisions, and we might be in port for several weeks while my father made his business. We would learn what the local people ate and how they cooked it, because that’s what there was to eat. Then we’d buy the ingredients for what we liked, and my mum would cook something similar. So everywhere we went, we learned new things. I helped my mum in the kitchen, and I guess it all found its way into my head. It was a grand way to grow up, a little lonely at times, but always exciting. Eventually my Da decided he’d had enough and took my mum to live in Barbados. I decided to stay on the ship as a sailor and then the first mate took over as captain. And a right bastard he turned into, too. I guess my Da had always kept him in check, but he was mean and the whole sense of the ship changed. About a month gone, we was attacked by pirates—the Cap’n and the Black Pearl.

“He offered to spare the crew in return for our surrender, and it seemed as though our captain was going to take him up on that. But our captain had a pistol hidden you see, and when Jack turned, our captain shot him, right in the back. I guess that shot missed the most important things because Jack fought him and ran him through, one of the only times I’ve ever seen him look really angry actually. He was a sight; bleeding and furious and waiting to see who else might come at him. But no one did. Hell, we didn’t like our captain anyway.

“He spared the crew, took what he could, and soaked the sails—that’s where you put ‘em in the water so the ship can’t give chase for a few days while they’re put to rights. It’s the kinder thing then burning ‘em, which means waiting on another ship for rescue. I could see for myself the Cap’n was a better man then most I’d met, even if he was a pirate. So I asked if I could sign on as cook. He said we’d see just what kind of cook I was and then he’d decide. So I cooked for him over the next 2 weeks till we put to port. The old cook was more of a typical navy cook you see, and it’s just the truth, ma’am, that I was much better. So Cap’n offered him to switch to deckhand or to take his share and see what other work he might get. He decided to stay in Tortuga, and I’ve been here these last 2 years since.”

Suzanna had been writing in a small leather-bound journal as fast as she could while Woody was talking, questions running through her head continuously, but not wanting to interrupt while the man was talking already.

She never got to ask them. The door to the galley opened and Jack strode in. “There you are. I’d wondered where you’d got yourself off to. Not holding up supper are you? There’ll be hell to pay.” Suzanna was amused to see Woody’s posture straighten in front of Jack. Not quite the way a soldier would, but definitely something...

“Come up with me on deck. There’s something you should see.” She thanked Woody profusely and promised they’d continue this another time and hurried to keep up with Jack who was moving quickly.

He moved straight to the port side railing and motioned for her to follow. “I don’t know how long they’ll stay, but I thought you might like to take a gander before they run off.”

Just below where they stood was a pod of dolphins playing in the spray alongside the ship. Suzanna let out a cry of delight, and Jack looked uncommonly pleased with himself.