Woman Overboard

Chapter 12 : Celebration (1)

Afiba

August 28th, 1820

(12:36 PM)

Afiba piled one last dinner roll on the plate and sped off without another word.

She liked seeing her crew smile again. Their spirits, of course, were still dampened by the numerous fatalities of the past week, but there was a spiteful kind of giddiness in the air that hung so thick Afiba could suck it in and be stifled by it like she had breathed underwater.

She took a bite out of the roll as she giggled down the hall. It seemed that whenever she found her way back to a sober mood, the image of Henry Jameson's face when the bullet struck would come back to her. His eyes crossed, his mouth fell agape with horror, and the hair that hung boyishly over his forehead fluttered upward with the force of the bullet. Afiba laughed some more, trying not to choke.

There had been no fight, thank goodness. The Alice's crew heard the shot and saw their captain crumple into a lifeless heap of tailcoats and linen. Apparently, that was their cue to retreat. Even though Henry survived, they left him for dead

Thank god also, Afiba thought, that he survived. None of this would be nearly so tickling if he had keeled over and died.

She shook her head, thinking to herself how she wished she had the balls Aless did. It would feel so good to just step up and shoot someone in the face the way she had. Swallowing the rest of the bread, Afiba began counting doors until she came to what was once her own.

"Lunch!" she called.

Inside, Afiba could hear sheets rustling. "Just a moment! Alright, come in."

"Oni made a mince pie," she said, sliding past the door. "It ain't even fish, d'ye believe it! An' Reece made muffins. They ain't real good, I don' think, but we don' usually get muffins anyhow. I got ye one, but don' 'spect too much."

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine."

She stopped babbling, glancing up at Aless. The woman was staring at her, but not with her usual searching glare. She wore a small smile on her lips and a robe Afiba recognized as one of Abigail's donated garments. Her hair fell over the mattress like a gold blanket, ubiquitous and luminous as the sunset.

"What?" Aless said.

Realizing she had been gawking, Afiba looked away. "Oh, I just ain't seen your hair down. Tha's all."

Aless laughed. "Is it really that much of a shock?"

She shrugged and put the plate down on the nightstand. After a moment of hesitation, she sat down on the bed. It was her bed, after all. "You jus' look . . ." She spared Aless another glance, taking in the soft slopes and curves of her face. "Softer, I guess. I dunno."

Aless didn't laugh like Afiba thought she might. Instead, she nodded. "That's why I wear it up. I need my crew to take me seriously."

But she couldn't stop looking. Aless looked a little uncomfortable. "Sorry," she said. "Ye jus' look kinda familiar like that. Like I seen ye before."

"Well, that makes sense," Aless said, a strand of caution in her voice. "If you really are Rebecca, then you only ever knew me with my hair down."

"Oh." They both looked away, wary of the subject. Afiba grabbed one of Reece's corn muffins from the plate and held it out to Aless. "You outta eat somethin'."

"I thought you said these were bad," she said, grinning at the muffin. She pinched a piece between her fingers, contemplating it.

Afiba smirked. "I thought you said they was prolly fine."

"Touche," Aless said, and popped the piece into her mouth. She looked thoughtfully at the ceiling as she chewed.

"Whaddya think?"

"The word that comes to mind is 'gritty'."

Afiba laughed, plucking another roll from Aless's plate. "Sounds 'bout right."

Aless nibbled the top of the muffin, glancing at her. "So, today is a celebration, then?"

"Yep. We need one, huh?"

She nodded. "I just find it funny that the only way to boost the mood around here was to shoot a guy in the face. By the way, is he still alive?"

"Sure is." Afiba giggled again. "Abby says she had to dig real deep jus' to find that bullet."

Aless sighed, her face ambivalent between rue and amusement. "That poor man," she said. "He was only following orders from the governor. I shouldn't have shot him. I just lost my temper and I couldn't control myself."

Afiba waved her away. "Don' say that! I ain't seen nothin' that awesome in years."

"But they're bound to send even more ships after us now," Aless said. "Henry had a point: if we surrendered peacefully, they might not have killed us all. But now, they think we're hostile. They'll come after us with everything they have."

"An' we'll come back with more," Afiba promised. "Don' doubt yerself, Aless. Ye did a good thing back there, whether it seems it to ye or not. So if I was you, I'd stop griping 'bout it."

Finally, Aless let the smile win over her face. "Why, thank you," she said. "Perhaps I will."