Clark of the Future Sea

7. Tatiana

The last remaining droplets of seawater fell from Tatiana's shirt onto the dock as her boots touched the beach. She briskly walked along the shoreline towards the pub. The cold ocean wind blew strands of her chestnut hair into her face, obscuring her vision. She didn't mind the cold and the wind would help dry her clothes before she had to go inside.

She really didn't like going into the pub. This was a fisherman's village. So women were scarce and the men were unruly, sometimes even dangerous. All she had to do was find the old fisherman that hired her and get back out as soon as possible. When she got to the door, she hesitated a moment before entering. She wished she hasn't been showing so much skin, but the more clothes you had on the harder it was to swim. Once inside her eyes scanned the room until they landed on the old man in the gray hat. She didn't make it two steps before someone realized that a woman had walked in.

"Hey, Tatiana! Why don't you come over here and sit with me?" A young and clearly drunk man shouted at her but she kept walking without glancing in his direction, sticking to the plan she had decided on before. When she approached the old sailor he turned his head and smiled at her.

"Done already las?"

"Your boat is clean but your rudder is shit. If you had any sense you'd sell that thing while it's still worth something."

"I've had that boat my entire life and it only has to last as long as I do. How much longer could that possibly be?" He chuckled.

"Long enough to think about replacing your rudder." She crossed her arms across her chest.

"Alright, las if you say it has to be done then I believe you. Here's your pay." He held out a leather pouch to her. She took it and tucked it away in her tool bag before turning to leave. As she approached the door, she again heard.

"Awe come on missy, I haven't slept in a warm bed in over a month." He laughed obnoxiously. She gave in and turned her head towards him.

"You have a wife and two kids somewhere, you should be ashamed of yourself." She said before attempting to make her exit.

The man stood and walked towards her as he spoke, stumbling but maintaining an imposing stance. "I've been here so long my kids don't even know how I am and based on the rumors I've been hearing my wife's bed has been plenty warm." He leaned towards her, close enough that she could smell the swill he had been drinking. "I shouldn't have invited you into my bed, that may have been too forward. Why don't you come sit with me and I'll buy you a drink? Come now, don't be a bitch."

Tatiana dropped her shoulder and put her weight behind a sharp right hook. The man was too drunk to move and stayed perfectly still while her fist connected with the left side of his jaw. His knees buckled under the force of the blow and he collapsed onto the pub floor. The cheers and laughter were only muffled once the pub door shut behind her.

She pulled the leather pouch from her bag, counting the coins as she walked. The man hadn't paid her any extra but he hadn't cheated her either. She walked down the path and hastened across the beach in the failing evening light to the dock where her boat was tied. She didn't waste any more time getting out into the water. It was a short trip to the cove where she slept but it would be a moonless night and her small lantern would not be enough to guide her safely.

The fisherman in the village made good money which drove men from all over to come work here and as a result, everything in this village cost more. Any room in town was very expensive and she decided it would be easier to save her money is she stayed in her boat. She had a dream of owning a nice ship one day and spending the rest of her life sailing on it. She would never be able to afford that if she paid rent somewhere.

She wasn't the only one unwilling to pay those steep prices. The shoreline was lined with fishermen sleeping on their vessels. It was not safe for Tatiana to spend her nights there, she could easily be robbed or worse. She had grown up in this village and knew of a spot just up the shore that was out of view and unknown to most of the sailors. She road her small vessel into the same spot she did every night and dropped anchor. Only this time noticing she wasn't alone in her little oasis.

On the opposite shoreline barely visible in the darkness, was by the far the largest ship Tatiana had ever seen. Although she couldn't make out much more than a silhouette, she could tell that this ship was special. Clearly from the British Navy, yet larger and more imposing than the few warships that dropped anchor at their village before. There was something off about the presence of this ship, there was no reason it should have had trouble finding the harbor in the clear whether they had today. Furthermore, across the entire length of the gargantuan ship, not a single lamp was lit. It did not appear to Tatiana that it could have floated in, in fact, it appeared to have been anchored. She decided that two things must be true, there must be men on that ship and there must not be many. There was a good chance that they had not been her come in. All of the light was gone from the sky, giving her the courage to investigate closer.

She carefully raised her anchor and slowly rowed towards the ship. Hyper aware of every sound she made. It was not long before she could hear voices in the still night air. She froze in place, hoping the veil of darkness between them would keep her invisible.

"I hope this pub of yours is close. if we don't get out of here before daybreak, someone is going to see the ship and we'll be at the end of a rope."

A second voice replied. "Relax, I've been here before. No one knows about this cove. If I were you I'd be more worried about navigating the rocks along the shore. I did not expect that there would be no moon tonight, we're gonna need a little bit of luck."

"I'm still more afraid of hanging, I can swim just fine."

"Don't worry Silas. I've brought a new bottle of gin with for the journey. You will have your courage back by the time we land.

" Good pass it over." She watched them lower themselves, the boat barely touched the water before they started passing the bottle back and forth. Tatiana was certain that those two men must have been the only ones on board. She decided once they were gone she would climb on and investigate. It took them forever to get out of the cove, each taking a turn rowing while the other one drank from the bottle.

When they finally disappear around the verizon, Tatiana rowed next to the ship and found a rope. She tied her boat off on it and began to climb.