Elizabeth Swann's Sister

29. Picking Out A Crew And More Slaps To The Face

We all got off the ship, Thomas was still a little unstable on his feet, so I linked him, to stop him from falling over. We walked over to a dock, where a lot of men where standing in line and looking at us all. Jack took lead of the group and walked in front of us towards them. "Feast your eyes, Captain". Mr Gibbs said whilst pointing towards the line of men, that were standing in front of him. "All of them faithful hands, before the mast, every man worth his salt and crazy to boot". Mr Gibbs continued.

I gazed upon all the unshaven and unwashed men, some of them were tall and gangly with scruffy hair, some looked old and others young, I went along the line my eyes meeting those of the sailors, before I looked down to see a short bald headed man, standing inbetween two tall men, I gasped in shock when I saw him, as I had never seen a man so small before. "So this is your able-bodied crew?". Will asked Jack. Jack ignored Will and continued to make his way down the line of men, before he stopped and looked towards an elderly man whom had a beautiful, yellow, green and blue feathered macaw parrot, upon his left shoulder.

"You sailor!". Jack said to him. "Cotton sir". Mr Gibbs told Jack. "Mr Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?". Jack asked Mr Cotton. Mr Cotton never replied. "Mr Cotton! Answer Man!". Jack shouted at him. "He's a mute sir, poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him, no one's yet figured how". Mr Gibbs told Jack, Mr Cotton proceeded to show Jack his cut out tongue, I gasped and turned my head sharply and buried it in Thomas's shoulder, as I did not want to look at such a ghastly cruel sight. "It's alright, you can look now, he has closed his mouth". Thomas whispered in my ear. I turned back around to them all.

Jack was just about to walk away, before he turned back towards Mr Cotton, "Mr Cotton's parrot, same question?". Jack said to the parrot. The parrot began to squark. "Ah! Wind in your sails! Wind in your sails!". The parrot squarked. We all looked at the parrot confused, before Mr Gibbs broke the silence. "Mostly we figure that means yes". He said. "Of course it does". Jack said to him. "Satisfied?". Jack turned and asked Will. "Well you've proved they're mad". Will said to him.

"And what's the benefit for us?". One of the men called out, from along the line. We all turned to look at the individual who spoke. Jack slowly started to walk towards the man who spoke, before he lifted their hat from their face. "Anamaria". Jack said before he received a sharp slap to his left cheek from her. Thomas burst out laughing. "He seems to get a lot of these from women doesn't he, it's as though it's like a secret handshake they have made up and it's only for Jack and the lady he meets". Thomas said through bouts of laughter.

I nudged him in the side, to keep quiet as he had half of the men who were in the line, looking at us both. "I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either". Will asked Jack. "No that one I deserved". He replied. "You stole my boat!". Anamaria told him. "Actually!". Jack couldn't finish his sentence, before he recieved another slap. "Borrowed, borrowed without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back to you". Jack told her. "But you didn't!". She shouted at him. "You'll get another one". "I will". Anamaria told him, whilst pointing her finger directly into his face. "A better one". Will interrupted. "A better one!". Jack echoed. "That one". Will said, whilst pointing over towards the Interceptor.

"What one?". Jack asked him. Will nudged his head over into the direction, of the Interceptor. Making the rest of the men look over towards it too. "That one?". Jack barked at Will. Will nodded and the rest of the supposed crew, looked back towards Jack and Will. Jack turned his attention back towards Anamaria. "Aye, that one". Jack told her. "What say you?", Jack asked. "Aye!". Anamaria shouted. "Aye!". The whole of the crew copied her and walked down the dock and into the row boats to go onto the Interceptor. "Anchor's aweigh!". The parrot squarked. Anamaria snatched her hat away from Jack and followed the rest of the crew.

"No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard sir". Mr Gibbs told Jack. I walked over to them. "Ahem, what is that suppose to mean". I looked at them and crossed my arms. "Oh nothin' Miss Swann, I simply meant that Anamaria was bad luck to bring aboard, not yourself". He said to me and smiled. "Very well". I replied. "What he means Miss Swann, is that, you act nothin' like a so called woman or behave like one, so therefore you arent really a woman to consider being bad luck abroad the ship". I just stood there and scoffed at him. "It'll be far worse not to have her". Jack said to Mr Gibbs talking about Anamaria, looking up at nothing, before walking off to join the crew. The rest of us looked up to what Jack was looking up at confused, before we all turned to each other, shrugging then them followed behind.