Pelagic Discovery

"Let me go to the docks just this once, I beg you mother!" My whining echoed through the walls of our small home. 

"How many times do I have to tell you, Vincent! You are not going there. You will study and get a good job. And that's final." She was not pleased at all, for I had always looked out the window at the docks hoping to get a close look at the ships. Mother always said it was 'too dangerous' because the Pirate Bay was right next to our small village. But an idea sparked a flame in my mind. 

"Fine, but can I at least go out to get some food? We're running low and I have a few tricks to get it cheap." 

"Go, but be quick."

And so I grabbed a few items; a notebook, a satchel with a few gold coins, a compass, and a dagger, before leaving to get the supposed food. But food was not what I was out after. I knew the way to Pirate Bay by heart, and moved quickly and quietly through the shadows of the setting sun. Faint chanting rose in the distance; 

"What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor–" And I whispered to myself: "–early in the morning…"

How would I execute this plan without getting caught? I could swim to the keel and climb up the figurehead– but that plan was scrapped when I noticed the pirates loading barrels full of fish on the large ship. Yes, this plan was sure to work. It would be very unpleasant for the nose, but it would work. It had to. Sneaking carefully in the lush forest above the docks, I spotted an unguarded barrel near the trees. Quickly, I opened the lid and slid in, closing it as best as I could and trying not to vomit when the smell of fish hit my nose. When I was about to abort the whole mission, the barrel started moving and I heard voices outside the wood; "This one's heavy, aye. You, help me over here!" Quick footsteps sounded before another set of hands lifted the barrel and carried it on the ship. Waiting for them to finish loading the ship felt like forever, but at last I felt many footsteps on the deck before it started moving. Trying to get a look outside through the small hole in the barrel was difficult, but when I did manage to glance outside my heart felt lighter. The sky was painted pink and orange, the bow of the ship casting a shadow on where my barrel was. The sound of waves crashing into the ship and the sound of seagulls felt like home, like what I've yearned for all my life. The smell of the fish didn't even bother me anymore for it, too, reminded me of home. 

The sky was dark now, the stars slowly appearing in the clear sky. 

"Where to now, captain?" A different voice came from near my barrel, and I heard a thud on the lid. Perhaps whoever was speaking put an elbow on it?

"Wherever the wind takes us, matey!" They both laughed, and I was holding a laugh myself. But that humour faded when I felt the barrel wobble and fall over, the lid popping off and revealing me. 

"Blimey!" Both the captain and the other pirate jumped when I felt out, grabbing their swords and pointing them at me.

"Sink me! What is this land-lubber doing in me fish?" The pirate exclaimed, more pirates rushing to see what was going on. I sat up with my hands next to my head, my thin legs shaking.

"Spare me! I was just so fascinated by the lot of you, and my mother was going to force me to go to school and live on the land, slaving away in some stuffy building until I kick the bucket. But that just isn't what my heart yearns for!" They all looked bewildered, the captain fixing his tricorn hat and pointing his sword down.

"Mateys, what do we do with this scallywag?" The captain exclaimed.

"Walk the plank!" One shouted.

"Davy Jones' locker!" Another roared.

"No, please! Let me prove that I'll be useful! If you still think I don't have what it takes, throw me overboard!" My voice did not falter or break, but the desperation was clear.

"I have no regrets, no life to miss back on land either way." I added. The captain looked at the pirate next to him, and then back to me. He motioned to the others to put their swords down, and then reached a hand to me.

"Welcome aboard, mate." With a smile on my face, he pulled me up and turned me to the spilled barrel. He didn't need to utter one word, for I knew what I had to do. Picking the fish up was a slimy job, and one that took a while for the wish kept slipping out of my hands, but after a while I got the fish back inside. A fellow pirate handed me a mop and a bucket, which I used to mop the entire deck. Of course, this wasn't easy because they all kept 'accidentally' spilling the dirty water which I had to mop back up.

"Aye, lad. That's good enough. Your legs are so scrawny the wind might blow you off the ship so come eat." The crew sat round a stone pit which was used to grill some fish, one for each member. 

distance; 

"What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor?–" The captain sang, and the crew joined in, including me: 

"Early in the morning!" They looked surprised to see me know the words, but carried on:

"Way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises– 

"–Early in the morning!"

We sang until the others were too full to stay awake, and only me and the captain were not asleep.

"Tell me, lad. Why did you abandon a secure future for this? For hard work far from home?" He sounded intrigued but also sad. Which I understood, for a 'secure future' as he called it was a safe and comfortable option. But I knew the answer by heart.

"This is my home. Always has been. My heart knew from the day I first lay eyes on the sea that my fate lay not with the commonfolk working their days away in a loop of waking up, working, and sleeping, but with the excitement of an unpredictable tomorrow. A tomorrow that may be calm, and a tomorrow that may be my last one." He studied my face carefully, and we sat in silence only interrupted by the calm sloshing of the waves.

"It will take time to earn our trust, lad, but you'll fit right in, aye. Go to sleep now, we have a whole day of sailing ahead." And with that, I lay down on the hard deck, watching the stars fade as I slowly fell into the warm embrace of sleep.