Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) (5 page)

“Yes, Mr. Robinson. Mr. Greene here is
in need of some clothing and you are the closest match for him in
stature. Would you be so good to lend him some clothes until we
find something suitable for him in Port Royal tomorrow? Oh, and
show him to an empty bunk for him to sleep in while you’re
there.”

“Certainly, Captain. If you would
follow me, Mr. Greene,” she said on her way toward the door. Jeff
rose from the table, slightly more steady than he had been earlier
and followed Robinson out of the cabin. “Right this way, Mr.
Greene,” Robinson said as she led him across the deck and down a
set of stairs into a room with several bunks along the walls.
Robinson turned up the flame on the lantern on the wall before
walking over to a wooden box at the foot of one of the bunks. She
opened the box and quickly selected some items. “These should do,”
she said handing a set of clothes to Jeff. “Go ahead and try them
on.”

Jeff slid off his shirt and started to
slide off his swim trunks when he noticed Robinson looking at him
with a slight smile and a gleam in her eye. Even though she looked
every bit as manly as any of the other crew members, Jeff was a bit
hesitant to get naked in front of her.

“Go on then,” she prodded.

“Um, do you mind turning around?” Jeff
asked.

“What for?” Robinson replied with a
grin, “Just us mates, here,” she said with a wink.

“But…” Jeff began to protest, but
Robinson had other ideas.

“Let me help you,” she said with a
laugh as she shoved him down on an adjoining bunk. As Jeff
struggled to get his balance and stand up, Robinson reached down
and yanked his trunks to his ankles. “That’s better!” she said as
she stood back to admire the view, but she quickly frowned. “It
looks a bit odd. Not like the others I’ve seen.” she
said.

Jeff wasn’t sure if he was more
embarrassed or concerned by Robinson’s remarks. “What do you mean,
odd?!” he exclaimed, momentarily distracted from his
exposure.

“It’s just more… bulbous at the end,”
she remarked as she stared at it intently.

Jeff realized that she probably had
never seen a circumcised man before. “Yeah, in my time most men are
circumcised – the foreskin is removed soon after birth.”

“Why?” Robinson asked,
perplexed.

Jeff shrugged, “I don’t really
understand it myself. Some cultures do it for religious reasons,
and there’s supposed to be health benefits, but all I know is that
I didn’t have any choice in the matter.”

Still staring at it, Robinson’s
expression changed, “Now that I’m getting used to it, I rather like
it.” To his embarrassment, Jeff felt his manhood starting to swell
in response to Robinson’s stare. “Well, I must say I like it even
better now!” she exclaimed. “But I’m being unfair. I think some tit
for tat is in order,” she said as she raised her shirt and what
looked like a thick bandage wrapped around her chest to reveal a
set of small, but very nicely-shaped breasts. By now, Jeff was at
full-mast and was blushing furiously. Robinson laughed at his
embarrassment as she quickly re-adjusted her clothing and said,
“Now, you should get dressed. The Captain is expecting you, but you
and I will share a dance very soon, Mr. Greene.”

Jeff slowly got to his feet and
started putting on the clothes Robinson had provided. She smiled at
him and said, “I must apologize for being so forward, but I’ve been
keeping my secret from the crew for months now and a woman has
needs! Although the Captain knows about me, he rejects all of my
advances. I trust that you will not disappoint me as he
has!”

“I’ll try not to,” Jeff said as he
finished getting dressed.

“Good! Now, as luck would have it,
this bunk next to mine is unclaimed, so you can sleep
here.”

“Great,” Jeff nodded, not really sure
what to think of the situation.

Although Robinson’s outward appearance
was anything but feminine, Jeff found himself strangely attracted
to her. The Captain had warned him about getting too friendly with
Robinson, but it was quickly becoming apparent that she had every
intention of getting very friendly with him. “I should be getting
back to the Captain,” Jeff said as an excuse to retreat from her
company and to give himself time to sort things out.

“Of course,” she said, “But you might
want to do something about that mast in your pants first. I’ll
leave you alone so you can settle down.” With that, Robinson turned
and was gone. Jeff turned his tried to turn his thoughts to things
that would squelch his arousal. Remembering the “restroom bucket”
quickly eliminated his erection and he made his way back up on
deck.

Jeff made his way back to the
Captain’s cabin and knocked on the door. “Enter,” the Captain
called out. Jeff entered and Coxen looked at him with an expression
of surprise. “Back so soon?!” I was expecting you and Mr. Robinson
to be occupied for some time. I thought you’d be giving her a good
rodgering in the cargo hold by now!”

“Wait, you mean you knew she was going
to come on to me?”

“Of course, Mr. Greene, I’m a leader
of men – and, as in this case, the occasional wench. It is
necessary to my survival and success to be able to predict their
behavior. Mr. Robinson is as randy as a stoat and she desperately
needs a release. She cannot lie with any of the crew as she knows
it would be too dangerous and disruptive for them to learn her
secret. As I said before, I consistently reject her advances, so
she gets no satisfaction with me. She is a valuable member of my
crew and I do not wish her to suffer. By smacking her bottom in
your presence, I was intending to let you know her secret and at
the same time was letting her know that you know, thus making you
an available option for her to soothe her hysteria. What happened?
Is her appearance not pleasing to you? As I said, she’s actually
quite lovely when not disguised.”

Jeff smiled, “Well, she does kind of
look like a man, but after our encounter, I do find myself
attracted to her. She does have very nice breasts…”

“Aye!” Coxen agreed, “Small enough
that they can be hidden, but very pleasing to the eye when they are
not.”

Jeff continued, “But you warned me not
to get too friendly with her, so I figured you’d be angry
if…”

“No, Mr. Greene. My warning was
nothing more than a ruse. There’s nothing so desirable to a man as
something he has been told he cannot have!”

Jeff laughed, nodding in agreement.
“You are full of surprises, Captain!”

“I do request that you keep any
activities with Mr. Robinson hidden from the crew. It could cause
considerable trouble if you were discovered.”

“Of course, Captain,” Jeff agreed and
added, “There is one thing I would ask of you as well.”

“Yes?” the Captain asked. “Could you
stop calling her ‘Mr. Robinson’ when speaking with me about her? It
kind of freaks me out.”

“Would simply referring to her as
‘Robinson’ be acceptable, Mr. Greene?”

“Yes, that would be fine. Thank
you!”

“So it shall be,” the Captain
affirmed.

“Now, Mr. Greene, although it has been
a most enjoyable evening, I ask that you take your leave of me now.
But please come to my cabin in the morning and we shall break bread
together once again.”

“Gladly, Captain,” Jeff replied, “Good
night.” Jeff left the cabin and stood on the deck, looking up at
the stars. It had been a mind-blowing two days. He didn’t know if
or when he’d find a way to get back to his own time, but no matter
what happened, he was living the adventure of a
lifetime.

At the other end of the deck, the
gambling party seemed to be breaking up. A few men stood up and
headed down the steps to their quarters. Gradually more followed,
until only a handful remained. Jeff suddenly felt very tired.
Tomorrow promised to be another taxing day, so he made his way to
his bunk. Most of the crew had already passed out in their berths
and several men were snoring loudly. The room reeked of the worst
body odor he had ever encountered, mixed with the scents of stale
smoke and rum, but Jeff was so tired that he barely noticed as he
slipped into his bunk. Robinson was in her bunk and turned over to
smile at him as he pulled the blanket over himself. Only now did he
realize that what he thought was a stubbly beard on her face was
actually some kind of grime no doubt purposefully placed there as
part of her disguise. “Sleep well, Mr. Greene,” Robinson said
softly. “Sleep well, Robinson,” Jeff replied sleepily. Although the
crew quarters were noisy with the snoring of the men and creaking
of the ship’s timbers, Jeff soon drifted off to sleep.

Jeff was awakened by the sound of the
crew around him as they stumbled from their bunks and stomped up
the steps to the deck. Robinson’s bunk was empty as she was already
in the galley preparing food for the others. Jeff sat up slowly.
His head was pounding from the excess of the previous night’s rum.
Perhaps Robinson would boil some water from the rain barrel for him
so he could at least partially rehydrate and relieve the
hangover.

Jeff made his way up the steps and
onto the deck. The sun was just coming up and even though it was
still low in the sky, it was still painfully bright in his eyes.
The crewmen on deck were already engaged in a variety of ship
maintenance activities. One man nearby started working on securing
deck boards by hammering in nails that had worked their way up. The
noise shot through Jeff’s head like a bolt of lightning, so he
quickly moved toward the far end of the deck.

He noticed a thin cloud of smoke
emanating from below deck and guessed that it was coming from the
galley, so he followed the cloud down some steps and through a
short passageway that opened up into a room with pots and kitchen
implements. Robinson was slicing up and pulling large seeds out of
some sort of tropical fruit or vegetable Jeff did not recognize.
“Good morning, Mr. Greene,” Robinson said with a smile, “I trust
you slept well.”

“Yes, thank you, Robinson. I don’t
want to interrupt your work, but I was wondering if you might boil
me some water to help my hangover.”

“The only water we have is the rain
barrel, and I don’t think you want to drink that, even with it
boiled,” Robinson replied.

“If you’re willing to boil it or at
least allow me access to the stove, I will take my
chances.”

“Very well, you may collect some water
in that empty rum bottle if you like,” Robinson said nodding toward
a shelf next to him. “The rain barrel is on the aft port side of
the deck.”

Jeff made his way topside and walked
over to the rain barrel. He now saw why Robinson and the Captain
had recommended against drinking from it. Thick algae covered the
walls of the barrel and a thin layer of what looked like pond scum
floated on the surface of the water. The thought of drinking the
water combined with his pounding head made him more than a little
nauseous, but he decided that disgusting water was better than none
in his current state. He placed the tail of his shirt over the
opening of the bottle to serve as a makeshift filter before dunking
it below the surface. The bottle filled quickly and Jeff returned
to the galley. “Just put it directly in the coals,” Robinson
instructed, nodding towards the brick-lined fire pit. Jeff complied
and the coals hissed as the water on the outside of the bottle made
contact.

“What’s that you’re preparing?” Jeff
inquired.

“They call it breadnut. The Captain
likes the seeds for his morning meal. I also make flatbread from
them. It tastes much better than the hardtack.” Robinson turned and
pulled another breadnut from a pot hanging in the fire pit and
water dripped over the coals with a sizzling sound.

“Wait a minute!” Jeff exclaimed, “If
you don’t have drinking water, what are you cooking the breadnuts
in? For that matter, how did you make the stew last
night?”

“Well, I’m cooking the breadnuts in
seawater and as to the stew, that was cooked in a combination of
seawater, grog, and coconut water.”

“So you do have coconuts on board?”
Jeff asked.

“Of course, we have boxes of them in
the cargo hold,” Robinson replied, “You’d be far better drinking
the coconut water than that boiled water from the rain
barrel.”

“Nobody told me there were coconuts!”
Jeff exclaimed.

“Did you ask?” Robinson said with an
arched eyebrow.

“No.”

“Well, that’s why!” the cook said with
a laugh.

Robinson bent down below the galley
table and stood up with a coconut that had been in a bin
underneath. She tossed it to Jeff as she bent down again to pull a
large machete-like knife from below the table . “Help yourself,”
she said sliding the machete across the table towards him as she
turned her attention back to the breadnuts.

Jeff picked up the blade and held it
and the coconut in front of him. “What’s the best way to cut this
thing open?” he asked. Robinson stopped what she was doing and
sighed as she walked around the table. Taking the coconut and
machete from him, she sliced at the coconut, rapidly removing the
outer husk and exposing the inner nut, finishing with a slice
across the top of the nut to expose its contents, narrowly missing
Jeff’s throat with the blade as it passed across the coconut. The
annoyed cook handed the coconut back to him and returned to the
other side of the table to resume her work. “Thanks,” Jeff said, as
much in gratitude for her not cutting his throat as for opening the
coconut.