Little Drops of Sea Water

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Little Drops of Seawater

Little drops of seawater were flying from below and landing on the angry red rash on my

face, burning me as I sat on the stern of the ship and dangled my legs down over the sea.

My right hand was absentmindedly playing with a rusty nail sticking out of the crummy

wooden rail. The sound coming out of the hold was grating upon my ears. It looked like

Bancroft was working with his whip again.

But from my position, the muffled cracks, followed by screeches and screams, were not

so loud. That‟s why the stern was my favorite place; more like my least hated place. I

absolutely loathed this ship and all of its contents. I had begged my father to stay at home

in Carolina with my Ma and little Allrise. But no, papa was as stubborn as nails on this

one, and dragged me along with him to the land of black people to capture slaves that

would be sold to the landowners back home. On our trip back, the hold was full of

Negros sitting on top of each other like sheep. Personally, I think that goes against the

principles of humanity, but I just keep my mouth shut and do as they tell me to do.

“Lame Old Chip”, that‟s what they call me. Anything they don‟t like doing on this ship

they will just pass if of to Lame old chip. I think they enjoy the sight of me hobbling

about the ship to finish whatever crap “they didn‟t have time to do.‟‟

„‟Yo! Lame Old Chip!‟‟ I turn around to face the source of the noise. Behind me stood

Ewing the ships deckhand. He is a hulk like man with three chins and a hare lip. You

could see his stained teeth from the slit on his upper jaw. He also had long blond hair that

reached his waist. Damn, it was the finest hair I have ever seen! Even Ma, with her hair



the color of cornfields, didn‟t have hair as fine as he did. He tied it with a piece of twine

at the back of his head, and it as clear as day that he was bloody proud of it. He still

looked as ugly as a hat full of arseholes, so it didn‟t matter. Anyway, he picked me up by

the scruff of the neck and hauled me off. It took a few yards for me to determine that he

was heading toward the hold, a I began kicking swearing and screaming in order to

escape his iron grasp.

„‟Quit it!‟‟, he hollered. „‟Looke here young laddie! Yer going down to help with the

muckin out whether ye like it er not. It‟s been a fortnight since somebody has cleaned the

dung from under the skivvy‟s toes and guess whose job it is now?‟‟

I grunted in reply. He grinned. It was a horrid grin the stretched the slit in his lip and

showed his gray rotten gums. I had just enough time to grimace before he flung me head

first into the hold. I flew through the air and landed on my bad leg. I sat for ten seconds,

frozen with pain and trembling like a shot pigeon. Then cussing Ewing, I sat up. The

stench hit me like a sack of potatoes. It was an evil smell, so vile that bile gathered up in

my mouth and my head began to spin. I felt something poking me in the side and I looked

up to find young Tom Fiske handing me a shovel. He smiled kindly at me. He had a

missing tooth that had been knocked out when my elbow collided with his mouth when

we were washing the deck. Although I felt bad for the tooth, Tommy doesn‟t seem to

mind and is still darn nice to me.

„Oi there Lame old Chip‟‟, He said, as I took the shovel from him.

„‟Coming to help out with the mucking up? We sure need more hands.”

With a wink he shuffle off with his shovel swung over his shoulder. I groaned, and stood

up and hobbled towards the first line of shackled up creatures, they glared at me a



gnashed their teeth, shouting weird cuss words that I didn‟t understand. After a few

seconds they stopped.

They seemed to recognize who I was and they knew that I was just as helpless as they

were. They sat placidly looking at me with a look of extreme despair and defeat in their

eyes. I sighed and reached with my shovel between the legs of the first one and scooped

upthe wet dung pile lying there. Breathing through my mouth, I flung the dung behind

my back to the center of the hold where it will later be collected. He didn‟t react except to

move a little out of the way. I noticed he had throw-up on his chin and down his chest.

He couldn‟t wipe it off with his shackled hands. I gagged, but I just couldn‟t leave him

like this, with his split-up sticking to him. So, with my shovel I tried gently scraping the

damn split-up off him. The wretch seamed to brighten up and helped me by wiping his

face enthusiastically on the end of the shovel.

I moved on to the second one in line. This one was an old man with a gray beard and

drooping eyebrows. He looked half dead. I just scooped the dung form under him and

moved on. While I was working, some slaves would beg and plead. But as I did not

understand a single word from them poor fellas, I just ignored them.

After an hour, I finished and headed of to the center of the hold to the pile of muck. Tom

Fiske, Cuddy, and Miller Redding were already working on the dung, hauling it upstairs

and throwing it into the sea. I pitched in and we worked our backs of like slaves until the

hold was spiffy clean. Well not spiffy clean, but the stench had sure gone down a notch.

We dropped our shovels and each one of us plodded off to his cabin to freshen up. As I

was the youngest of the group, only twelve, and so short for my age that I looked eight, I



didn‟t have a cabin of my own and slept with Hank , the kitchen boy on the floor of the

ships kitchen. I didn‟t mind that. It was pretty comfy and I stashed my things in the

lowest kitchen cupboards. Poor deaf and dumb Hank wasn‟t a bother at all.

As I hobbled of to the kitchen, my bad leg hurting like hell, and sweat poring down my

face and my back, I bumped into Lynne the ships cook. Lynne was big dumpy lady with

a rosy complexion, she smelled of apples. She was the captains‟ wife the only white

woman on the ship. All the men from the captain to the lowliest of sailors obeyed her.

Usually, it wasn‟t common to take women on the ship, but Jed wouldn‟t hear of Lynne

staying home alone, so he brought her along. She was also my aunt. “Chippy my sweetie

pie!”, she exclaimed when she saw me, pulling me into a hug. “unty lin le go u me!‟‟ ,

said I, my face buried in her bosom. “Oh my, aren‟t you a sight! Is that Ewing workin

you hard again? Damn him and his face that looks like a dime's worth of dog meat! I‟ll

teach him!‟‟, and with that she dragged me off to her cabin. Inside, she put me in a corner

against my will and stripped my naked. She then commenced scrubbing me with a wet

sponge. “ Goddamit!”, I cried. “Am not a babe now for gods sakes women am eleven!” I

was petrified of anyone opening the cabin door and finding me stark naked and dripping

wet.

After she finished scrubbing me until I ached she plumped me on the bed and tenderly

tended to my leg. She even tried to dress me but I snatched my clothes from the woman

before she could begin and hurriedly dressed my self. She looked at me kindly wiht an

amused look on her face and laughed softly. “Oh chip, how yer old aunt loves ya!”

“Really Aunt, five year old lads can wash themselves, and I am ELEVEN, you ought to

stop this” She just laughed at me her jolly laugh and took me off with her, to prepare the



night grub. In her eyes, I have always been a helpless babe, cause, and I am ashamed to

admit, I look like one, and with my bad leg I just can‟t grow in her eyes, and with my

skinny little crippled body, I can‟t prevent her form scrubbing from noon till night

especially if it was her hearts‟ desire.

“Anyway, Chip, how are the wrenches in the hold faring today?”, she asked.

“ Oh, ain‟t better than before. One of the big ones was all shiverin an sick. Two died and

Bancroft threw them overboard to the fishes.”

“The poor suckers, I bet they will be mighty glad when we hit land”.

“Maybe, maybe not”, I answered thoughtfully. “I recon they think that we will gut them

and have them for dinner any time soon.”

Lynne chuckled softly and pulled my ear before I could duck. She then sent me off to

scale the fish that Cuddy, Hank, and Pa had caught earlier in the morning. While I was

working, Hank came over and sat by me to help me. He was Ewing‟s wife‟s slave and

was as deaf as a doorknob. He was the blackest creature I‟ve ever laid my eyes upon, as

black as coal. His teeth were also as white as virgin snow, and it was a shame he couldn‟t

talk so we could see more of them. Even when he smiled he smiled a tight smile that

didn‟t show his teeth. Today he had a black eye and a fat lip. People had no patience with

Hank cause he couldn‟t hear , thus couldn‟t understand quickly. I only hope that nobody

breaks his mighty nice teeth someday, cause that‟ll be a shame. After I finished, Lynne

sent me out of the ship to the captains‟ room with Jed‟s grub.

“Oh, is that you Lame Old Chip”, he said as I opened the door. He was sitting at his desk

peering at some papers. “Is that my dinner? Just leave it on the table there, that‟s a good

boy!”. He turned around and looked me in the eye. “And don‟t dare knock anything down



Layla Khogeer

Little Drops of Sea Water

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