Stormy Seas Part 2

  I passed by the tavern as the lamps were being lit. I had seen nowhere else to get myself dinner so I went in. My shipmates were there, as I had expected.

“Eldon!” Ray called. He had a young woman seated on his lap with her arms around his neck. “I thought you'd come!”

I sat across the table from him, beside Ameya. “Hungry?” he asked with his usual smile.

“Starved,” I said.

“The soup, the soup is good,” he said. “You should try.”

“Food always tastes better your first day on land after a long voyage,” Victor belched. A woman set another tankard of beer on the table in front of him.

“Soup please,” I called to her as she passed by.

“What've you got?” Ray asked me.

“Bread,” I responded. “I got tired of ships biscuits.”

The others laughed understandingly.

A large bowl of soup was placed before me. “Thanks,” I said appreciatively. I grabbed the spoon and swallowed a chunk of cooked meat nearly whole.

“This sailor has a good appetite,” a female voice beside me said. I glanced up and saw that the woman who had left the soup was still standing there. I wasn't sure what to say in response so I laughed. “What's your name sailor?” she asked coyly.

“Mr. Elderton,” Ameya said from my other side.

“Eldon,” I corrected. I was starting to think he truly could not say my name.

“Aren't you sort of young to be sailing with rough men like this?” she asked me.

Victor snorted into his mug.

“They're a fine crew to sail with,” I said truthfully. Young indeed! Was what I thought. I was nineteen and there were scores of cabin boys younger than that.

I turned back to the soup. The smell of it had reminded me of how hungry I was, despite the pastry earlier.

“You're on land for a few days though?” she ran a finger down my arm.

“May I eat?” I asked her coldly. She harumphed away.

I swallowed a bite of potato.

“Owch,” Ray commented.

I realized that everyone at the table was silently staring at me. Ray turned back to the girl and Victor to his mug. Ameya was still leaning toward me.

“The soup is good, yes?”