For those interested, this is how it all began.

grey and gear

From Timothy R. Harrison to You Sent Jan 15, 2013    …

I’ve never been in a monolingual community before. In my birthplace, I heard mostly English but there was always that hint of Italian and Chinese from one or two families living in the neighborhood. I can barely remember any of that though considering that I was eight when I left. Whitechapel could not have been more diverse. Among the English, there was Russian. There was polish. There was Yiddish, Hebrew, and German. There was always a bit of Indian and definitely, most certainly French.…

“ma zeh be anglit?” what is this in English? I rested my hand on the table in the galley. Kolfifa stared at me with a stare of resentment. I raised my eyebrow expectantly. He leaned forward on the bench and rested his head in his lanky crossed arms.  “Yala. Atah rotzei lomed anglit oh lo?” come on. You want to study English or not? I tapped my foot and he remained silent.

“lama?” Why? Kolfifa asked. “Yeshli-“ I have-

“Oti?” me? I cut him off.…

“She smiles when she lies; even if it’s not funny.” David said before taking a long, bubbling drag of the shisha. I shrugged as he let out a breath of lemon mint smoke that disappeared in a cloud.

“That’s not true” Marlow waved.

“ain’t it though?” David replied.

“Alright, Ara. Lie to me.” Marlow  sat up straight and so did I from the cushiony pile of pillows I was leaning on as we smoked shisha in the middle of the main residential area (if you will).  “Lie to me,” he…

Charlotte Bennet: The captain:: 16 years old ::

Arabella Porter : First mate :: 18 years old ::

Mercurian Maxwell: Quarter Master:: 65 years old::

Roderick Bray :: Navigator:: 19 years old::

Dominique L'Overture:: first gunner :: 19 years old

Ezra Kent:: 30 years old

Daniel Potter:: 20 years old.

Zachary Goram:: 22 years old

Marcus Mansfield :: 19 years old

Chanter:: 35 years old

Joseph Ringam:: 28 years…

I had lost track of time while waiting. How long had it been since my captain locked me in the brig? How long had it been? I hadn’t done anything, nothing at all. But still, the crew was so forceful but I don’t know; that could have been because I fought back. Either way, when Chanter finally opened the cell door and let me out, I was right pissed off. We went up to the deck and there, waiting for me, was the entire crew.

“Will you care to explain what the hell that was about?” I…

 We had landed in the upper Galilee, near the city of Tsfat and I shivered in the rainy mountainous air.  We were waiting for Chanter and Dominique to come back from scoping the area for a place to stay. I stood rocking back and forth when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Are you cold?” Bentley asked, walking up next to me. Have you guys met Bentley? Ben’s quite the character. When working, it’s as if he has no morals but when there’s nothing to do, he’s actually one of the cuddliest,…

     “When you to drop me in the nowhere?” Kolfifa asked one night as we were digging into a stir-fry made by Dominique. The whole crew looked up a bit shocked.

      “ma?” What? I asked, not really processing that he spoke English.  He stood up and jumped onto the table in front of me, squatting down and staring sharply.

       “I say, when you to drop me in the nowhere. That your job, no?” He asked slower. I exchanged glances with Marlow who was sitting right next to…

So, I don’t think I’ve ever explained the living conditions of the S.S Silver Widow. Here’s the deal. One fifth (that’s an uneducated guess) of the third lowest deck is for residential space and the only people with their own room are me, captain Bennet, Mercurian, Roderick, and Dominique due to some sort of deal with the captain that was made when she first joined the Widow. I know nothing about it and she doesn’t say anything about it so, therefore, I don’t ask.

When you walk down…

“Kolfifa means monkey” I pointed out, staring blankly at the lanky Israeli man swinging from the crow’s nest to the stern of the airship we had come across. “Why is he called kolfifa?” I asked.

“I’m sorry,” The captain of hasod shachor started sarcastically, “Do you not see how this man gets around?” He gestured to Kolfifa again even though I was already watching him climb up the mast of the ship and swing from net segment to net segment that was attached to the balloon of the…

        “Aurelian, I have to go.” I threw the dirty rag in the sink behind the bar after wiping up a few crumbs and I pulled the string of my apron.  Outside, the white chapel fog was thick and green street lamps glowed in the dark air. But the ten bells tavern glowed golden and warm, reflecting off the light wooden bar which we tried very hard to keep clean (not that it was a very clean place). Thursday night was quiet and I had told Leander that I would meet him in an alley on Osborne St.…

“It was dark, right? He’s not the same guy.” Roderick assured me, shuffling a recently read book onto its shelf. I stood in his doorway with a hand on the frame.

“You’re wrong. How many guys his size do you see on a daily, Roderick. This is bullshit. He’s not who he says he is.” I told him. Roderick just shook his head and laughed.

“Yes,” He said sarcastically, “Joannes, a pirate. Just because he’s a big man does not mean that he’s a criminal.”

 “That has nothing to do…

 Not even a pinch. It was a clear, massive squeeze. I tensed up, gasping in as the unlucky person behind me got a good feel. I smiled at Dominique who grinned, sipping her drink and winked at her before putting my hands in the back pockets of my trousers. I turned around and bent one knee, facing the massive Israeli man behind me.

“ahh zeh atah.”it’s you. I said, pretending to flirt. He grinned looking back at his pals before turning back to me.

“At ohevet zion?” He…

“What are the odds of you calling chanter, sugartits for the rest of the day.” Ezra asked with a smug grin on his smug face. We sat in the galley, my tarot deck shuffling in my hand. I pulled a card. “come on then, Ara, what’s it say?”

“It says you’re a cheeky little cunt.” I sighed with a sweet smile and stared at the card, “it also says I’m going to push you off the starboard side.” A giggle escaped through the back of my mouth as I put put the card back in the deck. Ezra…

 Breakfast on the widow has changed because of the following sgtory, making me happy EVERY morning since last week.

  I crashed my way into the galley of our target, the terrified chef in the galley, spinning around. Outside, my men were making immature battle cries and I jumped a little when I heard Dominique shooting a crew member some distance behind me. I smiled,

“Ani rotzah l’echol mashehu.” I want to eat something, I told him before the smile washed…

      “Why aren’t we selling anything?”

“This is how pirates originally lived. Shekels are no used to us back in England so we have to take what we have and use it for ourselves.”

 “ani rotzah l’echol mashehu.”

“Ara, I can’t understand Hebrew.”

 “Je veux manger un chose.”

“English, Arabella.”

I slammed the table.

“I want to eat something!” I yelled and held my stomach as it growled. My captain shook her head before staring at the empty bowl in…

   “Ara,” I snapped my head around from my desk to see Dominique panting in the doorway. “where is my gun?” she asked in her thick french accent.

         “how the fuck am I to know?” I replied, turning back to my writing. Dominique rushed to my desk and started opening drawers frantically.

            “Your fucking koala takes everything and he’s the only crewmember who would even think about stealing her.”  I stood up.

            “Hey,” I said, “arretez, maitenant. Je…

 We like to drink with Ara

Cause Ara is our mate

And when we drink with Ara

She drinks it down in

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A cold drink of god knows what ran down my throat as I rushed to get it all down before I slammed down the glass, my mouth twisting into a spiral. Qetura, a pub in the Arava valley in the negev desert on the border between Israel and Jordan was congested with drunk…

Once they reached outside in the cool autumn air, Ara stopped remembering the look that Tim gave her. She thought for a moment. Am I really a good friend? … NAH. She turned to Brielle,

"Listen, love, I forgot I promised myself I'd do something before I left tonight." She said, "Why don't you wait inside while I..."she took a moment, "do what I have to do," she finished, scurrying back inside. She rushed upstairs," be right back!"

Brielle stood outside in the cool…