I wake with a slight headache and dry-mouth but neither is debilitating. I get up trying to stretch my stiff muscles from basically being comatose for eight hours. I make my way down to the bar to speak with the madam.

As I make my way through the streets I can’t help but worry about the prospect of someone knowing what I did last night. Being stoned to death by the populace would be a shitty way to lose you’re ‘gimme’ life in this game. But, as I make it to the bar door I realize that probably won’t happen. I’m in a different time. I mean, who actually cares about that sick fuck we killed last night? Maybe his mother but even that is debatable.

I look around for the madam, but I almost shit all over myself as she taps my shoulder as she says, “Here boy, follow me.”

She leads me to a back room. Where she pulls back her hood to reveal a an sun-aged face, but beautiful all the same, minus the nose. Which, she then pulls a piece of shaped wax off of. She gives me a crisp nod and professional smile.

“Before we begin, I’d appreciate some discretion with my appearance. It’s much easier to control the patrons if they worry about leaving here with a curse.” I nod and she visibly relaxes. She gives me a warm smile and begins speaking softly, “I heard about the young boy on your crew. It’s truly unfortunate when the young are taken from us so young.”

“Thank you, I am pretty new to the crew, but it seems like he was a good kid. The crew is taking it hard.”

She gives me a curious look, “Captain Zijde seems to value you highly. What did you do to earn that man's favor so quickly?”

I chuckle while scratching the back of my head, “Eh, I’m nothing special. I just want to see the crew succeed.”

She starts cackling at my answer, “There’s no need to be modest boy. Single handedly taking a ship is quite an achievement.” She laughs even harder when she sees my surprise, “I don’t think a single person on on that ship didn’t brag about their newest member. You seem to have the respect of one of the most feared crews in the Caribbean.”

I just chuckle as I wait for her to continue.

She shakes her head as she smiles, “Heh, you’re quite modest for a pirate. Especially one so capable. Anyhow, on to business. The girl will be here in a few hours. I would suggest the young man be waiting on her. First impressions are important.”

I nod in agreement as I tell her I’ll go find him.

“May I suggest a bath and grooming him first?”

“Of course madam.”

She smiles warmly as I walk through the door. It takes me about an hour to find him as he, and most of the crew, are passed out in a large abandoned stable on the other side of town. I find Billy fairly easily, but only because he’s passed out upside down on a hay bale.

I try to shake him awake, but he won’t even budge. I find a bucket of water and dump it on him. He tries to jolt upwards, but it just causes him to somersault backwards into the mud puddle I just made. He starts spitting and sputtering tying to get his bearings.

I squat downs to get eye-level with his muddy face, “It’s your big day champ, let’s get you cleaned up.”

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Billy quickly goes from bewilderment, to anger, to excitement. Which is every bit as funny as it sounds.

He start panicking, “Shit, shit, shit, what time is it? Why did I drink so much! Fuck…”

I throw my head back laughing, “Easy man, you’re good. You got a couple hours. We need to get you cleaned up and get you shaved.”

I nod for him to follow me and we go find a inn with a bath. We walk through the doors and the bartender in the back instantly turns his nose up at us, “Can I help you?”

The disdain he feels for us is clear. I guess I’d feel the same way if I saw someone with a disfigured face and a boy covered in mud walk through the door.

I stroll up and lay half of a piece of eight on the counter, “Can I get the kid a bath and a haircut? I’d also like a drink of rum.”

The bartender instantly changes his tune, “Of course Sir! Here is a glass of rum!”

He pours several shots of rum in a glass and barks, “Oi, run a bath a bath and get your ass out her and clean the front!”

About 10 minutes later a woman probably around mid 30s comes out to find Billy. She shows him the way to the back and returns with a soap bucket. As she cleans the front of the place, the man starts to strike up a conversation.

“So, whose crew are you apart of?”

I give him a bored look before I take a drink of my rum, and I notice the lack of burn down my throat, “What makes you think I’m apart of a crew?”

“You seem to be well off, and you have a pretty painful looking injury…”

“And I have money. I’m apart of the ‘Going Swiftly’, know it?”

He gets a greasy looking grin on his face, “Oh it’s one of the finest crews in the West Indies! Hey, do you think you could talk to the captain? I hear he loves to hear about good investments. I think I have one.”

In the most deadpan voice I could muster, “If you’re gonna water down rum this bad my Captain won’t want anything to do with you.”

The man pales as he starts frantically looking underneath the cabinet, “Oh I must have accidently poured from the wrong bottle. I’ll find it momentarily.”

About that time Billy comes out from the back, “Oh that feels so much better. How much more time we got?”

Looking at Billy, “I’d say we have an hour and a half.” I look towards the bartender, “How much do I owe you for the bath?”

He looks up at me with sweat beading up on his face, “L-lets just call it even.”

I give him my best smile, “Yes, let’s do that. After the boy gets his haircut.”

“Oh! Yes of course. Just follow Mary through here and we’ll get you fixed up.” He turns to Mary, “Get your old ass in there and give the boy a trimmin’ and make it good.”

I watch her clip the long light brown curls off Billy’s head into a much more manageable shape. Then she starts to lather his face with just a simple soap. SHe surprises me as she shaves his face with speed that can only come from years of shaving other people. After she was done Billy is hardly recognizable. He was deeply tan from working on the ship, which matched his light brown hair. His jawline was actually pretty sharp once you got rid of all the awful looking peach fuzz. Of course getting rid off all the mud did wonders as well.

I walk up chuckling, “Damn boy! You clean up really nice. You’d make a nun blush if you weren’t careful.” I look towards the woman, “Mary right? Thank you. The boy needed it bad. Here is something for your good work.”

I hand her my last gold doubloon. Her eyes get huge as she takes it. The first thing she does is looks towards the bartender. I look back and I can almost feel the grease from his expression. He quickly changes it, but I know what is going to happen as soon as I walk out.

I lock eyes with him as I address Mary, “Just so you know, that is for you and you alone. If someone tries to take it from you just come get me. I’m apart of Captain Zijde’s crew, and I’ll ‘deal’ with whoever it might be.”

The lack of color on the bartender’s face tells me I shouldn’t have to worry about much. I look back to Mary before I leave, “Just so you know. The crew might want to get a good trim. I’ll ask around and if you don’t mind getting the stuff together I’m sure you could make a lot of money.”

She blushes and tells me she’d appreciate that as we walk out. The look of confusion on Billy’s face is priceless as we make our way down the street, “Did I miss something Utah?”

“Hahaha, no. You didn’t miss anything. Just putting a prick in his place is all.”

I look at Billy and almost facepalm myself. I stop just short of slapping my tore up face, but I almost let Billy embarrass himself in muddy rags, ”So Billy, you planning on meeting her in that?”

He looks down at himself and shrugs his shoulders, “Awe hell Utah, you’ve already done so much for me. I can’t really ask you for clothes to ya know.”

I chuckle and give him a nonchalant smile, “It’s fine bud. Here, take these pesos and get yourself some clothes. I’ll meet you at the bar.” He takes the money while nodding his head in thanks. He runs off in a seemingly random direction to get clothes.

I yell after him, “You only got 30 minutes. You better hurry!”

He raises his hand to show he heard me and speeds up a bit. As I make my way over to the bar I can’t help but wonder how this is going to go. In the end I just tell myself that I’ve done all I can. The rest is up to Billy.