Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

Jack laughed. “That’s a refreshing way of looking at it. Claudius
as the heroic savior of Denmark, and Hamlet as the dithering villain.”
He took another drink, then offered the canteen to her. She took a sip,
and handed it back.
“How many more days to reach Antigua?” she asked.
He shrugged. “A few days, perhaps a week, at most. Depending
on the wind, as you’ve doubtless learned by now.”
Ayisha nodded. “Then I shall need more work to keep me busy.
May I look through your sea chest, to see what needs mending?”
“Sure,” he said. “Chamba knows where I keep the key.”
“Good,” she said. “I know I do not have to do this, Jack. But it’s
something I can do, and it helps pass the time. Life at sea can be…”
She searched for a suitable word. “All the same, every day. What is the
word?”
“Monotonous? Tedious? Dull? Unvarying? Tiresome? Boring?”
She laughed. “Thank you. I believe monotonous is the term I shall
choose.”
Ayisha spent the better part of the next three days, on and off,
mending the entire contents of Jack’s sea chest—stitching up every
ripped seam, every ragged tear, and patching all the holes. She even
picked out his own clumsy attempts at mending and re-did them neatly.
When she finished the clothing, she darned all of his stockings. Then
she did the same thing with Robby’s sea chest.
Neither Ayisha nor Tarek left the Wicked Wench during her stay in
Antigua. Free blacks were so unusual that they were in danger of
being accosted by local authorities, who might well demand to see
their official papers—and, of course, they had none. So the two
Zerzurans perforce remained aboard, watching the off-loading, then
the loading, of cargo.
Chamba did take shore leave, but was under strict orders from
Jack to remain with his mates at all times. “I have no papers for you,
lad,” Jack reminded him. “So if you got picked up as a runaway, I’d
have a bloody difficult time getting you released, savvy?”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
Ayisha watched Chamba head off down the gangplank, in the
company of his mates. She sighed, thinking of how good it would feel