Chapter 10, part 3

Suddenly Brielle and Jimena started laughing at something they were saying, and they pulled me out of my thoughts. I stirred in my seat, annoyed. I wanted to leave there. I was worried that the lie we had told them might be revealed. We shouldn't have any trucks with Jimena and Alma. Like with no one else on this boat.

We had to keep the required distance from everyone to keep our secret safe.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Jimena jumped out of her chair.

"What is it?" Brielle asked.

"We have to take food to the captain. The time for his meal has come."

My stomach tightened at the sound of the captain.

"I prepare a tray for him and Alma takes it to his cabin." as she was speaking, she put the tray on the bench and started to fill it. I watched her adopting an indifferent look. I hoped it was.

She placed a large plate full of the boiled beef and vegetables the same we had eaten too, two small jugs, one with water and the other with wine - a glass and cutlery.

"Okay, Alma. The tray is ready. "You can take it," she announced.

"Em, I am sorry, Jimena," I said somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes, Serena?" she answered and looked at me.

"You didn't add some of the sweet on the tray, and I wondered if you forgot it."

Jimena smiled. "No, I didn't forget it. Our captain doesn't eat sweets. He doesn't like them."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Is there a person in the world who doesn't like sweets?

It seems that exists!

Alma approached her mother and took the tray from her hands. She headed to the kitchen exit, passing through the space of the empty seats on the table; I don't know how but before she could get out of the kitchen, I saw her swinging and falling to the floor. The tray slipped from her hands and fell to the floor with force.

The clay jugs and the plate broke with a loud bang, and the kitchen filled with scattered food, wine, and water. But that was the least.

Alma started crying and screaming, saying that her ankle hurt, and her mother ran to her full of worry. I thought I had to do something and so I went near to Alma too.

"What is it Alma? What is the matter?" Jimena asked her, obviously anxious.

"My ankle mother," said the girl crying. "I stumbled on the unequal level created by those two defective woods. I forgot it was there because I always go from the other side of the table."

Oh! And this time, she had to go the other way because of me and Brielle blocking her way. Because of us, she got injured.

"Let me help you get up. Serena, can you grab her by the other armpit?"

"Yes, of course," I said, crouching over Alma.

Jimena grabbed her by one armpit and waist, and I grabbed her by the other armpit. We picked her up, and her scream pierced my ear.

"I can't step on it. It hurts so much."

The pain left her out of breath.

Her breathing came out fast and sharp. The poor girl must have suffered.

"Serena help me sit her on the chair," Jimena told me, and I obeyed.

After sitting her down, Jimena arranged her and put Alma's aching leg in the second chair.

"Go and call the doctor," Jimena ordered me.

"Do you have a doctor here on the boat?"

"Yes. He must be on the deck. Go and tell him to come. In the meantime, I will clean up here before he comes and sees this mess."

"Okay." I said and left in a hurry.

I climbed the three steps and found myself on deck. The men loading the boat weren't around. Only when I got to the deck did I remember that Jimena hadn't told me the doctor's name, but, in my haste, neither had I asked her about.

I took a few steps looking around for anyone who could help me find the doctor, but no one came. Finally, I saw a man smoking a pipe while he was musing the sea. I approached him. He was a middle-aged man. His hair was quite gray, and he had started to have a tummy.

"Excuse me," I said and turned his gaze on me. "Are you the ship's doctor?"

He took the pipe out of his mouth. "Yes. Who are you? I haven't seen you before."

"It's not the time now. Alma needs you. She hit her ankle. She's in the kitchen." I told him quickly.

"What?" he rolled his eyes. "What happened to our little girl? I'm going immediately to see her. Hold this," he told me, putting his pipe in my hands and left.

What did I have to do this thing?

I followed him to the kitchen.

"Get out with this filthy thing," Jimena told me sharply. "Alma can't endure the smoke."

"Oh! Forgive me, I'm leaving." I answered, turning back while the doctor was already leaning over Alma's aching leg.

I got on deck. The awful smell of smoke started to bother me too. I couldn't just leave it somewhere. The doctor had trusted it to me.

I was looking around when I suddenly heard a voice behind me.

"I didn't know that you smoke." I turned and saw Ian smiling at me. His hands were tucked in his trouser pockets.

"What?" I looked at him in astonishment. "Oh, no! The pipe is not mine. The doctor abandoned it to my hands."

He raised his eyebrows. "The doctor? But for what reason?"

"Alma got injured. I came to warn him and he put it in my hands and left."

"Did Alma got ingured?" he asked anxiously.

"Yes, her angle. I don't know more details."

"Where is she?" he asked me, running his hand through his hair.

"In the kitchen."

He headed there without giving me time to ask him about the pipe and what to do with it.

I sighed and sat on the steps laying the pipe on the floor next to me.

I rested my elbows on my knees and thrust my chin into my fists.

At one point, I heard knocks on a door and Ian's voice.

"Captain, Captain!" Ian cried.

The door slammed open "What's up, Ian?" That was the captain's voice, and I immediately felt the effect it had on me. My heart started pounding.

"Alma hit her ankle. Fracture said the doctor. We need help to carry her to her room. "

"Did Alma hit? And you are telling me now?" the captain yelled.

"I just got informed about it too."

"Let's go," said the captain, and they left.

After a while, a jumble of talks reached my ears as they came out of the kitchen carrying Alma. They instructed each other for better and more comfortable transport of the injured girl.

They safely took Alma to her room and went out into the corridor again.

"Do you smell tobacco smoke?" asked the captain.

Oh! My eyes widened. I didn't want them to realize that I was sitting on the steps. I should have left, but now it was too late.

"Yes indeed, it does smell tobacco smoke," Ian replied.

A moment later, they were standing in front of me. I got up from my seat.

"Do you smoke?" the captain asked, narrowing his eyes.

I swallowed hard, shaking my head sharply that 'no.'

"Oh! Yes, now I remember," said Ian. "The pipe belongs to the doctor."

"To the doctor? And how did it get into your hands?" the captain asked, looking at me sharply in the eyes.

Why all this interrogation about a damn pipe?

"He left it in my hands when I went to inform him about Alma."

"Did you know about the Alma?" his eyes sparkled with anger.

"Yes," I stuttered.

"Why didn't you come to let me know right away?" he scolded me.

"I didn't know…that I had to," I stuttered again in a trembling voice. I felt the tears amassing.

"What do you mean you didn't know? What's on your mind?" he hollered.

"Calm down, Captain," Ian grabbed him by the shoulders. "Leave the girl, it's not her fault. They order her to call the doctor. She doesn't yet know how things work on the ship. It's unfair that you shout at her," Ian told him to calm him down while leading him to his cabin. They entered the cabin and closed the door.

Tears began to flow uncontrollably from my eyes. Why should he treat me like that?

I left the pipe behind me.

I didn't care about anything anymore. I ran to my room, fell face down on the bed, and started crying.

It had been a long time, and I had calmed down. All my tears had dried.

The door opened, and Brielle entered. When she noticed my condition, she immediately ran to me.

"You have been crying. Why? What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened."

"Did anyone hurt you? Just tell me who and I will… »

"It was the captain." I interrupted her.

"What a coincidence! I'm coming from captain's cabin. Did you know what he wanted from me? That's why the crying? It couldn't be otherwise Serena."

"Wait Brielle, I don't understand what you are saying. I entreated her. What did captain want?"

"She wanted to ask me, now that Alma will be stuck in bed for a while because of her ankle, you to take over her duties. He assured me that the chores you have to do are not heavy, and that you will mainly have to deal with him."

I jumped out of bed, upset. "WHAT??!!"