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James was sitting in his cabin. He was going through the charts - again. He couldn’t sleep and it was all he could do. The past didn’t let him be. The sea was calm and lit by the moon. Maybe it was the silence and peacefulness that bothered him.
He heard a faint scratch. It was an odd sound, not usual to the ship. There it was again. James rose from his chair and walked to the door. The crew should be at sleep, no-one should be needing him at this hour. He opened the door and peeked out. No-one. Then he noticed a cat sneak in. It was the cat Billy had rescued from Tortuga. Skinny little fellow, much like Billy had been.
“What are you doing here? Go back to Billy. I have nothing for you here.”
James followed the cat trying to catch it. Of course he couldn’t. The cat searched the whole cabin. There was not a nook or cranny it didn’t investigate. James sighed realizing it was no use, he could not do nothing to the cat. He sat back down to his table and charts and poured himself some rum. After a while he felt a slight pump against his leg. It was the cat. It jumped to the table - the only part of the cabin not yet investigated - and walked slowly over James’ papers.
“Hey, do you mind?” He said to the cat trying to push it away.
The cat moved to edge of the table. It sniffed the rum and backed away horrified.
“You don’t like that, huh?” James said amused by the cat’s reaction. “I told you, I have nothing for you here.”
The cat looked back at him. It blinked and walked closer.
“What do you want?”
James didn’t know what to do. There was always cats on the ships to keep the rodents away, but they had never paid no attention to him - or he to them.
The cat pushed his head against James’ hand resting on the table. He petted the cat and it liked it. James smiled.
“You’re funny little fellow aren’t you.”
The cat let James pet it for a while and moved back to the edge of the table and sat down. It licked its paw and started washing its head.
“You fine there? I can go back to my business?” James asked the cat.
There was no answer so James looked at his papers again. A small clang distracted him. The cat was looking down to the floor.
“What…?” James started.
Another small clang. The cat had pushed two of his rings form the table. He rarely removed them but tonight they had felt heavy and suffocating. Much like the memories keeping him awake.
“Hey, don’t do that! What’s wrong with you?” He huffed and picked the rings from the floor and slid them to his fingers.
The cat had now moved on to his rum and was slowly pushing the class towards the edge inch by inch.
“Whoa! Stop it right there!” James exclaimed and lifted the cat from the table just in time to rescue the rum from falling down.
The cat purred and tried to climb to James’ shoulder sniffing his neck. It tickled and James let out a small chuckle. He walked to the window seat and sat down. The cat stayed in his lap and James petted it. He could feel the bones through its fur. It had clearly been starving before Billy had found it. The man truly was too good for this world.
James lifted his legs to the seat and rested his head against the wall. The cat was demanding to be pet and he couldn’t refuse it. He could feel his eyelids getting heavy. The cat purred and moved in his lap trying to find a better position. It finally settled resting against James’s chest. He liked the warm feeling the cat gave. The gentle motion of the ship and the sound of the cat purring was slowly lulling him to sleep.