Level 2

CHAPTER 3 – WOMAN

I was young and strong. I became a slave to the captain of the pirates. I felt very sad. Slaves had a horrible life. They had to work hard.

I worked every day for many hours. I worked in the house or in the garden. The captain told me what to do.

I didn’t like the work. I wanted to change my situation. I wanted to be free again.

One day, I met a young woman in the house. She was so beautiful. She was also a slave. She cleaned the house.

I tried to speak to her. She didn’t speak my language. But I felt that she understood me.

I liked her very much. She was very attractive. When she saw me, she smiled at me.

Sometimes she touched me when she was close to me. But it was only a short moment. If the captain saw it, he could send her away.

I thought about her very often. I wanted to meet her every day. But she wasn’t in the house every day.

When I thought about her, I felt a nice feeling in my heart. I thought that I loved that woman. I felt that she was my girlfriend and I was her boyfriend. But our relationship was complicated. We couldn’t be officially together. Slaves couldn’t have relationships. It was so sad.

The captain sometimes took me with him when he wanted to catch some fish. A young boy and I helped him fish. We used a small boat. Sometimes we fished with somebody from his friends.

One day, fog was around our boat. We saw nothing. We were lost. We tried to get to land the whole day and night. We got to land the next morning.

When we were back home, the captain told us to use a bigger boat. The bigger boat was better for longer journeys.

One day, the captain gave me instructions, “Put more food and drinks on the boat. Bring some guns too.”

He waited for important guests. He wanted to catch fish with the guests. They also wanted to hunt animals after the fishing. But the guests never came. Then, the captain told me, “Prepare the boat for fishing for the next day.”

This was my opportunity to run away. A lot of guns and food were on the boat. I prepared the boat for fishing as usual. But I left the guns and food on the boat. The next day I could run away. This was my plan.

I thought about the young woman. I wanted to take her with me. But I didn’t know how to do it. It wasn’t possible to take her on the boat. I was sad. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be free. But my heart wanted to be with her.

Then the morning came. I hoped that I could see the young woman in the house. Then I saw her. She was the most beautiful woman in my life.

When I looked at her, our eyes met. She knew that something was different. Maybe she understood that this was our last moment together. She looked deeply in my eyes. She touched my hand. I felt that she understood. Her face was sad. My face was sad too. She smiled at me a little. Then she went away. This was the last moment when I saw her.

One hour later, we were ready. I and the boy went to the boat. One of the captain’s friends went with us. He was our boss for that day.

WORDS FROM CHAPTER 3