One morning, when I am feeling poorly with the seasickness and with me troubling dreams, is me turn to be up on deck. I notice James Smith walk up to the railing, hold on tight. But him don’t seem to mind how the ship rocking and rolling. Him must be see how sick I is because him come up to me, stand close by.

‘See that line?’ pointing way off in the distance to the place where it seem like the sky reaching down to claim the sea. ‘Must look there,’ him tell me. ‘Help steady the seasickness, the weakness in you knees.’

I do as him tell me and after a while, is true, I start to feel a little better.

When I get sent back down into the hold, I nod to him as we move past and him nod back. Pretty soon after, whenever we up on deck, we seek each other out. Is how we get to be friends, come to watch each other backs. And when we up on deck, we start to exchange stories, memories from our life, before grey skies and stormy weather overtake us.

Him listen good when I tell him the many things Calla told me, but I never speak much bout Stella or Massa. I never seem able to talk bout what happen. Instead I ask him bout his mother and him tell me how she have five pickney and each one got sold off to a different massa.

‘I got lucky, sold to a good massa. Him even let me learn how to read and write. Own plenty horses,’ James say. ‘Have a big track on him plantation, like to race dem. And as I grow, it turns out me good with horses. Know how to quiet dem down when they get frightened, nervy. Know how to teach dem tricks.’

‘How you do it?’ I ask.

‘Tell Massa me know how to talk to dem,’ and him wink at me.

Make me laugh, remember Calla and her winking ways.

‘You don’t believe me, eh?’

‘Me believe you. Horse talk. Must be the same as cow talk,’ and I remember how I used to listen to all the mama and the baby cows call out to each other in the pasture.

‘Is a good thing, because me like the company of animals better than the company of men.’

‘Is how come you end up here?’

James nod, smile a sad smile. Seem to be lost in the memory of it. ‘Get tricked into lending a horse to a man me think me can trust. Except the man take the horse don’t come back. And when it get discovered, the finger point at me. Make it look like me the thief. Me tell the tale to Massa and him believe me, but the horse and man gone, so me get done for the crime.’