Ordinary Man

After seven months of learning how to live the life of an ordinary family man and getting re-acquainted with his trained profession, Will thought he was doing quite well for himself; He was telling his wife he loved her, helped her to fold the fresh sheets, he walked to the baker's with his son, and it didn't feel like he was merely playing a game at all, not anymore. 



Watching Liam shield his eyes and lean against the window to better see into the shop they were passing, Will's eye caught a slumped form on the crossing alley-way. 



A beggar, he thought, there were increasing numbers of them, pouring in from the coastal cities, old sailors trying to find their luck on land since it had ran out on the seas. Pirates fleeing to inlands with the East Indian Trading Company snapping on their heels like rabid bloodhounds. 



The man, dressed in tattered rags for clothes, and a tricorn hat on his head, seemed to be counting his meagre possessions - a few coins - over and over again, then coming to a total and chuckling to himself resignedly. 



When the man lifted his gaze, almost as if sensing Will standing there, and their eyes met, Will paralyzed for a beat, then called his son to come along. 



He told Liam his mother was waiting for them and they had to hurry, barely resisting the urge to yank the boy by the arm and haul him away. 



Almost bursting into running, his heart pounding, Will decided that he hadn't recognized the sound of the beggar's sad laughter, convinced himself that he hadn't seen the glint of gold in the man's mouth. Somehow Will succeeded in forcing himself to believe that he hadn't just looked into the eyes of Jack Sparrow.