Pirate Passion

AN: This is my story, plot line, characters, blah, blah, blah. After so long I think that you all know the discliamer drill.
On the other hand, I hope that you enjoy this. I had to write a short story for my writer's craft class and this was it. Never fear though, there will be more added on. It doesn't just end like a short story usually does.
Any and all feedback is most appreciated!
ciao,
cope.




Pirate Passion

Chapter One


“Thar she blows cap ‘in! Off the port bow! I sees her cap ‘in!” A man with a toothless smile cried from the crow’s nest. His striped shirt was grungy and streaked with sea salt and grime. He was looking down below to a man with a tri-corn hat resting jauntily upon his head; a parrot perched upon his ornate shoulder, and a hook for a left hand.

“Good work Smee. Now swab the-”

Suddenly the world went black and a howl of outrage could be heard from in front of the unfolding scene.

“Mother, I was watching that! It was just getting to a good part too.” It came from the couch in front of the television set, which was now turned off and starting to cool. The figure sprawled there suddenly was sitting up and a look of outrage was splashed across their round face.

“Don’t ‘Mother’ me Rebecca. It’s Saturday and you should be out doing something rather than sitting here all by yourself watching old pirate movies. I thought that you would have outgrown them by now.” She clucked as she went around tidying the room. Her hair was neatly done in a French twist and she has simple pearl earrings hanging from her ears that went with the necklace she had looped around her long neck.

Rebecca sighed and saw that there was no arguing with her mother. She slowly stood up and in doing so received a swap on her butt from the magazine her mother had just picked up. Rebecca tried to scowl at her mother, play the angry teen, but she never succeeded and today was no different. Instead she tamed her curly black hair as best she could, brushed her cut off jeans, and pulled her striped shirt around so that it was sitting on her torso where it should be. At least it was a happy defeat.

Her mother was smiling at her. “Well, since you’re up you can go and buy a pint of milk from the store. Please, love? I can’t leave your brother here alone while he’s scratching at those chicken pox like he is. Thank god you had them when you were little or we might have an epidemic on our hands.”

“Sure mum. Money’s in your purse right?”

Rebecca’s mother absently nodded her head and started the vacuum cleaner. Any words now would be lost to its sucking sounds.

She sighed and finding the money walked out the side door of their home and headed down the street towards the nearest shop. At least it isn’t raining. She thought while taking her first steps. And with that, great black clouds seemed to open up and spill their entire contents down upon her. I spoke too soon. Rebecca then took off running as fast as she could with her now limited line of sight. Her last thoughts were I wish we were still in Canada, as she ran straight into something dark and hard, and promptly blacked out.

- - - - - - -

Rebecca awoke to the gentle rocking motions that went with a boat…or with her waterbed. She stretched her arms above her head but stopped suddenly when her fingers came into contact with something that had feathers. That’s strange, she thought. I don’t have anything that has feathers. Sitting quickly up, faster than when her mother turned off the TV, she whipped her head around behind her and swallowed a scream with what she saw.

“There’s a bird on my bed. A real, live,
moving bird with orange and green feathers and a black beak. And claws. I’m not crazy. Therefore, this must be a dream.” Rebecca shut her eyes and tried to will herself to wake up. She even tried that saying from The Wizard of Oz. Nothing worked because when she opened her eyes again the bird was still there and it was coming closer. Rebecca even tried to pinch herself but that hurt too much and it didn’t work either.

“Shoo. Shoo birdie. I don’t have any food for you.” She no more than whispered while trying to force the parrot away with her hands. She was afraid that it would bite her though, so she never brought them too close.

“Don’t birdie me lassie. I’m Bob so call me such.” It squawked with a hint of a British accent.

Rebecca just sat there with her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes widening by the second. Sure, she had heard parrots talk before but that was only on TV. And they never had such educated speech like this one, this so-called Bob, had. “I must be crazy after all.” She said without realizing it.

“Nah, you’re not crazy, just here on my captain’s ship. Now close your mouth before the flies make it their home and tell me your name. Then we’ll take you to see the captain and we’ll talk about what to do with you. In fact, talk while you walk because we’re late already.” And with that Bob hopped across the bed and down to the floor where he started to walk out the slightly open wooden door that Rebecca hadn’t noticed before. She had, after all, been caught up with other things.

She unfolded her legs out from under her and gingerly stood up. The ship was still swaying and it took a second or two to adjust with the ever-moving floor beneath her feet. “I’m Rebecca Sheldon,” she managed to get out as she followed Bob down a dingy hallway that was slippery with water and reeked of fish. She noted that everything around her was made of the same dark wood and it made everything look gloomier than it really was. The walls could use a good coat of white paint and the floor could be scrubbed.

“How did I get here anyways?” she asked. “The last thing that I remember was walking to the store to get milk from the store.”

Bob kept walking at a hurried pace. He did, however, turn his head around to say “Yeh ran into the captain when you were walking. He brought you back here and now we set sail for lands unknown. A gypsy woman on a remote island foretold yer arrival many years ago. She said that a lass like you would help us to save the crew in times of peril.”

“So where am I?” She questioned, still unsure of everything that was happening.

“Yer on the Mermaid’s Tail. Now we be sailing through the rift of time and soon we’ll be emergin’ in our territory.” Bob then kept walking and ignored any further questions that Rebecca had. Especially the one that was bothering her most; was she dreaming or was she really in an alternate universe?

Eventually, after being led through the labyrinth of the ship below, Bob stopped at a door that was decorated with gold leafing and knocked with his beak. The door itself was amazingly beautiful and it would have probably put whatever the Queen had in resemblance to shame. There was a pattern upon it as well, but it was too hard to decipher with the fading light. Then, without any warning, the door swung open and a tall, handsome man stood in its place.

He was dressed in fine silk of the deepest red that Rebecca had ever seen. There were silver buckles everywhere. His pants were loosely fitting and were a bright sapphire, leading down to his tall black boots. The last thing that Rebecca noticed was the silver sword dangling menacingly from his right hip. It screamed bloody murder to her and suddenly made it very hard to swallow.

“Come in. I have been expecting you ever since this morning. I trust that Bob was a welcoming host?” He stepped back and allowed me to scamper into the room before he closed the door behind her. Bob hopped in behind me and took flight to a perch once inside.
Rebecca was too busy worrying about her own life hanging in the balance than anything else in the room. However, she found a chair to sit on at the table and kept her head down focusing on her hands in her lap instead of anything else.

“You should eat something.” The captain said and gestured with his hand to the obvious abundance of food sitting on the table that Rebecca had failed to see or smell. Once he said it she could hear her stomach rumble at the notion and raised her eyes to the feast before her.

Greedily she grabbed a plate, and then stopped. She didn’t know this man and for all she knew the food was bad. Also, she didn’t recognize half of what was sitting on the table and therefore didn’t know if she even wanted to eat it. Glancing over at the captain, she saw that he was taking food for himself and concluded that she could do the same and be safe. After all, she was really hungry and had no clue when she had last eaten. Even though she did not know where she was and whom the people were that she was with, a girl can never let herself grow painful from the hunger. After she had eaten her fill, she would address the other problems that she was facing.

Rebecca was just about to take her first bite of her now overflowing plate of unknown food when a shout was heard from above. Thinking nothing of it she bit into a chicken leg, at least she thought it was chicken, but as soon as she swallowed, the cabin door burst open and another man stood there. His clothing was similar to hers in many ways. He was wearing a striped shirt and a pair of ragged pants. His hair was more wind strewn though and he looked muscular and tanned from days spent working on the deck.

“Captain. There’s been an attack from the starboard side. It’s Avery and his men, I could tell by the flag flying. We need you up on deck Captain.” His words were rushed and the urgency of them accentuated by the unevenness of his breath.

The captain hurriedly pushed back his chair and strapped a pistol, which was hanging on the back of his chair, onto his other hip. It was obvious to Rebecca that this had happened a few times but there was something about this one pirate, the man called Avery that seemed familiar. As she ran the name around through her brain she allowed herself to be guided by the arm up to the deck and placed between two crates to conceal her from the battle. The other ship was close now and well within cannon range. The explosions of the large iron beasts made her ears ring from their intensity. Shouts from the other sailors, pirates in true nature, could be heard above the din but one had to strain to hear.

The boat rocked more and more as the waves become choppy with the falling cannon balls. Still the name Avery was just sitting there, waiting to be remembered in full. It was annoying Rebecca to no end and to no avail she couldn’t think. Finally she screamed, though it was not heard over everything else. At least she could help in some way rather than just sitting there because she was a girl. Even though her brain had seemed to stop working, there was still a cornucopia full of pirate knowledge that could be used to her host’s benefit. Quickly she jumped up from her hiding spot and joined the crowd. Knowing that she had no upper body strength to speak of, she kept away from the men who were loading the cannons. So intent was she in finding something to do that she didn’t even realize that they were being boarded and that the man called Avery was right beside her ready to strike a kill. Absentmindedly she turned around to see what was going on behind her and her sight fell upon him.

His hat was sitting on his head as if it had a life of its own. There was a gorgeous plume sticking out of the back and it blended in with the feathers of the parrot sitting on his shoulder. His jacket was one that many a women would have killed for from the delicate nature of the embroidery and the richness of color. The sleeves had white silk spewing forth from them like a waterfall and the left one almost concealed the shiny hook. Almost.

All of a sudden it dawned on Rebecca. Avery was the dreaded pirate from her movie that morning. He was the meanest there ever was and he had more treasure in his island lair than any other pirate. Rebecca was floored at the sheer reality that she was standing in front of him. And that he was about to raise his sword and lash it across her body killing her instantly and then move on to his next victim. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes made her look like a deer caught in headlights. Her mind screamed Run! But her body was unable to execute the simplest function, like moving away from the mad man. She couldn’t even do anything when he reached out and touched her face with his good hand and made her sneeze on him.

Before she could even think, Rebecca was jerked up and away from it all. The boy who had relayed the attack to the captain was the one who swung in like Sinbad and literally swept her off her feet and up onto a platform on the ship’s mast.

“I know him.” She blurted out when he swung her around to look him in the face. “I’ve seen him before on the movies that I watch, or at least someone who looks just like him. He has a bad knee and is always brought to justice when someone hits him there. Or at least he always retreats. He’s also very fond of his parrot Paul and likes strawberry ice cream.”

She was babbling she knew but there was nothing she could do to stop it. When she was nervous she always babbled nonsense. The boy simply smiled a grand smile and kissed her full on her lips before swinging back down and rushing to the Captain.

“I don’t even know your name.” Rebecca whispered as she touched her lips with her trembling fingers. That was before she realized that she was over fifty feet off the ground because then the grabbed the mast and clung to it with all her strength with her eyes firmly closed.

All of a sudden she heard an unearthly howl and the brawl stopped in full. The Captain was standing over a disarmed Avery, who was on his knees in pain, and had his sword pulled and pistol trained on him. Rebecca was too far up to hear what they were saying, but soon after Avery was hoisted back onto his own ship along with his crew and the Captain’s crew let out a mighty cheer.

The boy came up to retrieve her not seconds after Avery had set sail and once she had her feet on somewhat solid ground another cheer erupted the twilight. The men all began to celebrate their victory and each seemed to be giving her welcoming
looks.

The Captain came over and grabbed her into a big hug, which hoisted her feet off the ground once more and spun her around. “Ah ha ha my dear girl! Without you I’m sure that we would all be hanging by our underbellies right now. You gave us the key to win! You knew about Avery’s knee when no one else did. You are a hero!” he kissed her on the cheek and set her down once more. “Pete my dear boy, see this girl to a room and fix her some proper clothing before joining the festivities. We’ll make merry until dawn.”

Another great cheer rumbled through the crew and Pete, which was the boy’s name, grabbed Rebecca by her hand and led her back under the deck. Once inside the dimly lit corridors, he kissed her full on the lips again.

“You are an amazing girl.” He said in wonderment. “You must be a witch to know what you did. And to make those red spots fly onto Avery’s face after he touched you.”

“Red spots?” A confused Rebecca asked. The kiss had dazed her and words were a little hard to form right then.

Pete just shrugged and started to lead her to her new room. Much like the origin of Avery, the spots rang a bell in her mind. Just as Pete opened her tiny cabin door, it hit her like a hammer hits a nail.

“Oh, you must mean chicken pox. My little brother has them and he’s contagious. I must have transferred germs onto Avery. By the way, has all of the crew had them before?”