"Pirates Marooned"

[dwgm]

Was Googling for the Howard Pyle artwork that viva_gloria uses for her Marooned icon and came up with the pic below, by graphic artist Ashley Auld, who kindly gave me permission to post it here, along with the link to a whole bunch more she's done. Very nice work! I particularly liked the Sea Turtles one, but the Marooned one goes along with the story below. Seems gryphons_lair posted a challenge in which one is to explain what exactly Jack bartered to get passage off that island (and it can't be sex). She posted a clever solution today, and I made up one, too, which is also All Conversation, the current drabble challenge at Black Pearl Sails. This is no drabble, but it's not terribly long so I thought it would qualify.

It’s All Who You Know
 

“Who the devil’re you?”

“Captain Jack Sh-sh-Sparrow. At your service.”

“Bloody hell! ‘E’s been guzzlin’ our rum!”

“Shut up, Smoot, we’ve got eyes an’ ears, ain’t we? Not to mention noses! Captain, eh. Captain Sparrow? Where’s yer ship, Captain Sparrow? If ye don’t mind me askin’? Or even if ye do!”

“It’s…gone. Over there. Thataway. But I’ll be getting’ ‘er back, don’t worry about that. What I need from you gents is a passage off this godforsaken…”

“It ain’t.”

“Eh?”

“Godforsaken. It’s a right fine island. Perfect fer stashin’ rum. Or was. ‘Til you showed.”

“Apologies. It’s that an’ coconuts. Wha… wha... what would you?”

“Mmm. So why shouldn’t we finish what those other fellas started?”

“Eh?”

“There must o’ been a reason they left ye to rot here, Captain. And ye’ve been suckin’ down our profits fer a few days, from the looks o’ things.”

“We’ve killed men for less.”

“That’s right. We ‘ave.”

“That right?”

“Aye.”

“I see. I do, really. Completely understandable. D’ye know Phineas McCollough?”

“What?”

“Who the blazes is…”

“Wait. Mayor Phin? Of Tortuga?”

“Me best friend. Assure you.”

“Oh, aye?”

“Aye. Like a father he is to me. Or an uncle. Or first cousin at least. Could put in a word for you. Best market for rum in the Caribbean, mate. An’ I’ve sampled yours, y’know. Good s-stuff.”

“You’ve ol’ Phin’s ear, do you?”

“I do. And much of the rest of ‘im, as well, at times. My word on’t.”

“The rest of ‘im!”

“Strictly platonic, of course.”

“Ah. Platonic. What do ye think o’ that Smoot?”

“I think ‘e’s a bloody liar.”

“As do I.”

“Gentlemen! Please!”

“Please what?”

“My word! Take it! Without the grain of salt, I beg. Good as gold.”

“Gold. Like those teeth o’ yourn?”

“P-precisely.”

“All right, then. We’ll take ye to Tortuga, Captain Sparrow. But if that word o’ yourn proves less than gold, we’ll maybe take them teeth as are, savvy?”

“Oh, indisputably. Unarguably. I savvy, completely. But truly, it’s a moot point. As it were.”

“Humph.”

 

 

~.~

 

Comments

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked it. It was really late when I wrote it, so I wasn't sure it was working as well as I hoped. The feedback is most reassuring, thank goodness.

Sending you the next chapter of Harry IV to look at this morning. I hope that is working too--Lord knows I've struggled with it long enough. And there's not even that much going on in it. Must move on!