A lost boy rolls out of his pram. A pirate is thrown out of his life. Oh, yes Hank was once a boy in a pram or perhaps a man in a gingerbread house. Hank either way had roots of a kind and a name. Now he's only a childish taunt like magpies circling a desperate farmer's fields. He had a real name - like Calvin or Martin or Jakim.
Yes he thinks fastening on the blasted contraption - 'my name was Jakim.' And once there was a house by the river and yes it cost too much but times were good. Everything looked like gold and childhood dreams on the rise - and it was what Sarah wanted. And Sarah never wanted for anything.
"Not if I could help it." Never if he could help it. Because there was a way the light touched her cat stone eyes like a pearl of language; like an oasis in an endless desert. There was a way her lips quirked that raised a maybe/almost dimple ever so sweet. 'A way her body felt next to mine.'
It's heavy the contraption - the 'Hook'. Lost that hand and 'I should have never married you!' Eyes ugly and the pearl spoiled. 'I'm sorry but you are six months past due.' The dreams crumbled and soiled. 'The baby didn't make it.' 'Cutbacks you understand.' Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
But he could have made it. Was trying to hold on when - It's knowing, god it's knowing there's no way down. Knowing that below is the endless ocean of time with all the creatures Damnation and Despair and Delirium can manufacture. It's seeing her slamming down on his cock, the balding bastard you called friend and boss. It's hearing your heartbeat when it's all over except the screaming because, oh its red and wet and it's in your mouth!
Even then, even then your grip was as sure as we'd always thought it was but the same hand and then instead of a sob you laughed. Fool you laughed and for a moment you were a boy falling out the pram. Neverland kid bright like her eyes - now still and glassy - and you forget that quick. Remember just as the smiling boy - Peter/Paul/Hakim - appears to scowl magnificently because he thought you another boy-feather in his cap. But you instead are a jaded man.
One hand. One swipe - thoughtless boy - and you fall into the blue. Fall and they fish you out because they'll always need a captain. Because you're obviously the one-hand man, and look how it gleams. "My name was Jakim." Oh… but there's no one here to agree.