Lovelorn
By: Redpippin
Oh, how I miss my pirate's big, calloused hands on my soft leather exterior. He wasn't as bad as he pretended to be. He really did enjoy my company. Sure, there were the bad times. He cursed at me, threw me, stomped on me and bent me out of shape, but I saw the real man he was inside and he was all heart. Isn't that the way it is with a relationship, you take the good with the bad? I know I gave him nothing but good, all the time we were together. I supplied him the answers to anything he needed! My pirate is a Voyager, it's his job to travel through time and correct the flaws of history gone wrong. I am so proud of him!
I can't imagine how he's faring without me! He must be so lost. I miss his soulful blue eyes and ruddy knuckles, the times when he wrapped his long fingers over me and poured through the contents of my soul. On one occasion, during his first few weeks of his new assignment, he risked his life to save me! That's when I knew it was love. There was some kind of runaway train and he was fighting, oh that pirate was always in a scuffle! Whoever he beat up had knocked me out of his hands and I flew off the train. I remember being cold and wet, I must have landed alongside a lake or in some body of water. It took a little while, but my pirate came for me. He picked me up, tenderly wiped away the filth and laughed with such relief. He rifled through me as if it were the first time we met and for a long while afterwards, kept me close to his heart.
There were many nights where he would lie awake, counting the stars and murmuring in awe about the universe. His voice was soothing and it tickled me pink when he read aloud from my pages. He would often clutch me to his warm, hairy chest. One night, after a particularly treacherous voyage, he kissed me! I knew I had really come through for him then. Only I understood his loneliness, especially when he named me, 'Veronica.'
It must be over a month since my pirate disappeared. He left me with a furry, snarling creature my notes tell me is called a 'dog.' My pirate hated dogs! This particular one is named, 'Ralph.' I am covered in his teeth marks and his slimy drool and dribble has left permanent water stains on my pages. He doesn't talk or sing to me like my handsome pirate did. All he does is grunt and growl and his hot stinking breath is unbearable. Ralph carries me with him everywhere; it's only a matter of time before I fall apart, yet oddly, he takes good care of me. Ralph puts me in the deep recesses of his sleeping basket, nestled by a bunch of red pillows whenever he wants to nap. Every so often he'll sniff me, and then cry. Perhaps he is thinking of his child owner who vanished with my pirate.
I'm not quite the young Guidebook I used to be, but it's not my fault. I have become dry and cracked from non-use. I long for the days when my pirate kept me supple as he flipped through my many pages. It often frustrated him that I had all the answers and he didn't.
"Isn't that just like a woman!" He would grumble a lot, but I knew it was out of love.
The last thing my pirate left me with was a splitting headache. Isn't that just like a man? I don't know the ways of the sexes, but that glass window surely took a beating! My pirate tried to save me from the dog. He tugged and yanked, but I knew he wasn't using all his strength. If he did, I might have been torn to shreds! He was only thinking of my well being, I'm sure of it. When it seemed hopeless, my pirate disappeared over the edge of the building to save the falling child and…I never saw him again. He is such a hero, well, he is surely mine.
Don't feel bad for me. We will find each other soon enough. For you see, the pirate and I are one. In luxurious gold-plated lettering, his celebrated name is indelibly stamped upon my heart,
Phineas Bogg!
The End.