Forty years ago, my father, James Hook, joined the English Royal Navy. He quickly rose through the ranks to captain his very own ship, the HMS Hornet.He was the youngest Captain in Royal Navy history. His crew was the best of any of the ships in the Navy. His ship, the Hornet, was the fastest ever created, made especially for catching pirate ships. He was defending the coast of England, when he was attacked by a fleet of pirates and privateers from Spain working together. His ship barely made it back to the port and his crew made it through with no one escaping unscathed, including my father. When he had docked, he received a telegram to go to the naval office at the port. Admiral Idwal Cahal showed up there and chewed him out for not taking down more ship and coming back from the fight alive with his ship and crew. My father told him that all of his crew had families and wives, and that he promised to every single one of them when he took over the Hornet, that if it was in his power to return them home to their wives and families, he would do so. He kept this promise to his crew and made sure that every single one of them had made it out alive that day. He had never lost a single crew member, and had successfully completed every mission given to him. Despite all of this, Admiral Cahal discharged him from the Navy because, "his promises and work on his ship were unreliable and dangerous".
My father became very depressed and wandered around the English countryside contemplating his life. He eventually made it back to London and found himself in the rich part of the city. He was on the river side contemplating taking his life when he saw a beautiful woman walking along the other side. She appeared to be from the poorer side of the community, but her beauty knew no bounds for him. He crossed the bridge at the nearest point, and tried to tidy up his appearance, which as you could imagine was quite hard to do since he had lived in the countryside for the past two years with an outfit that was starting disintegrate around him. he still managed to clean himself up to impress this woman. When he walked up to her, he expected her reaction to be one of disgust and for her to run away screaming bloody murder. To his pleasant surprise, she asked him if he needed help with anything. He responded "Well, if you could grant me a dinner with you, some nicer clothes and maybe a nice bath and a sleep in an actual bed, I wouldn't mind it. Also, if you would grant me with the knowledge of your name, that would brighten my world."
She was taken aback by the way this man spoke. She had expected a raspy voice and vulgarity, but he spoke and acted like a gentleman. "Of course you can know my name. It's Miriam Pan. you said you needed a bed and wanted to clean up? I'm sure my father would not mind you coming into our house, and recovering. He is very understanding and I'm sure he will help you."
"Miriam Pan. Such a beautiful name, and perfect for one such as you. I would work for your father to repay his kindness, of course." He responded. Miriam the motioned for him to follow her to her house. As it turned out, Miriam's father was a blacksmith and had a very nice house. When the two walked up to the door, the maid only saw the man, with his ruffled hair and scruffy beard, and screamed to the man of the house, "Sir, we have an unwelcome visitor!" The master, and man of the house, was Einion Pan, a well-respected blacksmith and was familiar with helping people out, especially the homeless. He came to the door and opened the door to tell this man to go away, just for the night and come back in the morning. When he opened the door he saw his daughter, standing next to the man, he opened the door wider and said," Miriam dear, who is this?"
"Oh, how rude of me, I had forgotten to ask this nice man's name. I'm sorry. Would you please tell me your name?" she very kindly asked him.
"Of course, you can. My name is James Hook." he replied.
"Did you say James Hook? You're the man who was discharged from the navy for doing your job? Well then, come on in out of the cold air. We will gladly take care of you." Einion said to James.
