1 CH. 2

Garden work and goodbyes

The next morning I got up and got dressed in some old jeans and a t-shirt. My hand throbbed in pain but I just popped some pain pills and went into the kitchen and made myself some breakfast. After I ate I went out into the barn to get the seed for planing this years crop. I opened the large doors only to see this large muscular man with short hair who looked like a bounty hunter I had seen around this area (Jack the ripper) that hunted the dirty way of never bringing in a man alive and was sleeping on some unopened bags of plant grower. "Alright" I hollered loudly "get up what do u think you're doing here?" the man jumped with a start and obviously looked like he had a hangover "wha? What?" Jack said "oh it's you again"he glared at me "what do you think you are doing in MY barn without MY permission?" I asked angrily and he just slowly rolled over to his feet and got up "ya shut up bitch" jack sneered "I'm not in the mood for your meddling" "meddling?" I asked "the last time you were here you accused a good friend of mine of being a pirate using a fake wanted poster as proof. Do you really think I was just gonna just let you kill innocent people?" "That wasn't fake" lied Jack now standing up and looking very annoyed "and I don't kill anyone who doesn't try to kill me first" -damn liar!- I thought angrily and just went to grinding my teeth. "Leave my property" I said "murderers are not welcome" he became really angry at this and withdrew his gun pointing it my face but I didn't flinch "get off my property" I said calmly "don't make me say it again" he sneered at me "what are you going to do about it?" Jack laughed "kill me?" "Won't be the first" I said causing him to flinch in surprise that a shrimp like me could kill someone. He swung at me hitting me hard on the head as I lifted my arm to protect myself but he was to strong and sent me flying towards the corner but I didn't hit it I hit something softer and felt 2 arms holding me up.

I looked up surprised to see Shanks standing there then another voice came from beside him say "the lady said to leave I suggest you do it" I looked to see a tall guy with long brown curly hair tied back and holding a gun pointing towards the bounty hunter with a straight yet almost scary face "hitting a lady isn't quite something men should be doing" he said "now this is your last chance to get out of here alive" Jack flinched at the sight of then surprising me a bit then ran out of there. I straightened up again looking from Shanks and this new guy surprised "um thanks" I said "how did you know I was in here?" "Saw you go in" Shanks said smiling "we were coming by for a visit and Yassop here said this morning he wanted to meet you" "oh... well I wasn't quite expecting company" I said truthfully then Yassop spoke up obviously noticing my hand "what were you doing out here trying to get started on some gardening I presume?" "Well ya" I said " I was thinking of it" and shanks frowned "with that there gash?" shanks asked "how do you expect to get anything done?" "I've developed a way" I said "but it takes a little longer than usual" "this isn't the first time you've done that?" Shanks asked "I thought that clerk was just fooling with you" "wow" I said "you guys sure seem to be worried over someone you just met" "why wouldn't I be?" Shanks asked "I wouldn't be a man if I wasn't" I laughed at that "ok I can accept that" I said "would you guys like to come inside?" "Sure thing" replied Yassop.

I lead the way to the house taking off my shoes at the door and they took a seat at the table while a hurried around grabbing a tea pot and just managing to fill it with water and put it on the stove to heat up "would you like some help with that?" asked Yassop politely "um...no thanks I'm ok" and they waited patiently as I made up some tea and set down some treats "how

do you like your tea?" I asked when everything was ready "oh that's alright" Yassop said smiling "we can handle this part"so I sat down and prepared my own cup of tea "so you guys are pirates eh?" I asked politely "Yup, the Red Hair Pirates" said Shanks "this is one of my crew mates Yassop he has a son where back where he comes from" "oh really?" I asked "what about you shanks?" "Nope" said shanks "no one. What about you? I only see you around here" "It's just me" I said taking a sip of my tea "I was left here as a little kid I was told this was just after my Dad and my mother died" "oh" said Shanks a bit surprised "abandoned" Asked Yassop very much surprised "I would never actually abandon my son! I still send him things whenever I can and try to stay in touch" I smiled at that "that's good to hear" I said then we continued to talk about random things till shanks asked "so when are you going to start planting? Would you like some help?" "Actually it's early for planting but I was hoping to plant some of them today" I replied and before I could say anything else "we'd be glad to help" shanks said smiling brightly"oh no I couldn't ask that of you guys" I protested "no it's no problem" Yassop replied "keeps the captain out of trouble" and shanks threw a pouty look at him making me laugh out loud. "Oh alright then" I replied "but do you guys even know anything about gardening?" "Nope" said shanks bluntly"not a thing" I slapped my forehead then got up "alright then...it's not all that hard" I said "come on I'll show you what to do" they then followed me out to the barn when I grabbed a bag of seed and poured it into a large bag that I tied to my waist. I then grabbed a small hand shovel from the shelf "ok" I said handing Shanks the shovel "you can have the easy part" "easy part?" asked shanks "yup" I said all you need to do is dig a small hole about two inches deep two feet apart from each other along the lines, I'll take care of the seeds and Yassop can take care of watering them" I then walked over to a pile of buckets next to a tap and started to fill up each bucket "one bucket of water per line" I said filling up the 3rd bucket. "Ok lets get started "shanks started by digging the holes and I put 3 seeds in each hole covering them back up again then Yassop took care of watering each spot.

By late afternoon we finished and Shanks grabbed one of the buckets of water that weren't used and dumped it over his head then shook his head like a dog. I laughed at him and Yassop seeing that followed suit and did the same with the last bucket. "You do this every day?" asked Yassop then we heard a voice nearby yell "found them guys!" I looked over confused to see a man with long black hair and a gun at his hilt standing around the side of the house looking over to us. "Oi captain" the man called "we've been looking all over for ya, thought you had managed to get yourself into some trouble again" shanks laughed "nope" replied Shanks "Not this time Ben, we've been visiting miss Aria here" ben looked at me and smiled "please to meet you ma-am" ben said then I cut him off "it's Aria" I said "not ma-am...makes me feel old or something" ben laughed at me "well thank you for looking after our captain but we need to get back to the boat now" "you guys leaving?" I asked and Ben nodded "our log post is set so we'll be leaving in the morning" Shanks started to pout and I got suddenly depressed -already!- I thought "when will you be back to our little island?" I asked sadly "sometime in the fall I think" replied Ben immediately bringing up shanks's spirits "till the fall" said Shanks hoping up and taking a funny bow making me giggle some as he stumbled and fell to his butt in the mud. Yassop walked over and pulled him to his feet again and they turned to leave "it was good to meet you miss Aria" said Yassop before they left dragging shanks behind them who was waving wildly back at me and I waved back. As soon as they were out of sight I put everything back in the barn and locked it up for the night then returned to the house where I took a quick shower then getting changed I grabbed my wallet and walked to the bar again stepping inside to see

Andy standing at the bar and grabbed my usual seat and sat down. "What's with the solemn look?" asked Andy and I looked up at him "one rum" I said placing the money on the bar and Andy raised an eyebrow before grabbing the money and placing the rum in front of me "Rum first?" Andy asked confused "only rum for now" I said while I just waved my hand off in the air and he passed it off still giving me a confused look my hand was starting to tingle again so I used the cold bottle to numb the pain just placing my hand on the bottle for a few seconds till I grabbed it with my good hand and downed the bottle. "So get anything done with the garden?" Asked Andy "I don't' think you can get much done for now with your hand like that" "actually I got the whole thing planted" I replied gaining a look of surprised "the captain and one of his crew mates gave me a hand" "well I'll be" replied Andy "that's the first time I've heard of a pirate doing that...that was mighty kind of them" I laughed. For the rest of the night I sat and talked with Andy till 11:30 pm when I got up and headed back home.