Chapter 3

It was nearly 11 o'clock in the morning before Silver roused himself from his slumber. Sitting up on his bed, he smiled at the thought of a hearty breakfast… well, at least until he remembered that he was now on a diet. He groaned, feeling his stomache rumble. He frowned, also remembering that Sarah had given his job away to someone else, so he didn't even have his work to console him.

Nearly as bad as all that was the fact that he knew-just knew-that the Captain would constantly remind him of his current woes each and every time she saw him, which would be far too often for his liking. He groaned, deciding it was best to just go back to sleep. He turned over to the other side, trying to get back to sleep, when he heard somebody coming up the stairs.

He was startled when the door suddenly opened. Silver opened one eye, and saw Jim leaning against the door jam. "Aren't you ever going to come downstairs?" Jim asked, eyebrow arched.

"Ah, no thank ye, Jimbo me lad, tis better to just lie here than going down to breakfast. Don't think I could stand to smell yer mother's fine cookin' an' not be able to eat a bite o' it."

Jim sighed, shaking his head. "All right, but I really think you should know that Mom said that she's giving you five minutes to get downstairs."

"Oh? An' what if I decline her kind offer, Jimbo? What then?" Silver countered, feeling disagreeable.

Jim huffed in exasperation with Silver. "Well, then she'll just have to invite the Captain over to talk with you, Silver."

Silver groaned at the thought of that! "Have mercy! Tell 'er I'm up already, Jimbo me boy!" he said and got out of bed.

Jim smiled as he watched Silver dress. "We are doing all this just for you, you know. We all care about you, you pirate, and want you to be around with us a while longer," Jim assured him. "Oh and if you don´t believe me, you might want to remember how I held the Captain off from you for as long as I did."

That, at least, caused Silver to smile. "Oh, aye, Jimbo… so yeh did. Course, yeh had to let the lass go when she told she'd flense the skin off'n yer face if yeh didn't," Silver remarked, tucking in his shirt.

"Don´t remind me," Jim said and impulsively touching his cheek at that thought.

Silver chuckled, then ruffled Jim's hair, before following him down to the dining area. Sarah Hawkins was already hard at work, when she looked up and saw the two enter the room. "Well! It's certainly about time you showed up," Sarah told him. "Your breakfast is one purp, and all the water you can drink, nothing more."

Silver frowned, but still grabbed a purp, poured himself a giant glass of water, and began to eat. Of course, that didn't take him long to finish off, so he went outside to have a look around and to think.

He smiled to himself as a plan began inside his mind. He headed back inside to tell Sarah that he intended to take a walk about town. Sarah smiled to see him so gainfully occupied.

However, unbeknownst to her, upon his return, Silver soon had his room filled with hidden sweets and junk foods once again.

Later in the day, when dinner was served, Sarah placed a plate full of hot vegetables before Silver. While they really didn't taste all that bad, Silver thought they were still so much 'rabbit food', and that, after all, was for rabbits, not for the likes of a big strappin' man such as himself. He was sure to finish off his vegetables, and then asked to retire up to his room for some shut-eye. Only when he got there, he retrieved a chocolate bar as a proper dessert for himself before he went to sleep.

Meanwhile, Sarah received a visit from Amelia…

"So, Sarah, how has your day gone?" Amelia asked solicitiously.

"Pretty well, actually," Sarah replied. "John slept in to eleven o´clock in the morning." She paused, then gave Amelia a clever look. "Oh, he´d of slept longer, if I had´nt told Jim that if he didn't get his rump out of bed in the next five minutes, I was inviting you over to wake him."

Amelia laughed softly at Sarah's cunning. "Oh, jolly good show, Sarah. I expect that get his attention!"

"Oh yes! He was down here in the span of one minute!" Sarah explained, which caused both of the ladies to chuckle.

"That's all well and fine. So what did our Mr. Silver do on his first day of dietdom?" Amelia asked.

Sarah paused, thinking. "Well, I was surprised. I thought for certain he'd hang around all day moping. But, was I ever wrong! He went out to have a walk and to get some air, if you can believe that!"

"I see," Amelia mused aloud, her green eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Did your James go with him then, hmm?" Amelia asked and took a sip off her steaming tea.

"Well, no," Sarah admitted, and she frowned. "As a matter of fact, he went off on his own."

"Bloody hell!" Amelia growled softly, banging her tea cup down forcefully. "You mean you allowed that rogue out of your sight, to do as he pleased with no supervision. Sarah, what were you thinking?"

"Why shouldn't I of done so?" Sarah asked, a bit put out at Amelia's attack.

"Sarah… because the man has his own money now, doesn't he? And we haven't gotten around to telling all the stores in Benbow about Silver being on a diet, have we? Ringing any bells yet, Mrs. Hawkins?" Amelia prompted Sarah.

"Oh dear!" Sarah said, becoming pale with realization of what she had done. "I´ll have Jim take another look through his room tomorrow," she promised.

Amelia nodded, much relieved. "Probably not a bad idea at that," she told her friend. She then glanced at the clock. "I'm sorry, Sarah, but I simply must be getting home," Amelia announced. "Tell you what, I´ll come down tomorrow to see what's what," she offered. "How does that sound?"

Sarah nodded, much happier knowing that Amelia would help. They exchanged a friendly hug before Amelia said her good-byes and made her way home.

Sarah sighed, unhappy with her mistake. How could she of been so ignorant as to miss the fact that Silver would try to sneak sweets past her? Well, if Jim found sweets in his room the next day, John Silver would find himself in BIG trouble.