Disclaimer: The Pirates of the Caribbean the franchise does not belong to me.The Charleston boys, the parrot's name, and the plot are mine. On another note the POTC: Dead Man's Chest trailer is online now! Today's edition of Shipwreck:Murtogg and Mullroy is...

The Flight of Mr. Cotton

"Where'd everybody go?" It had become very quiet. No squeaking rats, squawking parrots, quarrelling Charlie and Oliver, barking Ana Maria, tale-telling Gibbs, shouting Captain, it was strange to think no one was on the ship. Wait-no one?

Fear rose like a thick cloud of smoke swirling into the sky and Jon had just begun to choke on it. Jon whipped his head around-hand still clamped over his eye-left, right, and tilted towards the rigging, down into the dark passage to the cargo hold and the galley. Hadn't Cotton just gone down? Why wasn't he there?

Oh, duck feathers…Jon thought worriedly pacing around in circles, Oh, feathery, fluffy, white, duck feathers! I'm alone. I'm-

"What was that about eye patches?" wondered a voice. Oh good, someone was there.

He wasn't on a deserted pirate ship, hundreds of miles away from home, where sea gulls and pelicans could potentially discover him and his new aversion to birds in general or that he ate chicken, duck, and turkey on occasion.

He had doubted that they would believe his pleas of "I was forced to eat them! Honest, as proof of my innocence I implore you to search the ship for any sort of fowl; you will find none." Jon sighed in relief and turned around-Murtogg and Mullroy, oh well, it could be worst.

"Where were you? I looked everywhere!"

"Did you like Singapore?" piped Murtogg brightly with interest an impressed look on his face. Jon blinked as if an elephant had just lumbered its way onto the boat and started tap-dancing with a mouse and a piece of cheese.

"Singapore?"

"Yes, was it as pretty as they say?" Mullroy questioned conversationally.

"Were there mops?" Murtogg whispered his dislike of them creeping onto his features.

"What about boots?" Mullroy waved a boot. Murtogg hopped conspicuously on one foot. Mullroy had taken one of his boots. Nonetheless, Joseph Murtogg still managed to ask his question while hopping between his words.

"Hats-did-they-have-fancy-hats?"

What is it with everyone and hats anyway?Ana Maria had a hat, Murtogg and Mulllroy had hats; Commodore Norrington had a hat. Oliver had had a hat; of course he had stolen it from Captain Jack so Jon wasn't completely sure that counted. What was so important about hats? Tired of the hat business Jon sighed exasperatedly, "Hats? How could I possibly know those things?"

"You said you looked everywhere-" Audacious Angus pointed out. Jumping Joe had jumped back into his boot and grinned at Angus. Joe turned to Jon, "If that's true you had to have looked in Singapore."

"Or you can't have looked properly."

"You didn't look everywhere, nor did you go everywhere."

"So you're not telling the truth." Audacious Angus concluded.

"Shame on you, Jonathan!" Joe shook his head sadly.

"I'm not lying-and don't-don't call me Jonathan!"

"You said you looked everywhere, but you didn't so-you're lying." Mullroy reasoned.

"I would do no such thing!" fumed Jon. Guiltily he thought, unless I was lying to a pack of angry sea gulls and pelicans…

"Ah, but you're a pirate. You could be lying right now." Murtogg stated looking suspiciously at Jon.

"I'm not lying, I'm not a pirate, I'm not 15 so I can't get a driver's-I mean a horse, I can't drink, and I can't sing, I can't predict the future, I can't swim-I can't read, write, or speak Latin. I just can't do a lot of things, okay? One of them is-"

"GENTLEMEN OF FORTUNE! DAVY JONES! DAVY JONES! BRAWK-ROCKY BEACHES!" Mr. Cotton shot past them, down the gangplank, flailing his arms, running like mad, making strange sounds seeming to forget he couldn't speak, while Percival zoomed before him translating.

"Oh, duck feathers…" Jon gasped comprehending the strange string of speech. Without another word he dashed after them knowing that someone had to translate Percy's translation when they found the rest of the crew.

"JON! WAIT!" shouted Murtogg he made a move to chase after him, but Mullroy held him back. "Ow… I have to get-"

"We have to stay."

"But-"

"Everyone's gone. We have to stay."

"What?"

"Someone has to watch the ship."

"I could just-"

"And have one person guarding the-" Mullroy froze, eyes widening. Murtogg smiled not understanding. "You could come with me if you're scared of-"

"It's not that."

"Well, what is it then?"

"I don't think they will let us."