Author's note: The contents of this chapter will be pure imagination, since I have been to scores of concerts, but never have been lucky enough to see the Stones, live. And of course, I have also never seen the inside of Keith Richard's dressing room (although I'm sure it would be fun!)! LOL! These chapters are based on some research about the location of the venue, however, as the Stones really DID appear at Twickenham Stadium, in England, in August of 2006.

Part of this chapter is a bit random, as we pay a very short visit inside of poor Jack's fractured mind as he begins to hallucinate a little... and we can see just what he lives with, at times. Pirate Cat

۞

The lights were low behind the door of the temporary building that housed the dressing area of the most famous rock guitarist in the world... there were windows, but any light that came in was filtered through sheer, brightly coloured curtains and drapes. The floor was covered with deep, plush Turkish rugs, and surprisingly, there was no furniture, save for many tapestry and silk covered pillows circled around one small, low table in the center of the room, and another that was laden with trays of delicacies of different origins over by one wall.

Another wall was lined with trunks and wardrobes, and there were several guitars lined up in stands like a row of multicoloured Marines, waiting for the command from their admiral to sail into battle. There was the faint smell of cigarette smoke in the air, combined with patchouli incense... a fragrance that made Jack oddly be at ease and nervous at the same time. It was an aroma that was always associated with Captain Edward Jonathan Teague.

"Come in, boys... come on in and pull up a pillow!" came a jovial, deep voice, as William, Wills, Jack and Joshamee all let their eyes adjust to the semi-darkness... Joshamee had leaned over Jack's shoulder and was chuckling, "Seems that we walked int' a sultan's tent, right here at Twickenham!"

Jack swayed for a moment, and then grinned at a most unlikely sight, but then one might think that as one would happen to spot himself and Johnny Depp in a backstreet London pub... seated upon several of the deep, jewel toned pillows, legs stretched out and guitars in their hands, were his father and the man who was chosen to play him...

Introductions were made all around, and it was observed that Keith was a congenial man, with a big, carefree grin and a large, sweeping way about him. "Sit down, mates! Help yerself to some wine, here... it's good wine, though I prefer something a bit harder... had to lay off for a bit since having a bit of surgery in the spring, but I'm not laying off altogether!... there's stuff to eat over on that little table there... all exotic, and all legal."

Teague chuckled, inwardly, as Jack leaned back and said, "I have no doubt tha' th' food is legal, an' the drink might be, but it's those other things wot ye consume tha' might be worrisome, aye?"

Keith laughed a deep, throaty laugh, as everyone enjoyed the joke, "Damn, Jack, but you look like Johnny! It's bloody incredible, but then Jonathan and I have the whole crew's knickers in knots over how much we look alike... Mick almost got pissed off, thinking that I had a twin brother that I never got 'round to telling him about after all these years!"

"Well, I rather prefer to think that Johnny looks like me, mate," Jack said archly, as William had poured wine for himself, and was now settling down next to Teague, who had said nothing except to introduce his son, his nephews and their friend, Gibbs.

Jack carefully sat down between Teague and their host, being careful with his glass of wine... far be it from him to spill a drop of alcohol unless he was too drunk to keep from doing so, and he was not good at sitting down on floors or pillows, gracefully, as it was.

"So, Mr. Richards..." Joshamee began, "... how have you been since your brain surgery?" Jack's eyes flickered over to the musician for a moment, then back over to William, who was now sipping wine and looking around at their surroundings.

Keith sipped his own wine, then slowly picked out a random melody, and said, "Oh, I'm fine! And the name's 'Keith', mate... the sawbones did a fair job, and I won't be climbing any coconut trees in Fiji for a while... " turning to Teague, he joked, "You were there... why didn't you stop me?"

Teague's black eyes looked over at Jackie to see how the next comment would make him stare... his Jackie was always an amusing one to surprise. "I didn't stop ye because I was up in th' tree wif ye, mate. I can't 'elp it if yer a clumsy one, like me boy. He falls outta trees, too."

Keith smiled, as Jack provided his father with a shock unexpected... he took it congenially, "Papa, believe me, wif all o' th' words tha' have been slung my way since 'Dead Man's Chest', I can take a joke from you..." It was said quietly, with a bit of bitterness, and a great deal of honesty...

Jack drained his glass and helped himself to another, as William reached over and patted Jack's knee, "We won't talk about that, cousin! 'Dead Man's Chest' will soon be a memory, with 'At World's End' in the making, aye?"

Jack put his wine glass to his lips, and he looked at William over the edge of the large goblet... and nodded. Even Wills, who had said not one word and who had barely been able to shake Keith's hand, was now saying, "Don't think about it... here, loosen up with another drink, Cousin Jack." Keith opened another bottle and said, "Lots more where that came from, mate... I am a firm believer in 'loosening up'!"

Teague began to look at his son with some veiled concern, as Jack had not said much since arriving... something was wrong, and his words about the motion picture let the Keeper know that his boy had been affected by how he had been portrayed more than anyone expected, but then his son's reactions to life had never been like anyone else's, and even after almost three hundred years, Teague still had to remind himself to always expect the unexpected with Jack.

"Here, Jack," Keith offered, as he got up and went over to the regiment of guitars, standing quietly in the corner of the "room". Jack's eyes finally got a bit of their old spark back, as he said to the others, " Look a' tha', all o' ye! Keif walks like Papa an' meself! Wot wif how much Papa an' Keif look alike, an' how I look like Johnny, an' then Orly an' William... well... " He paused and never finished his sentence, as Keith picked up a beautiful, deep mahogany coloured instrument, and then came back and offered it to Jack. "Here you go, mate..."

Jack stared at the guitar, and then at his father, and then at Keith... "But I..." he stammered... "ME? Play guitar wif you an'... PAPA?" It was clear that Jack was much more intimidated by his father than by a chuckling Keith Richards.

"I hear that yer not bad... from a reliable source," Keith grinned at Teague, both of their seamed, world wise faces anticipating the fact that Jack would not be able to resist the offer. Jack suddenly wiggled with glee and grinned, and drained yet another glass of wine. "Wot shall we play, mates? Name it! I can play it!"

And as William, Wills and Joshamee settled back on their cushions, with the bustle of the stadium outside and the peaceful haven of pillows and soft, plush rugs inside of the trailer, three guitars (one of which was admittedly bit more hesitant than the others) softly began to play the beautiful strains of "Canon in D", by Pachelbel.

۞

The roar was deafening, as the band that was warming up the crowd was rather good, and the anticipation backstage was like bolts of strobe lightning... poor Wills was so excited that William had to put a strong arm around his son to calm him down.

"Dad! Look at that screen up above us! Look at all of those people!" Wills was grinning, as Jack laughed, "Yer gonna sprain yer neck, lad! Ye look like a bird tryin' t' get a heading on which way t' fly!" Wills ignored Jack's teasing, as Joshamee exclaimed, "I'll be damned! I've been lookin' forward t' this since 1963!" and the others turned around to see him shaking hands with a skinny, homely fellow known the world over as the incomparable Mick Jagger.

Jagger grinned as he yelled, above the music, "Welcome to the 'Voodoo Lounge', mates! Keith told me that..." and he paused and stared at Jack and William, and said, indredulously, "Jesus, you look like Depp and Bloom!"

Turning back to Joshamee, he said, "Have you met Kevin McNally? Bears a strong resemblance to YOU! You know, pirates got around back in the old days, just like rock bands... don't suppose that you all share some DNA, do ya?"

Everyone's eyes popped at that thought, but it was a croaking sound from Wills that caught everyone's attention, at this moment ... the time was drawing near for the Stones to take the stage, and Wills had caught sight of his musical idol... Charlie Watts was now getting out of his own limousine..

Mick slapped Wills on the back, and said, "No time for introductions, now, Wills... you're all invited to the party after the show... maybe Charlie will let ya take a tap or two on his drums..." And Wills nearly had to be picked up off of the floor, as Mick bade them all farewell, and the Stones prepared to take the stage.

۞

The lights were flashing, wildly, smoke bombs going off all around them, the unmistakable beat of Charlie's drums making the entire venue throb with sound, as crowd was yelling and hands were held high, hailing the reigning kings of rock and roll... the night air all around the stadium filled with music, as Jack and his family were absolutely filled with glee for the utter decadence of it all! People of all dress and races were in the crowd, from dreadlocked rastas to jewel bedecked minor royalty... all were together upon this night, united in having a good time and enjoying the musical mastery of the four men who were legends in their own time... something about that struck a definite chord with those who were there as special guests of the band upon this night.

It was when Jack spotted another figure on the stage that he grabbed William's and Wills' sleeves and yelled, "LOOK! UP THERE!" and he broke out laughing, for up on the riser behind Keith and Ronnie Woods, whaling away on one of Keith's guitars with a look of determined joy, was Captain Teague! His own long black dreadlocks and braids were swaying to the music, and his black eyes sparkled as the intro to "Jumpin' Jack Flash" blared out over the heads of the crowd...

As Wills whooped and pumped his fist in the air, and William was screaming the lyrics along with the wild man on stage with the microphone, Joshamee turned around to say something to his captain... and Jack was gone.

"Jack? JACK? CAP'N??" William and Wills suddenly turned around as well, and it was only then that they heard Jack screaming bloody murder... he had taken one false, wobbly step in the wrong direction... and had disappeared over the edge of the stage!

۞

Jack was howling his head off, his entire body being assaulted by unwelcome hands passing him around over unwelcome heads... he had stiffened himself from his bandanna'd head to booted toes, as he bounced along, light flashing above him, and the grass of the playing field somewhere in a discomforting and indiscernible distance beneath him.

He had fallen into a mosh pit, and the occupants of said pit were bobbling him around over themselves to the beat of the music, like as if he was a braided, beaded cork ... the captain was waving his arms around, trying to grab something, anything, but to no avail, and he tried to shut out that his phobia of being touched by squeezing his eyes shut and breathing hard... he screamed for William, Wills and to his father, but the noise of the music and the crowd was so deafening that his words were dissipated before they ever left his frantic lips.

His eyes popped open wide, and suddenly, it was as if the fiery strobe lights were penetrating his very soul, as he started to feel odd sensations of rolling water underneath his slight body... ooooohhh... nonononono... control it... contol it... where am I??

Images began to flash through Jack's out of control head, as he turned his head and looked down through his bouncing dreadlocks at the sea of Jack Sparrows who were singing to the music, their faces being lit up by the storm of lights up in the aluminum and iron scaffolding... or was it rigging? That's it! The Pearl's rigging! Or is it the Dutchman? Or the Dauntless?

"I was born in a cross fire hurricane..." no, it was a typhoon... a raging typhoon off of the coast of India, on my father's ship...

"And I howled at my ma in the driving rain...

Well, it's all right now, in fact it's a gas...

It's all right... Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas, yeah!" It's Captain Jack Sparrow... Captain Jack Sparrow... Captain Jack... Flash...

Blackness was washing over him as he struggled to swim against the current of hands... Captain Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas, yeah...

"I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag," ... I raised meself... my mother died, and I was on me own... where's my father... I need him!! ... Papa... help me...

"I was schooled with a strap right across my back"... Mercer, ye cold son-of-a-bitch!! Me arm's broken and burned naked of flesh... not the cat 'o' nine!! NOT A BRANDING IRON! BECKETT, YE BASTARD!!

Jack fought it with all of his might, his brain struggling nearly as hard as his arms and legs were... until he finally relented with his body, gritted his teeth with all of his might, and put all of his energy inside of his skull... dammit, it's my mind... MY mind... MINE!

۞

"There he is!" Wills cried out, as white lights flashed over them and the crowd was illuminated with false lightning. The young man began to head toward the edge of the stage, but was pulled back almost harshly by his father.

"No, Wills! I need both you and Joshamee to stay here to pull us both back up to safety! Jack is alright... he is struggling with himself because he can't control what's happening, but he's alright." William yelled, almost saying the words in unison to the lyrics that were booming out over the banks of speakers...

William went to the edge of the stage, and let the crowd below know by sign language that he was coming into the pit, and with an almost slow motion, graceful fall forward, he disappeared over the edge of the stage as if it were the dark, rolling sea that had once been the only place that he could exist...

Wills watched anxiously... Jack had disappeared from view into the crowd, and it was plain that he was no longer being passed around over heads... he had sunk beneath the surface of this sea of humanity, and the last time that Wills saw his slender Cousin Jack, it was obvious that he was lost in a storm of another kind... that the music and his brain had melted together in some sort of mad fantasy... and he had let himself drop down with glassy, wide, detached, bottomless eyes, and a very wicked grin...

۞

Only three songs had been played, but it had seemed like a hundred to Wills and Joshamee... the music still pounded, the smoke bombs exploded, the lights still wavered and blinked wildly, but they were rather startled to see a strong hand reach up for them from out of the inky darkness off of the edge of the stage... reaching down and pulling frantically, they struggled to pull William up, who had a firm grip on the hair of his dark skinned cousin... Jack was trying to get something solid under his feet, and was having no success at all, but once William was back up on the stage, three pairs of hands easily pulled him up by his two leather belts and one pocket of his Levi's, which promptly tore a hole in the seat of his jeans!

"BUGGER!" Jack was yelling, as he struggled to catch his breath, leaning hard into William and letting Wills hug him out of relief, and look him over to make certain that no damage was done... Jack's hair was partially unraveled, and his jeans were hanging a bit low, but otherwise he seemed to be unharmed.

William was about to lay into him until Jack put up his hands for silence and he stepped back into the shadows for a moment... his eyes were clear, William noted with relief, and Joshamee was slapping Jack on the back while the captain was rifling through his pockets... seemingly satisfied, his round, dark eyes sparkled at his young cousins, and he yelled above the noise, "NO TELLIN' WHERE I WOULDA ENDED UP, AYE, WILLIAM? FLOATING INTO TH' THAMES RIVER IF YE'D NOT COME IN T' PULL ME OUT"

"I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET YOU GO!" William fussed at him, goodnaturedly, as he looked his captain up and down.. he was, indeed unharmed, except for the one torn back pocket of his Levi's that revealed that Jack didn't wear underwear! As they all looked at one brown bum cheek through the seat of Jack's breeches, Wills and William crowed with laughter as Joshamee exclaimed, "BEGGIN' YER PARDON, CAP'N, BUT NOW TH' WHOLE WORLD KNOWS THA' YE GO 'COMMANDO'!"

۞

The limousine drove down the dark highway as smoothly as if it were gliding on ice, and the orders were to take the 20 mile trip back to the hotel slowly, so that the passengers could flourish in their rock star glory for a while longer... the party after the show was truly one that should do a rock band justice, with much liquor flowing and much good food. Wills was thrilled to have his photo taken with a smiling and friendly Charlie Watts, who sent him along with his personal cell phone number, and a pair of sticks that had been used during the playing of Wills' family's own song... a song of a slave who was enslaving others with her wits and her body...

"Brown Sugar" had been extended to a 15 minute set, and the whole of Twickenham Stadium was now nearly hoarse for singing and yelling along. And Jack's and William's usually strong voices were now nearly muted with merry singing like as if they were howling against a storm upon the quarterdeck of the Black Pearl, holding onto the wheel and dancing through the waves with the dark ship that had sailed through time with them.

By now, they were all talking, or rather slurring, quiet conversation amongst themselves as they were preparing to tell Janie, Elizabeth and Katie about the rousing evening that they'd spent ... at least, they were preparing to tell parts of it...

"We shall keep some of this to ourselves, mates... what happens with the Stones, stays with the Stones..." Joshamee was saying, as his bleary eyes were having trouble focusing on bottle of rum in his hand.

William rubbed his own eyes and then looked, rather loosely over at Wills, who had partaken in several bottles of Guinness, but seemed to be unaffected... he was looking down at the signed pair of drumsticks in his hand, his warm brown eyes glowing, and his handsome young face that was so like his father's filled with happiness. William put his arm around his son's shoulders and said, quietly, "We can be thankful that your Great Uncle Jonathan struck up a friendship with the man who was cast to play our 'ancestor', Wills! Bloody good time, tonight, aye?"

Joshamee Gibbs was near passing out, as he laughed softly at Jack, who was laying down across a seat of the limousine, blissfully grinning and hiccuping... it was found out later that he had thoroughly lined his pockets whilst down in the depths of the mosh pit...

"It was like... hiccup... pickin' wild plums, mates...hic..." Jack was happily mumbling, trying to find his mouth with the bottle of rum...

"You managed to pick just about every pocket in that mosh pit, Jack," William chuckled, hiccuping a bit, himself... he pulled a cork out of another bottle as he glanced over at Gibbs, who was now snoring," You came away with enough cash to take our ladies out to fine restaurants for the rest of our stay! Imagine Janie's delight to try new foods!"

"Imagine Izzy's delight... hiccup... t' 'ave more time t' do research a' the finest libraries in all o' bloody Europe... hic.. in th' whole worl'!... " Jack chortled, as he nearly fell off of the seat with a huge flourish of his arms...

"Not t' mention th' lovely emerald ring tha' I pinched for 'er, right offa some lass' hand... you can give it to her, cousin... hic... hiccup... an' this!" he pulled a beautiful, sparkliing gold necklace chain out of his pocket, "THIS is for me Janie!"

It was gorgeous... a long, slinky solid gold neck chain, in a beautiful mariner's link and just right for Janie's taste in jewelry.

His eyes sobered a bit, as he caressed the fine gold with his long tapered fingers... "P'raps, someday... someday... there will be a pendant on it fer me Janie... a locket t' hold a lock of a baby's hair... hic... didja know tha' my papa has a locket wif one o' me own curls in it, nex' t' 'is 'eart?"

Silence fell over the group, as they all thought over the evening's events... but it did not last long, as Jack rolled over on the car seat with his back to the others, his unraveled hair hanging to the floor of the car like a black curtain, and he began to ramble, again, "Damn, mates, 'twas like a good bloody night on Tortuga! Like a brawl a' th' Faithful Bride... hic...bloody good time, that!"

And as he began to lose what was left of his husky, hoarse voice, loudly singing and trying to flap the torn seat of his jeans closed, rather clumsily... "bloody draft back there..." Wills finished off his bottle of Guinness and reached over and patted his Cousin Jack on the back... "It's alright, now, in fact it's a gas..."

"It's alright... I'm Captain Jack Flash... hiccup... it's a gas gas gas... yeah!!" And with that, Jack happily passed out, with one fluttering hand, and it's bottle of rum, dropping with a thud.

Wills and William looked at their slumbering companions, and Wills stretched his long legs out next to his father's... they rode in silence for a while, and finally Wills said, "What you said back there a ways was true, Dad..."

"What was that, son?"

"That we can be thankful that Uncle Jonathan became friends with Keith Richards... "

"Because we had a good time, and made good friends, tonight?" William yawned, as he scratched his scarred chest and chuckled at Joshamee's open mouth snoring.

"Well, yes, that..." Wills said, as he opened one more bottle of Guinness, "... but mostly, because it brought back my Cousin Jack the way that he should be... not the man vexed so terribly by a movie, but 'Captain Jack Flash, the Pirate of the Mosh Pit'..." he chuckled affectionately.

And as father and son tapped their bottles together in tribute to an evening that they would never forget, the limousine continued into the what was now becoming the light of dawn...