"Miss Turner? Miss Turner where are you? It is time for your flute lesson!" A portly woman ran around the large house yelling shrilly into each room. Mean while and elderly man waited impatiently in the entryway, tapping his foot and looking about the house in a disgusted manner. The woman ran back to the entry way and said to him, "I am so sorry Mister Kent, usually Miss Turner is very punctual!" The old man glared at her then put his hearing tub to his ear.
"Eh?" The woman leaned over and shouted into the tube,
"I AM SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT!" She yelled, "MISS TURNER IS USUALLY VERY PUNCTUAL!"
"Miss Kensington, why is there so much screaming? I hardly see any reason for it." A slightly annoyed voice came from the stairway. A woman with golden hair and a lovely yellow dress walked slowly down the steps. The portly woman curtsied slightly and said,
"I beg your pardon Mrs. Turner, but it is time for Miss Turner's Flute lessons and she is no where to be found!"
"Who's that?" Old Mister Kent asked curtly. Mrs. Turner came down the stairs and extended her hand to Mister Kent.
"I am Miss Turner's Mother, Elizabeth Turner."
"Eh?" The old man held up his hearing tube and leaned closer to Mrs. Turner. At this time Miss Kensington cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted into the tube,
"THIS IS MRS. ELIZABETH TURNER! MISS TURNER'S MOTHER!" He nodded his head and with an approving "ah" and shook Elizabeth's hand. Miss Kensington looked to Mrs. Turner and said kindly, "Mister Kent has hardly any hearing at all left Madam. He lost almost all of it in the war." Mister Kent looked around oblivious to what they were saying. Mrs. Turner looked to Miss Kensington and replied,
"So, my husband and I are paying a deaf man to teach my daughter to play the flute?" Miss Kensington smiled and answered,
"No, no, he is not totally deaf, besides Madam, being hard at hearing doesn't impair talent!" She then took Mister Kent's arm and said into his ear tube, "YOU CAN WAIT IN THE PARLOR UNTIL MISS TURNER ARRIVES MISTER KENT. I AM SO SORRY FOR THE INCONVINIENCE!" As Miss Kensington escorted Mister Kent into the parlor, Mrs. Elizabeth laughed and shook her head.
"Gwen? Gwen darling where are you?" she called into her daughter's bedroom. She had looked into every room in the house and now she was looking into her daughter's bedroom. The room was neat and tidy, obviously the nurse had been in because Gwen was anything but tidy, even at seventeen, she still hadn't learned. Elizabeth looked out on the bay at Port Royal, she never thanked her father enough for paying for the construction of their home by the water. Will never liked the idea of not earning the house, and having it built for him, even when the Governor insisted that by making his daughter happy and saving her and Port Royal, Will had paid for the house twenty times over through his chivalry. Elizabeth walked out on the terrace and looked out at the blue ocean thought to herself of the freedom that she was missing. At that moment, she heard the far away sound of scraping swords and subtle laughter echoing through the canyon. She looked down in the sand and saw two people fencing in the sand; one was dark and worn brown clothes and the other was light hair and wore only undergarments. At this Elizabeth gasped then shouted out, "Gwyneth!"
"You're MINE!" The girl shouted and launched her sword at her father, but her father parried and let the girl past him.
"Ha ha! Now Gwen, you don't think I'm going to lose to a woman, do you?" The girl looked up at her father from the sand and yelled with a smile,
"Take that back!" She stood and held out her sword, her father thrust his sword at her many times which she blocked gracefully, but with one swoop of her father's sword, she missed and he cut down the side of her under dress. Gwen looked at the long cut in her under garment and said frantically, "Oh no, Oh no, Mother is going to kill me!"
"Oh Gwen love, don't worry, it's just a silly garment. I'm sure we an get you another." Her father brushed the sand off his leather blacksmith apron and put his sword back in his sheath.
"No, father it's not that, it's just that Mother is always hounding me to be more lady like and when she sees this-" Suddenly her mother's terrified voice echoed down the cliff to Gwen and her father's ears.
"Gwyneth!" She looked up and saw her mother standing on the balcony in her room.
"Oh no." Gwen said quietly as her mother yelled,
"Gwyneth Turner! You get back up here immediately! How could you be out in only your undergarment? How disgusting! Get her inside now Will!" Her mother continued to shout and rant as Will took off his over shirt, gave it to Gwen, and escorted her up the beach to the stone steps that lead to the house. As they walked in the sand, Gwen said painfully,
"How can she reprimand me for not being ladylike when Grandfather has told me all about how rebellious and unladylike she was!" Her father opened his mouth to defend his wife then stopped,
"You know, I don't know how she can do that, but she is your mother and she only wants the best for you, I want the best for you too. But you are right, your mother was, different, from any other girl I'd ever met." Gwen looked at her proud father and asked,
"Really?" she then let out a heavy sigh and said as they climbed up the stone steps. "I wonder why she is so insistent when Grandfather gave her room." Her father did not answer her, and they approached the house silently. Elizabeth was standing outside furiously tapping her foot.
"Gwyneth! What were you thinking? Gallivanting out in public in only your undergarments?"
"No one was there mother, it was just me and Father." Gwen replied.
"That's no excuse, and you are late for your music lessons! You will not be seen by Mister Kent in those rags! Miss Kensington, would you please take Gwyneth up to her room and see to it that she is made decent for our guest?" Miss Kensington immediately came out form the house and roughly escorted Gwen inside and up the stairs. Elizabeth looked at William and sighed, "Will, won't you help me at all? Can't you see what she's doing is-"
"Exactly what you wanted to do and sometimes did?" Will finished for her. Elizabeth stopped. "Elizabeth, she's being a carefree child."
"She can't be carefree anymore. She is at a time when she must concentrate on marriage and her future!"
"If I remember correctly, when you were that age you didn't concentrate on any of those things." Elizabeth lowered her head and walked inside the house. She beckoned Will to follow her and he did. They sat in the day room and Elizabeth said to Will,
"Things are different now then they were for me. If I was in trouble, I had the Commodore and you there for me, but Gwen, she doesn't have anyone. That is why I have to protect her." At this time, Gwen walked back down the stairs in a pretty blue dress. She walked to the parlor, flute in hand and bowed to Mister Kent. He nodded and she sat on a stool and played. The melody was beautiful and soothing; as Elizabeth looked at her daughter play, Will said to her,
"Elizabeth, I am still here for our daughter, it's no different-"
"It is Will, you were my best friend, but you are Gwen's father, she won't want you following her around everywhere." Will relaxed in the chair then said,
"Listen, no one has heard from Jack Sparrow or the Black pearl in over ten years; the pirates are a diminishing breed. I see no reason for it to be a threat anymore." Elizabeth looked back at her daughter and Mister Kent; he had fallen asleep, mouth wide open and his legs sprawled out. Elizabeth looked back to her husband and said,
"They're still out there Will, pirates will never disappear. And I don't want our daughter to be involved in it as I was, I don't want her to touch the stuff."