Rose awoke at the break of dawn the next day. She had rented a room at The Faithful Bride, and had not slept well. Between the noises of drunken laughter and breaking glass, no one could've sleep well.
Another reason she hadn't gotten much sleep, was because of all the completely mad ideas floating around in her head. Suddenly, she got one that might actually work and decided to get the information she needed to carry out her plan.
After paying for her breakfast, Rose stepped out into the busy street. She walked along whistling (as best she could), and was so deep in thought that she was not paying attention to where she was going.
"Ouch!" said the young lad she had run into.
"Sorry." She looked at the boy closely. He was short and skinny, with very light red hair and freckles. "What's your name lad?" Rose ventured.
"Uh, Hal, my name is Hal." He seemed to be assuring himself of this.
"Hello Hal," Rose said brightly. "My name's Rose." She paused a moment. "Would you mind telling me your real name though?"
"Are you calling me a liar?" he asked, frowning.
"Yes," she told him. "I'd also like to ask why you're pretending to be something you're not."
'Hal' looked at her in mock surprise, "I haven't the faintest idea what you're getting at girl!"
"Rose, my name is Rose. And don't call me 'girl', seein' as your one yourself."
The girl who called herself Hal and pretended to be a boy, sighed and shook her head, "I thought I was a quite convincing boy, how could you tell I wasn't one?
"Simple," Rose smiled, amused, "No boy I've ever seen is half as pretty as you."
The two laughed.
"Hal, if that's what you want to be called, why are you pretending to be a lad anyway?"
"Haley is my real name, but I like 'Hal' better." She fooled with the lacings of her blue shirt, "I'm running away in disguise."
Rose pressed her for more information, but Haley refused to reveal any details.
"Hal, you might be just the person to help me, I'm going to be a pirate and you a runaway. We're a perfect team."
The two went back to the tavern so that they could talk in private. Once they had sat down at a table, Rose told Hal her story, "My father is a pirate," she grinned at the look of amazement on the other girl's face. "Only he thinks it's too dangerous at sea for a girl. I say he's an ass for that, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm going to sea whether he likes it or not."
Haley looked thoughtful, "Well, how do you figure that? It won't be easy to sneak aboard, let alone the fact that you don't even know which ship is his."
Rose considered this. "That's why I have you." She sipped a frothing mug of rum. "Besides, I wouldn't even try to do a thing like this without a partner in crime, so what do you say?"
As Rose and Haley slipped past the boathouse they noticed Jack, standing inside, talking to the harbourmaster.
"I want to get 'The Pearl' ready to make way soon." He was saying to the other man.
Haley and Rose looked at each other; satisfied with the sliver of conversation they had caught.
After sneaking down to the dock, the girls began to look for a ship with the word 'Pearl" in its name.
"Look I've found one!" said Haley, in a hushed voice, "The Majestic Pearl?"
"Naw," said Rose, "doesn't sound like Jack at all." She passed a few other ships, and then shouted, "The Black Pearl! I've found it!"
"Oy! You gals ain't got permission t' be up there!" shouted a young sailor irritably.
Rose smiled sweetly at him, "Oh, we're terribly sorry sir, you see we've just lost our way. We'll be off then." She tipped an imaginary hat at him and darted off down a side street, Haley following close behind.
It only took Rose and Haley three days to acquire all the information they needed to make their master plan reality.
Rose casually inquired of the harbourmaster if he knew when The Black Pearl might be leaving.
"What's it t' you lass?" he asked her, looking down his long nose from behind his spectacles.
Rose put on a sweet sad voice, "Well you see kind sir, my fiancée is a sailor on that ship, and I should like to know how much time I have to say goodbye." Rose began to sob quite convincingly.
The harbourmaster handed her a handkerchief, "Well miss, I'm sure I can get you the date she's leavin' port." His face softened as she looked at him thankfully, "Your fiancée you say? What's his name miss?"
Rose froze in shock, she hadn't thought of a name for her imaginary fiancée. "Oh, his name is Robert," she fibbed, and hoped he wouldn't check the crew list to see if she was telling the truth.
"Robert you say? I know the lad. Sweet, kind boy, Robert is."
Rose's eyes widened. Robert was real?
The harbourmaster looked through the open door of the boathouse and shouted, "Robert, lad, someone's here t' see ya, me boy."
A tall blue-eyed young man strode in and looked at Rose sceptically.
Rose had an idea at that moment. "Good sir," she said to the harbourmaster. "Would you mind letting me have a word with Rob?"
"Certainly m' dear." The harbourmaster went back to his desk to look at some charts.
"Who are you?" Robert asked her, once the man was out of earshot.
"I'm a pirate," said Rose triumphantly. "My name is Rose. You had better listen to what I say or I'll blow your brains out." She said this cheerfully to make it look like she and Robert were having a pleasant conversation.
Robert laughed.
Rose scowled. "Don't make this harder than it already is," she told him, "Just play along and pretend you're my fiancée, okay?"
Robert considered this then nodded slowly, "Okay."
Rose smiled thankfully, "You won't be sorry, I guarantee it."
"Harbourmaster Wilkes, this is my fiancée Rose." Robert said winningly.
What a good liar he is, thought Rose gratefully.
"Yes, we've met, but I hadn't known the young lady's name." Wilkes smiled and said, "So you wanted to know when The Black Pearl is leaving Tortuga?"
Rose nodded.
"I b'lieve it'd be in only a few days, though I'll check my file." The man shuffled over to his desk once again.
"Oh, no need my good sir, I'll inform her myself." Robert took Rose's arm and strolled out the door.
Once they were outside the building Rose shook off his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" She glared at him savagely.
"Acting, my piratical friend." He smiled at her enragement. "Can I be of any more assistance?"
"Well, you could die a slow and painful death, but I don't suppose you'd do me that courtesy."
"Sorry, that's definitely not on my list of errands." Robert laughed.
Rose stomped on his foot as hard as she could, and stalked off.
He ran after her, limping a bit, "Rose stop, I didn't mean to make you mad. We're engaged remember? We aren't supposed to fight," he called to her jokingly.
She stopped dead in her tracks, and turned to face him.
"You know, that is a wonderful thought, but get over it. That was a fake engagement, if you didn't realise that, I'm telling you now. So do both of us favour and leave me alone!"
Robert bowed low, "As you wish my love," he said mock-romantically and strode off down the street, disappearing into the crowd.
