A/N: Howdy, and yes, I am several hours late. It got a lot coller here, and I want to nap! Not to mention, this is a really long chapter. This will be the last chapter with Estella playing games with the guys. That isn't to say that she won't be in the story, but enough mischief, and it is time to move on. Amusingly enough, I was wearing an Iron Maiden T-shirt when I wrote this. Ironic, eh!
Anyway, thanks goes out to PeiPei, as always. And Thank you deeply for reviewing "Atonement of Sins". I hope to write some chapters on that one in the near future. And yes, I kind of feel sorry for the other pirates of Barbossa's crew also. It is a horrible thing to face execution, better to die as true pirates at the end of a sword.
Thank you, Piratedragon for the review! Your stories rock, also!
I will be catching up to everyone's stories soon. I have been deeply immersed in Harry Potter. Shame on me! But if one is write a FF, it would be adviseable to read the book! And thanks to all of you, this story now has over 1,000 hits and 30 reiviews! I'm proud! This is doing better than "The Quest for the Purple Unicorn" on Fictionpress, and it has 46 chapters!
Chapter 13: Aces High
Since Ragetti was usually the one that Estella went to first while she was away, Marita chose to have the tall lanky man do the indoor chores first thing in the morning, leaving Pintel more than enough bake goods to last him through the afternoon hours. Ragetti got stuck with firewood and laundry duties in the meantime while she was gone to deal with the weekly supplies. The one eyed man did not mind the chores in the least. Well, the laundry bit could be quite fun, especially for one of the proper imagination. Besides, it was safer to have Ragetti clean her personal effects. They tended to return to her clean, unlike the time she had Pintel do the laundry. She was still missing interesting pieces of clothing after that experience.
After all, she felt it was now safe to leave Estella to her rooms for the afternoon with the younger pirate outside and otherwise occupied. She didn't like taking her along because it was too much of a burden on both of them. Estella would get bored with the waiting around and the grown ups' talk, and she would tend to wander or do other mischief. This way, Marita could put whole concentration in to her work ahead of her, and not have to worry about what the five year old was up to. Of course, she did not count on the intelligence or the determination of her daughter.
The mistress of the bakery left before noon. Of course, she spent her good half an hour giving Pintel his usual series of new and unique threats, and if he produced another corset while she was out, he'd wear it Thursday morning as he waited on customers. The wide toothy grin he gave her sent icicles down her back.
No more than a quarter of an hour after her departure, Estella crept cautiously down the steps to a silent kitchen in another fine frilly red dress and her hair done in perfect little finger curls. She clutched her similarly dressed doll in her arms. She bounced around the kitchen and looked for her friend with her dark eyes wide and sharp, but she saw no movement. "Uncle Tony?" she queried in a sweet voice, but she received no answer.
She crept across the kitchen to the door to their room. Being trained in the proper manners, she knocked gently, but she received no answer, So, she carefully turned the doorknob and opened the door. She poked her head in. The brilliant sunlight streaming through the single window illuminated the horror. The room had got into an incredible state of disarray over the last two days. There were dirty clothes strewn throughout. One could no longer distinguish where the beds ended and the pile began, muchless see the floor. There were dirty stockings in some of the most interesting place: Hanging from the oil lamps, on the table tops, hanging half way out of the dresser drawers with other accessories included, more socks between the bed frame and the mattress. There was a pair of exceptionally dirty pair of stockings fitted over the bedposts of Ragetti's bed. There was even a dirty stocking dipped in the cup where Ragetti's wooden eye shared its nighttime rest with a pretty red native flower. He felt that it needed the luxuries of home also. There was a stocking fitted over an empty bottle by Pintel's bed. One of Ragetti's shirts was wrapped around his pillow, and if Marita explored further, she would have found some her missing lingerie under there. There were discerning lumps in Pintel's bed, that no one would dare venture to explore. There were two pairs of pants, a shirt, and a petticoat hanging over the closet door, that would no longer close. Other than the dirty laundry everywhere, dirty plates and empty bottles were scattered around. There was a pair of rather contented rats sleeping on an empty plate on the dresser. There was an assortment of other things that didn't quite rightly belong in either one of their possessions littered about the mess, and most of this disaster happened since Monday.
Estella gulped and silently turned about and shut the door. She did not dare explore this new jungle and face what other kind of beasties that may lurk within. She went to the cellar door with trembling fingers, she turned the knob, and the door creaked opened. She swallowed hard and took a step backwards. There was a different kind of trepidation there. Something deep inside of her reached up and grabbed her voice away, and she stood there frozen for hour long minutes with shaking knees. Finally, she squeaked and slammed the door shut and threw her weight against it. She panted hard and clutched her doll close to her rapidly beating heart. She bit her lower lip hard and held back the tears. It would never do to let her friends see her cry.
That left the door to the front of the bakery, where she could hear "Uncle Henry's" entertaining dialogs with customers, and the door to the outside, that was propped open ajar by a ratty boot from a foot of an enormous size. Being the bright child that she was, she correctly surmised that the boot belonged to "Uncle Henry". She could hear "Uncle Tony" whistling happily from the outside, then there was the fall of the ax and the splintering of wood. She went to the door and sneaked out.
Ragetti chopped wood on the block that he and Pintel had seen on their first day they were there. He had discarded his shirt long ago and his lean now quite sunburned scarred back was to Estella, as he gathered the chopped pieces of wood and threw them in the sizeable pile to the side of the building. Then he turned to pick up his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. He caught the glimpse of Estella off to his left. He jumped startled, and his face would have turned interesting shades of red if it were not so sunburned and red already from the heat of exertion. He hurriedly pulled the shirt over his back.
"You've got scars like mommy," the little girl somberly pointed out with a frown, "Did you make your . . . little girl's daddy mad too?"
Other than feeling amazingly confused even for him, Ragetti was feeling bit more than a touch embarrassed. He scratched his head in thought, then answered, "I don't 'ave a littl' girl, and if I did, I think I might be the da . . ."
"Oh," she answered, "Then who hurt you then? Did your daddy hit you a lot, too?"
"Well . . . uh . . . sometimes, but 'e di'n't do me back up like this. I . . .uh . . . well got in trouble with the law a lot, and me last captain, 'e di'n't like me much neither. 'E thought me a bit daft."
"You were on a ship once, Uncle Tony?" she inquired excitedly.
"Yep!" he replied, as he tugged at the collars of his shirt. "Me and 'Enry, we've been on all kinds of ships."
"Mommy and I have watched the ships from the dock. Have we ever seen your ship?" she queried with bright eyes.
"Uh . . . well, probably not. We were 'ere at night last time. We 'ad a nice little black ship with black sails," he answered.
It was Estella's turn to be confused for a change. "Daddy told mommy and me tales about an awful black ship with black sails that was runned by horrible monsters, and they killed anyone they came across."
Ragetti swallowed hard and had to think of something. He knew he was really in trouble now! He should learn to keep his big mouth shut. "Well," he said, as he scratched his head, then he went to the barrel full of water and ducked his head into the water to wash off his face and hair and cool himself off from the heat. He looked up at her from the surface of the water, then he ducked his head lower and blew bubbles to the surface to try and entertain her and distract her from her awkward questions, that he really did not want to answer. He pulled his head up and began to shook his head and hair out. It worked. She giggled as she held up her hands to shield herself from the spray of water.
"I 'ave to do the laundry still," he explained to her, as he picked up the basket of clothes just outside the door.
"Oh! Can I help?" she asked enthusiastically.
The rather sunburned pirate frowned down at her, but she knew how to get around him. She gave him those big sad dark eyes with those big puffy cheeks just ready to pout. He let out an exasperated breath. "Oh, alright," he answered, as he carried the clothes off to the wash tub. He was doing his assigned work still. After a good hour and a half of washing and hanging up the clothes and Marita's fineries (and Ragetti putting away his usual naughty thoughts because of present company) and having a good old fashion suds fight, the two finally headed back to the shelter and the shade of the bakery. Estella, who was in less than the perfect prim condition than she started followed behind him, with a now dirty dress and sagging curls.
"Aren't you going to do the laundry in your room?" she asked cheerfully, not wanting the fun to end.
"Nah, it just got comfortable in there," he told her.
Pintel gave Mrs. Bennett a nod and a thank you, as she moved her sizeable form out of the door. Behaving himself for some reason, that only the fates knew, he waited until the door closed behind her before he muttered, "Bitch!"
Lucy looked up and barked his approval. Mrs. Bennett had given him a donut, so she was alright in his book.
"Who asked ya!" the pirate growled as he went to his chair behind the counter. He propped himself back and pulled out a lady's purse from his shirt and poured the contents into his hand. "Cheap bitch!" he added, as he counted the coins, "Criminy! Only five Shillin's. I went through all of that fer only five shillin's!"
"Business bad, eh?" Ragetti commented as he entered the front. The other grumbled a not so nice comment. "Can me and me 'elper 'ave a couple of donuts?" he asked brightly.
Estella smiled up at the older pirate hopefully. "Bah! What's this look like?" he grouched, "Charity?"
"Uh?" Ragetti replied.
"We live here!" the little girl insisted goodheartedly.
"Well," Pintel answered after a moment's thought, "I guess if ye put it that way . . ." He produced a donut from the case. The little girl gave a squeal of delight. Lucy go up from his corner and came over to sniff her prize. "Now, ye listen 'ere, ye greed' laz' mutt! Get 'way! Ye've 'ad three a'ready!"
Estella laughed and gave the big black dog half of the pastry. Lucy swallowed it without chewing or tasting it, then he gave the girl a big slobbery doggie kiss.
"What 'bouts mine?" Ragetti complained disappointed.
The older man gave him that lopsided squint. "Ye ain't cute 'nough," he grunted.
Ragetti gave him that bright happy stupid grin with his one blue eye shining.
"Now, that ain't fair, boy!" he growled, as he handed his taller companion a donut. Lucy, having his priorities straight and very little loyalties, went over to the younger man to beg. Feeling more than a bit jealous, Pintel pulled another donut from the case and tossed it to the dog. "No wonder ya be such a big mutt!"
"Uncle Tony and I played in the laundry water outside," the youngster told the smaller pirate merrily, "Can we play a game in here, too?"
"Well, little lady, we can't be 'avin' a water fight in 'ere, but I'm pretty good at booger flingin'," he told her as stood up proud of himself.
"'Ey, Pintel, why don't we show 'er 'ow to play poker!" Ragetti prompted to cover for his partner's special talent (and besides, he didn't feel he had enough boogers to compete at this time).
"Neither of ye got any money! What good would it be," the older man complained, "and I ain't playing no strip poker with ya! I ain't got no desire to see ye naked!"
Pintel!" Ragetti cried out, "Not with the littl' lady!"
The older man shrugged it off. "And what then do ye plan to use fer bets?"
"Well," Ragetti replied as he scratched his the back of his neck. He screwed up his face in the effort of deep thoughts. His brain was going to go on strike with this much unusual activity going on there. "'Stella got 'er marbles, and me, I got some nice walnuts," he finally answered.
Pintel narrowed his eyes at him. "No one be wantin' yer nuts, boy!"
No one noticed the flushed face of the sunburned pirate. Pintel threw up his hands and produced a mason jar from under the counter. It was full of golden cuff links. "A'right, 'ere be me wagers," he added. "I were savin' 'em fer a rain' day, but they are just as useless as yer nuts."
"Now all we be needin' is some cards," Ragetti pointed out.
"Oh!" exclaimed Estella. "My daddy used to have cards! They would be put away with his other things . . ." her voice lowered, as she looked down to her feet, " . . . in the cellar."
"We're set then!" Ragetti announced happily, "'Stella gets the cards and 'er marbles, and I'll get me walnuts . . ."
The little girl's face fell, and Pintel got out of his chair and knelt in front of her. "What's wrong, poppet?"
"I'm afraid of the cellar," she replied, "Daddy once told me there's a troll down there . . ."
Ragetti smiled broadly and suppressed the giggles, as he pointed to Pintel. The older pirate eyed him, and smirked. "Yeah, well," he told her, as he looked pointedly up at his companion, "Sometimes there's a cyclops down there, too." Ragetti just looked confused again.
Estella looked up at the taller the man. He knelt down to her, too. "Ah, don't ye be worryin'," he told her, "I will go down there with ye."
She looked up at him uncertain, but the smaller pirate butted in. "If there be a monster down there, ye be surprised at 'ow fast Uncle Tony can run!"
"'E means that I be the biggest coward e'er born, and I ain't 'fraid of the cellar, but if there be a monster down there, I'll be real good at gettin' us 'way."
"Well, . . . alright," she finally agreed.
Ragetti swept her up onto his shoulders and carried her across the kitchen to the cellar. She gasped as the tall man took hold of the door knob. He threw opened the door and crouched and ducked inside, careful not to bang Estella on the low ceiling. The fingers of Estella's little hand grasped his shoulder tightly, and she screwed her eyes tightly closed. Once at the bottom, he went over to his usual haunt and picked up the evening rum.
"It be safe. poppet," he told her, as he patted her knee over his shoulder. "Ye can open yer eyes now."
"Uncle Tony, " she breathed, as she grasped his shoulder tighter, "I'm frightened."
"It's okay, littl' luv," he assured her, "I'm 'ere, remember, and I be 'nough to scare any ole troll to death!" he replied with that rotten tooth smile, "Just ye ask Uncle 'enry."
She slowly cracked her eyes opened. The cellar was dark, except for the dim streams of golden sunlight coming through the dusty windows. There were many crates of supplies and the bags of sugar and flour. He took a firm hold of Estella and placed her on the floor. She took trembling steps back into him and stumbled. He took a firm hold of her soft little hand into his enormous rough hand.
"Let's find those cards, eh, poppet," he told her, as he squeezed her hand reassuringly, "The sooner we find 'em, the sooner we go back upstairs." He smiled down at her and gave her a wink.
She nodded and they wandered around the stores then. Finally, she nodded towards a couple of older crates in the corner. Ragetti led her to one of them and knelt down and knelt down behind her in front of it. They lifted the top of it off. An oversized spider scurried away out of the deep recesses, and Estella threw herself into the pirate's arms. He patted her back and turned her back around to show her that the spider was now gone. They dug around the many assorted items of Karl Schmidt until the girl came up with the cards. Ragetti hefted a well made pistol from the crate. Estella turned frightened eyes on him. He caught the stare and looked at the pistol. He sighed and chunked it back into the crate. Later, he thought. He hefted the little girl in his right arm and picked up the rum bottles in his left.
"See, no trolls there, poppet," he told her as they entered the kitchen and he put the rum on the preparation table.
Within a quarter of an hour, the three of them found themselves sprawled out on the kitchen floor. Lucy casually rested his head on Pintel's shoulder and drooled down his shirt. The older man glared at his partner. The dog sat up straight and wrinkled his brow.
"I'll see you two marbles and raise ye three nuts," Ragetti said as he pushed his five walnuts to the pile.
Pintel looked over his cards and so did Lucy. Then he looked at his decreasing pile of cuff links. Lucy imitated him. The older pirate pushed out five cuff links as if it really pained him to part with them.
The clearing of the throat was heard. Pintel sat up straight and exclaimed a good hearty "Oh shit!"
"Are you teaching my child your vile habits?" Marita asked flatly.
"We're playing poker, mommy!" Estella exclaimed, "and I'm winning!" She stood up and showed her her cards.
A/n: And yes, the pistol will show up again, trust me. This should kind of scare the doody out of you! Ragetti with a pistol, oh my! Well, at least he has a better chance of hitting his target than Pintel!
Oh, don't make fun of Estella for thinking there is a troll in the cellar. I used to be scared of certain rooms on 10th street until I was 23!
Anyway, thanks goes out to PeiPei, as always. And Thank you deeply for reviewing "Atonement of Sins". I hope to write some chapters on that one in the near future. And yes, I kind of feel sorry for the other pirates of Barbossa's crew also. It is a horrible thing to face execution, better to die as true pirates at the end of a sword.
Thank you, Piratedragon for the review! Your stories rock, also!
I will be catching up to everyone's stories soon. I have been deeply immersed in Harry Potter. Shame on me! But if one is write a FF, it would be adviseable to read the book! And thanks to all of you, this story now has over 1,000 hits and 30 reiviews! I'm proud! This is doing better than "The Quest for the Purple Unicorn" on Fictionpress, and it has 46 chapters!
Chapter 13: Aces High
Since Ragetti was usually the one that Estella went to first while she was away, Marita chose to have the tall lanky man do the indoor chores first thing in the morning, leaving Pintel more than enough bake goods to last him through the afternoon hours. Ragetti got stuck with firewood and laundry duties in the meantime while she was gone to deal with the weekly supplies. The one eyed man did not mind the chores in the least. Well, the laundry bit could be quite fun, especially for one of the proper imagination. Besides, it was safer to have Ragetti clean her personal effects. They tended to return to her clean, unlike the time she had Pintel do the laundry. She was still missing interesting pieces of clothing after that experience.
After all, she felt it was now safe to leave Estella to her rooms for the afternoon with the younger pirate outside and otherwise occupied. She didn't like taking her along because it was too much of a burden on both of them. Estella would get bored with the waiting around and the grown ups' talk, and she would tend to wander or do other mischief. This way, Marita could put whole concentration in to her work ahead of her, and not have to worry about what the five year old was up to. Of course, she did not count on the intelligence or the determination of her daughter.
The mistress of the bakery left before noon. Of course, she spent her good half an hour giving Pintel his usual series of new and unique threats, and if he produced another corset while she was out, he'd wear it Thursday morning as he waited on customers. The wide toothy grin he gave her sent icicles down her back.
No more than a quarter of an hour after her departure, Estella crept cautiously down the steps to a silent kitchen in another fine frilly red dress and her hair done in perfect little finger curls. She clutched her similarly dressed doll in her arms. She bounced around the kitchen and looked for her friend with her dark eyes wide and sharp, but she saw no movement. "Uncle Tony?" she queried in a sweet voice, but she received no answer.
She crept across the kitchen to the door to their room. Being trained in the proper manners, she knocked gently, but she received no answer, So, she carefully turned the doorknob and opened the door. She poked her head in. The brilliant sunlight streaming through the single window illuminated the horror. The room had got into an incredible state of disarray over the last two days. There were dirty clothes strewn throughout. One could no longer distinguish where the beds ended and the pile began, muchless see the floor. There were dirty stockings in some of the most interesting place: Hanging from the oil lamps, on the table tops, hanging half way out of the dresser drawers with other accessories included, more socks between the bed frame and the mattress. There was a pair of exceptionally dirty pair of stockings fitted over the bedposts of Ragetti's bed. There was even a dirty stocking dipped in the cup where Ragetti's wooden eye shared its nighttime rest with a pretty red native flower. He felt that it needed the luxuries of home also. There was a stocking fitted over an empty bottle by Pintel's bed. One of Ragetti's shirts was wrapped around his pillow, and if Marita explored further, she would have found some her missing lingerie under there. There were discerning lumps in Pintel's bed, that no one would dare venture to explore. There were two pairs of pants, a shirt, and a petticoat hanging over the closet door, that would no longer close. Other than the dirty laundry everywhere, dirty plates and empty bottles were scattered around. There was a pair of rather contented rats sleeping on an empty plate on the dresser. There was an assortment of other things that didn't quite rightly belong in either one of their possessions littered about the mess, and most of this disaster happened since Monday.
Estella gulped and silently turned about and shut the door. She did not dare explore this new jungle and face what other kind of beasties that may lurk within. She went to the cellar door with trembling fingers, she turned the knob, and the door creaked opened. She swallowed hard and took a step backwards. There was a different kind of trepidation there. Something deep inside of her reached up and grabbed her voice away, and she stood there frozen for hour long minutes with shaking knees. Finally, she squeaked and slammed the door shut and threw her weight against it. She panted hard and clutched her doll close to her rapidly beating heart. She bit her lower lip hard and held back the tears. It would never do to let her friends see her cry.
That left the door to the front of the bakery, where she could hear "Uncle Henry's" entertaining dialogs with customers, and the door to the outside, that was propped open ajar by a ratty boot from a foot of an enormous size. Being the bright child that she was, she correctly surmised that the boot belonged to "Uncle Henry". She could hear "Uncle Tony" whistling happily from the outside, then there was the fall of the ax and the splintering of wood. She went to the door and sneaked out.
Ragetti chopped wood on the block that he and Pintel had seen on their first day they were there. He had discarded his shirt long ago and his lean now quite sunburned scarred back was to Estella, as he gathered the chopped pieces of wood and threw them in the sizeable pile to the side of the building. Then he turned to pick up his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. He caught the glimpse of Estella off to his left. He jumped startled, and his face would have turned interesting shades of red if it were not so sunburned and red already from the heat of exertion. He hurriedly pulled the shirt over his back.
"You've got scars like mommy," the little girl somberly pointed out with a frown, "Did you make your . . . little girl's daddy mad too?"
Other than feeling amazingly confused even for him, Ragetti was feeling bit more than a touch embarrassed. He scratched his head in thought, then answered, "I don't 'ave a littl' girl, and if I did, I think I might be the da . . ."
"Oh," she answered, "Then who hurt you then? Did your daddy hit you a lot, too?"
"Well . . . uh . . . sometimes, but 'e di'n't do me back up like this. I . . .uh . . . well got in trouble with the law a lot, and me last captain, 'e di'n't like me much neither. 'E thought me a bit daft."
"You were on a ship once, Uncle Tony?" she inquired excitedly.
"Yep!" he replied, as he tugged at the collars of his shirt. "Me and 'Enry, we've been on all kinds of ships."
"Mommy and I have watched the ships from the dock. Have we ever seen your ship?" she queried with bright eyes.
"Uh . . . well, probably not. We were 'ere at night last time. We 'ad a nice little black ship with black sails," he answered.
It was Estella's turn to be confused for a change. "Daddy told mommy and me tales about an awful black ship with black sails that was runned by horrible monsters, and they killed anyone they came across."
Ragetti swallowed hard and had to think of something. He knew he was really in trouble now! He should learn to keep his big mouth shut. "Well," he said, as he scratched his head, then he went to the barrel full of water and ducked his head into the water to wash off his face and hair and cool himself off from the heat. He looked up at her from the surface of the water, then he ducked his head lower and blew bubbles to the surface to try and entertain her and distract her from her awkward questions, that he really did not want to answer. He pulled his head up and began to shook his head and hair out. It worked. She giggled as she held up her hands to shield herself from the spray of water.
"I 'ave to do the laundry still," he explained to her, as he picked up the basket of clothes just outside the door.
"Oh! Can I help?" she asked enthusiastically.
The rather sunburned pirate frowned down at her, but she knew how to get around him. She gave him those big sad dark eyes with those big puffy cheeks just ready to pout. He let out an exasperated breath. "Oh, alright," he answered, as he carried the clothes off to the wash tub. He was doing his assigned work still. After a good hour and a half of washing and hanging up the clothes and Marita's fineries (and Ragetti putting away his usual naughty thoughts because of present company) and having a good old fashion suds fight, the two finally headed back to the shelter and the shade of the bakery. Estella, who was in less than the perfect prim condition than she started followed behind him, with a now dirty dress and sagging curls.
"Aren't you going to do the laundry in your room?" she asked cheerfully, not wanting the fun to end.
"Nah, it just got comfortable in there," he told her.
Pintel gave Mrs. Bennett a nod and a thank you, as she moved her sizeable form out of the door. Behaving himself for some reason, that only the fates knew, he waited until the door closed behind her before he muttered, "Bitch!"
Lucy looked up and barked his approval. Mrs. Bennett had given him a donut, so she was alright in his book.
"Who asked ya!" the pirate growled as he went to his chair behind the counter. He propped himself back and pulled out a lady's purse from his shirt and poured the contents into his hand. "Cheap bitch!" he added, as he counted the coins, "Criminy! Only five Shillin's. I went through all of that fer only five shillin's!"
"Business bad, eh?" Ragetti commented as he entered the front. The other grumbled a not so nice comment. "Can me and me 'elper 'ave a couple of donuts?" he asked brightly.
Estella smiled up at the older pirate hopefully. "Bah! What's this look like?" he grouched, "Charity?"
"Uh?" Ragetti replied.
"We live here!" the little girl insisted goodheartedly.
"Well," Pintel answered after a moment's thought, "I guess if ye put it that way . . ." He produced a donut from the case. The little girl gave a squeal of delight. Lucy go up from his corner and came over to sniff her prize. "Now, ye listen 'ere, ye greed' laz' mutt! Get 'way! Ye've 'ad three a'ready!"
Estella laughed and gave the big black dog half of the pastry. Lucy swallowed it without chewing or tasting it, then he gave the girl a big slobbery doggie kiss.
"What 'bouts mine?" Ragetti complained disappointed.
The older man gave him that lopsided squint. "Ye ain't cute 'nough," he grunted.
Ragetti gave him that bright happy stupid grin with his one blue eye shining.
"Now, that ain't fair, boy!" he growled, as he handed his taller companion a donut. Lucy, having his priorities straight and very little loyalties, went over to the younger man to beg. Feeling more than a bit jealous, Pintel pulled another donut from the case and tossed it to the dog. "No wonder ya be such a big mutt!"
"Uncle Tony and I played in the laundry water outside," the youngster told the smaller pirate merrily, "Can we play a game in here, too?"
"Well, little lady, we can't be 'avin' a water fight in 'ere, but I'm pretty good at booger flingin'," he told her as stood up proud of himself.
"'Ey, Pintel, why don't we show 'er 'ow to play poker!" Ragetti prompted to cover for his partner's special talent (and besides, he didn't feel he had enough boogers to compete at this time).
"Neither of ye got any money! What good would it be," the older man complained, "and I ain't playing no strip poker with ya! I ain't got no desire to see ye naked!"
Pintel!" Ragetti cried out, "Not with the littl' lady!"
The older man shrugged it off. "And what then do ye plan to use fer bets?"
"Well," Ragetti replied as he scratched his the back of his neck. He screwed up his face in the effort of deep thoughts. His brain was going to go on strike with this much unusual activity going on there. "'Stella got 'er marbles, and me, I got some nice walnuts," he finally answered.
Pintel narrowed his eyes at him. "No one be wantin' yer nuts, boy!"
No one noticed the flushed face of the sunburned pirate. Pintel threw up his hands and produced a mason jar from under the counter. It was full of golden cuff links. "A'right, 'ere be me wagers," he added. "I were savin' 'em fer a rain' day, but they are just as useless as yer nuts."
"Now all we be needin' is some cards," Ragetti pointed out.
"Oh!" exclaimed Estella. "My daddy used to have cards! They would be put away with his other things . . ." her voice lowered, as she looked down to her feet, " . . . in the cellar."
"We're set then!" Ragetti announced happily, "'Stella gets the cards and 'er marbles, and I'll get me walnuts . . ."
The little girl's face fell, and Pintel got out of his chair and knelt in front of her. "What's wrong, poppet?"
"I'm afraid of the cellar," she replied, "Daddy once told me there's a troll down there . . ."
Ragetti smiled broadly and suppressed the giggles, as he pointed to Pintel. The older pirate eyed him, and smirked. "Yeah, well," he told her, as he looked pointedly up at his companion, "Sometimes there's a cyclops down there, too." Ragetti just looked confused again.
Estella looked up at the taller the man. He knelt down to her, too. "Ah, don't ye be worryin'," he told her, "I will go down there with ye."
She looked up at him uncertain, but the smaller pirate butted in. "If there be a monster down there, ye be surprised at 'ow fast Uncle Tony can run!"
"'E means that I be the biggest coward e'er born, and I ain't 'fraid of the cellar, but if there be a monster down there, I'll be real good at gettin' us 'way."
"Well, . . . alright," she finally agreed.
Ragetti swept her up onto his shoulders and carried her across the kitchen to the cellar. She gasped as the tall man took hold of the door knob. He threw opened the door and crouched and ducked inside, careful not to bang Estella on the low ceiling. The fingers of Estella's little hand grasped his shoulder tightly, and she screwed her eyes tightly closed. Once at the bottom, he went over to his usual haunt and picked up the evening rum.
"It be safe. poppet," he told her, as he patted her knee over his shoulder. "Ye can open yer eyes now."
"Uncle Tony, " she breathed, as she grasped his shoulder tighter, "I'm frightened."
"It's okay, littl' luv," he assured her, "I'm 'ere, remember, and I be 'nough to scare any ole troll to death!" he replied with that rotten tooth smile, "Just ye ask Uncle 'enry."
She slowly cracked her eyes opened. The cellar was dark, except for the dim streams of golden sunlight coming through the dusty windows. There were many crates of supplies and the bags of sugar and flour. He took a firm hold of Estella and placed her on the floor. She took trembling steps back into him and stumbled. He took a firm hold of her soft little hand into his enormous rough hand.
"Let's find those cards, eh, poppet," he told her, as he squeezed her hand reassuringly, "The sooner we find 'em, the sooner we go back upstairs." He smiled down at her and gave her a wink.
She nodded and they wandered around the stores then. Finally, she nodded towards a couple of older crates in the corner. Ragetti led her to one of them and knelt down and knelt down behind her in front of it. They lifted the top of it off. An oversized spider scurried away out of the deep recesses, and Estella threw herself into the pirate's arms. He patted her back and turned her back around to show her that the spider was now gone. They dug around the many assorted items of Karl Schmidt until the girl came up with the cards. Ragetti hefted a well made pistol from the crate. Estella turned frightened eyes on him. He caught the stare and looked at the pistol. He sighed and chunked it back into the crate. Later, he thought. He hefted the little girl in his right arm and picked up the rum bottles in his left.
"See, no trolls there, poppet," he told her as they entered the kitchen and he put the rum on the preparation table.
Within a quarter of an hour, the three of them found themselves sprawled out on the kitchen floor. Lucy casually rested his head on Pintel's shoulder and drooled down his shirt. The older man glared at his partner. The dog sat up straight and wrinkled his brow.
"I'll see you two marbles and raise ye three nuts," Ragetti said as he pushed his five walnuts to the pile.
Pintel looked over his cards and so did Lucy. Then he looked at his decreasing pile of cuff links. Lucy imitated him. The older pirate pushed out five cuff links as if it really pained him to part with them.
The clearing of the throat was heard. Pintel sat up straight and exclaimed a good hearty "Oh shit!"
"Are you teaching my child your vile habits?" Marita asked flatly.
"We're playing poker, mommy!" Estella exclaimed, "and I'm winning!" She stood up and showed her her cards.
A/n: And yes, the pistol will show up again, trust me. This should kind of scare the doody out of you! Ragetti with a pistol, oh my! Well, at least he has a better chance of hitting his target than Pintel!
Oh, don't make fun of Estella for thinking there is a troll in the cellar. I used to be scared of certain rooms on 10th street until I was 23!