A/N: Here it is Chapter 15. This chapter is full of some mush, so please include a brown bag. Oh well, that's what the five year old is for!
Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Your responses are greatly appreciated. Pei Pei, I hope you are alright. You haven't written anything this week. I just hope you're on vacation. I need one!
Thank you, Catgiraluh, I am better than half way through your story, and still going.
Oh, and one more comment, in the previous chapter, I said that they were last quarter moon. The moon is waxing, and for some reason, my brain had a fizzle and I thought last quarter menat on towards full. Duh! So, they are in first quarter.
On with the show . . .
Chapter 15: Reading, Writing, and Dirty Laundry
Marita felt a tad bit guilty about the severe sunburn the man had received from doing the outside chores during the hot after noon hours. So, Ragetti's special Friday task was to clean that incredible jungle, that they fondly called their room. Needless to say, the enormity of this job left the tall man rather speechless. She prepared to leave at noon as usual. She gave Pintel his usual long series of new and unique threats against him and his manhood for doing those very special and talented activities of his. She expected, in all honesty, to return by 3 in the afternoon and spend the rest of the daylight hours returning the older man's stash of items. She had basically gave up hope of her daughter staying away from the two criminals. That was not to say that the bakery mistress approved of her association with them, but she fully expected to find Estella lost somewhere in the jumble of what was the pirates' room when she returned.
She was not wrong on her expectations. Pintel had stolen enough goodies that would happily cover his weeks wages and several subsequent weeks within his half an hour. The little girl crept down to the kitchen within the first hour after her mother had left. It didn't take her long to surmise that Ragetti was in the disastrous servants' quarters. Although he was not visible, the self same boot, that propped open the outside door from the other day, now propped open the overflowing bedroom door. Estella poked her head into the room. There was a moving pile of laundry in the sea of rubbish. The lump suddenly hit the dresser, and Ragetti promptly popped up with a hearty yelp and a pair of Marita's bloomers on his head. He rubbed his assaulted brow and looked towards the laughing little girl.
"'Ello, poppet!" he greeted her, then he became self conscious of his newest head decoration. He yanked the bloomers off his head and hid them behind his back with a deep fluent and quite visible blush on his face.
"Can I help, Uncle Tony?" she asked.
Trying to think was not one of his strong points, and his wooden eye didn't approve of the smoldering action. So, the pirate just shrugged. He'd already been in trouble for numerous stupid things, so what was one more. "Sure, poppet," he replied cheerfully.
The two of them had an entertaining time of hide and seek. The battle of the dirty laundry was quite fun, too. Estella had the distinct tendency of asking those awkward and embarrassing questions about those rather questionable pieces of clothing that really belonged in Marita's room and not the men's room. After hitting each other over the head with the woman's undergarments, the man got over the discomfort of presence of such clothing, and the child ceased asking questions about them. As they sorted through the vast assortment of clothes, Ragetti was a bit puzzled how various pieces of Estella's clothing showed up in the pile, and the girl found some of her missing ribbons and five mismatched stockings. The one eyed man found it very odd how such mistakes could be made, since he was only able to fit one of the girl's stockings over his big toe and the next two toes, they were obviously too small to mistake as their own, but Estella got a big giggle out of his attempts to wear them.
The two humans unceremoniously evicted the cuddling rather happy fat rats by way of the window. After all, they hadn't paid their rent since they had arrived, and it had been near a month since they came here. The little girl changed out the cup of dirty water, dead wilted flower, and the moldy sock. She fetched fresh water and a fresh flower, and Ragetti placed a fresh dirty sock in the water. After all the gathering and sorting, the two did the laundry. Come late afternoon, no one noticed the tardiness of the lady of the household. After a couple of quick tea biscuits, Estella went back upstairs for her afternoon nap. Ragetti went about making the evening meal for himself and Pintel, and he finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Evening drew on, and Marita still had not returned. Pintel and Ragetti just shrugged it off. Ragetti went about chopping the firewood at dusk, and Pintel locked up for the night and cleaned out the leftovers. The two pirates didn't really think any thing about her absence. They figured that she would be doing what they would be doing with a night on the town. Of course, if that was completely true, the younger man would be completely crushed by the thought of Marita spending her time in the same kind of company that he would, thus saying that he was most certainly not Marita's type. Fortunately for Ragetti, Marita had not interest in that kind of female company.
Estella joined them for dinner, that Ragetti had made all on his own, and it was actually edible and digestible. Pintel gave several approving belches after three bowlfuls instead of starting a food fight with it. Estella didn't wretch and hurl after cleaning her bowl. So, Ragetti was quite full of himself afterwards, although the meal had not turned out the way he had wanted it to. Search as he might, he was unable to find Marita's stash of peppers.
Afterwards, the two pirates took the child upstairs and put her to bed. She suckered Ragetti into singing her a lullaby, since her mommy wasn't there to do it. The younger man sat up straight and scratched his head as he racked his brain for a song that would be suitable for all audiences. Pintel, having never been to Marita's private quarters, soon found his pants getting quite heavy with the new store of treasure. The younger pirate looked to him for advice in this situation. (He sure was asking the wrong person!) The older pirate just shrugged and held up his hands in helplessness, then he had to hurriedly grab his pants before the laws of gravity yanked them down to his ankles. Pintel knew less clean songs than Ragetti did. So, the one eyed pirate slumped his jaw onto his fist in thought and causing himself a major headache in the process. Finally, he came upon a song, and he sang her a pirate working song with her help and Pintel's help. It wasn't exactly a lullaby, and it was rather a lively tune, but it did qualify under the PG rating and it had very little womanizing in it.
Wide and bright eyed, Estella chirped in, "Mommy sings better than you, Uncle Tony."
The tall man paused in tucking her in and stood up straight with a frown. "Hush," he told her, as he tapped her on the nose, "And go to sleep now, poppet." He turned to follow Pintel from the room. As his companion disappeared from the room, Ragetti hurried back to her and placed a kiss on he forehead. "Go to sleep now," he whispered to her, "Yer mommy will be 'ome soon."
The two miscreants dragged themselves to their respective beds. They were still cut off from their rum supply, because Marita had locked away the fine beverage in a giant chest in the cellar, and she carried the keys with her. Although they had drank the last of the cooking sherry the previous night, neither of them felt inclined to go and tackle picking the lock. So, they were going to bed sober for a change. The light of the waxing moon caught Pintel's eye as he collapsed in his bed. He jumped up and slammed the window shut and drew the curtains. Ragetti, who had just pulled his eye out with a sickening popped, looked over at him with curiosity.
"What's that all 'bouts, mate?" he asked.
"The moon," he answered quietly, as he headed into the bed, and Lucy jumped up to join him.
Ragetti frowned and looked down. "Yes," he answered, and he dropped his eye off in its cup. He curled into his bed and went to sleep.
They were not asleep for more than two hours when a knock came to the door. Pintel grumbled some obscenities that basically translated that he wasn't getting up anytime soon. Lucy sat up and whimpered, but Ragetti remained sprawled out and spread eagle on the bed. The knock came again, and then the door creaked open onto the stuffy room. Estella, clutching her doll close to herself in one arm and carrying a lantern in the other hand, she crept across the threshold in bare feet. Placing the lantern on the nightstand, she tugged at Ragetti's sleeve.
"Uncle Tony?" she implored softly.
The one eyed pirate mumbled some discouraging things, that were not exactly proper for such tender ears. He turned his body over and away from her.
Estella bit her lower lip, and the tears started to leak down her cheeks. "Uncle Tony!" she cried out in a more insistent voice.
He groaned and blindly felt around for the incentive for his waking. Touching Estella's shoulder, he patted his way up to her face. Something in his semi conscious mind registered her presence and who she was. He pushed himself up and looked at her. He moved his hand to her cheek and brushed away the tears.
"What's wrong, poppet?" he asked concerned.
"Mommy's not home yet," she complained.
"She's not?" he exclaimed, as he sat up fully. His brow furrowed and he looked over at his sleeping companion. "'Enry!" he called out in a loud voice.
The older pirate grumbled something unpleasant. The dog stood up and poked his nose at his bed fellow. Pintel made some more interesting mumbles, then suddenly, he grabbed the dog's flopped over ears and pulled him in for a big sloppy kiss. Lucy pulled away with an incredibly disgusted look on his face and with his brow wrinkled. Realization dawning on the man, he sat up and sputtered and spewed in a revolted way. He coughed and carried on beyond all reason.
"'Enry, Mrs. Marita ain't 'ome yet," Ragetti complained.
"So, what's that to me?" he growled as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"Mommy's not been gone this long before," the child replied with those big sorrowful eyes.
"Och, she's probably 'avin' a party. I ain't 'nough of a man to take 'er from 'er fun!" the older man complained.
"'Enry!" Ragetti reprimanded.
"Whatcha want me to do 'bouts it?" he argued.
"Go out and find 'er," he answered, "We can't be lettin' the littl' lady down, ya know!"
"It be gettin' t'wards full moon! I ain't goin' out!" the other insisted, "Ye do it!"
"I'm too suspicious lookin', and I be marked and all. It ain't like yer gonna get furry or an'thing," the younger pointed out.
"It ain't gettin' furry I be worried 'bouts. It be quite the opposite! Ye know well the curse of the full moon! It ain't no pleasant thing!" Pintel argued.
"It ain't officially a full moon yet. That will not be till Sunday."
"I don't care. It's close 'nough!" Pintel pointed out, "It's full 'nough to cast a shadow."
"Lucy needs a walk, and 'e likes ye better. 'Stella like me better, so I get to stay 'ere with 'er," Ragetti stated logically, "'Sides, the curse is broken. We be normal 'gain." ( That was a truely frightening thought!)
The older man squinted his eyes at him. The younger man widened his grin and looked at him with the one pleading eye. Estella wrapped her arms around the tall man's arm and gave him a much more convincing pathetic pleading look. The older man spat off the opposite of the bed. He got up and got dressed. He grumbled some not very nice things, and the dog growled at him. He called the dog something that should not have been said in front of a five year old. Turning on his partner in many and various crimes, he pointed his finger at him.
"If this mutt gnaws on one of me bones in the moonlight, I will usin' that wooden of yers as a ping pong ball!" With that said, he stomped off with the happily following dog.
Ragetti sighed with relief and took up the lantern and lead Estella from the room and to the stairs of Marita's rooms. She shook her head and looked sorrowfully up at him. She clutched her doll closer to herself.
"I'm frightened, Uncle Tony. Can't I stay with you?"
"Oh," he answered, as he scratched his head, "I guess."
"What if mommy don't come back like daddy did?" she asked.
"Now, dotcha be talkin' like that," he replied as he knelt down to her, "'Course yer mommy's comin' back. She be a strong lady, ya know, and Uncle 'Enry says that she be too mean to die."
"Daddy was real mean, and he didn't come back."
"Well, I know yer mum'll be back and she be fine. Me gut feelin', ye see," he replied with a wink of his empty eye socket, "or else, I be 'ungry 'gain." She smiled up at him. He forced himself to smile back at her. Those irritating butterflies were doing their dance again, and he feared for Marita's safety. He knew he had to be strong and not let the child down or let her see his true anxiety. If the worse had happened, he and Pintel would just have to take her with them as they fled Port Royal. He was not ready to give up on Marita yet. She just couldn't be dead. Hadn't fate taken away enough people that he loved?
"Uncle Tony, will you read me a story?" she asked sweetly.
"Uh . . ." he answered, "I can't read, poppet."
"That's alright," she chirped, as she took the lantern and handed him her doll. She started up the steps, then turned to him and smiled. "I can read. I'll show you how."
"I'd like that very much, poppet," he replied. Not only would this distract both their minds from worries, but he always did want to learn how to read. His father always told him that it was above his station in life to learn and he was too daft to get it anyway.
Estella returned with a big book, that was almost as big as herself. Ragetti moved up the steps and exchanged the doll for the book, then he borrowed the lantern to fetch his wooden eye for the occasion. Estella looked up at him puzzled.
"Can you see with that eye?" she asked curiously.
He shook his head no. She looked more confused, as he sat himself on the kitchen floor with his back against the wall. She shrugged and crawled into his lap. Placing her doll on her lap, she opened the book, as the man encircled his arms around her waist. She proceeded to read the words on the page and pointed them out for her much bigger companion, so he could see them. She helped him to make out the words and the letters like her mother had taught her. Although the progress was slow and neither of them got the gist of the story they were reading, the pirate was as delighted as the child was.
A couple hours later, Marita entered the room to find the two of them sound asleep. Estella was still cuddled in Ragetti's arms. The man had the right side of his head laying on her head. The book remained opened on the floor. The woman sighed. She placed her bag on the table. She walked over to them and gently tried to lift her daughter from the man's grasp.
Ragetti tightened his hold on her and mumbled, "Don't take Emily 'way. I won't let ye 'ave 'er this time."
Marita paused and frowned. She gently shook his shoulder, and the man woke with a start. He stared at her without recognition for several seconds. He blinked his eyes and wiped the sleep from the left one, then his right one itched with the sleep as well. Familiarity dawned on him.
"Can I have my daughter now?" she asked gently.
"Uh," he answered and loosened his grip from around the girl. She hefted the sleeping child up in her arms and took her upstairs. Ragetti sighed and folded the book together. He got to his feet and placed the book on the table. He began to rub his right eye socket with more fervor.
He felt Marita's hand softly touch his back. He started and looked at her. "You shouldn't rub it, you know. It will irritate it worse," she told him.
"I know," he replied quietly.
"So, take it out and go to bed," she ordered him kindly.
He pushed the book towards her. "'Stella was teachin' me to read," he explained with a smile.
"Thank you," she said, as she touched his cheek and gave him an approving look.
"Uh?" he answered with that incredible puzzled look, "Ye ain't gonna to yell at me?"
She shook her head no. "Not this time," she answered. She touched his hand and offered, "Maybe I can continue your reading lessons, but you need your sleep now."
Tired and half awake he may have been, but he was aware enough to feel all the blood rush to his face. Just in time to save him from further embarrassment, Pintel walked into the room with Lucy following him. He had a package of his own, that appeared to contain a couple of bottles.
"Marita!" he exclaimed.
"Woof!" added Lucy. "Good to see ya back. Been out lookin' fer ye, woman!"
"At the liquor store?" she asked shrewdly.
"Well," the older man replied, "It be where I'd go. Since I were there and all, I figured I might as well be gettin' some rum fer me and me buddy there. 'Ate to waste the trip and all, ya know."
"Uh-hun," she answered.
"Where've ye been, ma'am," Ragetti asked, as he pulled his eye out and held it firmly in his hand.
"I got waylaid by the law over some special endeavors of a certain employee of mine," she remarked pointedly, as she glared at the stout bow legged man, swigging from his bottle of rum.
Swallowing down the swill, he wiped his mouth and looked at her and growled, "Speak English, woman."
"Go to bed, the both of you," she demanded. She gathered Pintel's collar into her hand and yanked him bodily towards her. "and I'll straighten you out tomorrow. I am not about to lose my bakery because of scum like you!"
Pintel belched as a response.
Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Your responses are greatly appreciated. Pei Pei, I hope you are alright. You haven't written anything this week. I just hope you're on vacation. I need one!
Thank you, Catgiraluh, I am better than half way through your story, and still going.
Oh, and one more comment, in the previous chapter, I said that they were last quarter moon. The moon is waxing, and for some reason, my brain had a fizzle and I thought last quarter menat on towards full. Duh! So, they are in first quarter.
On with the show . . .
Chapter 15: Reading, Writing, and Dirty Laundry
Marita felt a tad bit guilty about the severe sunburn the man had received from doing the outside chores during the hot after noon hours. So, Ragetti's special Friday task was to clean that incredible jungle, that they fondly called their room. Needless to say, the enormity of this job left the tall man rather speechless. She prepared to leave at noon as usual. She gave Pintel his usual long series of new and unique threats against him and his manhood for doing those very special and talented activities of his. She expected, in all honesty, to return by 3 in the afternoon and spend the rest of the daylight hours returning the older man's stash of items. She had basically gave up hope of her daughter staying away from the two criminals. That was not to say that the bakery mistress approved of her association with them, but she fully expected to find Estella lost somewhere in the jumble of what was the pirates' room when she returned.
She was not wrong on her expectations. Pintel had stolen enough goodies that would happily cover his weeks wages and several subsequent weeks within his half an hour. The little girl crept down to the kitchen within the first hour after her mother had left. It didn't take her long to surmise that Ragetti was in the disastrous servants' quarters. Although he was not visible, the self same boot, that propped open the outside door from the other day, now propped open the overflowing bedroom door. Estella poked her head into the room. There was a moving pile of laundry in the sea of rubbish. The lump suddenly hit the dresser, and Ragetti promptly popped up with a hearty yelp and a pair of Marita's bloomers on his head. He rubbed his assaulted brow and looked towards the laughing little girl.
"'Ello, poppet!" he greeted her, then he became self conscious of his newest head decoration. He yanked the bloomers off his head and hid them behind his back with a deep fluent and quite visible blush on his face.
"Can I help, Uncle Tony?" she asked.
Trying to think was not one of his strong points, and his wooden eye didn't approve of the smoldering action. So, the pirate just shrugged. He'd already been in trouble for numerous stupid things, so what was one more. "Sure, poppet," he replied cheerfully.
The two of them had an entertaining time of hide and seek. The battle of the dirty laundry was quite fun, too. Estella had the distinct tendency of asking those awkward and embarrassing questions about those rather questionable pieces of clothing that really belonged in Marita's room and not the men's room. After hitting each other over the head with the woman's undergarments, the man got over the discomfort of presence of such clothing, and the child ceased asking questions about them. As they sorted through the vast assortment of clothes, Ragetti was a bit puzzled how various pieces of Estella's clothing showed up in the pile, and the girl found some of her missing ribbons and five mismatched stockings. The one eyed man found it very odd how such mistakes could be made, since he was only able to fit one of the girl's stockings over his big toe and the next two toes, they were obviously too small to mistake as their own, but Estella got a big giggle out of his attempts to wear them.
The two humans unceremoniously evicted the cuddling rather happy fat rats by way of the window. After all, they hadn't paid their rent since they had arrived, and it had been near a month since they came here. The little girl changed out the cup of dirty water, dead wilted flower, and the moldy sock. She fetched fresh water and a fresh flower, and Ragetti placed a fresh dirty sock in the water. After all the gathering and sorting, the two did the laundry. Come late afternoon, no one noticed the tardiness of the lady of the household. After a couple of quick tea biscuits, Estella went back upstairs for her afternoon nap. Ragetti went about making the evening meal for himself and Pintel, and he finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Evening drew on, and Marita still had not returned. Pintel and Ragetti just shrugged it off. Ragetti went about chopping the firewood at dusk, and Pintel locked up for the night and cleaned out the leftovers. The two pirates didn't really think any thing about her absence. They figured that she would be doing what they would be doing with a night on the town. Of course, if that was completely true, the younger man would be completely crushed by the thought of Marita spending her time in the same kind of company that he would, thus saying that he was most certainly not Marita's type. Fortunately for Ragetti, Marita had not interest in that kind of female company.
Estella joined them for dinner, that Ragetti had made all on his own, and it was actually edible and digestible. Pintel gave several approving belches after three bowlfuls instead of starting a food fight with it. Estella didn't wretch and hurl after cleaning her bowl. So, Ragetti was quite full of himself afterwards, although the meal had not turned out the way he had wanted it to. Search as he might, he was unable to find Marita's stash of peppers.
Afterwards, the two pirates took the child upstairs and put her to bed. She suckered Ragetti into singing her a lullaby, since her mommy wasn't there to do it. The younger man sat up straight and scratched his head as he racked his brain for a song that would be suitable for all audiences. Pintel, having never been to Marita's private quarters, soon found his pants getting quite heavy with the new store of treasure. The younger pirate looked to him for advice in this situation. (He sure was asking the wrong person!) The older pirate just shrugged and held up his hands in helplessness, then he had to hurriedly grab his pants before the laws of gravity yanked them down to his ankles. Pintel knew less clean songs than Ragetti did. So, the one eyed pirate slumped his jaw onto his fist in thought and causing himself a major headache in the process. Finally, he came upon a song, and he sang her a pirate working song with her help and Pintel's help. It wasn't exactly a lullaby, and it was rather a lively tune, but it did qualify under the PG rating and it had very little womanizing in it.
Wide and bright eyed, Estella chirped in, "Mommy sings better than you, Uncle Tony."
The tall man paused in tucking her in and stood up straight with a frown. "Hush," he told her, as he tapped her on the nose, "And go to sleep now, poppet." He turned to follow Pintel from the room. As his companion disappeared from the room, Ragetti hurried back to her and placed a kiss on he forehead. "Go to sleep now," he whispered to her, "Yer mommy will be 'ome soon."
The two miscreants dragged themselves to their respective beds. They were still cut off from their rum supply, because Marita had locked away the fine beverage in a giant chest in the cellar, and she carried the keys with her. Although they had drank the last of the cooking sherry the previous night, neither of them felt inclined to go and tackle picking the lock. So, they were going to bed sober for a change. The light of the waxing moon caught Pintel's eye as he collapsed in his bed. He jumped up and slammed the window shut and drew the curtains. Ragetti, who had just pulled his eye out with a sickening popped, looked over at him with curiosity.
"What's that all 'bouts, mate?" he asked.
"The moon," he answered quietly, as he headed into the bed, and Lucy jumped up to join him.
Ragetti frowned and looked down. "Yes," he answered, and he dropped his eye off in its cup. He curled into his bed and went to sleep.
They were not asleep for more than two hours when a knock came to the door. Pintel grumbled some obscenities that basically translated that he wasn't getting up anytime soon. Lucy sat up and whimpered, but Ragetti remained sprawled out and spread eagle on the bed. The knock came again, and then the door creaked open onto the stuffy room. Estella, clutching her doll close to herself in one arm and carrying a lantern in the other hand, she crept across the threshold in bare feet. Placing the lantern on the nightstand, she tugged at Ragetti's sleeve.
"Uncle Tony?" she implored softly.
The one eyed pirate mumbled some discouraging things, that were not exactly proper for such tender ears. He turned his body over and away from her.
Estella bit her lower lip, and the tears started to leak down her cheeks. "Uncle Tony!" she cried out in a more insistent voice.
He groaned and blindly felt around for the incentive for his waking. Touching Estella's shoulder, he patted his way up to her face. Something in his semi conscious mind registered her presence and who she was. He pushed himself up and looked at her. He moved his hand to her cheek and brushed away the tears.
"What's wrong, poppet?" he asked concerned.
"Mommy's not home yet," she complained.
"She's not?" he exclaimed, as he sat up fully. His brow furrowed and he looked over at his sleeping companion. "'Enry!" he called out in a loud voice.
The older pirate grumbled something unpleasant. The dog stood up and poked his nose at his bed fellow. Pintel made some more interesting mumbles, then suddenly, he grabbed the dog's flopped over ears and pulled him in for a big sloppy kiss. Lucy pulled away with an incredibly disgusted look on his face and with his brow wrinkled. Realization dawning on the man, he sat up and sputtered and spewed in a revolted way. He coughed and carried on beyond all reason.
"'Enry, Mrs. Marita ain't 'ome yet," Ragetti complained.
"So, what's that to me?" he growled as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"Mommy's not been gone this long before," the child replied with those big sorrowful eyes.
"Och, she's probably 'avin' a party. I ain't 'nough of a man to take 'er from 'er fun!" the older man complained.
"'Enry!" Ragetti reprimanded.
"Whatcha want me to do 'bouts it?" he argued.
"Go out and find 'er," he answered, "We can't be lettin' the littl' lady down, ya know!"
"It be gettin' t'wards full moon! I ain't goin' out!" the other insisted, "Ye do it!"
"I'm too suspicious lookin', and I be marked and all. It ain't like yer gonna get furry or an'thing," the younger pointed out.
"It ain't gettin' furry I be worried 'bouts. It be quite the opposite! Ye know well the curse of the full moon! It ain't no pleasant thing!" Pintel argued.
"It ain't officially a full moon yet. That will not be till Sunday."
"I don't care. It's close 'nough!" Pintel pointed out, "It's full 'nough to cast a shadow."
"Lucy needs a walk, and 'e likes ye better. 'Stella like me better, so I get to stay 'ere with 'er," Ragetti stated logically, "'Sides, the curse is broken. We be normal 'gain." ( That was a truely frightening thought!)
The older man squinted his eyes at him. The younger man widened his grin and looked at him with the one pleading eye. Estella wrapped her arms around the tall man's arm and gave him a much more convincing pathetic pleading look. The older man spat off the opposite of the bed. He got up and got dressed. He grumbled some not very nice things, and the dog growled at him. He called the dog something that should not have been said in front of a five year old. Turning on his partner in many and various crimes, he pointed his finger at him.
"If this mutt gnaws on one of me bones in the moonlight, I will usin' that wooden of yers as a ping pong ball!" With that said, he stomped off with the happily following dog.
Ragetti sighed with relief and took up the lantern and lead Estella from the room and to the stairs of Marita's rooms. She shook her head and looked sorrowfully up at him. She clutched her doll closer to herself.
"I'm frightened, Uncle Tony. Can't I stay with you?"
"Oh," he answered, as he scratched his head, "I guess."
"What if mommy don't come back like daddy did?" she asked.
"Now, dotcha be talkin' like that," he replied as he knelt down to her, "'Course yer mommy's comin' back. She be a strong lady, ya know, and Uncle 'Enry says that she be too mean to die."
"Daddy was real mean, and he didn't come back."
"Well, I know yer mum'll be back and she be fine. Me gut feelin', ye see," he replied with a wink of his empty eye socket, "or else, I be 'ungry 'gain." She smiled up at him. He forced himself to smile back at her. Those irritating butterflies were doing their dance again, and he feared for Marita's safety. He knew he had to be strong and not let the child down or let her see his true anxiety. If the worse had happened, he and Pintel would just have to take her with them as they fled Port Royal. He was not ready to give up on Marita yet. She just couldn't be dead. Hadn't fate taken away enough people that he loved?
"Uncle Tony, will you read me a story?" she asked sweetly.
"Uh . . ." he answered, "I can't read, poppet."
"That's alright," she chirped, as she took the lantern and handed him her doll. She started up the steps, then turned to him and smiled. "I can read. I'll show you how."
"I'd like that very much, poppet," he replied. Not only would this distract both their minds from worries, but he always did want to learn how to read. His father always told him that it was above his station in life to learn and he was too daft to get it anyway.
Estella returned with a big book, that was almost as big as herself. Ragetti moved up the steps and exchanged the doll for the book, then he borrowed the lantern to fetch his wooden eye for the occasion. Estella looked up at him puzzled.
"Can you see with that eye?" she asked curiously.
He shook his head no. She looked more confused, as he sat himself on the kitchen floor with his back against the wall. She shrugged and crawled into his lap. Placing her doll on her lap, she opened the book, as the man encircled his arms around her waist. She proceeded to read the words on the page and pointed them out for her much bigger companion, so he could see them. She helped him to make out the words and the letters like her mother had taught her. Although the progress was slow and neither of them got the gist of the story they were reading, the pirate was as delighted as the child was.
A couple hours later, Marita entered the room to find the two of them sound asleep. Estella was still cuddled in Ragetti's arms. The man had the right side of his head laying on her head. The book remained opened on the floor. The woman sighed. She placed her bag on the table. She walked over to them and gently tried to lift her daughter from the man's grasp.
Ragetti tightened his hold on her and mumbled, "Don't take Emily 'way. I won't let ye 'ave 'er this time."
Marita paused and frowned. She gently shook his shoulder, and the man woke with a start. He stared at her without recognition for several seconds. He blinked his eyes and wiped the sleep from the left one, then his right one itched with the sleep as well. Familiarity dawned on him.
"Can I have my daughter now?" she asked gently.
"Uh," he answered and loosened his grip from around the girl. She hefted the sleeping child up in her arms and took her upstairs. Ragetti sighed and folded the book together. He got to his feet and placed the book on the table. He began to rub his right eye socket with more fervor.
He felt Marita's hand softly touch his back. He started and looked at her. "You shouldn't rub it, you know. It will irritate it worse," she told him.
"I know," he replied quietly.
"So, take it out and go to bed," she ordered him kindly.
He pushed the book towards her. "'Stella was teachin' me to read," he explained with a smile.
"Thank you," she said, as she touched his cheek and gave him an approving look.
"Uh?" he answered with that incredible puzzled look, "Ye ain't gonna to yell at me?"
She shook her head no. "Not this time," she answered. She touched his hand and offered, "Maybe I can continue your reading lessons, but you need your sleep now."
Tired and half awake he may have been, but he was aware enough to feel all the blood rush to his face. Just in time to save him from further embarrassment, Pintel walked into the room with Lucy following him. He had a package of his own, that appeared to contain a couple of bottles.
"Marita!" he exclaimed.
"Woof!" added Lucy. "Good to see ya back. Been out lookin' fer ye, woman!"
"At the liquor store?" she asked shrewdly.
"Well," the older man replied, "It be where I'd go. Since I were there and all, I figured I might as well be gettin' some rum fer me and me buddy there. 'Ate to waste the trip and all, ya know."
"Uh-hun," she answered.
"Where've ye been, ma'am," Ragetti asked, as he pulled his eye out and held it firmly in his hand.
"I got waylaid by the law over some special endeavors of a certain employee of mine," she remarked pointedly, as she glared at the stout bow legged man, swigging from his bottle of rum.
Swallowing down the swill, he wiped his mouth and looked at her and growled, "Speak English, woman."
"Go to bed, the both of you," she demanded. She gathered Pintel's collar into her hand and yanked him bodily towards her. "and I'll straighten you out tomorrow. I am not about to lose my bakery because of scum like you!"
Pintel belched as a response.