"Great", I said. "Just great. Why am I always the one that gets stranded in the God forsaken ocean? Why do I always have to be picked up by traveling ships? I mean, it's not like there are any for miles around!", the young girl screeched out into the decollate waters that surrounded her.
Then, out of nowhere a ship appeared. It was like she asked for it; like a dream. Now, don't get me wrong, this wasn't a ship from the nearest country coming to rescue her; no, not at all. This was a rickety old pirate's ship. Taking her situation, she decided to beg to be let aboard. And she was.
"Aye, look what 'e 'ave 'ere" said a man from aboard the ship I had just been pulled into, my light cotton gown dripping all over the deck and my mouse brown hair doing the same.
"Well, well..." spoke another grimy man wearing torn breaches who looked deeply into my emerald eyes.
"Jus' put'er don with the rest of 'um." said the man who seemed to be in charge of the others aboard the ship. So, without a doubt, that is where I ended up. I made myself believe it was better than the ocean I had been drawn out of earlier. The scrawny old man who had taken me down below the deck shakily took a ring of copper keys from his belt, fingered one from the lot, and opened a cherry wood door where he hastily shoved me in. There were others down there too. Some were men, others were women, and I was surprised to find a little girl clutching a woman who must have been her mother. One of them spoke to me, but I couldn't understand them. I knew English well and I was learning Spanish, but their tongue almost sounded French. Once they realized I did not speak their language, the quieted and sat back down in the corners of the small square room. I could even here the old man's boots as he climbed back up the stairs. Time passed very slowly the next few days and I grew very, very tired.
One night when the sun was just barely peaking through the tiny window in my tiny room, there was the familiar rattling of those copper keys. This time, when the door opened, it wasn't the elderly man with the curly grey beard. When the door opened a younger man stepped in. I didn't pay much attention to him because a strong, but pleasant, smell filled my nose; food. It almost smelled like my mom's pancakes, but anyway, oh, food! How long had it been? Well, maybe it had only been a day, but I was used to eating every couple of hours. The young man tossed a few dishes of this pudding into our eager hands. Some passengers whispered in excited voices, "Duff!" Whatever it was must have been good. I am kind of a picky eater, so I gave it to the little girl, who looked a lot hungrier that me.
"Here", I said as I placed the old china bowl into her small palms. "You can have my... um... duff stuff." Her sweet little face lit up with joy.
Throughout those next couple of days we had visitors that gave us more duff that I continued to share with the little girl. I did, though, become curious of what I had gotten myself into. Where was this ship headed? Why was I down here? I was sure I could be a lot of help up on deck. Just as I was doubting my decision to board this mystery ship and spooning away my pudding, I heard a loud boom and a splash; that, my friend, was unmistakably the sound of cannon fire. That same feeling I had when I gave the little girl my pudding was coming back. Other people had come! Were they saving me? What was going on? Seriously, I didn't really care who we had run across, as long as I got off this ship!
Again, almost instantly, I heard footsteps coming down the creaky wooden steps. "They must be down 'ere." said a male voice. Another voice answered, but I couldn't understand what he said. I looked out my window since I was one of the cabins farthest away from the steps I knew it would take a while for them to find me no matter how loudly I screamed. Just past my window I saw a glowing red light pass by. It was even more magnificent being night when the moon was glowing. "More firing?" I thought. I turned back around because I heard a key turning in my door. The men and women behind me stood up instantly, readying to escape from our prison.
The man who opened the door was not one that had visited us before. He, in another language that I did not understand, shooed us out. We, woman, child, and men, ran out on deck. I was extremely tired. Yes, I had slept my few days aboard, but not much. Sleeping on rocky ships is not something I would brag about. When we cleared the stairs I could really see. There were dying men laying in every which direction, but they were not the crew from our ship. They had on red, white, and golden yellow uniforms that I could not recognize. We trampled over them, our heals clicking against the wet wood. Just as the group of us were about to hop to the next ship something popped out in front of me! I screeched much louder than I ever had before (even louder than I do at local sporting events), which was a big, big mistake. Pairs of glowing eyes from everywhere on the ship turned to me. They started blinking just as I realized that they did not belong to men, but to horrid, ragged skeletons! Again, I screamed, turned, and almost ran, but a bony hand caught me and covered my mouth. I could slightly turn my head, and when I did, I recognized him as the man in torn breeches that had stared into the depths of my eyes when I first boarded the ship.
"Yo ho, yo ho" he sang "a pirates life for me" Then, the other glowing skeletons picked it up. "We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot..." Hey, didn't I know this song? I turned around and slipped on salt-water that had sprayed up on the deck. At least I was away from the skeletons' reach for that moment.
I rolled over on my side and instead of pairs of beady, red, glowing eyes against the rising sun, which I expected, I saw numbers. 6:30 was flashing red on my face as my heart was racing. "Wait..." I thought. My white GE alarm clock was playing its usual tune of "A Pirates Life for Me". "...just a dream? I really have to stop watching Pirates of the Caribbean before I go to bed" and I hit the snooze button.
"...drink up me hearties, yo ho. We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot. Drink up me hearties, yo ho..."