Chapter 3: Back Home, A Christmas What? It's Not Going to Work
The next afternoon, Rae was scrubbing the quarter deck below her uncle who stood at the helm when a cry came from the crow's nest.
"LAND HO!" Rae looked up from her work and her eyes swept the horizon. Sure enough, the cliffs of Tortuga were visible and drawing steadily closer. Her gaze lingered on the cliffs, then she turned back to her work. Kaei arrived ten minutes later with three full buckets of water and she helped Rae rinse the quarter deck clean. The afternoon was exceptionally humid, despite the fact that it was November, and since it had only taken two of the three buckets of water to rinse the deck, Rae refilled one of the empty buckets and, with a bucket each, Rae and Kaei snuck up the stairs, stood one on either side of Jack, and threw their buckets of water all over Jack at the same time.
"AYEE!" Jack screamed when the water hit him. He looked around wildly and saw his niece and her best friend holding empty water buckets and laughing hysterically.
"RAE! KAEI!" Jack yelled.
"RUN!" Kaei screamed and both girls took off down the two flights of stairs to the main deck. The two pirates turned and looked up at their drenched captain who looked down at them. They smiled and waved and Jack couldn't help smiling back. He couldn't deny the water had cooled him off significantly and had been a welcome relief from the dreaded humidity.
Down on the main deck, Rae and Kaei had kicked off their boots and were running barefoot over the hot wood of the ship. They had five buckets full of water each and were enjoying a bit of a water fight, throwing the water all over each other. Their screams and laughter rang out and echoed over the water as they sprinted around the main deck, soaking each other to the bone. When all of the buckets were empty, Rae and Kaei collapsed against the main mast, laughing.
"Me underwear's so wet, I could wring it out like a dish rag!" Rae exclaimed. Kaei, who had just stopped laughing, fell over into Rae all over again in a fit of hysterics.
"Thanks fer that bit o' information, Rae." Kaei said, gasping for breath. "I really needed t' know." Both girls started laughing again until their sides hurt. Both girls longed to swim in the warm Caribbean Sea and couldn't wait to get back home to Tortuga where they could do just that. The two girls had a secret oasis on the island where they went to cool off. It was a hidden lagoon that could only be accessed by going through a system of caves and only Rae, Kaei, and Leslie knew where it was. It had two gorgeous waterfalls and was surrounded by palm trees and ferns and all sorts of other tropical plants. The waterfalls were both 30 feet tall and the girls loved going down them like water slides. They would climb to the top, sit down in the creek that fed the waterfall, push off, and slide over the edge into the lagoon below.
"Can't wait t' get back t' Tortuga." Rae said after a few minutes of silence.
"I know it. It'll be great t' go back t' the oasis." Kaei agreed. Both girls were extremely tired, so they leaned back against the main mast and took a nap.
Two hours later, Rae and Kaei were awakened by Anamaria, who was shaking them to consciousness.
"Ana." Rae whined. "What the bloody hell are ye doin'?"
"Ye need t' get up. We're almost in the harbor in Tortuga!" Anamaria replied. Both girls sat up instantly, eyes wide and fully awake. Anamaria walked away towards her cabin and Rae and Kaei scrambled to their feet. They whipped around to see how close they were and found themselves surrounded by the high cliffs that made up the island of Tortuga. Looking straight ahead off the bow, the pirates could see the town and the harbor drawing closer. Kaei jogged off to her cabin to pack everything in her trunk and Rae jogged up to her uncle's side. Jack, who had dried in the intense Caribbean sun, smiled as his niece came to stand at his side.
"Ye ready t' be 'ome?" Jack asked.
"Oh yea." Rae replied. Jack chuckled at Rae's response and put his arm around her shoulders as he guided the Pearl ever closer to the harbor.
Ten minutes later, the Pearl was gliding up to the docks in Tortuga's harbor. A crowd of pirates had gathered on the docks and awaited Jack, Rae, Kaei, and the crew of the Black Pearl. Lines were thrown from the bow and stern and a couple of pirates from the crowd rushed forward to catch the lines and secure the ship to the dock. Jack and Rae had gone to their cabins to get their trunks and had dragged them out onto the deck when the gangplank was brought to the ship. Jack's crew began to disembark, then, once everyone had gotten off the ship, Kaei walked down the gangplank with Jack and Rae a few steps behind her. When Jack and Rae appeared at the top of the gangplank, a cheer rose from the crowd. Jack and Rae smiled, glad to be finally home. Rae scanned the crowd and saw Kaei meet up with her father, who was helping her carry her trunk. Her eyes left Kaei and landed on a tall, tan, well-toned girl with light blue eyes and strawberry blonde, shoulder-length hair. It was Leslie. Rae smiled and Leslie waved in return. Jack and Rae made their way down to the dock and Leslie ran over to greet her friend.
"Rae!" Leslie called as she approached.
"Leslie!" Rae called back. Leslie threw her arms around her best friend and gave her a rib-breaking hug.
"Leslie! Choking! Not Breathing! Need air!" Rae gasped.
"Sorry." Leslie said as she let go of Rae, laughing. "Just happy t' see ye." Rae smiled back.
"I'm happy t' see you too." Rae said. Leslie looked over Rae's shoulder and saw Jack. "An' it's good t' see ye as well, Captain Sparrow." Leslie said. Jack smiled.
"I see yer doin' well, Leslie." Jack said. Leslie nodded in response. Leslie then led Jack and Rae over to a horse-drawn cart. The pirates put their trunks in the back and then hopped up next to Leslie, who shook the reins and the horse broke into a smooth trot. The cart traveled down the main dirt road through the center of town and then turned onto another dirt road that led up a hill to a plateau just outside of town. On top of the plateau were three houses, Jack and Rae's, Leslie's, and Kaei's. Jack and Rae had the most amount of property since Rae had Twister and Leslie had her horse Moonlight Sonata (Sonata for short) and they needed room for a barn, where Leslie was allowed to keep Sonata, pasture, and arena. Leslie stopped the cart out front of Jack and Rae's house and helped them get their trunks inside.
"Thanks Lez." Rae said once the task was done.
"Any time." Leslie replied. "Well, I best be gettin' 'ome." Rae nodded and gave her friend a hug.
"See ya tomorrow?" Rae asked.
"Oh yea. I'll be by t' exercise Sonata." Leslie replied. Rae smiled and watched Leslie drive the cart to her house.
"Rae! A little help here!" Jack yelled at his niece. Rae turned and saw her uncle struggling to drag both of their trunks into the house.
"Sorry Jack!" Rae called back as she jogged over.
"These trunks ain't gonna move themselves ye know." Jack said. Rae smiled and helped drag the trunks inside. Inside the house, everything was as the pirates had left it. Rae dragged her trunk to her room and put it at the foot of her bed. She opened it and began putting her clothes, jewelry, hairbrush, sword, pistol and shot away. When she got to the little wooden box that held her jewelry at the bottom of her trunk, Jack called to her.
"Rae?"
"Aye?" Rae called back.
"You makin' lunch or am I?" Jack asked. Rae really didn't feel much like cooking, so she decided Jack should.
"You are!" Rae yelled back after pondering the idea for a moment. She turned her attention back to the wooden box in her hand. It had been her mother's and had a rose carved into its lid. The box itself was made from mahogany. Rae opened the lid, revealing gold bracelets, large gold hoop earrings, small gold ball studs for her ears, and gold anklets. Her ears were pierced only once, but were pierced in a very interesting style that was common among female gypsies. Her right ear had a small, plain, gold ball stud in it and her left ear had a large, gold hoop in it. Rae's mother had been a gypsy who met, fell in love with, and married a pirate. Rae had been raised most of her life as a pirate, but she was also raised like a gypsy, which was why she wore the earrings she did. She took all of the jewelry out of the mahogany box and put it into her beautifully carved ivory jewelry box that sat on her vanity. Rae had a very large collection of jewelry, seeing as both her parents and her uncle loved to spoil her with jewels and jewelry from the holds of captured ships.
"Rae! Lunch!" Jack called from the kitchen. Rae, who had been daydreaming, snapped back to reality and jogged out of her room and into the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, Rae found Jack already sitting at the oak table with food set out and Kaei sitting at the table as well.
"Hey Kaei." Rae said as she slid into a chair next to her best friend and opposite of Jack and everyone began to eat.
"Girls, I've been thinkin'…"Jack began after a moment of silence.
"Uh-oh." Rae and Kaei said at the same time. They both laughed and Jack rolled his eyes.
"Very funny. Seriously though, I've been thinkin'. Christmas is comin' up, so why don't we 'ave a big Christmas luau out on the beach in celebration?" Jack finished.
"A Christmas what?" Rae and Kaei asked at the same time.
"Luau." Jack said again. "We'll have food, drinks, music, dancing…"
"Hold up." Kaei interrupted. "It's not gonna work."
"Give me one good reason why not." Jack said.
"I'll give you two words." Kaei replied. "I'm Jewish!"
Author's Note: Dun, dun, dun! Please R&R!!! Depp's Girl