Chapter Three

Tom thought it best to let Jack try to make sense of the situation-because he sure couldn't! Jack was still pacing a few moments later, when the door flew open hitting Jack square in the nose. Jack's eyes grew wide, and he fell backwards dramatically. Tom let out an agitated breath and quickly moved towards the injured pirate. The door slammed shut behind a teenaged boy who gave Jack a look of disgust before stepping over him, and disappearing up the stairs.

Jack's eyes were watering from the hit on the nose, but his eyes followed the boy up the stairs with curiosity. "What was that?" Jack asked looking up the empty staircase.

Tom sighed. "That would be Cody-my oldest son."

The sound of guitars and screaming could be heard from where the boy had disappeared. Jack's face had an even more confused look on it.

"What is that noise? What's he doing up there?" He sat up and looked around suspiciously.

Tom laughed. "It's just music. Cody's a bit-different…"

Jack frowned. "It sounds to me like a brawl…"

"It's called Rock 'N' Roll-or at least it was when I was a kid…" Tom said wistfully.

Jack pondered this new kind of music. It was quite different from the type he was accustomed to…He grinned a little thinking of the song Elizabeth had taught him. He began to hum absentmindedly. Tom looked at him curiously.

"Oh, so that song is that old? I mean-not that you're old or anything…" He hastily attempted to rephrase his question. "You know that song as well?"

Jack nodded. "A good friend of mine taught it to me…"

He scratched his head thoughtfully. His eyes grew wide as his hands spread across the top of his head. Tom watched with uncertainty.

"My hat! Where's my hat gone?" Jack jumped up and strode over to the couch, and pushed aside the many blankets, but still did not see his hat.

He frowned with worry. His hat was another thing he did not like to do without such as his ship… He thought back to when he awoke here in this strange land-America he was told. He didn't recall having it on…

He sunk down onto the couch heavily, and buried his face in his hands. He didn't cry, just sat there like he was hiding from something. Everything that was dear to him was in another time and place-300 years before him…

Tom felt sorry for the man who must have been not more than 10-15 years younger than him, almost a younger brother… He hoped that Jack truly was from another century, and not some runaway from the state hospital. He sighed heavily debating on what he was going to do about the 'pirate' in his living room. It was freezing outside, and the snow was piling up even higher than the 8 inches by the minute. It was nearly Christmas, and Tom believed that no one should be alone on Christmas. And Jack was very alone, everyone and everything he'd ever known was back in 1694-on some ship called the Black Pearl according to him…

Tom cleared his throat. Jack's face remained buried in his hands, so Tom cleared his throat a bit louder. Jack splayed his fingers, and peeked through them at him, and rose an eyebrow quizzically. Tom cleared his throat once again, this time nervously before he began to speak.

"Mr. Sparrow, seeing as you have no-uh-erm-family here in Indiana, I-we would be delighted if you'd like to stay with us until you return home. As I'm sure you know, Christmas is coming very soon, and my family's Christmas is a very traditional one, and you are welcome to stay for our celebrations as well…" He noticed a change in Jack at the mention of Christmas.

"You mean-like a party?" Jack let his hands fall to his knees, and his face was hopeful as a boy's might be on Christmas morn'.

"Um-well yes, I suppose-somewhat…"

Jack immediately perked up, a broad grin stretching across his face. "A party-I love parties!"

"Ah-yes-well-um-let me take you to where you will be staying, and allow you to shower and put on some presentable clothes…I don't suppose you brought any along?" He looked at Jack reproachfully.

Jack looked down at his filthy rags of clothing, and looked back up at Tom sheepishly. "Sorry mate-tis all I've got…"

Tom nodded-it was as he suspected. "I believe your waist is very close to the size my oldest son wears, but I'm afraid they are quite-er-well as I said, Cody is a bit…different…" Tom frowned a little. "Come on then-I'll get you settled."

Jack followed Tom up the stairs looking at the framed family portraits that adorned the walls. He spotted pictures of the whole family: Tom, Kate, Marie, and the young boy, but he did not see any photographs of the mysterious Cody. He came to the most recent picture, and stopped to study it.

"This is a very good portrait-very life-like…" Jack had no knowledge of cameras or photography.

"Well, it's a photograph, Mr. Sparrow-I'll explain to you later." He said as they reached the top of the stairs.

They went to a door at the end of the hall, and Tom pushed it open to reveal a queen-size bed, chest of drawers, and a couple of nightstands. Jack looked around appreciatively, as well as curiously. It was much larger than his tiny cabin aboard the Pearl-nearly twice the size. He looked at the black box on top of the chest of drawers with fixed interest.

Tom noticed him staring at the T.V., and couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "That's a television." Jack nodded as if he understood him, but continued to stare at it.

Tom opened one of the two doors, and turned on a light. Jack looked at him amazedly. He cautiously approached the smaller room, where Tom was. He looked around at the odd contraptions. There was a counter with a porcelain bowl cut out with some sort of pipe sticking over it. There was also the toilet, which Jack thought was the oddest thing he'd ever seen…Tom showed him the bathtub, and how to work the shower by turning the two knobs.

"Go ahead and get into the shower, and I'll go find you some clothes."

Jack nodded, and Tom left the bathroom shutting the door behind him. Jack stripped his clothes and took off his bandana. He attempted to remove the trinkets from his dreadlocks, but after a few minutes, gave up, having tangled them more within his long dark locks. He stepped into the bathtub, and turned on the shower just as Tom had shown him.