Chapter Four
Tom was in a heated debate with his son when Jack's shout ricocheted throughout the house. Cody rolled his eyes as Tom hurried into the guest bedroom. He went down the stairs his feet stomping noisily. Kate came to the bottom of the stairs as he was descending, with a worried look on her face. This caused Cody to roll his eyes once again.
"What's wrong? What happened?" She asked.
"How should I know? My father's letting that freak live here."
"What? What are you talking about Cody?"
"Why don't you ask my father Kate." He said glaring at her.
He was 17, and hung out with the "wrong crowd" as the adults liked to call his friends. They smoked and did drugs, and were just otherwise mischievous. Living in a small town, Cody and his friends' activities were pretty much known by all, so they didn't even attempt to hide it. Once someone in town saw something, 2 hours later-at the most-it would be back to the source, traveling through all the population of Loogootee.
Tom had seen the problems with Cody start when he'd begun to date Kate when Cody was about 7. He'd started to act up, demanding Tom's attention more and more as it grew serious between him and Kate. And the difficulties they had with him when they'd married had grown significantly worse. Cody's grades dropped, and when Brian-Tom's youngest son was born shortly a year later, Cody began to be suspended from school for fighting. Things seemed to mellow out after a few of years, but when he was 12, Marie was born. Things went swiftly downhill from there-he began to smoke and ran away several times, and then began to engage in sexual activities with girls. Tom tried to control him, but there was no way to do that, and he noticed that the less he tried to control him, the less rebellious Cody was.
Kate sighed and slid past Cody, and climbed the stairs. She reached the guest bedroom, where all the commotion was coming from. She put her ear against the door and listened to the voices within…
"First the bloody thing scalded me-then it nearly froze me-er-goods! The blasted contraption! How does one tame it?"
"Well it's best to wait until you get the temperature right before getting in…Here-look." He bent over the tub and turned the knobs until he got a warm spray going. "Is that warm enough for you?" He asked Jack.
Jack stuck his hand into the spray. "Well it's not freezing at least…"
"Look, if you turn this knob on the left a little bit, it will make it hotter," he did so. "And this knob on the left will make it cooler if it is too hot."
"But what if it changes of it's own accord?" Jack asked studying the spray of water warily. "I turned the knobs like you showed me, and then it changed all by its onesie…"
Tom bit back a laugh at the use of words the pirate used. "It will generally take a moment or two for the water to heat up, and then you adjust it before getting in. I think it should be ok now, if you'd like to go ahead and get in."
Tom was going to leave and allow him the privacy to remove the towel from around his waist, but Jack was not one to be modest. He immediately dropped the towel and was bare before him. Tom was a bit shocked for he'd never seen anyone quite as immodest as Jack was proving to be…He tentatively stepped into the shower, and when the hot water hit him, he moaned in ecstasy, and closed his eyes, leaning back into the spray.
"Thas' much better…Thank you mate." Jack's eyes opened, and he grinned at Tom before pulling the curtain shut.
Tom shook his head in amusement as he shut the bathroom door behind him, and walked the distance to the door of the guest bedroom. He opened the door and walked through without stopping, barreling his wife down. He swooped down and caught her by the waist just before she hit the ground. She giggled as he kissed her.
"How's that for sweeping you off your feet?" He asked.
She laughed, but then her face grew very serious. "Cody says you're allowing that man to stay with us…?"
Tom placed her upright on her feet. "I feel a bit sorry for him… He's no way of getting home, and what with Christmas so soon…I thought he could celebrate with us."
"So you actually believe he's a pirate?" Kate asked dubiously.
"Well…"Tom didn't know what to say. "He's definitely not from around here…"
Kate sighed. "Tom, we don't know who this man is-and he's claiming he's from the 17th century…"
"Kate-I just don't know…I mean I can't just throw him back out there in the snow for Pete's sake!"
"Well I'm just saying you should've talked this over with me. You should have gotten to know him-."
She was cut off by the door opening, and a dripping Captain Jack standing there, in nothing but a skimpy towel wrapped around his "goods." Kate swallowed hard as she stared at the water dripping from his hair. It was trailing down his broad chest, following the ripples of his muscles. 'And what big muscles they are…' she thought licking her lips as she watched the water trail down the tiny bits of hair on his abdomen, and disappear beneath the towel. She swallowed again as her eyes rose from the towel to meet the deep golden eyes of the man. He smiled knowingly, and let his gaze travel her body, and back up to her eyes, before Tom cleared his throat.
"Ah yes," Jack turned to face him. "I did not see the attire you went to fetch me…"
"Oh-um-yes, just one moment…" He started to turn, but not hearing his wife move, he looked over his shoulder. "You'd better go check on the children-make sure they're not burning the house down…"
He waited until she started down the stairs, before he disappeared into Cody's bedroom. He dug around through Cody's messy drawers, and came up with a pair of briefs, and an old pair of blue jeans that Cody no longer wore. He only wore black, and this particular pair of jeans had not made it through the washer with the black dye along with the rest of Cody's wardrobe. He grabbed one of his many black sweatshirts, and hurried out of the depressing room.
Jack was lying back on the bed when he entered, with his chin resting on his chest and his ankles crossed. Tom thought he'd fallen asleep, but thought it odd that he was rocking slightly back and forth, back and forth, as if he were in a hammock. He crept into the room silently so as not to wake Jack, and set the clothes on the nearest nightstand. As he was shutting the door behind him, he looked once more at the pirate sprawled out in his guest bed. He chuckled in disbelief, and shut the door silently behind him.
When Jack heard the door shut, he opened his eyes somewhat dismayed to see that he was still in the Wakefield's house in the 21st century. Yet he could not deny the excitement he felt about this adventure. He was to begin this adventure with exploring his room. First he decided he would get dressed. It took him a little while of walking around in the room to get used to the heavy rough feel of the jeans, much different from the light itchy material of his own gray knickers…Once he grew accustomed to the odd feel of the jeans, he began to rifle through the drawers in search of gold, jewelry, or other such treasures. There was very little of interest to him in the drawers of the nightstands other than the rectangle with the rubber ovals.
He looked at the item with curiosity, feeling the rubber ovals. His fingers gently slid over them, sticking somewhat. Then he began to push them. He grew rather bored with it after a while, and tossed it behind him and continued to search through the drawers. He froze, and his body went rigid when he heard a voice behind him.
"On deck you scamprous dogs! Hoist the anchors!"
He turned around swiftly and looked with wide eyes in amazement at the box on the chest of drawers which was no longer black, but dancing with color…
