Disclaimer: Hey ho, I don't own this & I've never had rum.
And our marching band's gone so I don't have a drum.
Okay, horrible poetry. Warning to all innocent readers: There is one swear word in this chapter. I tried to avoid it, but found it inevitable. Thank you to all my reviewers and here is the next Chapter.
Chapter 2
This Place has Rum
Not far in the distance, Jack saw what appeared to be a port. He figured he would stop in there, and hence figure out what had happened and how to return to Port Royal. As he steered the Pearl into the port, his feet shivered in the chill of the morning. Only after rain began to sprinkle did he realize he was barefoot. He proceeded to dock the Pearl and then searched for his boots. He first surveyed the bow. The area was barren of anything useful, except for Jack's compass, which rested on one of the floorboards near the very front. 'How did that get there,' he wondered. Then he proceeded to the stern. The boots were nowhere to be found. Captain Sparrow sprinted up to the crow's nest and scanned over it. Nothing. Down he raced, downstairs to the lower deck, the single place on the entire Pearl he had yet to check. The lighting downstairs was dim, so he ran into a few chairs and smacked his knee roughly against a table before finding a lamp and matches in one of the cupboards. Jack limped to the back of the ship, scanning it as he went. For most of the way he found nothing, not even a crumb. Then, on the furthest table, he finally found his boots, standing erect and as out of place as a tree on a barren plain. He grasped them, thrust them onto his feet, and then raced up to the main deck, certain he had heard footsteps.
"Mommy, look! It's so pretty!" shouted a young girl.
"Jaqi, darling, you can't just stroll onto someone's ship. It's . . . " her mother trailed off as she saw Jack emerge from the stairwell. She promptly scooped her child up and dashed off as fast as she could go. Captain Sparrow shrugged and sauntered off into this new place. He strolled down the street for a while, being passed by fast-moving objects. Inside these steel monsters were people. From the few people who were walking about, he received looks that indicated he was something out of the ordinary. Jack was used to those looks, though; because of his odd demeanor, even many of his fellow pirates thought he was more than a little strange.
After a time, Jack saw a sign advertising liquor. Now, this was his kind of place. The pirate crossed the street and entered the brick building beneath the sign. It took only a moment for the pirate's eyes to adjust to the darkness of the bar. When he could see, he saw just what he expected, more or less. Many men, who were smoking and drinking, were sitting in high stools around a counter. Upon a further survey of the room, Jack saw a table toward a corner of the room. A few men and a woman were gathered around it and were hitting balls around with sticks. Jack spent a moment trying to comprehend this, but soon gave up and took a seat at the counter.
"I'll have a beer, mate," he said, addressing the man who appeared to be the bartender. His request was met in an instant. Jack dug through his pockets for some money and his hand came to rest on a coin adequate to pay the cost of his drink. He held it out to the bartender, who only stared at him. Jack was puzzled; he himself might be strange, but his money was no different from any other person's. The man beside him drew a square shaped leather object from his coat pocket and brought forth a folded green paper.
"This one's on me, pal," the man told the server who nodded, took the paper, and turned to serve another customer.
"Thanks, mate," Jack said. "Things have been kind of interesting lately, and I'm still in circles."
"You too? Well, if I didn't know better, I'd say everyone was living through hell. My name's Bill." The man extended his hand.
"Jack," the pirate said, gladly shaking it. From the looks of things, Jack guessed this man was a guy for him to keep around.