Thicker Than Water – Chapter Eight – The Bouncy?
Jack had to admit, the past year and a half was pretty exciting. He had finally gotten his ship back. Not without befriending a blacksmith who was actually the son of a late friend of his, fighting with the undead, becoming undead, running into Davy Jones, getting eaten by the Kraken, finding himself in Davy Jones's locker, etc, etc.
He spent the past few months with his new crew, aboard the Pearl. After calculating his time, he determined that he had about two months left until Blackmore was to return for his map. So, he set a course for Tortuga and made it there in record time.
Jack and his newfound friend, Will Turner, set out on the streets of Tortuga to find Dawn's old house. Odds were, Dawn was still living there. Jack had filled Will in on his whole situation on their journey here.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't just hold onto the map yourself," Will said, as they turned down a side street.
"And where would I put it?" Jack asked.
Will shrugged. "I don't know, in a draw somewhere. It's not like you needed to carry it on your person at all times."
Jack turned to face Will, "Ah, mate, but I did! At least, if I didn't and had, in fact, put it in a draw someplace, then when I was marooned on that island, where would the map be? Oh, yes, still in that draw."
"Oh." Will was at a loss for words. For once, Jack had a point.
Jack continued walking, "I'm not completely insane, Will, disregarding the amount of evidence you may have to the contrary."
Jack and Will stopped at a very nice looking house.
"That's odd." Jack said. "I distinctly remember Dawn's house being a bit…smaller."
"Well, let's still knock. Maybe they'll know where Dawn is." Will suggested, feebly.
Jack walked up to the front door and knocked. A woman answered. Jack's face fell about two miles.
"Giselle…?" SLAP! Jack held his face and jumped back as the door was slammed shut, nearly severing his nose.
Will looked at Jack, nervously.
Jack rubbed his cheek and turned to Will. "Great idea! Let's knock on the door and see who's living in that nice house! They might know where Dawn is! Or they might slap Jack in the face!"
Jack started walking off in a huff. Will ran after him.
"What were the odds that it would be Giselle?" Will asked, almost pleading.
"Apparently much higher than I thought." Jack said.
As they headed back to the Pearl to go and devise a new plan, they spotted another ship docking right in front of it. Jack squinted to read the name, but it was too far away. Still craning his neck to see the ship, he blindly started hitting Will. "Will, can you read that ship's name?" Jack asked.
Will also squinted and said, "It's called The Boat. No, The Boaty…The Bouncy?"
Jack held the bridge of his nose, lightly closing his eyes. "The Bounty?" He asked, opening one eye in time to see Will's face light up.
"Yes! The Bounty!" Then Will's face fell. "Oh. The Bounty. That's bad isn't it?"
Jack nodded, "Very much so."
The two men slowly made their way down to the docks. For once, Jack was at a loss for a plan. If he tried to make a decoy map, Blackmore would surely find out in time to turn his ship around and kill Jack. If Jack ran away, Blackmore would surely find him seeing as how Tortuga isn't that big.
But why was Blackmore early? He was always on time! Never late, never early. Of course, he had to pick this time to be different.
When they arrived at the docks, Blackmore's crew had already gotten off The Bounty and was walking behind Blackmore. Some of Jack's crew on the Pearl got off and walked behind Jack, with worried looks. Blackmore walked straight towards Jack. The two crews stood behind their captains and watched as Jack rushed over to Blackmore and gave him a smile.
"Captain Blackmore. Come for your little treasure map, I presume?"
Blackmore ignored Jack completely and got straight to the point.
"In return for keeping my map safe for the past 16 years and 10 months—yes, Jack I know I'm early." Blackmore said just as Jack opened his mouth. Jack shut it quickly and let Blackmore continue. "As I was saying. I present you with this." Blackmore held out what looked like a sack made out of knitted rope. "This is not an ordinary sack. Dip it in ocean water for precisely 7 seconds, and when you raise it out, it will contain what you need the most in this world."
Jack greedily reached his hands out to take the sack. Blackmore pulled it away. "The map?" He said.
Jack gave him a nervous smile, "Of course." Jack dug deep into his pockets and fidgeted around, pretending to search for it. He was making quite a show, trying every pocket his coat contained. He even checked in his pants and boots. Blackmore began to scowl. Jack pointed his thumb to the back of the Pearl. "Must've…left it in my…cabin," He said and started to turn and walk away. Blackmore grabbed the collar of his jacket.
"You lost my map."
Jack, now stuck in a diagonal position, with one foot in the air, trying to take a step foreword, turned so that he was facing Blackmore. He raised his finger and said nervously, "Misplaced…Temporarily misplaced…your map."
Blackmore moved in closer to Jack. He pulled out a pistol and pressed it into Jack's forehead.
"Find it." Blackmore moved the pistol from Jack to a member of Jack's crew standing behind him, and with a swift, Bang! The man was shot down dead.
Jack opened his mouth in frustrated horror and said matter-of-factly. "That wasn't very nice."
"You have three days. I'll be waiting here." And with that Blackmore stalked away.