Wowzers, here we are at chapter 7! That's amazing!

Thanks so much to Jennifer Lynn Weston, grecianxpiratex07, Princesa Moanna, Starling Rising, the-american-hockey-girl, Ariellabellas, LostWitch5, and Genevieve05 for your incredibly encouraging and sweet reviews.

Chapter 7: Splashy Ships

They put me in the captain's cabin after that. I was away from the Gibbs though and that is a good thing.

At first, I stood real still like a good boy. Cause when Mum and I go to church or when we go to visit the neighbors Mum always wants me to stand still and be polite. Sometimes I get some cookies with sugar on top with something warm to drink while they talk.

I didn't see any cookies though.

I didn't even see any toys.

I decided that they must have hided them since they were pirates and pirates hide things. The room was as big as the parlor at home and so there were a lot of good hiding places. But I was a good at looking for things.

I opened an old trunk and found some big pieces of paper with some squiggly lines on them. I kept looking and found some ink and a pen like Mum uses.

Then I knew what I could do. I could draw! It wasn't as good as cookies with sugar on top but it was something to do.

Mum didn't let me draw at home 'cause she said I made big messes. But this wasn't home and besides, it was messy already.

There was a table in the center of the room and tall chairs were scooted up next to it. Chairs are for sitting on and so I sat down. I had to get on my knees to see all of my paper.

Careful-like, I set my inkpot and pen down. Next I had to decide what to draw. But that wasn't a problem 'cause I knew 'xactly what to do.

Chewing on my tongue, I dipped the pen in the ink and started to make my masterpiece. It would have been easier if all the funny lines and squiggles were gone but I'd manage.

I was almost done when the door opened. I looked back and saw that Jack had come in. But he didn't have Gibbs with him. And that made me be relieved.

Jack didn't say anything to me. He went over to a cabinet in the corner and mumbled something while he pulled another one of those bottles I'd seen him with on the beach.

"What are you doing?"

He jumped like I'd scared him and held the bottle close. "Wot are you doing?"

"I'm drawing." I perked up. Mum liked to see my drawings! "Would you like to see them, Mister Jack?"

"Don't you 'ave someone else to bother?"

I shook my head.

"Oh." He looked disappointed.

"Mum says I'm a good draw-er."

He made a funny sound that grown people sometimes make. I don't think it's a real word, just something they do so they don't have to say anything.

But he didn't come over to see my drawing. He took a big drink from his bottle instead. And that reminded me.

I was very thirsty.

Mum said that you waited 'till the hosts offered you something to take it. You didn't just take what you wanted. So, I had to do something to get Jack to offer me a drink.

I tried gulping and rubbing at my throat.

"Wot? You swallow a coin?"

"No."

"Then why the…" he rubbed at his own throat.

"It's dry." I waited but he didn't say anything. Maybe he needed some help. Maybe they did things different-like on a ship. "Can I have some?"

He turned away and held the bottle close to himself. "My rum."

I recognized that word. "That's the sour stuff!"

"Wot?"

"You said on the beach! It's the sour stuff in the world!" I said, proud of myself for 'membering. Bettie said sometimes that I had the memory of a mouse. But that's silly.

"Nah, see here, whelp-"

"What's a whelp?"

"A what?"

"A whelp."

"Now you're just being bloody confusing."

"I was just asking a question."

"Me head aches." Jack sat down so hard on a chair that it creaked loud.

I decided to go back to my drawing. People got cranky when their head ached. "Mum takes a nap when her head aches."

That same "hmm" sound.

Crinkling my nose, I began the background to my piece of art. It was harder than I thought it would be and I had to concentrate very much. The ink was very slippery and a couple of times, even though I was being a careful boy, it splattered the page.

I was interrupted by a scuffling sound. Jack stood next to me and he was staring down at my drawing.

"See?" I crowed. "It's a ship that comes out of big splashes!"

"No, no, bad, this is very-" Suddenly, he stopped.

"Does your ship do that, too?" Maybe that was why he was looking so funny at my drawing. If it did he must be very good at holding his breath.

"Where'd you see that?"

I turned back to my drawing. "Last night. There was a funny man on board, too. He yelled something but I didn't understand them."

"An' did he see you?"

"No. I was a good hide-r."

"D'you know whose ship that is?" Jack's dirty finger tapped the paper.

"No." Why did a ship name matter?

"Stay." Jack turned and went back to the cabinet. When he came back he was holding an empty bottle. A minute later and he'd tied a bit of red cloth around the skinny part of the bottle. "Play with that."

"But why can't I draw?"

"See?" He pointed to the funny squiggly lines. "That's England an' that's Portugal. An' you've jus' drawn over Spain…can't say I like them very much, though. Bloody stiff lot. Not a drink within ten miles. Now the French, they-"

"Cap'n?"

The Gibbs was back.

"Cap'n, we've seem to have caught a bit of a problem."

"Give it back. I've got this." Jack waved a hand towards me.

"Uh, Cap'n,"

Jack made a pouty face, like I do sometimes when Mum makes me clean up all my toys before supper. She doesn't like that face very much 'cause it always gets me in trouble. But Jack didn't get in any trouble.

He must have been afraid of that Gibbs though, 'cause he went out on deck. He forgotted to close the door and so I sneaked real quiet after him. Maybe I could find something to play with out there.

TBC...