It was early in the morning in a sleepy Italian town; quite some hours before the dawn would come. While most folks were still asleep in their beds having turned in for the night, at the Red Lobster Inn, few were sleeping, especially for two individuals who very much were enjoying the moment, laughing at their recent ill-gotten gains.
The two occupants are enjoying a well-deserved break of drinking ale and smoking cigars as the first occupant, whose name is Honest John, is recounting the story that happened not too long ago, actually, the past morning that is.
Humming a twaddling song, Honest John laughed, "And the dummy fell for it! Hook, line, and sinker! Oh, you should have seen Stromboli's face! He was over the moon, already the glint of money in his eyes! The dumb kid still thinks that we're his friends! Ha-ha! And of course, for a great trade of currency, Stromboli paid us well! Plenty!", dangling a small sack of gold coins, dropping it to the table where the sound of coins clinking was heard.
His partner, Gideon, who was pretty much mostly a mute, nodded as he took a huge puff of his cigar that he had before coughing with how deep a breath he took with it. "You always take too deep of a puff, Gideon.", Honest John told him as Gideon tried another puff, a better one this time before he blew out a smoke ring.
Honest John shook his head before smirking, "That shows how low that Honest John could stoop to.", looking at a third occupant almost in the shadows, yet listening with interest as the third occupant is smoking a pipe.
"So, Coachman,", Honest John drank a few sips of ale, before clearing his throat, "I hear that you've been looking around to propose a deal. And I'm interested. What's your proposition?".
"Well..." The gentleman who had a more heavy set build and certainly had some age to him, puffed the pipe he had on him. He talked with an English accent; which lead John and Gideon to believe maybe he somehow settled down in the Italian lands after the many wars Europe had against the French revolutionaries and the once feared master of Europe in Napoleon. "how would you blokes like to make some real money?" He asked as he dropped down a bag of money. From the size and sound of it, it was certainly a small fortune for sure; more money that John and Gideon could've ever gotten for a job before.
"Well…", John chuckled as he smirked. "Who do we have to, eh…", he crossed his throat, implying that they were fully ready to kill someone for the cash.
The Coachman shook his head, "No, no, far too messy there, and my way is way cleaner. You see...", before glancing around to check the surroundings before gesturing for them to come a bit closer, and the others did so, with the Coachman then continuing on, "I collect stupid little boys, the ones who are homeless or runaways, and of course, the ones who are playing hooky from school.".
John nodded, "Ah, I see. But why stupid little boys? I mean, there would be questions from parents and such if the boys aren't home in time for curfew or school or whatever.".
"It's fairly easy to deal with; the ones that aren't already runaways or homeless can easily fall into that same situation when they don't come home. The parents can look but eventually they'll just have to come to accept that perhaps their boys just ran away from home. Believe me when I say this whole proposition is foolproof.", the Coachman told them.
John hummed, "When you say it like that, it makes sense...But stupid little boys are only useful for causing trouble...I mean, black boys are dumb, and they can be worked on farms and such, and they can't read or anything...What if those boys around here say anything? Suppose if the law caught into it...?".
"True, true. But the boys only knows that they can be free of rules, parents, and such once I take them to Pleasure Island, and so, those stupid little boys are selfish, as they only share rumors that Pleasure Island is a place where you can ransack without the law going berserk on themselves.", the Coachman explained.
John widened his eyes, "Pleasure Island?! That's like forbidden because of the stories about the ghosts!", and the Coachman chuckled, "Oh, that is a ruse for the law, and the ghosts are actually the sounds of the boys ransacking the place. After all, would you go wild if you were able to do anything you ever want without parents telling you no, and such, hmm?".
John leaned back as he chuckled and took a puff of his own cigar, "When you put it that way... what naughty stupid boy couldn't deny that offer?".
"Exactly my point.", The Coachman smirked. "And then there's, of course, what makes absolutely sure that the law will never find out. Because once those boys go there... They never come back…. As BOYS!".
The look on the Coachman's face, especially when he leaned forward into John and Gideon... the two of them felt fairly sure at that moment they were staring into the sick smile of Lucifer himself.
Both comrades gulp nervously before the Coachman replied, "If you want to be paid handsomely, you could do a small favor for me. Scout out any boys who are loitering around and bring them to me. I got a coachload starting off at midnight in a couple of hours, so I'll be there at the crossroads. And don't ever think about double-crossing me, hmm? After all, a couple of crooks are easy prey for the sharks, or even Monstro.", with a devious smirk.
Both John and Gideon gulped as they nodded, fear obviously kept them in place and the idea of double-crossing and running away with the money purged from their minds.
With some final bits of planning where the crossroads' direction would be, since the sleepy Italian town is a place where people come down from the north, or come up from the south, and so, the crooks set out after finishing their ale, and found two good prospect of runaway boys within the next half hour, and guided him to the stagecoach, and kept looking before Gideon noticed something, and poked John's shoulder.
"Yes, Gideon?", John replied, and Gideon gave a repeat of their song from the day before, pointing to a boy in the distance, but not any boy, but the very same wooden boy they met deep in the village, having sold him to Stromboli! What was his name? Pinoke? No, Pinoccio, not right, ah, Pinocchio!
"Unbelievable...", John said. "That little puppet boy got away from Strombolli!", he laughed as he then suddenly went worried. "Wait, do you think he'll actually blame us? I mean, I know he thought of us as friends when we sent him away, but he might have come to realize...".
Gideon shrugged and gestured with a conk of his head at the puppet boy, and John nodded, "True, he's a wooden head. He ain't smart. Well, let's snag up a good-sized prize, shall we, Giddy?", and Gideon grinned, nodding, handing him his cane.
The two of them headed out to intercept the young wooden boy, while Pinocchio was currently focused on what was 'the task at hand'.
"No, sir, nothing can stop me now! I'll make good this time.", the wooden boy said with determination, both to himself as well as his appointed 'conscience' in Jiminy Cricket.
Jiminy Cricket hopped along the rocks and such, nodded, "That's right! You'd better, Pinoke.", and Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, I'll go to school, and learn right from wrong!".
"That's the spirit, Pinoke!", Jiminy smiled widely, and Pinocchio determinedly spoke, "I'd rather be smart than an actor!".
Jiminy nodded, "Atta boy! Now you're talking! Come on, I'll race ya home!", before hopping on to go across a rock bridge, and Pinocchio chased after him, racing, focused on getting home, getting a hug from his father, eating dinner that he knew he'd be late for, and listening to his father, playing with Figaro and Cleo before bedtime.
Of course, either by fate or just bad timing, he just happened to have been within Honest John and Gideon's field of view as the two of them were making a beeline towards him.
With a quick swap of John's cane into one of the back pockets of Pinocchio's red overall shorts, Pinocchio was caught, too focused on racing Jiminy, and John asked, "Hey, what's the rush, my friend?", as he pretended to run next to Pinocchio.
"I gotta race Jiminy home, oh, hello, Honest John, sorry to be rude, but I can't be late!", Pinocchio replied, and John asked, "Home? Why? What happened with Stromboli?", asking curiously.
"Stromboli was terrible!", Pinocchio told him. "Oh, that's a shame to hear... but don't you still want to be an actor?", John asked.
"No way... especially if they're all like Stromboli! He locked me up in a bird cage! I only just got out and away from him!", Pinocchio shook his head, explaining, telling the truth.
John gasped in horror and shock in the right places as he listened to him, and he then replied, "So, what are you gonna do?", and Pinocchio replied, "I learned my lesson about people like him! So, I'm going home, and then I'm going to school!".
"School? Are you sure? I hear school is really stressful especially if you can't read.", John responded before gasping in surprise, "Wait, I have an idea!", stopping Pinocchio in front, pretending to have stopped running, and Pinocchio blinked as John explained, "There's a way to get rid of all that stress if you don't want to mess up in school, especially about reading. I mean, I hear stories that you have to come up to the front of the class, and speak right aloud from a book, with so many eyes watching you, no applause or anything, but just staring and waiting for you to mess up, total silence, only the ticking tock of a clock, your heart beating so fast.".
"But my heart doesn't beat...", Pinocchio said as he finally stopped running and knocked on his chest, giving a hallowed sound.
"Er, yes...", John admitted as he smiled once more after losing his composure for a second, "Well, aside from that, all the other stuff is there. The eyes watching, waiting, silence, clock ticking... my boy, as of this moment, you wouldn't be able to handle it!".
Pinocchio remembered the nervous anxiety when he was on stage...Singing in front of so many people got him messing around, and Stromboli was angry at him, he now realizes...Could the teacher be angry at him if he messes up on reading especially when he can't barely read?
Could his father be angry if he hears about it from the teacher?...He needs to get rid of that stress! He can't mess up if he doesn't have stress! Pinocchio asked curiously, "How can I get rid of the stress?".
John smiled, "Why, a vacation on Pleasure Island, where all boys play and have fun, to get rid of all the stress behind them forever.", and Pinocchio frowned, "But my father...I can't be late...", looking back.
"Oh, couldn't blame you there, but think of it, if you have fun, your father would want you to be happy, and if you're happy, you won't have stress, and then you can go back to school, and you can have more friends and you then could be able to learn how to read easier on your own, and then reading out loud really good would make your teacher happy, and if the teacher's happy, your father's happy! Hmm?", John replied.
John talked so fast that Pinocchio couldn't really keep track of what exactly he said there with the chain of events, but John seemed confident that at the end of it all, it would be good for him.
"Well... I do want to make my father happy...", Pinocchio said as John clapped his hands, "Then it's settled! A trip to Pleasure Island for a good doctor recommended stress reliver! Gideon, do you happen to have my ticket to Pleasure Island?".
Gideon nodded, looking through a rough-looking wallet, and pulled out a Joker card, giving it to John, who smiled, passing it on to Pinocchio, "Here you go, Pinocchio. You can keep it, and besides, this old lad isn't too much spry those days to enjoy a day of fun and happiness.", with a smile.
"Gee, thanks!", Pinocchio smiled, and John chuckled, "Shall we? We can't be late for the sendoff at midnight! There's plenty of boys waiting, and who knows, you might find a friend or two!", taking his arm with Gideon taking his other arm, and then began to sing another song, a song about Pleasure Island.
Pinocchio joined in, smiling and singing, as he headed on with the duo, unknowing that Jiminy had noticed his disappearance, and trying to find him, and several minutes later as John is trying to figure out the directions again with Gideon as they were getting close to the outskirts of the village, Pinocchio saw a dress shop with lanterns on, and he came closer, seeing different vibrant colors, more than he ever saw before.
He saw a man's formal suit, a baby's napping outfit, a woman's church dress, and a girl's picnic dress. As he came even closer, he blinked in surprise to see his reflection looking back at him, and tilted his head in confusion, seeing it copy him, and he played around, waving and smiling before he realized that he was front of the girl's picnic dress, with his head and appendages visible...
He admired the pretty rose pink ruffled dress, seeing the glittering tiny sparkles in the fabric, and for a moment, just a moment, he wondered that he looked like a girl, feeling happy and carefree more than before.
He honestly didn't know what to think about that. Was he actually happy as a wooden boy? The thought quickly left him when he felt a cane wrapped around his waist. "Come along, dear boy, we're wasting away the time!" John told him.
Pinocchio smiled, his attention span turning to remember about Pleasure Island, "Yeah! Let's go!", as he then followed John and Gideon, singing on the way as they hurried on their pace to the crossroads location.
Jiminy saw Pinocchio in time, but was too late as he kept chasing after him, and so, probably 10 minutes before midnight, they made it, with Pinocchio widening his eyes in anticipation, seeing the overcrowded, unique stagecoach, and with a bit of talking with the Coachman who smiled warmly at him, offering his ticket, and with a nod, the Coachman let him up into the front seat with another boy.
As Pinocchio was taking into the chaos of the boys' laughter and anxious shouting, the Coachman craftily threw a handsomely sized sack of gold coins John's way, and with waves from the duo, "Cheers, have fun, Pinocchio!", as the puppet boy waved goodbye, unknowing that Jiminy had hitched a ride under the carriage, as the Coachman started the load of donkeys at the front of the carriage, whipping and slapping the reins, calling out.
Jiminy sighed, swinging in his umbrella, "Well, another adventure, here we go again...", tired yet worried about Pinocchio as the wooden boy wasn't scared, but intrigued to know the boy next to him.
The boy was a redhead with some fairly large buck teeth. He had on a bowler hat, a green bowtie and a fairly dark colored suit: brown coat, tan vest, some olive drab pants and some brown shoes. He was also carrying a slingshot which he was using as the coach bounced up and down the road.
"My name's Lampwick.", he asked Pinocchio since he could see the wooden boy staring at him. He paused for a moment so he could launch a spitball. "What's yours?".
Pinocchio introduced himself, "I'm Pinocchio. Honest John told me that Pleasure Island is a place where I can be happy with no stress.", and Lampwick grinned, "You're right about that. I've never been to Pleasure Island either. You can do anything you want to crash the place, no cops, no school, and anybody says that it's a swell place.".
"Really?", Pinocchio asked, and Lampwick nodded, "Yeah. You can loaf around, plenty to eat, to drink, and best of all, it's free!".
Pinocchio blinked, "Free is good?", and Lampwick grinned, "Oh, yeah! I can't wait to check it out! You with me, kid?", with a wink as he played with his slingshot.
"You don't mind?", Pinocchio asked shyly yet excitedly, and Lampwick nodded, "Nope, I don't mind, and besides, I'd use a friend like ya! So, what do you say, Pinocchio?".
"Sure!", Pinocchio smiled as Lampwick smirked, "Then put er there, pal!". He held out his hand for Pinocchio to shake before he noticed the nails in his arms, "Uh, you've got something on your elbows?".
"Oh, those are my nails...", Pinocchio told him as Lampwick leaned over to knock on Pinocchio's head, "Ouch... solid wood... huh... I'll be... walking talking puppet...".
Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah. Father wished for me since he's a woodcarver and all, and he was lonely, so he got me...", and Lampwick chuckled, "That's really neat! Who is your pop, then?".
