Ray of Sunshine| JJ Maybank

Chapter Twelve

[Tape Recorder]

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The Pogues were back at John B's chateau to open the package that they had found in the Graveyard. JJ was in the kitchen smearing some peanut butter onto the old moldy bread.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago" Pope informed him but JJ just shrugged. "I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism"

"Where did you hear that?" Jo furrowed her eyebrows in disgust as he closed the sandwich.

"JJ" Kie called and JJ quickly made his way towards the table where John B sat.

"Hot Damn! Let's do it!" he said and took a bite out of the bread only to gag and spit it out again.

Jo looked around in her purse and pulled out a snickers bar which she handed to JJ who happily took it.

"Thank youu" he mumbled but Jo was more concentrated in what was inside the package.

"Holy shit" John B muttered as he laid out some sort of map. "X marks the spot" Pope pointed towards the small X that was on the map.

"Longitude, latitude... wait, there's something else in there." He pulled out a tape recorded and JJ looked at it in confusion.

"What's that?"

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass" Kie said, Jo held in her laugh as she saw the offended look on JJ's face.

John B pressed a button on the tape recorder and his fathers voice spoke. "Dear Bird."

"Who's Bird?"

"That's what my dad called me"

"I hate to say 'I told you so', but I told you so. And you doubted your old man, I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and
self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either."

Everyone's eyes widened and there was a clattering sound on the tape before he spoke again.

"You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold kid, I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side." The tape recorder ended and there was a loud silence before John B stood up and walked towards the kitchen where he then broke down in tears.

Jo walked up behind him and softly put her hand on his shoulder, he turned around and quickly engulfed the blonde in a tight hug as he continued to cry.

"Holy shit, he did it!" JJ's voice rang out but Kie shut him up as she saw John B sobbing.

⎈⎈⎈

The five of them were sat outside on the dock, Kie was pulling strings on the ukulele whilst Jo was sketching some random designs.

"How much was it again?" JJ asked as he threw a rock into the water. "Four hundred mil" Pope answered.

"Alright let's talk split. Now, before we say 'evenly' , may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us." JJ said as he pulled out the gun from his pocket.

"Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You've done zero training!" Pope argued.

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there."

"You haven't-"

"Any objections? Didn't think so."

"Oh please the only person who's actually capable of protecting us is Jo" Kie spoke as John B nodded in agreement.

"Well she isn't the one carrying the gun" JJ smiled as he went to pull out the gun from his pockets but furrowed his eyebrows when he couldn't find it.

"It's so easy to steal from you" Jo laughed as she waved she gun in front of his face.

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?"

"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive" Pope replied.

"What about you, Kie?"

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?"

Kiara chuckled "I just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."

"Peter Tosh is dead" Pope and Kie said in unison. "I know that, the Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." She raised her can of beer and took a sip.

"Actually I know what I'll do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full kook" JJ said as Jo laughed, she couldn't imagine JJ as a kook.

"You're gonna go full kook?"

"Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond"

"A koi pond?" Jo snorted. "Yeah I'm never visiting" Kiara laughed.

"Well what about you Miss Ray of Sunshine, what would you do with 80 mil?" JJ questioned.

After a quick thought Jo spoke up "Probably donate most of it to charities and then pay for fashion school" she shrugged, Jo had never given much thought to what she would do in the future. There were endless possibilities since her family had good connections.

"What are you gonna do, JB?"

John B looked at the four and then raised his can of beer in the air "To going full kook"

"To going full kook!"