The Monster

The Pirate and the Wizard

          The wind blew, salty and strong, through the feathers on the captain's hat as he stood at the stern looking over the waters. The sun reflected off the waves, making smudges appear in his vision when he looked away.

          "Could you be done looking majestic and help me with my hat now?" a voice spoke up from behind him, and he jumped about a mile into the air.

          "Scar!" the captain shouted, drawing the attention of some of the other crewmates. Once they saw what he was shouting about, they went back to their tasks, some hiding their amusement, and others snorting at Joel's fear.

          Scar's face was entirely unrepentant. "Yes, my mightily afraid Captain?"

          Joel's face grew redder than the permanent sunburn already marking it as he loudly refuted Scar's statement with an "I am not afraid, Scar!"

          Scar just raised an eyebrow, and Joel muttered, "Just a little surprised, is all. Not afraid."

          "Sure, your unafrightedness," Scar said, brushing past Joel to go down to the main level. As he strode to the door to the underbelly of the ship, he tossed back at the captain, "Now are you gonna come help me with my hat, or stand there being unafraid?"

          Joel motioned to his first mate to come take the wheel as he went to the stairs and hurried down them, crossing to the door Scar had just gone through. As he stepped through, he was practically blinded by the difference in the amount of light, and he blinked a few times, trying to get back his vision. The further down he went into the underbelly, the better his vision got, and the lanterns lighting the way became sufficient enough light to where he no longer had trouble seeing.

          He stepped through the doorway into the bunk room, where Scar had already laid out his hat designs on a cleaner spot on the wooden floor. Scar instantly started chattering away a mile a minute about the designs for his new hat, making the scars on his face contort and stretch as they tried to keep up with his speech. Did that ever get uncomfortable, Joel wondered, or was it always uncomfortable and you just got used to it? It certainly didn't seem to bother Scar, especially when he was talking so animatedly.

          "But I digress," Scar went on, getting off of the train of stories and coming back to the business of the hat. "What I was meaning to say is that this has to be functional, so it'll stay on when the wind blows, but still have that signature point without looking like my Aunt Sena's failed elephant pastry. Boy, was that a day, let me tell you. First she started on the hind end, because, as everyone knows..."

          And he was off again, about his Aunt Sena's baking adventures. Honestly, with all the stories of her failed baking escapades, Joel would think she would stick to the witch business. Or maybe Scar just didn't think to mention the ones that turned out well. After all, those would just make an offhanded comment, not a good story.

          "Anyway, what do you think of the designs I have so far?" Scar asked Joel, looking up at him. Moving closer, Joel could see that the wizard had several main designs circled with little notes around them, and the ones he had rejected with X's over them or angry lettering around them. The design that caught Joel's eye was a nice hat that was essentially what would happen if a wizard became a cowboy. The hat curled up slightly at the edges, and the point curved back almost like a horn of some type. There were patterns of swords wielding magic and wands stabbing opponents, along with some milder prints of cats.

          Thinking it through, Joel decided on the best thing to say.

          "Well, I certainly like this idea here." Joel pointed to the one he'd been looking at. Scar nodded enthusiastically and opened his mouth to say something, but Joel beat him to the punch. "I must say, those pirates will be so caught up looking at your little cat drawing that it'll give you enough time to do your spells at them. Good design choice with that, Scar!"