A Pirate's Life For Me

Chapter 6 - The Crow's Nest

Rewritten: 13.26.17

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OLIVIA

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

Peter darts up the deck, his arms spread wide. His scream goes longer and longer, fluctuating in intensity as though he is being set on fire and doused in spontaneous intervals. He beats his chest like Tarzan and takes a dive from the quarterdeck to the foredeck.

His brother just stands at my side, watching.

Peter is even more excited today than he was on Saturday. Today, we're going swimming. And everyone knows that swimming is more exciting than treasure-hunting.

It's Monday now, the fifth day since Bailey went mad. Or, that's what I think. If it were up to me, she'd be in the psych ward right now. As it is, she's an adult woman and can apparently do whatever the hell she wants, even if what she wants is lying in bed, starving herself while her kids run amok, unshowered and high on all the sugar they've been finding while she's been out.

I tried to reason with her about it, but she won't talk to me.

If I had a house, an apartment, anything, I would take the boys and keep them. Unfortunately, I don't. And I'm sure as hell not keeping them here.

"C'mon," I say to Aiden. Peter has already vaulted back onto the poop deck and is ready for another lap up the length of the ship. I take my other nephew's hand and lead him over to the foremast.

He squints upwards. "That's really tall."

"No kidding. See that little thing at the top?" I ask, pointing. "That's called a crow's nest. You can see everything from up there."

"Hey, ye gonna climb it, cap'n?" asks Heath. She's leaning against the wall, her eyes following Peter's jittery footsteps up and down the deck. She doesn't like children an awful lot, and the kids mostly avoid her. Whether it's the knife in her hand or the snarl on her face that drives them away, I can't say.

I shrug. "Should I?"

"Eh, might as well," Heath says. She pushes away from the wall, walking over to us with her arms crossed. Aiden shrinks back, hiding behind my leg. "We ain't gonna be there for another hour, yet."

"Why not," I say.

Aiden looks doubtful. "It's really tall," he repeats.

I can't help rolling my eyes at him. Who is he kidding? There are ladders leading up to it. His brother is running back past us again, his little legs pumping ceaselessly. "Your brother wouldn't be scared," I tell Aiden. "Peter! C'mere."

Peter hops his way over to the mast, his face red from all the running. "Hi Aunty Olive!" he shouts as if seeing me for the first time today.

"Ahoy." I squat beside my nephew, pointing up to the crow's nest. "You're a brave boy, aren't you, Peter? You think you can climb that?"

He squints up at it and shrugs. "Okay!"

Ah, God bless him. I can't tell if he's brave or stupid. Either way, I give his brother a look and say, "Race you!"

Peter grabs hold of the rope ladder, enthusiastically beginning his climb. Since he's so tiny, I decide to give him a little advantage. Instead of using the ladder, I propel myself upward with a hand-over-hand climb.

This mast is stitched with a seam of metal staples, each about six feet from the last. I step up onto the first, stretching my arm for the second. It feels good to be at it again. I've been so busy in the past months that I had no time for trivial fun like this.

Heath cheers me on from below. "Eh, get on with it, Liv! This li'l chimp o'er here's about to whoop yer ass at yer own game!"

Another voice joins her a second later: "Don't fall!"

"I won't," I call. It's Bill, the only other person on board right now. Of all my men, only my first mate and a single swabbie have forsaken their week off to sail with my nephews and I. I don't mind. In fact, it's better this way. Less people to worry about.

My body burns with fresh energy as I close my fingers around the second staple, then the third. I glance at Peter who is already behind me, his tongue sticking out in grave concentration as he puts one hand in front of the other, slowly, carefully. The ladder rocks beneath him like a rowboat bobbing on the ocean. We're still close enough to the ground that he wouldn't be hurt if he fell.

"You scared?" I call.

"No!" he says.

We keep climbing. The sea breeze tickles my face, cool and soft as a piece of silk. I feel good, better than I have all week. Adrenaline rushes through my veins like a dangerous drug, pushing me higher and higher. Soon, Peter and I will be at the top of the world.

We're about halfway up when I hear a giggle below me. "Uh, Aunty Olive?"

I look down. There's Peter, his face still alight with jovial excitement. Only, now that face is upside down. He hangs off the bottom of the ladder like a sloth from a tree. His feet are hooked in the rope webbing, his fingers grasping for dear life. He giggles again. "I'm upside down," he informs me.

"Yes you are," I confirm.

"What do I do?"

I lodge the heel of my boot on one of the staples, extending my arm to hold the next one up. I feel like a flag rippling in the wind, half my body anchored to the mast and the other half unfettered and free. "Try to get upright," I call to my nephew.

Suddenly, he's not giggling anymore. He lets out a little shriek as his feet fall from the ladder, leaving him hanging by the grip of his short, weak fingers.

Panic bursts in my heart like fireworks. "Hang on!" I call. The ladder is a good three yards from the mast at this point. I can make the jump, but who knows if the impact will startle Peter into letting go? "Heath!" I cry. "Get under 'im, will you?"

"Sure thing," she calls back to me. I don't feel secure with that. She doesn't seem to concerned about all of this.

"Aunty Olive?" Aiden says from the ground. "Peter isn't holding on very good."

He's right. His brother is down to one hand. His face is blanched, his knuckles white as paper. He opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a frightened whimper. Without another thought, I push off the staple and launch myself straight toward him.

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Thank you so much to my lovely crazy cat lady friend ih9344 for the beautiful character drawing!