Jack: Book One in the Trilogy, the Battle Begins

Blood Brothers & Pirates Part 26

"Yeah, well don't tell anyone about it sonny boy!" said Jack. "While that was Mike's tree house, it's ours now. We found it, and took it fair and square just like any self-respectin' pirate would and we made it the legal property of the Midnight Raiders so now it would have to be some other genuine pirate who could take it away from us if he had a mind to. Nobody else - not even Mike - could take it legally. And you've got to swear at the blood ceremony that you'll never reveal its location even under pain of death."

"No I won't."

"That's not good enough. You have to swear it while we are performin' the blood ceremony."

Jack pulled out his buck knife from his burlap bag, the same one that he borrowed from his uncle's store one late night.

"See this knife. It's for cutting other pirate's heads off and hangin'em from the trees as a lesson to all other pirates that they can't mess with the Midnight Raiders without bad consequences. Give me your arm."

"Why?"

"We're doin' the sacrifice now."

"Is it goin' to hurt?"

"Naw!" It's just a little teeny slice out of your arm, you'll never know it's even gone," Jack said.

"Look Brooksy I did it too, we both did," I said. I

showed him the tiny cut on the inside of my wrist.

"Don't hurt a bit except unless you are a sissy," said Jack, "and then we would not want any sissy to join us anyway."

"Okay, well cut away," said Brooksy. "I don't mind a little cut."

So Jack performed the operation but first said he was going to make sure the knife was perfectly clean so he washed it in the nearby brook. He squeezed Brooksy's skin on his wrist between his thumb and index finger and then made a neat half-inch slit and blood came to the surface. Then we each did it to our own wrists and we joined our blood by crossing our wrists, first Jack and Brooksy, then me and Brooksy, then me and Jack even though we had already crossed wrists with our blood on them months ago. Jack said it had to be done again so that we would officially be one pirate gang. So that's what we did.

"The one last thing you gotta do Brooksy," said Jack, "is to take somethin' of Mike's and bring it to this here tree house."

"Why? My momma said stealin's a bad thing." said Brooksy.

"Not if it's for a good cause," said Jack. "Just cuz yo momma says something is true, it don't mean it's true. There's exceptions to every rule – didn't ya learn that in school sonny boy? "Look sonny-boy, if you're gonna be a Midnight Raider you gotta change your attitude – you gotta understand we're pirates and stealin' is what pirates do? You want to be a fierce and loyal pirate don't ya?"

"Of course I do," Brooksy replied.

"Then don't sound like you're a dummy," said Jack. "And don't question an order given by your captain. The captain is the captain because he knows how to give the orders – that's why he's the captain, get it?"

"Yeah, I do – I get it, captain!"

"Look son, you just do it no matter what and never question an order."

"Okay," said Brooksy. "I won't question no more orders."

"We stole the tree house, and moved it piece by piece with the boat over here. That makes us true midnight raiders. Now you've gotta do somethin' to show your own worth and to build up our tree house which is our secret fort at Mike's expense. So, Mike has a boat and some fishing stuff. You know where he keeps it?"

"No," said Brooksy."

"Well the darn idiot fool keeps it right behind his house and the fishin' tackle is right in the boat. He doesn't even have the smarts to even hide it even after somebody stole his tree house. What a moron!" said Jack. "So Brooksy, it's obvious to anyone with any sense that Mike isn't smart enough or responsible enough to have a canoe cuz if we don't take it someone else will. Don't you see that?"

"I do now," said Brooksy. "So we'll have two canoes then Captain - daddy's and Mike's."

"Sure! But they won't be daddy's or anybody's - They'll be ours fair and square, dimwit!" said Jack.

"Jack, this is stupid, let's just forget it..." I started to say.

"Look," said Jack. "I'm captain and I give the orders around here and I say Mike needs to learn his lesson – that he just can't leave a perfectly good canoe that someone like us can make perfectly good use of when he don't know anything about canoeing and how to treat a perfectly good canoe. So I say we take it and that's that!"

"Whatever you say, captain," I said, adding, "we've got his tree house, now we'll get his canoe, and fishing tackle, we have Brooksy's dad's boat, what's next captain?"

"You just steer the ship sonny boy and don't worry 'bout what's next!"

"Aye, aye sir," I replied as I snapped off a salute.

"So Brooksy," Jack said. "You take his boat tonight and paddle it across and leave it tied right here. That way, we'll know for certain you're on our side and that you are a real honest-to-goodness Midnight Raider and not just some fake who'll turn us in and reveal our secrets at the drop of a hat or when Whittemore or Mike threatens you. Cuz once you steal Mike's canoe, you'll get in big trouble if anyone else finds out, not only with the Midnight Raiders but you'll go to jail for life."

On Monday when we all went to school - Jack said he wanted to see master's defeat close up and sit there smiling all day – we had a big surprise waiting for us.