The Silent Thief

XXII

XXII

       I stepped out my room to see Sir William holding something.

“My dear, behold! The wonders of a bag,” he exclaimed laughing hysterically. He held up a simple bag with three holes in it; two for my eyes and the third for my mouth.

It marveled me that without drinking anymore alcohol, Sir William could seem even more drunk.

“It that what I have to wear over my head?” I asked regretting my decision to go with him.

“Yes!” He stumbled closer to me then said in a low tone, “But I’d prefer you not wear it, in fact, I’d prefer you not wear anything.”

Clearly he was not in his right state of mind and I wasn’t too fond of him even when he was sober. I pushed him away from me and said in a motherly tone, “You Sir, will watch your mouth when you speak to a lady or else the next thing you will see is the face of Jesus Christ Himself, am I clear?”

He smiled then dramatically took a bow and said, “Certainly, madam. May we be on our way?”

I sighed replying, “Indeed.”

*******

“This darn bag is so uncomfortable!” I complained once more.

“Oi, I spent a bit of my time between bottles of rum to make that for ya’. If I hadn’t had made it, I could’ve drunken two more!”

I rolled my eyes and continued walking. “Are we going to a bar?”

“Ha! These African bars don’t have near as much beverages as we do,” he answered proudly.

“On our ship then?” I asked.

“Actually, Captain James has already thought of an obvious problem with that.”

I was confused now.

Sir William continued, “Ya’ see, though our victory was glorious, it took a fourth of our ship down to the depths of the ocean. We can’t exactly board it right now, but we did manage to salvage most of our alcohol so we’ll be drinking near there.”

I heard the sound of the waves at the beach and a familiar guitar playing closely.

“ONE BOTTLE OF BEER ON THE WALL, ONE BOTTLE OF BEER, TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NO BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL!” the men yelled and laughed as they finished the famous song.

Sir William announced, “I’m here lads, give me a drink! Ahahaha.”

“Oi lads, pretty boy’s here!” Alexander yelled. He ran over and gave me a bear crushing hug lifting me off my feet. A lot of the men came over and started asking a bunch of questions about Jake, my bag, how I survived, and some other bizarre things. Then I saw the captain and my heart jumped.

I hated this weird feeling that was coming over me! What was it and why did it make me want to just stare for the longest time in those deep blue eyes? I am The Silent Thief, I thought to myself. I can’t have a distraction as strong as this!

“Ace, glad to see you are well,” Captain James said once he reached me.

“Thank you, Captain, and I’m glad to see you are safe,” I replied smiling.

“Have a drink and join us.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

We laughed and told stories, and nothing got out of control. The men knew how to handle their alcohol but still, even the little they drank made them act crazier than usual. Every two minutes, one of the men would make fun of my temporary mask.