Chapter 9

Written by: Griffin

The gurgle turned to a rush. The cold water was already up to Toby’s ankles. 

 

“Adam, we must find that door,” he called. “Sal, Squiddly, where are you.”

 

The space became bathed in a soft, whitish light, and the water fell silent. There was a touch on his right sleeve. He turned half around, and his eyes widened. Beside him was the figure of Sal, a translucent ghost, emanating a white aura. The tattoos on his arms were replaced by purplish blotches. 

 

“Come, Mister Chief Officer Toby.” 

 

Toby’s heart raced, and he thought, “Is he leading me down to Hell?” But his legs followed automatically the ghost in the direction of a grey bulkhead.

 

Not too far behind could be discerned Adam with the ghost of Squiddly.

 

The other lead him gently by the forearm. They passed through the bulkhead and were suddenly on the aft deck. A white and red painted airshaft outlet towered over them. It was early afternoon. The sky was cloudless, the waters were calm, and a mild breeze touched Toby’s cheek. A seagull squawked from the handrail. The ghost was looking more and more solid.

 

Away on the horizon to the west was the coast of Somalia. Not a hundred metres away was the African Star, lying still. He surreptitiously pinched hard the ball of his right thumb, and felt the pain.

 

“No, you are not dreaming my friend. I and that drunken Sal are one and the same.

 

“Where is Adam. And Squiddly—is that his name?”

 

“His name is Roger, I am Bertram.”

 

“Why did you save us,” said Toby.

 

“Why? Because you’re part of our plan.” Sal the ghost sat himself down cross-legged on the warm wooden deck, at his back a white-painted bulkhead. Toby followed suit.

 

“Now listen. Me and Roger was on the Barbary pirate ship Ebenezer. Three months out from Tunis and we both of us dropped dead from that Scorby.”

 

Toby surveyed the ghost’s features. “I wonder what it’s like, being a ghost,” he thought.

 

“We was a happy crew, but we was all of us dying. You get bleeding from the skin, then terrible teeth would come, then the bad joints, then you keel over and that’s it.”

 

They were enveloped momentarily by the putrid smell of the mouths of a hundred dying sailors.

 

“That medicine you got in that hold is good for bones. Squid and me we want to take it back to that Barbary ship, back to our time of King William. We want to save the lives of our poor fellow seamen and we can find rest at last.”

 

“I’m not sure that BD 109 is good for scurvy. What you need is …”

 

“You will go with your friend in your Zodiac and you shall board the African Star and take command once more.”

 

“Mister Bertram, you have to be joking. How can the two of us take over all that pirate crew?”

 

“You will find them asleep.”

Comments

I love this chapter Greg. I love the surprise that Sal and Squiddly are ghosts from King William's time. It solves a lot of problems around when the story happened and which ship people were on. It is very clever. And I love that sudden shift when Toby wonders what it's like being a ghost. That exactly what thoughts do....bounce in on other thoughts and elbow them aside. Terrific chapter Greg.