It was a warm balmy day sometime in June. Tlation never could tell you what day it was--he is a ship after all. All he knew was that the seasons changed and he most defiantly preferred the summer (even if the mollusks grew quicker on his hull). His captain was bringing a heavy load of tobacco over to Bristol where it would be traded for the colonist's favorite drink--(until a certain party) tea. He enjoyed the rush of the playful wind in his large open sails. They were traveling quite quickly and Tlation overheard the captin--who's name was Raim--tell the crew that if the wind stayed steady they would make it to port within two days. Tlation had done this trip many a time and had grown to trust captain Raim and knew his judgement was true. Even so, Tlation longed to stay out on the vast sea awhile longer. He relished the expanse of the ocean and enjoyed the company of dolphins and fish. He had made many friends in what he believed was his realm. But he was about to realize that it was, in fact, not his realm--there were many a vagabond roaming throughout the wide sea, and Tlation was about to be rudely reminded of this fact. For as his red and blue flag was snapped to-and-frow in the rushing wind some scum laid their telescope upon his emblem. Let us take a little trip aboard and over-hear the pirates: "Captn' there be a ship flyin' the royal colors to starboard," Gheim spit out, with a little of his tobacco (for Gheim loved tobacco). "That be so?" replied the captin' with a rough and deliberate drone. "Eye! And she be a-goin' steady east to-ward her homeland," for Tlation was a very British ship (even though he was made in Providence) and was always wishing to be either at sea or at port in Bristol. "Well, how is she riding in the water?" the captin' questioned Gheim. (Tlation hated being called a she...) "She be a riding as if she be carrin' a heavy load," Gheim snorted back to the captin' "and I hope she has some tabacce" he muttered under his breath. For Gheim was almost out our his weed and was pretty sure that Kleim was stealing it, but since he had been stealing Kleim's ale, he didn't want to say anything. "Well let's us go and have a-look-see," drawled the captain' as he abruptly brought their vessel (called the 'Hail Harry') to the starboard. This nearly threw Gheim from the bow and he just barely kept his temper from flaring red-hot at the captn'. The captain was not a man to recon with--even if you had the bigger stick--because he always won. So Gheim drew himself up again and muttered something along the lines of "...a ship of my own," before he wheeled out his telescope again to make sure that, his hopefully tobacco laden ship, had not strayed far from the time it took for his pride to be throughly wounded. Now we will go back to more pleasant surroundings--Tlation. "Captain!" Jable almost screamed, "there be a strange vessel coming over toward us--fast!" "What colors is she flying Jable?" the captain un-worriedly replied. "I cannot quite make them out. . . wait they are black and, and, white!" "Blast!" the captain muttered--just loud enough that Tlation could overhear him. "Prepare to defend!" the captain roared from the depths of emotion, "we musn't let these brutes take us easily--if at all!" Tlaion felt the whole crew scrambling throughout his whole expanse gathering swords, cannons, and guns. Tlation's heart--if ships have a heart--leapt with excitement and fear. "I hope that we can fend off these felons!" he said to himself because he didn't talk to the crew or even the captain. Since he is a ship, Tlation felt as if they would pay much better attention to sailing if they didn't feel watched by the very vessel they were riding the wild waves upon. So the crew--Raim, Jable, Snape, Lem, Oric, Divk, Eyril, and Hyro--prepared the cannons, loaded their guns and hunkered down a-waiting a brutal battle. By then the vagabonds were nearly upon them. The pirate captain hollered across the sparse area that separated the two very different ships, "All ye high and mighty King's men want to give all you're cargo so that we might spare ye lives?" (he almost spat out the words 'King's men.') But Raim replied, "never, even if it were a thousand to one we--or in that case I--would stand my ground to you ruthless villains until I had not a single breath left in by sea worn body!" Of course the worthless scum were almost hoping that the captain would say something along those lines and chucked their grappling hocks across the frighteningly small distance between the two vessels. They landed true and caught on Tlation's newly washed deck. Then those uncivilized brutes hauled the two ships together and jumped onto Tlation, brandishing swords and scowls. THe pirates were hoping to give the Brits an onslaught they wouldn't soon forget. Thankfully Oric had been able to fire one of the cannons and put a sizable hole right in those pirate's ugly--my apologies to Hail Harry--hull. But that wouldn't have stopped those marauders any easier that you could stop a freight train teen feet away that was going four-hundred miles-a-hour. After they leaped onto Tlation the real battle begun. The pirate captain went right for Raim's throat and missed it by a whisker. But Snape shot him in the shoulder and brought him to his knees before he could say 'ginger ale.' Raim then quickly disposed of the heartless captain as easily as if he had been a little guppy caught in a net. Once the rest of the outlaws saw the demise of their--very un-beloved--captain, they cut the ropes that intertwined the two ships together and jumped back aboard the Hail Harry quicker than it takes a father to think of a pun. And Tlation's crew was quite happy that they were rid of the beasts but they wished they could have killed the scum so that they would not be a threat to the 'King's men' any longer. And Before the hour glass was turned twice, the lop-sided vessel was out of sight from even the sharpest eyes. Tlation was reminded that he did not, in fact, 'own' the sea and would try remember that it's not just his story but one much larger that his little ship mind could grasp with even a thousand years of revelation. So he was content to remember that his Maker was the great master planner and that his part was to obey--no matter the tempests, tyrants, or villains that tried to 'get in the way'. But, this was only one of many adventures that Tlation encountered. More are to come. . .
~TDH
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