HAPPY SOLSTICE

THE SILVER ELEPHANT, part 2

I will never forget the endless jade sea under the turquoise sky, and the blinding sun which pinned us to the deck.. We were Out East.

Before long, the Ninjas attacked.

I was in the Captain’s Cabin, studying maps with my Aunty June. Suddenly, two slim, dark figures smashed through the window.

Aunty June is not a small woman. She simply picked up the two Ninjas and threw them back out again. We heard shouts of alarm and ran up to the deck.

My uncle was fighting on ninja: cutlass against katana. The First Mate, Johnny Jones was hid behind the mast, firing his pistols at a ninja who hid behind a barrel and threw throwing-stars at him.

I did what any sensible young lad would o, and found a good place to watch.

A ninja’s skills are speed and silence. In an open fight, they don’t really stand a chance against us. Soon they had retreated, and only Jones had received a few scratches from a throwing star..

‘You won!’ I called out to my uncle.

‘Only half lad, her honour but not her life,. He replied.

Then he stopped to think, a rare thing for him to do.

‘This means we must be close to our goal,’ he continued. ‘Look… I see it now, on the port side… Castaway Island.’

I looked and I saw. A large island with palm covered mountains and golden beaches. There were small oats at the dock and larger, odd looking ships at anchor. I later learnt that they were called Junks… but they looked alright to me.

As we came closer, I saw a big bamboo building. It had a sign that read ‘Castaway Hotel’.

‘Awesome ship man!’

A young man greeted us as we rowed to shore in our boat. He wore a vest and shorts and looked like he had not washed for days.

‘Thanks,’ Bloodbeard replied.’I stole her myself’.

There were many more young men and women at the beach. Some sat around in the same shorts and vest as the lad who greeted us, some swam in the sea. Castaway island was very popular.

‘How are we going to find the Silver elephant?’ I asked my aunty.

‘We have a map,’ she replied.

She showed me a map of the island and surrounding bay.

‘We are walking to the skull and crossbones, right?’ I asked.

‘Good lad.’

It was a short walk, as the crow flies, but we could not fly. So it was a long walk over jungle and mountain. I had never been so hot as I was in that steaming jungle.

Eventually we reached a beach surrounded by jagged rocks. More unwashed young people sat around drinking beer or swam.

At the end of the beach stood a ride designed by a madman. That is the only way I can describe it. Bamboo poles reached up from a lagoon, five times the height of a man, and supported some sort of giant swing.

‘The elephant is up there,’ Aunty June said. ‘It sings to me.’

I looked puzzled.

‘Fate, lad,’ Bloodbeard explained to me. ‘Go get, will you?’

I cannot clearly remember what happened next. It was like a crazy dream.Hung above a lagoon of pure blue water was a massive bamboo cage. The cage swung on the tall bamboo frame. Several young people were already riding in it, most of them looked sick. I waited for them to finish, then climbed in.

The most important thing in life is other people. Everything else is just shadows against a cave wall. I’m lucky because my family taught me that.

So I just climbed on to that dangerous ride and tried my best.

On all fours like an animal, I looked around that bamboo cage. Then down at the strange little fish beneath, then around at the youths who shared the cage. Soon the cage swung and began to rise.

Up and up, it swang above the trees. People cheered, some were sick. I held onto the bars and looked around.

I saw it! A tiny silver elephant hung from the neck of of a man who say, passed out, with a bottle of beer in hand.

THE KINGS OF THE NORTH

   He always kept a double barreled pistol on his table by his drink, and he always had a drink in hand.
   He always kept a pocket pistol up his sleeve when he left his manor, but he rarely left his manor.
   And he was always waiting for The King Across The Water to return.

To be continued...