Pirates Be Cool (Yarrrgh!)

We climb aboard a small sailboat called the Stray Catand make room for John Blakemore, who also needs a ride home. Exhausted by the night's revelry, the children curl up in their life jackets and pass out with their cheeks pressed on the cool cabin walls. The men begin to sing "Black Velvet Band," their euphonic tones drifting into the night as we slice through the inky water. In the distance, city lights shimmer like mermaid scales and the stars quiver. The men pass around flasks and talk among themselves about the ship they are building and the commission they have to sail a friend's boat up the coast; contented exclamations of "aargh!" roll off their lips at every opportunity. They point out the pearls of Orion's Belt and sing another song as we glide through the lanes of Blakemore's quiet houseboat neighborhood. They serenade one of their friends recently returned from Quinn's, but, having a lady friend aboard, he does not join in the chorus. Saying farewell to Blakemore, we ease back into open water, and I begin to feel the pirate in my veins.

"What's a pirate's favorite letter?" asks Jansen.

Pirates KO monkeys, rule the pop-culture world.

Paul Trapani

Cap'n Blackdawg.

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More About

• L.J. Quinn
• Bryan Rhodes
• Bill Jansen
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"Aaaar!" we respond with gusto.