After their snack, Captain Thompson insisted on personally showing them around his home. The prince thought he did seem like a nice fellow, as Aster had assured, but he could see how some would think otherwise. Elwin seemed to be chewing on his lower lip a lot, which was a sure sign of being nervous. Prin wished for a private moment to reassure him, but it didn’t seem like that would be possible.
There was a hallway outside of the kitchen with doors on the right and the left.
“This is the library.” Captain Thompson pointed toward an ornately carved door.
Why were libraries like that? All the good wood carving was used on the door before you even get into the room. Prin supposed it was a form of advertisement for the wonderful things held within. It made sense in that context.
“That will be one of the areas that needs organizing.” Captain Thompson continued. He pointed to different doors without opening them. Bathing room, office (off limits, if you please, or even if you don’t please), Mrs. Frances’ quarters, storage rooms, and at the far end the dining room and entrance hall with the staircase leading upstairs.
It wasn’t much of a tour, as he seemed a little hesitant to let them see everything. Is it because a lot of the house would be similar to what happened when the front door was opened? A messy avalanche of whatever happened to be crammed inside? If so, this would be weeks worth of work, maybe months. Prin just wasn’t sure they had that kind of time to spare. But what could they do without money for further passage?
Captain Thompson finally opened a door and motioned for them to follow him inside. It was a parlor with gold and green brocade matching couch and two antique chairs. With a conspicuous pile of crates and sacks filling the other half of the room. Prin couldn’t help but be intrigued. Was it pirate treasure?
Captain Thompson parked himself on one of the chairs, and Prin and Elwin sat down uneasily on the couch, side by side.
The captain had a harsh looking expression, casting his eyes from one to the other. Suddenly he smiled. “So how do you know Rose? For how long? Are you cousins, or summing? What did he say about me? Hmm?” He leaned in closer to the boys sitting across the way, eagerly awaiting their answer.
“Well, umm, we . . .” Elwin stumbled over is words until Prin came to his rescue.
“We’re good friends.” Prin said cheerily. “But we aren’t related or anything, and she said you were just the best.” He smiled back at Captain Thompson, hoping he would be satisfied with this answer. Immediately he began to second guess himself. Should he have said they were cousins after all? Was this something Aster had hinted at, to prevent jealousy? And Prin had sat here and just ruined it?
“Did he really?” The captain asked, although it was clearly more rhetorical than anything. He leaned back in his seat, resting his arms across his belly. “That Rose is so cute, I would just love to steal him away from Mama Kris, for keeps.” He sighed. “Alas, there are some things even the king of the pirates can’t have.” His smile turned wistful. “Jus as well I ‘spose, since it’s hard to say how my progeny would react to my bringing a lover home, especially to live with us.” He chuckled.
“Is their mother . . ?” Elwin wondered.
Prin gave him a look. Was it tactful to even mention that?
“Dead. Long dead.” Captain Thompson assured. “Still, they are jealous of my time and attention, just like when they was little tykes, and them mostly grown at this point. Any-way,” He waved his large hand dismissively through the air. “Enough of this small talk, lets get down to brass tacks, shall we? Which one of you is the brains in this operation?”
“Does that mean we have jobs? Both of us?” Prin wondered.
“Haven’t ya already been doing them?” the captain asked. “At the front door, that was your trial and you passed with flying colors.” He said this quickly enough that Prin could tell it was meaningless, the mess avalanche had been legitimate, not a part of some job interview task.
“Okay.” Elwin said. He narrowed his eyes, brows knitting in concentration.
The prince watched him for a moment, wondering exactly what he was thinking about.
“So the pay is one silver shurl a week.” Captain Thompson looked from one to the other with a smirk. “Each.” He added, as though that were the final token of immense generosity that should win them over.
Prin had no idea what a shurl was. But silver was good, he supposed.
Elwin put his hand on Prin’s knee firmly, as though holding him down. Prin wasn’t sure what was happening exactly but he knew something was and that Elwin was handling it.
“Hmm,” Elwin said. “We’ll have to think on that. Since we’re just simple country boys and all, perhaps we’ll take your offer to Rose and ask her whether that’s a fair deal or we could do better elsewhere. Although I’m sure it’s good since you wouldn’t treat her friends poorly.”
The captain put his hand over his face in an exasperated gesture, although it was clear to see there was a playful smile peeking out through his fingers. “Fine, fine, I was only kidding! Two shurl’s per week each, and one day off. That’s my final offer.”
Elwin finally smiled. “Deal.”
Captain Thompson laughed at them again. “Oh ho ho, I know who the brains is now. This one can organize my library.”
“Can I help?” the prince asked, feeling the dread of unfettered library access slipping away from him.
“Respectfully, Prin is more of the library person. Both of us are the brains.” Elwin said.
Prin felt a swell of pride for Elwin. He usually insisted that he wasn’t that smart. Maybe his confidence was improving. “I was born to organize books.” He couldn’t help blurt out.
“It’s true.” Elwin assisted.
“Never seen someone so excited to play with books. You should talk to my son if you see him around. Loves books, just a shame he can’t read them, poor thing.” He stood up from the chair, with a groan of pain against old stiff muscles. “Come on then, enough dilly dallying, there’s so much to do.”
Elwin and Prin stood up to follow him.
“This is Elwin.” Prin introduced, as it only seemed proper that their new employer should know both of their names. “By the way.”
“Elwin By-The-Way, and relation to Highway an’ Byway?” Captain Thompson said. “Never mind, never mind, that is what my daughter Wrena refers to as a dad joke, or if she is feeling particularly spiteful, a bad dad joke. Rose is one of the youths, don’t tell him how uncool I am.”
The prince laughed, both because he was funny and because he thought laughter would be very diplomatic at the moment. Everyone likes someone who laughs at their jokes. He nudged Elwin with his elbow, but he didn’t seem to take the hint.
The captain led them back out of the parlor and motioned towards the front entranceway. “One of yous can start in there and one can take the library, I don’t actually care which one.” He took a pocket watch out and looked at the time. “We will meet again in the kitchen at eight o clock. We never really use the formal dining room.” He made a sheepish cringe of a face and Prin thought he could tell why they didn’t use the dining room. It was piled up with junk – treasure, wasn’t it.
As they prepared to part, Elwin pulled the prince close and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. Prin felt his cheeks grow warm. He wasn’t sure what that was about. An attempt by Elwin to show what their relationship was to the old captain? To stake his territory? Prin was not sure what he felt about that.
And besides, there was no chance Captain Thompson would show an interest in him when he had Aster on his mind. There was no competition. Even if that hadn’t been so, he felt no sense of threat at all from the captain, and even wondered how he had possibly ever been a ferocious pirate captain, even if it was years ago before he had kids.
The captain just smirked at them, before turning to go down the hall towards his office. “Get to work!” He called back over his shoulder.
Prin waved goodbye to Elwin, suddenly shy and not knowing the words to say. He went to stand in front of the carved library door, watching Elwin out of the corner of his eye as he disappeared through his own doorway.
The ornate carvings had the shapes of birds among blossom filled trees. The darkened wood had the sheen of something very old that people’s fingers had smoothly polished over many years of reverent touching. He wouldn’t be surprised if the carvings were much older then the house itself.
The prince turned the brass knob and pushed the door open very carefully, fearful of a pile of books that may be taller than he is falling on him all at once. Nothing fell, and all was quiet.
It was so dark inside as the sliver of room slowly grew on the other side of the door, that Prin debated going back to the kitchen for some matches. There were no doubt candles or oil lamps inside, right? Then he remembered how improved his night vision had gotten as of late, and just gave his eyes a moment to catch up to the darkness within. He would get a feel for the place before turning on the lights, see what he was working with.
The prince’s stomach did a giddy flip flop of excitement.
As his eyes adjusted he could just make out the large statues that guarded each side of the doorway. The hulking figures appeared to be a lion’s body with a human’s head. The sense of incoming claustrophobia began with them, larger then even a tall-ish man like Prin.
Beyond the figures were bookshelves, poorly kept, with the books piled up and overflowing onto the floor. There were at least three rows deep of shelving with narrow aisle ways between them.
The prince was so busy taking stock of the sheer number of books (even a mind like an abacus couldn’t have calculated it!), that he failed to notice the cat until it brushed against his ankle, purring loudly. Also, it had the perfect camouflage.
“Oh hi! Excuse me.” Prin said, startled, speaking to the fluffy solid black animal like you would a human you had nearly bumped into.
“Hi.” The cat replied in a dead pan voice, unlike how you would imagine the voice of a cat speaking human words to sound.
Prin’s mind began to short circuit immediately. Cat. Talk. They do that now? Is this a special messenger of some sort? Prin’s mind went to where it so often did. Was this related to a witch?
The prince couldn’t help himself, he squeaked, followed by high pitched nervous laughter.
“What’s the matter with you? Are you daft?” The calm emotionless voice continued.
The cat was disappearing around the corner of one of the shelves. Prin had in mind to follow it, but as his eyes scanned the room more thoroughly, he saw something at the far end.
Down the center of the room, between the rows of shelving, was a carpet runner which terminated at the far wall, consisting of windows concealed by heavy drapery. An armchair sat beneath the window, exactly centered. What at first appeared to be a large doll or marionette sat in the chair, a second black cat in its lap.
The prince could see it was no doll when the hand moved to pet the cat. He jumped, recovering quickly as his eyes further absorbed the blackness and made sense of it. He could see a figure in black and grey, a sailor style outfit with the wide square collar, moonlight pale skin, and yellow hair for a shock of sun. Pale, pale eyes.
“Boo.” The person said.
After their snack, Captain Thompson insisted on personally showing them around his home. The prince thought he did seem like a nice fellow, as Aster had assured, but he could see how some would think otherwise. Elwin seemed to be chewing on his lower lip a lot, which was a sure sign of being nervous. Prin wished for a private moment to reassure him, but it didn’t seem like that would be possible.
There was a hallway outside of the kitchen with doors on the right and the left.
“This is the library.” Captain Thompson pointed toward an ornately carved door.
Why were libraries like that? All the good wood carving was used on the door before you even get into the room. Prin supposed it was a form of advertisement for the wonderful things held within. It made sense in that context.
“That will be one of the areas that needs organizing.” Captain Thompson continued. He pointed to different doors without opening them. Bathing room, office (off limits, if you please, or even if you don’t please), Mrs. Frances’ quarters, storage rooms, and at the far end the dining room and entrance hall with the staircase leading upstairs.
It wasn’t much of a tour, as he seemed a little hesitant to let them see everything. Is it because a lot of the house would be similar to what happened when the front door was opened? A messy avalanche of whatever happened to be crammed inside? If so, this would be weeks worth of work, maybe months. Prin just wasn’t sure they had that kind of time to spare. But what could they do without money for further passage?
Captain Thompson finally opened a door and motioned for them to follow him inside. It was a parlor with gold and green brocade matching couch and two antique chairs. With a conspicuous pile of crates and sacks filling the other half of the room. Prin couldn’t help but be intrigued. Was it pirate treasure?
Captain Thompson parked himself on one of the chairs, and Prin and Elwin sat down uneasily on the couch, side by side.
The captain had a harsh looking expression, casting his eyes from one to the other. Suddenly he smiled. “So how do you know Rose? For how long? Are you cousins, or summing? What did he say about me? Hmm?” He leaned in closer to the boys sitting across the way, eagerly awaiting their answer.
“Well, umm, we . . .” Elwin stumbled over is words until Prin came to his rescue.
“We’re good friends.” Prin said cheerily. “But we aren’t related or anything, and she said you were just the best.” He smiled back at Captain Thompson, hoping he would be satisfied with this answer. Immediately he began to second guess himself. Should he have said they were cousins after all? Was this something Aster had hinted at, to prevent jealousy? And Prin had sat here and just ruined it?
“Did he really?” The captain asked, although it was clearly more rhetorical than anything. He leaned back in his seat, resting his arms across his belly. “That Rose is so cute, I would just love to steal him away from Mama Kris, for keeps.” He sighed. “Alas, there are some things even the king of the pirates can’t have.” His smile turned wistful. “Jus as well I ‘spose, since it’s hard to say how my progeny would react to my bringing a lover home, especially to live with us.” He chuckled.
“Is their mother . . ?” Elwin wondered.
Prin gave him a look. Was it tactful to even mention that?
“Dead. Long dead.” Captain Thompson assured. “Still, they are jealous of my time and attention, just like when they was little tykes, and them mostly grown at this point. Any-way,” He waved his large hand dismissively through the air. “Enough of this small talk, lets get down to brass tacks, shall we? Which one of you is the brains in this operation?”
“Does that mean we have jobs? Both of us?” Prin wondered.
“Haven’t ya already been doing them?” the captain asked. “At the front door, that was your trial and you passed with flying colors.” He said this quickly enough that Prin could tell it was meaningless, the mess avalanche had been legitimate, not a part of some job interview task.
“Okay.” Elwin said. He narrowed his eyes, brows knitting in concentration.
The prince watched him for a moment, wondering exactly what he was thinking about.
“So the pay is one silver shurl a week.” Captain Thompson looked from one to the other with a smirk. “Each.” He added, as though that were the final token of immense generosity that should win them over.
Prin had no idea what a shurl was. But silver was good, he supposed.
Elwin put his hand on Prin’s knee firmly, as though holding him down. Prin wasn’t sure what was happening exactly but he knew something was and that Elwin was handling it.
“Hmm,” Elwin said. “We’ll have to think on that. Since we’re just simple country boys and all, perhaps we’ll take your offer to Rose and ask her whether that’s a fair deal or we could do better elsewhere. Although I’m sure it’s good since you wouldn’t treat her friends poorly.”
The captain put his hand over his face in an exasperated gesture, although it was clear to see there was a playful smile peeking out through his fingers. “Fine, fine, I was only kidding! Two shurl’s per week each, and one day off. That’s my final offer.”
Elwin finally smiled. “Deal.”
Captain Thompson laughed at them again. “Oh ho ho, I know who the brains is now. This one can organize my library.”
“Can I help?” the prince asked, feeling the dread of unfettered library access slipping away from him.
“Respectfully, Prin is more of the library person. Both of us are the brains.” Elwin said.
Prin felt a swell of pride for Elwin. He usually insisted that he wasn’t that smart. Maybe his confidence was improving. “I was born to organize books.” He couldn’t help blurt out.
“It’s true.” Elwin assisted.
“Never seen someone so excited to play with books. You should talk to my son if you see him around. Loves books, just a shame he can’t read them, poor thing.” He stood up from the chair, with a groan of pain against old stiff muscles. “Come on then, enough dilly dallying, there’s so much to do.”
Elwin and Prin stood up to follow him.
“This is Elwin.” Prin introduced, as it only seemed proper that their new employer should know both of their names. “By the way.”
“Elwin By-The-Way, and relation to Highway an’ Byway?” Captain Thompson said. “Never mind, never mind, that is what my daughter Wrena refers to as a dad joke, or if she is feeling particularly spiteful, a bad dad joke. Rose is one of the youths, don’t tell him how uncool I am.”
The prince laughed, both because he was funny and because he thought laughter would be very diplomatic at the moment. Everyone likes someone who laughs at their jokes. He nudged Elwin with his elbow, but he didn’t seem to take the hint.
The captain led them back out of the parlor and motioned towards the front entranceway. “One of yous can start in there and one can take the library, I don’t actually care which one.” He took a pocket watch out and looked at the time. “We will meet again in the kitchen at eight o clock. We never really use the formal dining room.” He made a sheepish cringe of a face and Prin thought he could tell why they didn’t use the dining room. It was piled up with junk – treasure, wasn’t it.
As they prepared to part, Elwin pulled the prince close and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. Prin felt his cheeks grow warm. He wasn’t sure what that was about. An attempt by Elwin to show what their relationship was to the old captain? To stake his territory? Prin was not sure what he felt about that.
And besides, there was no chance Captain Thompson would show an interest in him when he had Aster on his mind. There was no competition. Even if that hadn’t been so, he felt no sense of threat at all from the captain, and even wondered how he had possibly ever been a ferocious pirate captain, even if it was years ago before he had kids.
The captain just smirked at them, before turning to go down the hall towards his office. “Get to work!” He called back over his shoulder.
Prin waved goodbye to Elwin, suddenly shy and not knowing the words to say. He went to stand in front of the carved library door, watching Elwin out of the corner of his eye as he disappeared through his own doorway.
The ornate carvings had the shapes of birds among blossom filled trees. The darkened wood had the sheen of something very old that people’s fingers had smoothly polished over many years of reverent touching. He wouldn’t be surprised if the carvings were much older then the house itself.
The prince turned the brass knob and pushed the door open very carefully, fearful of a pile of books that may be taller than he is falling on him all at once. Nothing fell, and all was quiet.
It was so dark inside as the sliver of room slowly grew on the other side of the door, that Prin debated going back to the kitchen for some matches. There were no doubt candles or oil lamps inside, right? Then he remembered how improved his night vision had gotten as of late, and just gave his eyes a moment to catch up to the darkness within. He would get a feel for the place before turning on the lights, see what he was working with.
The prince’s stomach did a giddy flip flop of excitement.
As his eyes adjusted he could just make out the large statues that guarded each side of the doorway. The hulking figures appeared to be a lion’s body with a human’s head. The sense of incoming claustrophobia began with them, larger then even a tall-ish man like Prin.
Beyond the figures were bookshelves, poorly kept, with the books piled up and overflowing onto the floor. There were at least three rows deep of shelving with narrow aisle ways between them.
The prince was so busy taking stock of the sheer number of books (even a mind like an abacus couldn’t have calculated it!), that he failed to notice the cat until it brushed against his ankle, purring loudly. Also, it had the perfect camouflage.
“Oh hi! Excuse me.” Prin said, startled, speaking to the fluffy solid black animal like you would a human you had nearly bumped into.
“Hi.” The cat replied in a dead pan voice, unlike how you would imagine the voice of a cat speaking human words to sound.
Prin’s mind began to short circuit immediately. Cat. Talk. They do that now? Is this a special messenger of some sort? Prin’s mind went to where it so often did. Was this related to a witch?
The prince couldn’t help himself, he squeaked, followed by high pitched nervous laughter.
“What’s the matter with you? Are you daft?” The calm emotionless voice continued.
The cat was disappearing around the corner of one of the shelves. Prin had in mind to follow it, but as his eyes scanned the room more thoroughly, he saw something at the far end.
Down the center of the room, between the rows of shelving, was a carpet runner which terminated at the far wall, consisting of windows concealed by heavy drapery. An armchair sat beneath the window, exactly centered. What at first appeared to be a large doll or marionette sat in the chair, a second black cat in its lap.
The prince could see it was no doll when the hand moved to pet the cat. He jumped, recovering quickly as his eyes further absorbed the blackness and made sense of it. He could see a figure in black and grey, a sailor style outfit with the wide square collar, moonlight pale skin, and yellow hair for a shock of sun. Pale, pale eyes.
“Boo.” The person said.
