‘The kraken!’ My first mate lowers his telescope and reaches for his sword.
‘Hang on.’ I spin the ship’s wheel, directing us away from the man-eating, ship-sinking beast and all its tentacles. The wind fills our sails. ‘We’re too fast. It can’t catch us.’
‘But they can.’ He points his sword. ‘Pirates!’
Three sets of black sails. A hundred cannons, at least.
‘How’d they find us?’ My grip tightens on the wheel.
The telescope was back to his eye. A patch covered his other one, a wound from a recent battle. ‘They’re getting closer.’
‘We’ll lose them in the rocks.’ I steer us into dangerous waters. With the rocks below the water, out of sight, I’m sailing blind. But I know the sea better than anyone.
‘One smashed on a rock,’ my first mate reports. He ducks a cannon ball, flattening himself upon the wooden deck. ‘What are we going to do now?’
An idea struck, the best I’ve ever had. Smiling, I take us back towards the kraken. The beast reaches out its tentacles. At the last moment, I turn away. The pirate ship right behind us is too slow and gets torn to bits. As its crew are eaten alive, screaming, the third ship flees.
My first mate takes the knife from his belt and carves two lines into the wood of our ship next to the three from yesterday: 11111. A record of our victories.
‘My little captain, it’s time!’ Her familiar voice carries from beyond the ocean. It means an end to the adventure, unless…
‘5 more minutes, Mum.’ I add the magic word, ‘please.’
‘Now. And mind the ladder.’
My best friend sighs, and I do too.
‘Coming.’ I climb down from his cubby, but I’ll be back on the high seas tomorrow.
Afterword
The Australian Writers’ Centre (AWC) run an amazing flash fiction challenge known as “Furious Fiction”. 500 words or fewer in 55 hours with very specific criteria. The relevant criteria were that it must: (1) feature someone looking through either a TELESCOPE or BINOCULARS; (2) include a five-digit number (e.g. 10,000); and (3) include the words BLIND, WIND, FIND and MIND.
A few different ideas came to mind. Ultimately, a light-hearted fun piece prevailed, as above.