Donkey put in, "What is the poop deck, anyway? I mean, really?"

---

 

21. Ding-Dong On The Poop Deck
 

Wiggy and I were back on deck before any of the Amazons, and we helped the crew raise the sails. It wasn't hard. We just stood where they told us, and pulled down a rope hand over hand until it stopped. Then we'd move to another spot, pull down another rope, and so on.

After we'd repeated the process a couple times, there were no more sails to raise.

"How many sails are there?" I asked Flannery.

"Twelve sails. 7000 square feet of total sail area," she replied, without looking at me.

Once all the sails were up, the ship began moving quickly. Most of the sails were tight and full of wind, but every so often one of them would let out a loud crack! as the wind whipped it.

"Hey, Riley," I asked, "How come I can feel the breeze, when the wind is pushing the boat?"

She gave me a quizzical look before replying. "Two things," she said. "One, the wind blows in different directions, and it changes a lot. Two, we're not going *faster* than the wind. Even after it pushes the ship, it still has enough left over to mess up your hair."

Embarrassed, I thanked her and went off to join Shaylen and the others behind the main mast.

When I got to the little group, I found that everyone was silently watching Ding-Dong do a funny little shuffling dance.

Shaylen, amused, asked, "Do you have a little problem, Belle?"

"It's Ding-Dong," she corrected, "and yes, I do. I have to go to the poop deck! Bad!"

Shaylen told Ding-Dong (and the rest of us) where the various facilities were found onboard, and Ding-Dong quickly disappeared below.

Mirina, in a suspicious tone, asked, "Cakey, did you tell her to say that?"

Cakey gave her best "innocent" look, and asked, "Moi?"

Donkey put in, "What is the poop deck, anyway? I mean, really?"

Shaylen pointed behind us. "It's that raised deck in the stern. It's the roof for the cabins on this level, which — on this ship — includes the dining room, where there's food waiting for us. You can have a late lunch if you're hungry, or a snack if you're not. But let's wait until Ding-Dong gets back.

"In the meantime, are there any other questions about the ship, or nautical terms that I can explain?"

"Yes," said Donkey. "This fore and aft stuff. Why don't you just say front and back?"

Shaylen shrugged. "Tradition, I guess. But I think if I did say front and back, it would mix people up."

"I mix up fore and aft," said Donkey. "And stern, too."

"Think of before and after," Shaylen suggested. "And imagine the Captain on the poop deck, looking stern."

Donkey grinned. "Got it."

"What about Avast, ye landlubbers!" Graffy asked.

"And Belay that!" Grooty added.

"You know what landlubbers are, right?" Shaylen asked.

"We're landlubbers," Boogers replied.

Shaylen nodded. "Avast means stop. Belay means to fasten a rope without tying it."

"How do you do that?" Grooty queried.

"You wrap the rope in a certain way. You don't want to tie a knot — they take forever to undo. Because of that, sailors have found ways to securely bind and unbind ropes quickly. Just like your friend Wiggy did, when she tied up the boat at the dock."

Wiggy blushed as everyone looked at her.

At that point, Ding-Dong emerged from below, smiling. "I don't know why you call it a poop deck," she said. "A deck is a whole floor. The poop deck is just a little room." She shook her head, amused at what she took to be silly nautical slang.

Shaylen opened her mouth to speak, but decided to let it go. Instead she took us to dining room, where we had a light lunch.

We chatted and laughed. The entire time we ate, the ship was gently rocking. I felt myself relaxing into the rhythm. "I'm so glad I came," I told Wiggy. "I'm so glad you let me come."

When nearly everyone was done eating, Riley came in to get herself a drink.

"We're well underway," she said. "We've got a strong wind, and it looks like we'll make good time."

There was a question I wanted to ask, so I swallowed my half-chewed mouthful, and forced it down with a few gulps of water. "Why was the captain so anxious to get underway?"

Riley and Shaylen glanced at each other, and the way they did brought all the Amazons, Ding-Dong included, to attention.

"Well, part of the reason is that we're heading east," Riley said. "The prevailing winds are westerly. So the trip out is a little longer and a bit trickier than the trip back." She looked at Shaylen the whole time she was speaking.

"You can tell them," Shaylen said. "Captain's just being prudent, that's all."

Riley shrugged.

"See, there's a big storm up north of us," Shaylen explained, "There's a very small chance it could come this way. It isn't likely, but the Captain doesn't like to take chances, even small chances, so she wants to run to the island as soon as possible."

"Are we in any danger?" Cakey asked.

"No," Shaylen said. "You can all see the sky and the sea. If a storm was coming, you'd see and feel it. We're always listening to the weather service, and even if the storm did decide to blow down this way, we'd make straight for the nearest port and wait it out in safety. We don't take chances with our passengers. We don't take chances with ourselves, and we don't take chances with the Seward."

Cakey asked, "Can't tropical storms come up quickly? Faster than we could get to port?"

"Cakey!" Mirina scolded, "Don't ask for misfortune!"

I didn't understand what Mirina meant, so I gave Wiggy a quizzical look. She muttered, "I'll explain later," so I nodded.

Cakey shot a glance at Mirina, and in a soft voice to Shaylen asked, "Can they?"

Mirina looked quite angry at Cakey for repeating her question.

I could see Shaylen was puzzled by Mirina's reaction as well. To Cakey she said, "In the old days, before radar, radio, and good weather forecasting, a storm *could* break on a ship with very little warning. Back then, almost any ship asail would be hard pressed to outrun a real tropical storm."

"It would be all batten down the hatches! and tie yourself to the mast!" Ding-Dong enthused.

Shaylen stared at her. "Hopefully, it would never come to that!

"As I was saying: Nowadays, we know about storms from far off. The weather service tracks tropical storms as they form, and they have a pretty accurate idea of where they're going. Also, along our route, we're never far from an island, and if it's prudent to take shelter, we'll take shelter, regardless of our schedule.

"Our top priority is getting you girls home safe. Every decision is made with that in mind.

"AND the storm is heading this way" — she swept her left hand up and off to the right — "and we're heading this way." She swept her other hand down and left. "Okay?"

Everybody nodded, and Shaylen smiled. After all, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the sea was calm, and the wind was steady. The boat was moving quickly, and gently rocking as she went. We had nothing to worry about.
 

---

 

When we left the dining room, Wiggy said to me, "Let's go up on the poop deck."

Giggling about "poop," the two of us climbed the ladder-like stairs together. The normal way to climb would be for one to go first and the other to follow. After all, the stairs were narrow. But we each took hold of a rope rail, Wiggy on the left, me on the right, and scaled the stairs as if we were scaling a mountain, side by side.

At first we thought that the small deck in the stern was empty, but what did we find?

"Look," Wiggy whispered, "It's the Captain, looking stern." In fact, it *was* the Captain, and she *was* looking stern — that is, rearward. She had her back to us, but turned in surprise when I giggled at Wiggy's remark.

"Sorry, Captain!" we said together, and started back down the ladder/stairs.

She beckoned and said, "Come ahead, girls, come ahead." She smiled, and leaned against the rail. "Believe it or not, I was just thinking of you two."

"Us? Why?" I asked, as we went over to join her.

"Because I've met all the others but you. So, one of you is Hedwig Wetherwax—"

"That's me," Wiggy said. "Call me Wiggy."

"Wiggy? Alright then: Hedwig Wiggy Wetherwax." The Captain really *was* memorizing names. To me, he said, "Then that makes you Romy Wubbels. Do you have a nickname, too?"

"Romy?" I repeated, confused.

"Bubbles," Wiggy said to me, by way of explanation.

"Romy Bubbles Wubbels," the Captain said, shaking her head. "You girls are the worst bunch for nicknames that I've ever met. Bubbles Wubbels?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I can't say I was thinking, but something inside me hesitated. I guess I was tempted for a moment by the possibility of being someone else. Only for a moment, though...

Wiggy glanced at me, expecting me to correct the Captain's mistake and introduce myself.

"Let's sit down," the Captain said. She bent her legs and settled on the deck. We followed suit. "I also wanted to meet you two because I was curious," she continued. "You two are different from the others. You're the only ones who aren't blonde and tall, and I suspect — all blonde jokes aside — that you two represent the brains of the bunch."

"Mirina's smart, too," Wiggy said, "but—"

"She's the leader, isn't she?" the Captain interrupted. "Captain of the squad?"

Wiggy nodded. "Yes, but—"

"Being leader doesn't make her smart," the Captain said. "I'm not Captain because I'm the smartest of the crew. I'm Captain because I make decisions when they need to be made and make sure my orders are carried out."

"Mirina's that way," Wiggy affirmed. "But—"

"And I've got a particular skill set," the Captain added. "So, you two: where do you fit in this hootenanny?"

"I'm the manager for the Amazons," Wiggy told her. "I take care of the schedules, the equipment, the books, and so on."

"The purser," the Captain said. Wiggy shrugged.

"And you?" the Captain asked me.

"The girls asked me to come along because one of the Amazons got sick at the last minute."

"Ah. You're not one of the Amazons? But your name was on the list they sent."

"I sent that list," Wiggy answered, "but she isn't Bubbles — uh, Romy. She's Marcie Donner."

"Marcie Donner," the Captain repeated. "And your nickname would be..."

"Marcie *is* a nickname," I told her, "for Marcella."

"Bubbles got sick," Wiggy said, "And she had the idea that Marcie could go in her place."

"That was nice of her. But why Marcie? I mean, no offense, but they could have chosen any girl in school, right? Why did they choose you?"

Wiggy and I briefly told her about the kidnapping, the media attention, and how Bubbles had gotten the idea that I needed a break.

The Captain was quite surprised. "I don't follow the news," she said. "I follow the weather. That's usually all the news I need. So I had no idea. I'm sorry that all that had to happen to you, Marcie, but I'm sure that Bubbles was right: a trip at sea will put you right, like nothing else can. You can't be sad at sea; you can't be down when you're under sail."

I didn't know what to say, except to thank her, which I did. But the Captain's expression belied what she said: She didn't look exactly sad, but she didn't look very happy, either. Maybe a bit worried? I was sure that she'd come up on the poop deck to be alone.

After a chatting a little bit more, she excused herself, and left.

"Hey, Marcie," Wiggy laughed, "Now we have the poop deck all to ourselves."

"That'll be convenient when we need to poop," I said, but neither of us laughed. I guess the poop jokes had already gotten old.

"Oh!" I said, suddenly remembering, "What was that thing Mirina said, when Cakey asked about the storm coming? Something about 'asking for misfortune'?"

"Oh, yeah. That is Mirina's one superstition. She thinks that bad things happen to people because they have bad thoughts. So if lightning strikes your house, it's because you were thinking and talking about lightning."

"Oh, brother!" I scoffed. "So, it's like I was kidnapped because I thought about being kidnapped?"

Wiggy shrugged. "That's what Mirina would think."

"That's crazy! I'm absolutely, positively sure that I didn't think about kidnapping, talk about kidnapping, or even DREAM about kidnapping!"

"Yeah, well, it doesn't make any difference. She believes it. So if she hears anybody talking about trouble or misfortune or sickness or anything like that, she comes down hard and makes them stop."

I thought about it for a minute, then asked, "And what does she say when bad things happen to her?"

Wiggy thought for a minute, too. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't remember the last time something bad happened to her." She thought some more. "And I don't remember her ever being sick."

"Hmmph," I said. I shifted a bit and lay down on my back in the sun. I slid over so that one of the sails shaded my face.

"I told you before," Wiggy said, as she lay down next to me and moved her face into the shadow. "Everybody has their quirks. Even me, even you. Even Captain Blackett."

"Aye, matey," I growled in agreement in my best pirate voice. "Even the coal-black heart of Cap'n Blackett! Arr!"

© 2008 by Kaleigh Way

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