We're all mad here.

Row, Row, Row your Boat

Choose your fighter! Pirate? Captain? Or mere sailor? Give us a day in your life as a part of the crew (<1000 words)

It was Kaycee's idea, so she got to be captain of the SSS Tree House Amber was okay with that. She much preferred the helm, where she could steer without having to come up with storms and sea monsters and islands to bury treasure upon. She was the best with continuing the story, of course, but she didn't like coming up with new ideas.

Jordan insisted in climbing to the crow's nest, clamoring across the roof with a disregard to life and limb than only could happen in the very young. Which left Olivia, Marta, and Teddy to be able bodied sailors. Which for the moment meant pretending to scrub the deck while Kaycee stood over them and shouted words that weren't quite what she meant. “Move, me heartsies. Fatten down those hatches. Don't make me get out the cat.” She didn't know what the cat was, and she much preferred keeping cats whenever possible, but apparently, according to the movie last night, cats were something to be feared.

Teddy was fine with that, of course, but after five minutes or so of yelling, Olivia was getting bored and Marta was on the verge of tears. At that point, a yell came from above. “Land, ahoy!” Which was the signal for Kaycee to take the telescope (an empty paper towel roll. Mama might be a bit upset when she saw the discarded paper towels, but that was a problem for later) and peered across the great, green sea.

“Jungle gym island, dead ahead!” Kaycee brandished her sword (read stick—a dead one that had fallen in the storm over night. Mama got upset when they actually hurt the trees) and lowered her voice. “The evil pirates lie in wait, but we are pirate queens! We will destroy them and take their treasure and bury it where they can never find it again!”

The battle was swift and decisive, despite some confusion about where the evil lay. After all, invisible foes tend to need a lot of stage managing, but they got through it with only Amber receiving a friendly whack across her arm, and Mama calling only once through the window to make sure no one's eye was put out.

At this point, Teddy was given the responsibility (with Marta's aid of course) to carry the seized treasure to the far corner of the island where Kaycee knew the perfect place to bury it. Amber hesitated when she saw that Kaycee was leading them to a corner of the back garden, but Daddy had been digging holes there just that morning, so surely it was going to be all right.

Swords turned to spades and an enormous hole was swiftly excavated through the loose dirt. Jordan was the best digger of course, with Kaycee close behind. Amber and Olivia exchanged glances and held back, while Marta and Teddy guarded the treasure from a secondary wave of invisible foes, so no one noticed the impending doom approach.

“And what do you think you're doing?” Kaycee and Jordan dropped their spades and took off toward the Tree house with Amber following and catching up and beating them there because she had the longest legs. Marta sat down hard next to Teddy. Olivia couldn't leave them behind.

“Burying treasure, Daddy. We're pirates, today.”

“Ah.” He ran his hand down his face, which Olivia knew meant he was trying to hide a laugh. “Well, we're going to have to have a talk about appropriate places to bury things.” He took each of them by the hand, and Teddy dragged behind Marta as they walked to the tree house.

When they were nearly there, the other three, having rallied themselves with the thought of their fallen comrades, shouted, “It's the Evil Pirate King! Attack!”

Unfortunately, Daddy had long arms and tickle fingers and quickly subdued all five (six, if Teddy could be counted, but he had held back) and the girls found themselves in dire straits, at the Evil Pirate King's mercy. They rolled around on the ground, laughing, as he took them out, one by one. When they'd gotten their breath back, he laid down the law.

“No playing in the garden if I'm not around to supervise. Not even for pirates. I'll build the tree house a treasure chest, if you want.” He spit on his palm and held it out for the captain to shake.

A look at their smiles told Daddy that this treaty would be quite acceptable, so, one by one, they spit (Olivia couldn't quite manage, so she licked her palm instead) and shook on the deal.

word count: 772