chapter nine Coffee
The Pirates of Perala have this thing called coffee, bitter, but like super strong tea, I mean I’d heard of it before but never seen it or had a drink of it before, it was not something you could get in Farport, except maybe on the fancier cafés on the west side, and I never went onto the main island of The Jewel very much since our little annex had everything I needed though they probably had it there too, they had everything there, I just didn’t have any reason to look for it. So, while I was getting ready to go out in the morning to get some breakfast, the pirate Periwinkle showed up at my door and, looking at how groggy I was, said we absolutely had to go get some, so he took me to a nearby cafe where they made us both some in a small cup with some cream and lots of sugar and it woke me right up and then we had another and then, before I could even finish the sweet roll he had gotten me, he dragged me off to a public baths and insisted we freshen up properly. I have no idea how I ended up in the same private bath as Periwinkle but he was a perfect gentleman about it though I was having a hard time sitting still while he insisted on giving me a very thorough scrubbing to get weeks’ worth of travel off me and trying to do up my really short hair properly before giving up on it and just brushing it out and suggesting how many girls I’ve just made insanely jealous this morning so I’d better watch myself and then rushing me out to a store to buy some proper pirate party clothes because Ornery’s leather’s just wouldn’t do it, even with a periwinkle blouse. Somehow I managed to come out of the store not looking like a mini-pirate Periwinkle but dressed in earth tones that actually made my hair look okay and trimmed with gold and with no petticoats and worried about how much it had cost him but he assured me he owed the Admiral far more than that but not to muss it up before the moot started at dusk and suggested I get a nap, but I was wide awake. He had to go somewhere so I went back to my room anyway and promptly fell asleep without any nightmares this time.
Well, I more sort of closed my eyes and then suddenly it was late afternoon and I needed more coffee. I only had one and slowly sipped at it this time.
Periwinkle would probably be upset if I wore my aviator’s cap with what he had bought me, but I still had the hat the pirate Shadow had given me, only rarely worn and brought along because it was well… it was a pirate hat. It went well with outfit. Not perfect, but it was what I had. So Ornery wouldn’t call me out on it I detached the googles from the cap and and managed to get them to stay fastened to the band of the hat, just in case I needed them for a desert storm at the party or something. When Ornery saw my outfit all he said was, “s’pose that’ll do,” so obviously he really liked it.
Later I discovered the pirate Periwinkle hadn’t been entirely honest. Ornery’s leathers would have done just fine, especially with a periwinkle blouse. Most pirates weren’t really into fancy dress parties. I think Periwinkle was just trying to even the odds.
For now, the others were knocking on my door and it was time to go to the pirate moot. Even Officer Puppy, as official pirate crew, got to tag along.