The Waiting Room
~ Chapter Thirty-One
Sparrow Feels Her Sorrow
Sparrow
sat on the floor beneath Mort’s desk, the computer in his lap. He
reached out and gingerly touched the screen that now displayed
Jessi’s picture on what Sam referred to as the homepage.
“Aye…Jess.” he whispered. “Been too long has it not
lass?”
He turned the computer towards Sam.
“More. Can
ye put more of her pictures on this thing?”
Sam shrugged
and pressed a few keys. The screen changed to recipes and cooking
ideas. Each screen flashed a different picture of Jessi doing
different things in a kitchen. Sparrow sat and smiled, laughing at a
few, asking Sam to go back to one so he could see it again, before
moving on to the next screen.
“Does this thing know how
t’contact her?” Sparrow asked.
Sam double-checked the
menu and saw where he could click “Email Me”
With one
stroke Sam brought up an email screen, ready to fill out and send on
its way.
“Can ye put in the words I want to be saying to
her?” Sparrow asked Sam. Sam nodded and brought the computer into
his own lap. The pirate looked over Sam’s shoulder ready to
dictate.
“We have to hurry Captain. I don’t know how much
longer that Metamucil will be working on Mr. Rainey.”
Sparrow
knitted his brow as he tried to think of the perfect thing to say to
Jessi. To let her know that she was in his thoughts.
He
smiled as the words came to him. He opened his mouth to repeat them
to Sam, when suddenly…
The computer screen flickered,
flashed off, then flashed on again.
Jessi was gone…instead…in
it’s place was a different picture…fuzzy but the form of a man,
laying on a boat asleep could be seen. Near his feet was a drink…a
pink drink.
The picture began to move, haltingly, like one of
those old fashioned picture shows.
A person was waking the
man…handing him a package…there was no sound…just the picture.
The man looked at the package, his mouth was moving as he picked up a
poor excuse of a sword and waved it briefly…then put it back down.
He then opened the package.
From what Sparrow and Sam could
see it was a box of popcorn. The man held it up so they could see it
better.
The pirate leaned back a bit when the man faced
forward. Could he see them, he wondered?
The picture
continued as a woman stepped in and poured the man another pink
drink…then the screen went blank. Nothing.
“Oh Geesh…”
Sam said as he suddenly realized , “that was him!” Sam looked
over to the pirate whose face was clouded with anger as he glared at
the screen.
“Captain, did you hear what I said? That was
Mr. Depp. He must have very strong feelings today to have interfered
with Mort’s computer again. Mort said it happened once before. Said
he was dreaming about a girl named Lori..Mort said…”
“WHAT
HAPPENED TO MY PIRATE GURL?” Sparrow screamed, throwing his hands
towards the computer.
“Captain, please, your voice. Lower
your voice.” Sam pleaded. In horror, Sam watched as Sparrow pulled
his pistol and pointed at the computer.
“Bring her back!”
He demanded. Sam wasn’t sure if the pirate was asking him or if he
actually was talking to the computer.
Sam pressed a few keys,
shaking his head. “Sorry Captain. It’s gone. It’s crashed.
Something’s not working right now.” He closed the laptop and slid
it back up onto the desk as he stood.
The young man looked
down at the pirate who still sat on the floor, his pistol laying in
his lap.
“We can try again another day Captain. Okay?”
Sparrow let his eyes look up to Sam, showing no emotion, but
Sam knew he was upset. He knew the pirate loved all his special
ladies. Each one was a flower in Sparrow’s garden, he remembered
the Captain saying once. But for some reason, today, he seemed to be
obsessed with reaching this particular girl.
Sparrow pulled
himself to his feet, brushed himself off and returned his pistol to
his belt band. He looked at Sam and felt he owed him an explanation.
Something a pirate rarely did…explain their actions.
“I
just get the feeling m’friend she’s very sad. I felt sadness when
I looked at ‘er picture just now. I just felt the need to let ‘er
know I’d be thinking ‘bout ‘er.”
Sparrow patted Sam
on his shoulder as he brushed past him.
“Thank ye young
Sam. Ye did yer best. Once again, I’m in yer debt.”
Sam
watched as the pirate made his way to the bar and ordered a bottle of
rum.
Sam knew by the end of the day the pirate would be very,
very drunk.