The Waiting Room
~ Chapter Thirty-Six
A Borrowed Scarf and a Hasty Exit
The
pirate looked about the room as the others milled around, unaware
that he was sharing the story of Carrie and the megaphone. He allowed
a small heated glare to remain on Sands who had been rude to him and
had made Jack to decide to withhold the story. But Spencer had
offered an alliance…he was going to help him trap Shelley’s
monkey. In return the astronaut would try to save Alice the fairy.
For his help, Jack was sharing his French tale.
Sparrow
got up to fetch another bottle of rum. He wobbled as he returned, a
side effect of being a sea-loving pirate in a room full of land
lovers.
He leaned towards Spencer, hands up, a finger of each
hand pointing in his direction.
“Mind ye. I plan to return
the scarf to ‘er. Once I find ‘er, of course.”
Spencer
shook his head. “Seems to me, Captain, you have a number of ladies
you are going to have to look up when you get out of here.”
The
pirate gave a large nod of his head, a short laugh and an even larger
smile. “I will be quite busy, be assured, lad. After all, I am
Captain Jack Sparrow. I am quite known to be well thought of by those
of the fairer sex.”
With a twist of his fingers, Sparrow
curled his mustache as if to make a point.
“Now, this
lovely lass went by the name of Carrie. And she sang far into the
night. I sat there beneath her cage, listening, entranced by her
voice, and unfortunately consuming much more rum than a pirate should
if he is trying to keep a low profile.”
“You did
something stupid didn’t you?”
Sparrow’s eyes became
slits as he shot a hot look at the astronaut.
“I do not do
stupid things. Mind ye manners. I be telling a story. I just simply
felt that the young caged bird needed freedom. And so I sprang to me
table and threw open the cage door. I grabbed the lass before she had
a chance to sing another note and slung her over me shoulder. Then
began to jump from table to table with her.”
The Captain
motioned towards Armacost’s empty glass with the rum bottle. The
astronaut slid the glass closer to the pirate who gladly filled it.
“There I was. The great Captain Jack Sparrow. Leaping like
a dandy, with the said fair maiden. My plan was to make a path to the
door. Out into the night to find some secluded hideaway where I be
sure she would be most willing to show me her gratitude for freeing
her from her confinement.”
“But something obviously
stopped you. You didn’t make it to the door did you?”
Sparrow
clicked his tongue, “Nay, I did not. Granted, there be much
confusion going on now. All manner of screaming and yelling,
demanding I stop. There be men blocking me way, so I changed
direction and found meself on the stage and heading behind the
curtains.”
“And if I may ask Captain, what was the fair
maiden doing all this time?”
“Laughing. She was laughing
and enjoying ‘erself she was. But when we got to the stage I was
bushwhacked by a bloody ox. Bear of a man he was. Pounded right into
‘em, I did. Like a brick bloody wall.
“Found meself
falling backwards with me angel. Tried to stop us, but I only managed
to turn on me heel, me hand catching her scarf. Behind us was another
man…that man..”
Spencer was shocked when Sparrow pointed to
the Frenchman.
”...was standing behind us with a megaphone..like his”
Sparrow then pointed over to Wood.
“I think he was
directing the whole singing show. Anyway…down I went…right off
the stage…Carrie, me angel…fell too...but straight into the man.
“When I stood up I saw she was sitting smack on her bum…the
man’s megaphone was stuck right on her head…her whole face was
covered…sadly to say…she was no longer laughing."
Armacost
tried to hide a smile as the image of a woman, sitting on a stage
with a megaphone on her head, filled his mind.
“The man…that
man…” Sparrow pointed back in the direction of the Frenchman,
“started spurting off…foul language to be sure…as he tried to
get the bloody thing off ‘er head. Me poor angel was screaming now.
All that screaming, yelling, falling, I must have sobered up a bit
and knew that once that megaphone was off ‘er head I would be the
next unwilling victim.”
“So you ran.” Spencer finished
the scenario, “with her stolen scarf.”
Sparrow knitted
his brow at Spencer’s version and corrected him.
“Borrowed.
Her borrowed scarf.” The pirate patted the red scarf on his head.
“ And I did not run…I merely made a hasty exit for the
door.”