The Waiting Room
~ Chapter Forty-Five
Missing Rum, Missing Monkey
Jack
woke with a start, unsure of where he was at first. He lay there,
flat on his back, behind the bar, staring up at the ceiling.
“This
isn’t The Black Pearl” he thought. Then he remembered. The Room.
He began to lift his head but found the slightest change of
position sent his brain into a pounding frenzy. Jack lifted his arms
and heard the sound of bottles. When he could finally manage a look,
he saw an assortment of empty rum bottles rolling about his prone
body.
He lay his head back down. He had drank himself into
oblivion. Why?
Oh yes. The coin. The bloody fool Rainey had
lost the coin…Armacost had released Shelley’s monkey…and Jessi
was still out there somewhere cooking Mexican food. And all his other
girlies…he wondered what were they doing now?
At this rate
he would never know.
Sparrow let his eyes wander to his left
looking up to the overhang ledge of the bar. Through his hangover and
fuzzy eyesight he could see the names he had carved: the ones Roux
and chosen not to grind away into oblivion.
He reached up and
fingered the first name he had carved.
Megan.
She had been
the first woman to say she loved him…him…a pirate..and that she
was damn proud of it. He recalled that day in the tavern..how many
rum and ales had they downed…he couldn’t remember. He just
remembered her standing on the table shouting, “I Luv Sparrow!”
He smiled, flashing his famous gold.
He moved his hand down
to the second name.
Carrie.
The girl with the voice of an
angel. He sighed, recalling her songs, how her voice nearly brought
him to tears when he first heard her. He never did ask the Frenchman
if she managed to escape that megaphone.
He thought about the
bookcases. He had carved them up on them too. Just in case Roux
decided to file away the ones on the bar.
As he lay there,
another face came to mind. He pulled out the small pocket knife and
began to carve. She was his one of his dearest friends, something a
pirate rarely could count upon in their life. But she was one that
was always there when he needed something. She could always point him
in the right direction. It was she who had given him the compass he
used on The Pearl.
He continued to dig into the wood until he
was finished. With the last 'A' completed, he rubbed away the dust,
blowing it clear and smiled.
Wanda.
The sound of The
Room door caught his attention. Fighting the pounding in his head, he
sprang up to come face to face with Raoul Duke.
“About time
you woke up, Sparrow. You missed all the excitement, my man. Even Sam
came out of the kitchen and tried to stir you but you were dead to
the world.”
“Who came in?” The pirate asked, trying to
see around the journalist.
“Not in, out.” Duke corrected
him. “Noodlemantra was here with another delivery. Took some things
with him too.”
“Things? What things?” Jack asked.
Duke waved his hand, sending ash to the bar. “Some cage.
You’ll need to go talk to him.”
Sparrow shot a look to
where Kait’s cage had once hung. The space was empty.
“Armacost!”
He screamed as he marched around the bar searching the Room for
astronaut. “Me cage? Where’s Sparrow’s cage?”
“I’m
here Captain. And your cage is gone.”
“Gone! Gone! What
do you mean gone?” The pirate's eyes flared with contempt. “What
gave ye the right?” Sparrow’s list of enemies was becoming quite
long.
“The note that came with the delivery.” Spencer
held out a paper to show Sparrow. The pirate grabbed it from him,
shaking it once to open it more and began to read the typed note:
Dear Jack,
I am sorry for sending in the monkey. I have
changed my mind. Please send it back home.
Shelley
Jack
shook his head when he finished.
“I don’t understand. What
does this have to do with me cage?”
“I caught the monkey
again this morning. I put it in the cage. I sent it out with
Noodlemantra. Nothing to understand. Simple math. Note. Cage.
Monkey.” Spencer took the note back from Jack and held it up.
“Home.”
Sparrow calmed himself and spoke in a low,
controlled tone. “So let me see if I understand what ye be
saying. You caught the monkey?”
“That’s right,”
Spencer nodded.
“The same monkey I be trying to catch these
past days.” Another nod from the Commander.
“Ye put the
monkey in the cage. The cage Kait made,the one I prepared with
Hannah’s bananas for bait.” Another nod.
“And this
Noodle-nicker-man-sort-of fellow came in with a delivery while I
was…eh…. recuperating?” Spencer rolled his eyes, wondering how
long the conversation was going to take, but gave the pirate another
nod.
“And then ye let the cage with the monkey out t’door?
All because ye found a note among this delivery telling ye to send
the monkey home?”
“That pretty much sums it up Captain. I
think you finally have a grasp on the situation.”
Spencer began
to walk away but Sparrow grabbed his sleeve, stopping him.
“Two
questions, if ye be so kind.”
“Make it quick, Sparrow. I
have spent too much time explaining things already. And besides, I am
expecting to hear from Emily soon.”
“First, and mind ye,
it be a small detail that has come to me attention. Did the said
monkey still have the coin? Just a curious thing to be knowing.”
“He did. Had it clenched in his teeth and wasn’t giving
it up. So yes, the coin is gone.”
Spencer watched as
Sparrow’s long slender fingers curled into fists. Spencer knew he
had to get away from the Captain soon. “And your second
question?”
“Ye said the note came with the delivery. Who
found it?”
Armacost shrugged.
“I did. It was just
kind of laying there on the floor, next to the cart. I made the
assumption it fell out of one of the books. Why do you ask?”
“Because, my dear Commander,” Sparrow snatched the note
from the astronaut’s hand and waved it in his face. “Did
ye be noticing that the paper it’s written on is the one and the
same that lays on Mort Rainey’s desk?”