The Waiting Room
~ Chapter One Hundred-Nine
The Waiting Room is Closed
“No! No! No!” Jack shook the paper.
“This is not right! This
is not the way it is supposed to be!”
Frantically he looked
about the kitchen but it only confirmed what he already knew; he was
alone.
Totally, utterly, and undeniably, alone.
He
stood still, listening to nothing but his own breathing, waiting for a
sign that there was someone, somewhere. But silence clung to him like
the humid air of a late summer day upon the Pearl. It was almost
suffocating.
Jack spun on his heel, leaving the kitchen,
pushing the swinging door so hard it smacked against an empty chair.
The obstacle caught his attention and he realized the unoccupied seat
had been Sands.
“Where the bloody ‘ell did ye all go?”
He asked. With narrowed eyes he raked the room, contemplating that
perhaps they were all hiding from dear old Jack and at any minute the
Room would be filled with shouts and screams and the call for rum.
But the silence blanketed him. So quiet was The Room that he
feared he could hear his own heart beating.
He crossed the
Room, stepping behind the bar and pulled down one of the rum bottles.
“Yo-Ho, me mateys,” he said, deep and low,
disgusted at
his situation as he popped the cork. He felt as if there was nothing
left except to drink himself into oblivion…a stupor beyond
all
stupors…a drunken Hell was better than a sober Heaven. And
so Jack
poured himself a glass of the amber liquid, then a second and after
the third began to drink directly from the bottle. Holding to the
open bottle he grabbed a second thinking ahead that once he was
finished the first he would require a second to polish off.
He
stumbled his way to one of the tables and threw himself down in the
chair. Holding the opened bottle high he toasted.
“Here’s
to y’all. Business men and beggars, rich men, poor men,
fighters
and lovers. I’ve been them all…I’ve met
them all…and now…”
A knock on the door interrupted his lonely celebration.
He
set the bottle to the table and stared at the wooden entrance fearing
he had not heard correctly. Another knock confirmed he had.
“Well,
now, who the bloody ‘ell would want to be coming back here,
hey?”
He directed the question at the door.
Another round of
knocking.
“All right, all right,” Jack mumbled, getting
to his feet, grabbing the rum and serpentined his way across the Room.
He gestured at the doorway with the bottle, its contents sloshing.
“Whoever ye be…enter!” Jack demanded.
Slowly
the door creaked open. Jack waited, not really
caring…knowing that
whomever the visitor turned out to be, it would be just a matter of
time before he was alone again.
Noodlemantra stepped into the
Room.
“Not who I was expecting, lad,” Jack said with a
sarcastic smirk, turning back to return to his table. He plopped
down, sneaking a glance at Noodlemantra from beneath his tri-corned
hat. He noted that the man was not pushing his usual cart. Instead he
carried a case.
“No one’s here,” Jack informed him as
he saw Noodlemantra check the Room. ON crossed over, taking a seat
next to Jack, placing the case at his feet.
“But you are
mistaken, Captain Sparrow,” ON replied.
Jack’s face showed
surprise. “Eh?” He sat up and looked around.
“Ye mean I’m not
alone? Someone’s here?” His eyes darted around the
Room.
“What
I mea, Captain, is that you are still here. Are you not
somebody?”
A laugh escaped the pirate as he settled back into his chair.
“Seems not, lad. I have been left behind…his take
on the pirate’s
code is m’guess.” Jack pointed upwards, referring
to Depp. “Any
man falls behind gets left behind.”
“But you haven’t
fallen behind, Captain,” ON responded.
Jack arched his arm
towards the Room. “Do ye see anyone else, man? No! So I
understand
that as having fallen behind. Others came, all went…but dear
old
Jack is left here by his onesies.” He took a long draw from
the rum
bottle.
“Might I suggest, Captain, you hold off on getting
drunk?” ON reached out and guided the bottle away from
Jack’s
mouth.
Jack pulled the bottle out of reach. “Unless ye got
a reason Noodle-boy, for the Captain not to get down and dirty
stinking drunk, I might warn ye to keep yer hands off me
bottle.”
“I think I do,” ON offered. Jack looked to the man
through hooded eyes.
“Ye pulling a pinch on Jack, are ye? A
game, a scam? Well be warned, this pirate knows them all. Ye not
hoodwinked this sea dog. Ye nothing but a landlubber. What good
reason could there be to keep me from drowning meself in fine
liquor?”
Stone-faced, Noodlemantra reached down and opened
the case. A screech emerged first, then a flash of fur as the monkey
shot out, heading for the book cases. In its clenched paw, Jack saw
the flash of gold.
“Me monkey! The coin!” He sprang from
the chair and chased the simian across the Room. Even half-drunk the
monkey was no match for the pirate with a mission. Before it could
reach the fourth shelf Jack’s hands gripped the creature.
Kicking
and screaming, Sparrow managed to wrestle the monkey into a manageable
handhold.
Both bared their teeth. The monkey in fear and
anger, the pirate in a gold filled grin.
With one death grip
around the squirming monkey’s neck, Jack clawed and released
the
coin, holding it up to the light, flipping it back and forth through
his fingers.
“Freedom,” he whispered. Then he hid it
within his fist, turning hard to look at Noodlemantra. “This
is no
joke? I can go…leave…vamoose?” He
tilted his head towards the
door.
“You have been granted permission to leave, yes,”
ON answered with a nod.
Anxious to go Jack pocketed the coin,
then stuffed the monkey back into the case, determined not to lose
him. He knew he would need to return the creature back to Shelley.
Shelley, he thought. Jessie, Carrie, Ivy, Ally…their names
flowed back to him…each one special…each one he
would have to
find once he was free. But first a question.
“Why?” It
was just one word but Noodlemantra knew what the pirate was asking.
“Why were you the last? And why is he letting you go
now?”
Sparrow nodded.
“It was you he feared and revered
the most.”
Jack shook his head, trying to understand. “I
can understand the revering part...after all I am Captain Jack
Sparrow. But is that why he feared me, too? Because I was a pirate?
I’ve not crossed swords with him.”
“Ah, but you have.
Here.” ON tapped the side of his temple.
“You were part
of him up here. And here.” His finger touched his heart.
“You
were both his light and darkness. An angel and a demon. You brought
the world to his doorstep, so to speak. They sat up and finally took
notice of him and all that he has done, as well as his potential for
the future. You more or less guaranteed him a future.”
“And
he thanks me by keeping me here? Seems to me that’s not a
proper
way of thanking a mate.”
“Ah, but as I said, you were also
his demon. You just made the fishbowl bigger for him. He feared his
art would suffer and he would no longer have the future projects he
loved to do. He was afraid that he would be forever associated with
the Pirate Sparrow and remembered for nothing else.”
Jack
removed the coin from his pocket, gingerly rolling it over and over.
“And now?” He brought his kohl-shadowed eyes up to
ON.
“Now
he embraces you. He accepts you. He came to understand that you gave
him freedom…freedom from want…freedom to
choose…freedom to
continue his own dreams. You were not a closed door, but an opened
window. The window of opportunity.”
“Ah…and now he
finds this to be an opportune moment?” Jack asked with a
knowing
smile.
“Precisely,” ON answered. “The
world…so to
speak…is his oyster.”
Jack’s smile widened to a grin.
“And oysters have pearls. Just as I have mine.”
“Yes,
and The Pearl awaits you, Captain.. All you have to do is step out the
door…you will find yourself back in your own cabin, aboard
your own
ship, commanding your own crew.”
Jack’s eyes flew to the
door. It was all he ever wanted. That and one other thing. The
thought brought a mischievous smile to the pirate.
“And a
bath.” Jack said flatly.
“What?” ON inquired, confused
by Jack’s comment. “You’re saying that
the first thing you’re
going to do is take a bath? But I thought you had many other things
planned.”
Jack nodded as he got up, picking up the case,
patting the coin that was now safe within his pocket.
“Aye,”
he said with a smile. “I do. Return the monkey to Shelley,
dinner
with m’girl Jessie, enjoy a song by m’angel Carrie,
a sail around
the Cape with Ally, a new hat for Chrissy but before I do all
that…”
Jack paused, lifting his arm and sniffing.
“I need
a proper bath. And there is no one else whose hands I be wanting on
me first than the Lady Pamela. Finest hands in the
Caribbean…and
after that bath…I might be needing a second. One can never
be too
clean when planning to meet the ladies.”
“Well, good luck
to you then, Captain,” Noodlemantra offered with a nod. Jack
had his
hand upon the knob, then turned and lifted his hand in salute.
Noodlemantra returned the gesture.
Jack turned back to the
door, held his breath and pulled. The door gave way and with one
giant stride he disappeared beyond the portal of The Room.
Noodlemantra rose from the table and walked to the bookcase.
He scanned the titles until he found the book for which he searched
and removed it. As he looked over the cover, a knock sounded.
“Just
in time,” he said with a smile. He went quickly and opened
the door,
greeting the newcomer.
The man stood before him, decked in a
brilliant purple suit, a top hat, giant white sunglasses. In his hand
he twirled a cane.
“Hello, Mr. Wonka,” Noodlemantra
welcomed him. “I’m afraid this Room is closed, but
I will be more
than happy to help you find your way back home.”
“Ah!”
Wonka responded. “A good man you are! A good man with a good
deed.
So shines a good deed in a weary world. Lead me, my fine man, and if
you turn around…I may be following…but if you
turn around and
then I turn around, then I shall be the leader and you shall be the
follower. But let’s not do it too often…all that
turning around,
I mean.. for then we should only be going in circles. I do tend to
get dizzy quite easily. You don’t chew gum do
you…quite gross…”
Noodlemantra smiled as Wonka babbled on…then quietly, with
one last look…closed the door on The Waiting Room.
The
End (but only here…for they all
live on in your
imagination…keep them alive)