by Karen Cossey
Captain Blackbeard relented and leaned forward, rested his arms on the table and looked Logan straight in the eyes. “Your first instinct was obviously to keep her safe, and a person who looks out for the welfare of others, even pirates, deserves to be commended.”
“Really?” Logan wanted to soak up this man’s praise. This time Captain Blackbeard’s stare seemed to reach right down to Logan’s soul as if he was inspecting it. Would he like what he saw? It would be something if he did.
“Really. It shows a basic respect for the value of others, which is not always easy to find these days. I also commend you on your rock climbing. I can see the mountain goat inside of you.”
He leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head and continued, “I do have to say, though, that you are a horrific runner. How you can let yourself be beaten by an eleven-year-old girl is beyond me. I think unless you have somewhere else you need to be, you should stay here and undergo some serious pirate training for the rest of the day.”
Should he object to the running comment? There was that smile in Captain Blackbeard’s eyes again.
Logan laughed. “That would be wicked, Captain Blackbeard.”
Captain Blackbeard smiled. “Of course it would. We are pirates after all!”
Only for the day though. Who were these people really?
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call you by your real name rather than Captain Blackbeard?” Logan asked.
“No. I’m going to keep calling you Captain Cliffhanger, as it is a totally satisfactory pirate name. All pirates leave their old names and lives behind when they take to sea. So you can keep calling me Captain Blackbeard. Tell you what though, let’s drop the Captain bit. Cliffhanger, Happy, Blackbeard and Ma’am is what it’ll be, just for today. No questions about real names allowed.”
Looked like he wasn’t going to find out who these people were. Be good to know, but if they didn’t want to say, he’d just drop it. He wasn’t going to risk offending them, not when he really wanted to stay for the day.
“Do you need to tell someone where you are?” Blackbeard asked.
Logan squirmed in his seat. He should tell the truth—he would hate to upset his foster parents.
“I told my foster dad, Steve, that I was going to the beach for the day and I’d be back by dinnertime. He’s a coastguard and is going quite a way out to sea today, so isn’t going to be back until then anyway. Abby, my foster mum, is a costume supervisor for the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, and it’s their yearly conference in London. She doesn’t get back until tonight either. They would want to know if I was going to be at someone’s place. They probably won’t like me staying without meeting you.”
“Well done, Cliffhanger. A pirate who tells the truth even when it could go against him. Excellent. Means you passed the honesty test and are allowed to stay.” Blackbeard sure looked pleased. “As it so happens, the reason Janet remembered about you was because Steve was standing right behind me waiting to talk to her. We all had a great chat about you and your shenanigans. In fact, we had a coffee together and talked about all sorts for almost an hour. Seems a premium man, your dad.”
Logan’s mouth gaped open.
Happy grinned. “Snapped again!”
“Go inside and call him. The phone’s by the fridge. We had a bet—I said you wouldn’t ignore the trespassing sign, and he said you wouldn’t even read it. All you need to do is tell him he was right about the sign, and ask if it’s okay to stay until dinner.”
Was this for real? Logan went inside and dialled his foster dad’s mobile number, hoping he wasn’t out of range yet.
“I can’t believe you trespassed,” said Steve after he’d explained what had happened. “You can stay though. He seemed a decent guy when I talked to him, and Janet said they’re a real good sort of people. Have fun—but don’t forget to be respectful. Call Cole if you have any problems, otherwise we’ll pick you up at dinnertime.”
“Let’s go to sea then, Blackbeard!” Happy shouted when Logan came outside again.
She jumped around the table then swung her arms around Blackbeard’s neck. “We could make a raft out of driftwood, or float in a barrel, or ask the giant seagull of the north to carry us across the waves on his back.”
Blackbeard was smiling. “Or we could use the sea kayaks from the shed.”
“’Fraid not, me hearties.” There was not a trace of fun on Ma’am’s face as she looked at Happy.
Happy sighed, “I know, I know, I have to get my bracing sorted before I’m allowed out on the ocean in a kayak.”
Logan had only begun lessons in a sea kayak so he needed practice at using his paddle to stop the kayak capsizing as well. Not that he minded tipping—it was kind of fun. Judging by what Blackbeard said next, he figured Happy wasn’t quite so confident with capsizing.
“A few more rolls would be a good idea. Never mind, we can still have a good time. How about we go searching for treasure in the cave Cliffhanger’s so keen to see?”
“That’d be awesome!” Logan said. This could be the only chance he would ever get to see the cave.
“I guess it could be kinda magnif-ibang,” said Happy. “Do we need climbing gear?”
Blackbeard nodded.
“Then let’s go, Cliffhanger!” She grabbed Logan by the arm and starting dragging him down the terrace steps.
“I’m going to stay here and take it easy,” Ma’am said.
“That’s code for have a nana nap. You know, forty winks and snoozeroo time,” whispered Happy to Logan, and then covered her eyes with one hand and his eyes with her other hand. “Blurk, kissing. Don’t look—you might get poisoned. Would you two cut that out, peeerlease!” she called out to Blackbeard and Ma’am.
Blackbeard let go of Ma’am and jumped off the edge of the terrace to the lawn below. “Race you to the boat shed,” he yelled.
He was waiting inside the shed when they got there. It was more like an old done-up house than a boat shed—it must have cost a packet to fix it up. Blackbeard explained that in the past it had been the grounds man’s residence, but now it was used for storage. The kayaks were stacked in a room that had been changed from a living area into a boat room. Leading off from it was an old kitchen that had been modernised into a workshop, and a bedroom lined with shelves stacked with climbing gear and beach equipment. There were a couple of locked doors—must be out of bounds storage cupboards.
Blackbeard held up two backpacks.
“I forgot we brought these, Happy. I suggest we have some weapons training before we wear ourselves out in the cave. You never know who we may need to fight for the treasure.”
“That’s a blastingly brilliant idea, Blackbeard,” Happy said as she took a bag.
“All right then,” Blackbeard said. “Girls against boys. Happy, I give you exactly five minutes to wake Ma’am up and strategise, then we’re going to come and blow you to smithereens. You won’t stand a chance. Synchronise your timepiece, please.”
Happy fiddled with her watch then raced inside. Logan flicked his fringe out of his eyes as he blinked at the bag. What had he got himself in for?
“Don’t look so anxious, Cliffhanger. I assume all boys your age know how to fire a Nerf gun?” Blackbeard asked.
What? He’s got to be kidding!
Logan puffed his chest out. “I am the undefeated king of Nerf gun war.”
“Well done. You’ll need to be beyond good though. The First Mate is exceptional with a Nerf gun. Well, she’s exceptional with most things, except cooking that is. But let’s forget that for now and focus on killing her and Happy quickly and cleanly. Here’s how I think we should do it.”
He outlined a detailed plan that involved lots of hiding behind things and crawling under things and jumping over things. Awesome! The timer on his watch went off and they raced outside.
The back yard turned into the front lines of a warzone, with a tremendous amount of shouting, racing about and Nerf gun darts flying through the
air. Logan was doing well of course, but then out from behind a tree sprung Ma’am and somehow pinned him to the ground.
“Gotcha ya ugly piraty scoundrel!” she whooped.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Blackbeard shouted from the same tree. He jumped down and snatched the Nerf gun out of Ma’am’s hands. “Stick ’em up—or I’ll put a bullet right through that pretty head of yours!”
“You’re forgetting one very important thing.” Ma’am smiled a wicked-looking grin as she let go of Logan and moved away. Blackbeard looked over to the house and saw Happy standing there, holding a hose.
“Now that’s not fair,” he said, as he and Logan were drenched with water. Ma’am went and stood beside Happy as Blackbeard held up his hands.
“All right, all right, we surrender.”
Rats—that sucked!
“Sorry to let you down, Blackbeard,” Logan said as he stood up.
“Don’t give up yet, Cliffhanger. The girls hate getting wet. Rush ’em on three. One, two, three.”
They both charged. Happy screamed and dropped the hose. Logan grabbed it and turned it on Ma’am while Blackbeard picked up Happy and threw her into the nearby swimming pool, screaming all the way.
“Wicked!” Logan said.
“You like that?” asked Blackbeard, taking the hose out of his hands and pointing it towards the ground, away from Ma’am. “Can you swim?”
Logan thought of the games he played with Poet in the public pool. “Like a piranha sniffing out its prey.” The next moment he was flying through the air before coming down with a tsunami of a splash. Superb!
“That was great!” he said to Happy. “Blackbeard must be pretty strong.”
“A billion press-ups every morning will do that to you,” Happy said as she treaded water. “I really thought we had him that time. It’s very disheart-per-turb-u-lating.”
“Yes, I can see that by the total disappearance of happy from your face,” Logan said as he climbed out of the pool. “But it was also fling-sling-ingly-hurl-some, don’t you think?”
Happy’s mouth fell open. “For someone with a moral objection to reading, that was an exception-ni-fi-cent word, Cliffhanger. There’s hope for you yet.”
She climbed out of the pool and sat on the edge next to him. “Now that we’re all wet we should go caving, don’t you think?”
“How about you two grab a towel and lie on the sand to dry off while I get the gear together,” Blackbeard said.
Logan’s disappointment must have shown on his face, because Blackbeard spoke again. “Don’t worry, Cliffhanger. We will get there, but first I need to make sure we have everything we need to be safe. If you’re going to hang from a cliff, I don’t want you to fall off. Be most inconvenient.”
“He’s always worried about being safe,” said Happy. “He’s a CHAD.”
Logan rubbed the back of his neck. “Huh?”
“You know. A Child Hazard Alert Dad. A CHAD. Like this …” She paused then shouted, “‘Watch out, don’t walk so close to the edge of the footpath! You might fall in the gutter and be swept down the drain to the sea where you’ll be eaten by giant bloodsucking jellyfish’. Or, ‘Be careful! Make sure you’ve got your parachute on securely before you go on that swing in case you get knocked off by a passing aeroplane’. Or my favourite, ‘Would you stop running down that hill! There might be an earthquake and you won’t be able to stop yourself from tripping into a crack and falling right through the earth into outer space!’”
“My foster dad can be like that, too. How about this?” Logan started shouting, “‘You can’t do cartwheels on the grass—you’ll fling killer worms up onto your face and they’ll suffocate you with puke-smelling slime until you die! Or, ‘Don’t touch that excellent climbing tree! You might be captured by squirrels and beaten to a pulp so they can store you for winter food.’”
Happy beamed. “Nasty.”
Blackbeard’s face tightened until his eyes were narrow slits. He put his hands out and smashed them together as he spoke. “How about, ‘Watch out for a pair of big pirate hands banging your heads together’. Or even better, ‘Stop hassling the chief captain or you might not be able to go climbing.’”
Happy stood up, smiling a sheepish grin. “I’m going to get that towel.”
Logan jumped up, too. “I’ll come with you.”
*****
In a speedboat, a long way out at sea, two men were both glaring through binoculars as they watched Happy and Logan head inside.
“I thought no one was staying at the lodge this weekend!” Oscar said, his lips flattening as he scowled. He was fierce-looking, covered in tattoos and scars from street fights. He was so large that one angry stomp would capsize the boat.
“Must have turned up unexpectedly,” Zach said as he took a step back. He was a shorter man, but with as much the look of a thug as Oscar.
“We can’t go moving the loot now, can we? We’re gonna hafta keep an eye on em and see when they take off. Maybe Alex can tell us when they’re checking out. The bossman’s gonna be climbing the wall. We’ll miss the pickup if we don’t get the last load onshore by Monday. He’s gotta make that deadline or he’ll lose all his stash. Maybe even his life.”
Zach raised his eyebrows. “Would the London big earners really burn him?”
“The boys who bankrolled this whole operation don’t take kindly to broken promises. They’d be only too happy to take over the whole scene themselves, even if it meant whacking us all off.”
Chapter Three
Before long Logan and Happy were sitting on the sand, munching on the apples Ma’am had given them.
“Blackbeard’s awesome,” Logan said.
Happy smiled. “He’s a grizzly among teddy bears.”
“You’re pretty lucky.” Logan sighed as his heart started aching. Maybe the black cloud was lurking down here on the beach after all. He shut his eyes—he had to stop the bad weather in his heart.
“But Cliffhanger,” Happy said, “Blackbeard said your dad was premium. He must be something to tweet about too.”
“That’s my foster dad. My real dad’s …” Hot tears welled up in his eyes. Why now? It felt like the angry black cloud that had been threatening to rain since his birthday wasn’t going to be pushed away again, no matter how hard he tried.
“He’s a humongous jerk. He never even phoned me on my birthday. All my life he’s either just ignored me or yelled at me. He hates me.”
Whoa, that sounded way angry! How could he be that hurt over a stupid birthday anyway? He buried his face in his knees, and took some deep breaths. Happy squeezed his shoulder.
“Did he hit you?” Blackbeard asked, appearing out of nowhere. He sat down besides Happy and put his arm around her.
Logan looked up and his back went straight and tight. If only that earthquake crack Happy had talked about would appear underneath him and spew him into outer space. Splat, his whole body would burst to pieces. Maximum grim, but better than being captured by Blackbeard’s steady gaze and not knowing how to escape it.
He dug his toes into the sand. “Sometimes. Guess you’ll want me to leave now.”
Blackbeard’s forehead creased. “Why would I want that?”
“I’m a bad influence. If my own dad hits me, I’m not worth having around.”
There it was. His blackest thoughts. Followed by a few tears that leaked out the corner of his eyes.
“Logan, it’s not your fault your father hit you. I’m sure you’ve been told that. Don’t even go down the ‘It’s my fault’ road. It leads nowhere except into lies and sadness.”
“That’s what Steve and Abby say,” Logan said wiping his eyes, “but lately I can’t shake the thought that it is all my fault. If only I’d been different somehow, not such a disappointment, he might have loved me better!”
There, it was all out. Now what would Blackbeard say?
Blackbeard was shaking his head. “Logan, it’s your father’s fault he doesn’t lov
e you right, not yours. Any man can become a father, but not every man is capable of being a good dad. Some people simply have no idea how to look after their kids. It’s your dad’s problem, his fault, not yours.”
Logan stared back at him, picking up every word and examining them. For the first time since his birthday, some hope pierced through the black cloud. But the next words out of Blackbeard’s mouth squashed the hope dead.
“Look at your foster dad. I’m sure he loves you—he sounded proud of you when we spoke. If it was your fault your dad didn’t love you, your foster dad wouldn’t be able to love you, either.”
Logan felt the watery smile that had been sloshing around his face take a dive.
“What is it? Why the sad face when I talk about Steve?” asked Blackbeard.
Logan mumbled and stared at his shuffling feet kicking up the sand. Why couldn’t Blackbeard just drop it? Build a sandcastle or something. Anything!
“Out with it, Logan.”
Logan gave a big sigh. “Sometimes I don’t feel like I belong with my foster dad and mum.”
Blackbeard looked puzzled, so Logan sighed again and continued. “You see, I was friends with their son, Nate. The first time he came around to my place, my dad was drunk and threatened to hit me.”
Logan shivered. He had been so scared his dad was going to hit him in front of Nate. Or worse, that he might hit Nate. He shook his head and the picture disappeared.
“Nate grabbed me and dragged me to his place. He told Steve I had to stay with them from now on. So it’s not like Steve had a choice. He’s a decent guy—he wouldn’t have sent me back. But how can I know if he and Abby actually want me around? I wasn’t their choice—I was pushed on them.”
“Have you asked them?”
“No. I don’t know how.”
“You know Logan, Steve sure acted like he loved you and thought of you as his son. But you need to take some of that courage you have for stepping out over the edge of a cliff and use it to talk to him and Abby. It’s the only way you’ll know for sure.”