Captain James Hook and the Curse of Peter Pan

by Jeremiah Kleckner

  “Three years ago,” she leaned in, “your father chased down the dread pirate Henry Davis to a small island off the coast of Jamaica.” She went on to tell of how Father didn’t fire until after he offered the vermin a chance for a peaceful surrender. They answered with cannon fire and Father returned in kind.

  Mother rocked from side to side, recounting each shot, and covered me in my bed to protect me from the spray of kindling from the impacts. She told of how the pirates scurried to their lifeboats and made for the nearest shore. Heath led the first wave in pursuit, carrying the battle to them on land. Father and Harrison Jukes came shortly after, quickly overpowering the pirates and saving young Ashley from Davis’s sword.

  She continued to brilliantly act out each scene of the battle. She hacked and slashed the air, using her old cloth as a sword. Yet, even as she played out the daring adventure, I could only think of the last time Heath Ashley was over the house and how he repaid my father for his generosity and guidance.

  “Why did Heath not support Father?” I asked, cutting her performance short. She stopped mid-swipe and turned to meet my eyes with a cautious look. “Father took him in, trained him, even saved his life and for what? What about Mr. Jukes? He should have been considered for command before Heath.”

  “Mr. Jukes is a loyal first officer,” she explained, “and Heath wanted to captain his own ship. Once his captain was promoted to admiral, then the command of the Champlain opened for him to take.”

  “But that’s so ungrateful,” I told her.

  “James, you can teach a man to do the right thing, but that doesn’t mean that his heart is good. Men can be more evil than any myth and they can do it without the help of magic or enchantments. Your father knows this and it helps give him strength. No matter what evil makes a man act as he does, your father knows that whatever he faces is only a man, nothing more.”

  Just like any other night, she placed a kiss on my forehead, but not to protect me from demons, trolls, or dragons. No, this kiss was to protect me from the very real evils of this world that she and my father knew all too well.

  “Your father and I love you very much, James,” she said before blowing out the candle and locking my bedroom window.

  Chapter Six

  Shattered glass sprayed my room in the gathering light of early dawn. This time, I was not shocked by it. In fact, it was a welcome sound, one that I’d hoped to hear before the morning of my departure arrived. I flew from my bed, ready to take off into the horizon.

  “Peter!” I shouted as I peered out the fist-sized hole in the pane. “Where are you?” Moments of elation were swallowed by doubt and concern. Then, a face swung down from above the window, but not the face I expected.

  “Can you let me in?” William asked. Stunned, I fell back onto the glass-covered floor. William climbed down to the ledge of the window and smirked as he gently tapped the frame. “I don’t have any more rocks.”

  “What are you doing here, William?” I asked as I brushed myself off and unlatched the window. William tumbled in, his feet landing heavily on the floor. He was taller than I last saw him, inches taller than I was and far heavier. I looked down at the shattered glass at my feet and then met his eyes. He nodded and we both began picking up the pieces.

  “I just came by to make sure that you picked up your books.”

  “And who sent you?” I asked. The question caught him off his guard and he froze for a few seconds.

  “Captain Hoodkins,” he said.

  “What? Father didn’t think I’d get my schoolwork?”

  “No, he just didn’t want me to carry them for you this time,” William said. Father seemed more determined than ever to harden me into adulthood.

  William was not as witty or insightful as his sister, Emily, but he did have a singular talent. On command, he could come up with a quartet for whatever he was doing at the time. He started this working song in low tones at first.

  “The sparkling glass of window pane,

  Sullies your pristine floor.

  We stoop down now to pick it up,

  And soon there’ll be no more.”

  “Why didn’t you just use the door?” I asked him when our chorus was over.

  “Who wants to use doors when you can climb buildings?” he asked in return. “You don’t want to climb down with me? It’s fun.”

  “I’ll meet you out front,” I told him. William bounded through the window and scaled down the side of the house with ease, but before dashing off on his way to the front door he turned and asked about something I’d hoped he’d not heard, “One last thing, James. Who’s Peter?”

  “No one,” I lied. “Just a dream.”

  Emily helped William and me carry our books and study supplies home. A list of our assignments was written on parchment and rolled into scrolls, one for each course. At first, Father marveled at the amount of school work we were given for the short voyage, but I assured him that we would finish it before we got back as long as we were given a few hours a day.

  “Time is very important,” he said, flicking open his grandfather’s gold watch. “You can never escape your studies. If you fail to do them, time will eventually catch up to you.” He glanced down at the watch in his right hand and then snapped it shut and looked up as if to say “It’s time to go.”

  The goodbye I shared with my mother was short.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her. “When I return I will be the man that you always wanted me to be.” She leaned down with tears on her cheeks and held me.

  “I couldn’t ask for a better son,” she said. “I know you will make me proud because you have already done so time and time again.” She told me to be careful and to keep safe, all the while looking at my father. Our last hug was the one I used to bring myself to sleep each night for months after. I closed the door to my house, saying goodbye to all childish things, and walked toward adulthood.

  The Britannia was just as I had rebuilt her as a model. She was a tall, older brigantine. I knew every inch of that deck. I used plans to build the model, but never saw the inside until that day. The kitchen, the galley, crew quarters, I’d only seen them in my mind. After this voyage the ship is to be decommissioned and knowing that made this moment all the sweeter.

  The greatest treasure was standing in the captain’s quarters. However modest by current engineering standards, it was still by far the grandest room I had ever laid eyes upon. On Father’s desk were a stack of charts. The lines of degrees and courses plotted fascinated me. Pan could fly, but the gift of mathematics was mine. Within seconds I memorized our location and route.

  “Don’t touch anything,” Father snapped. “My cabin is not for play. Only serious work goes on here.” Somehow, his scolding made the room more appealing than ever.

  At that moment, First Officer Jukes stepped into the cabin. He ducked through the frame and stood at attention. William and Emily scurried behind him. William was covered in bruises and dirt as if he’d already fought in the darkest parts of Africa before waking this morning. Emily was pristine, but not above rapping William and me on the nose with our literature scrolls.

  The room chilled suddenly and I felt the hairs on my neck bristle. As one, we turned to the doorway and were stopped cold by a man with sharp features in a captain’s uniform. His eyes were gray and dead. The pain that it took for him to smile must have been unbearable, but he managed it.

  “Captain Ashley,” my father called out in an even tone, “You know James already.”

  “Indeed I do,” Heath said, pulling his strained smile further across his face to show teeth.

  “James will be joining me on this trip,” Father added, “and maybe more.”

  “Well, I can’t think of a better teacher than your father,” Captain Ashley said. “He taught me everything I know about sailing.” I nodded slowly but didn’t find words that weren’t barbed with venom. His demeanor visibly stiffened as his frustration with me grew. He turned his eyes to the other children.
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  “William. Emily. You remember Heath Ashley, don’t you?” Father said. “He’s a captain now. His ship is departing a day after ours.” They greeted him like a young lady and gentleman should.

  “Are we all coming along this time?” Captain Ashley said. Heath looked over William, but observed Emily more closely.

  “No, sir,” she told him. She met his eyes for an instant before turning her gaze to the floor. William answered as well, but his words were lost on Captain Ashley, whose face was a mixture of promise and disappointment.

  “Well,” he said, “then I look forward to seeing you upon my return.” He had the look of a man whose pig was still too thin to slaughter. It was at that moment that I decided to hate the man. I seethed beneath my skin and was only stopped from action by Mr. Jukes, who placed one hulking hand over Captain Ashley’s shoulder.

  “Maybe,” he suggested, “the children should go and get more familiar with the ship?”

  “Indeed,” Captain Ashley exhaled. My father excused William, Emily, and me from the cabin so that he and the other men could discuss business.

  William refused to stop talking, so we lost him behind the main deck. There, I was a thief for the first time. Emily said that she kissed me for luck, but I knew that I stole it fair and square.

  Chapter Seven

  The days aboard my father’s ship, the Britannia, were difficult for me. Father didn’t like the idea of favoritism, which explained the grueling nature of the job. William was assigned to my father and I was assigned to his. I heard about the training of Mr. Jukes from Father’s late night stories. He was considered one of the toughest men in the Royal Navy with good reason. I found out why on the first day.

  After swabbing the deck for the third time, I reported to Mr. Jukes. He was talking with the navigator but stopped briefly to glance over his shoulder.

  “Do it again,” he said before turning his attention back to Mr. Stevenson.

  “Aren’t you even going to look?” I asked. The request visibly stunned the much larger man. The men chuckled to themselves as he adjusted his herculean frame. A mere look from his fist-sized eyes silenced them.

  “I said ‘Do it again’, Mr. Hoodkins,” he bellowed. Furious and tired I told him of my condition. He nodded as if he understood, but then said, “One good job can easily take the place of four poor ones.” I began to mouth another complaint, but he cut through my words with dizzying speed.

  “Take pride in your work and no words will be necessary,” he told me. “Your work must speak on your behalf.”

  “I’d like to talk to my father,” I told him.

  “Your father?” Mr. Jukes laughed. “You lost your father the moment you stepped on this ship. The captain does his rounds at noon, and no sooner. Your work had best be done by then.” With that, Mr. Jukes left me to my tasks.

  When William and I were not running messages between the officers, we were doing one dirty task or another. We cleaned the clothing, prepared the food for cooking, hitched the sheets, and learned how to powder the cannons during battle. Although it was hard work, we took pride in keeping our fathers happy.

  Mr. Jukes even took the time to teach me knot-tying and sword-fighting. I mastered knots in days as each could be expressed in mathematical terms. Sword-fighting was more of a challenge. As I was not strong enough to block most attacks, he taught me to evade and disarm. The short, quick movements were easy enough to remember, but I tired too quickly to last in a prolonged battle.

  Having been kept home so long due to my condition, my muscles weren’t hard enough for this type of work. William adapted more quickly, easily outpacing me in our physical duties.

  In the evenings, we lay on the floor of the captain’s quarters and attacked our studies. This was where I more than repaid William for any help with the physical work earlier in the day. My mathematics assignments were done within three days. Out of boredom, I did Williams’ in such a way so that he could study from them without getting any answers. It would be poor form to cheat.

  Literature takes longer, but not because it was difficult. One book, in particular, held my interest and took several reads to fully absorb. In it, there was a play about two couples that got lost in a forest. They were bewitched through a magic that was controlled by two beings of great power. There were fairies and transmutations and, caught up in the heartbreak and whimsy, there was a short imp named Puck. He was joyful and confident like Pan. There was a mirth about him that brought light to the darkest parts of the story.

  When the time for our studies ended, William and I swabbed the deck of the ship. It was our last task before we went to our beds in the crew barracks. Without regular maintenance, the ship could become unfit for proper British use in days.

  Weeks into the voyage, we docked at our first port. There was a rumor among the men that there were new orders and that our simple supply run would soon be much more.

  We were delighted to be close to the adventure as our fathers took us with them to meet the new admiral. The admiral’s headquarters wasn’t more than a mile into town and had an amazing view of the port. The men walked ahead of us and I found myself staring off to the open sea before realizing that I was being spoken to.

  “James,” my father snapped. “The admiral was addressing you.”

  “It’s quite alright, Captain,” the admiral said. “He wouldn’t be a Hoodkins if he weren’t enthralled with the horizon.”

  My father, Officer Jukes, and the admiral exchanged pleasantries. There was a tone of seriousness to their light conversation that was unsettling. When we finally reached the admiral’s office, I saw Captain Ashley through the open door and was reminded what unsettling truly meant. He looked at me with disdain and curled a corner of his mouth into a snicker. The blood rose into my face as my eyes devoured him with hatred.

  William and I remained in the hall as the meeting continued. We played for hours but kept the door in view. When it opened, our fathers were changed men. The crew didn’t hear the new orders until later, but from that moment forward, the whole tone of the journey changed. There were fewer smiles and far less laughter.

  That same night, as usual, William finished his side of the ship first. He went off to bed and I was left on the bow. As I secured the tethers to the forward mast, I was alone with my thoughts. In them, Emily smiled and moved in to kiss me gently. Her lips parted to tell me something that I cannot hear. I closed my eyes and a small voice came from above.

  “I saw your ship and want to play with it,” the mild voice said. “I don’t have any toys that look this nice where I’m from. My name’s Peter. Peter Pan.”

  Chapter Eight

  “I’m Peter Pan,” the child said proudly. He was standing on the mast as if it were the floorboards of the deck. I had seen him fly before and although this was nothing new, I was still amazed.

  “I’m James,” I told him. It didn’t bother me that I had to reintroduce myself. “We’ve met before.” His blank expression told me of his genuine surprise that we knew each other. “We played weeks ago in my room in Port Royal.”

  “Oh,” was all he said, as if bored already. I decided to retell one of the adventures in my literature books as if it were one of ours.

  “Did I say my room?” I led. “I meant we played in a magical forest.” His head turned and bent to the side with interest. “You and I had a jolly time robbing wealthy carriages and saving England from the evil prince and his sheriff.” His eyes burst with excitement as I retold the whole adventure.

  We laughed for a few minutes before I remembered that telling my parents about my first meeting with Peter got me removed from school and put on this ship. It was that thought that reminded me of the other crewmen on deck. A flying boy would be difficult to explain to the officers.

  Pan was an expert in evading grownups. He hid on the side of the ship or behind a mast. He even hid in plain view between barrels and behind sheets. The crewmen just passed by each time, looking at me as if I’d been ta
lking to the wind.

  “I have a wonderful idea for a game,” Peter said. It’s obvious that he had become bored with hiding. He bent to my ear as if his idea were a great secret that no one else could know. “I’ll steer the ship and you’ll be my first mate.”

  “We can’t do that,” I told him. “There are crewmen on watch all night. One of them always steers.”

  “Oh. I wanted to steer,” Peter said. He shrank as if all of the air was squeezed out of him.

  “Besides,” I said. “The ship is a place of serious work.” This news was more disappointing to him than I expected.

  “There’s no talk about work in Neverland,” Peter said.

  “Neverland?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of such a place.”

  “That’s my home,” Pan said. He pointed to the sky. “It’s easy to get there,” he boasted. “You have to find the second star to the right and follow it until morning. However, only one of my cleverness, not to mention my skill, can survive there.”

  He looked up to the stars for a minute. Then his eyes settled on the door to my father’s quarters.

  He instantly sprang upright and said, “I don’t have to steer to be captain. Steering is for the men to do.” He glided on air to the captain’s cabin. “I’m so clever.”

  “No!” I whispered. “Don’t go in there! That’s my father’s room!”

  “You’re father is the captain?” Peter said as he opened the door. “Then he won’t mind if we use his room for a little while.”

  I’d been cleaning the opposite side of the ship and didn’t know if Father was in his quarters or below deck. Pan was taking a gamble by barging in as he did. My heart leapt as Peter dove through the door into the darkness of the cabin. I looked to make sure that I was not being watched and followed.