Just Like Pirates

JUST LIKE PIRATES-



Somewhere in the tropics, surrounded by miles and miles of pristine ocean the color of sapphires, lies a tiny speck of land not marked on any maps and unknown to all but the most seasoned veterans of the seas. On any given day, this island is deserted , but on this day,roughly two hundred feet from shore, there sits a boat at anchor, bobbing gently with the ocean's swell.It is from this ship that two figures had disembarked, manning a lifeboat that took them to shore.

*    *    *

Their journey began close to a year ago when a young man named Roddy Stanton was sent to the state penitentiary to serve out the last six months of the sentence he had received for armed robbery. It was there that he was bunked with an long time career criminal by the name of Amos Getty, who was just finishing up a ten year sentence for posession with intent to distribute.


The two bottom feeders hit it off wonderfully. Roddy, the young, brash up-and-comer in the criminal world looked up to Amos. He was a man who had been through just about any scenario imaginable with no regrets, no remorse and a resolve to be bad until he died. Roddy, who had had a troubled life from childhood beagn to see Amos as a father figure, or at least a mentor to aid him along his own road to criminal enterprise.


For his part, Amos looked upon Roddy with a sentiment almost akin to that which is usually reserved for a father/son relationship. This young badass had a complete disdain for authority with a total lack of cowardice and absolutely no sense of right and wrong. He reminded Amos a lot of himself when he was that age. Besides, as the years were wearing on, Amos felt a desire to impart his wisdom on someone that would be worthy of his teachings. Perhaps he had found the right candidate with his new cellmate. He was certainly eager enough to learn.


And so it was for the following four months. Amos recounting past exploits, what went right, what went wrong, and numerous other helpful tips to the drug runner in training, with Roddy hanging on to his every word, soaking it all in like a sponge.


But then the day came along when Amos was released. Their parting was a far cry from a teary eyed affair, but there was certainly a palpable sense of melancholy in the air. Roddy felt as though he was losing his mentor and colleague. Amos, however, made a promise to Roddy that he would help him out upon his release in a few months time. All he asked was Roddy would remember the things that they had discussed and maybe even try to brainstorm a few schemes they could try out upon his release. Amos himself thought that he had a few pretty good ideas and assured Roddy that he would be waiting for him at the front gate of the penitentiary when he was released, ready to begin the practical side of his tutelage.


The last few months of Roddy's sentence dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. He would spend the days wondering if he ever would see Amos agin. Not likely, it was a friendship of convenience, that was all, he told himself. So instead he laid in his cell, ignoring his new cellmate, and formulated some schemes to help him get on his feet again upon his release.


But then the day came along when Roddy was released. And true to his word, Amos was standing theer at the front gate, waiting for him. Dressed in a flashy suit with a flashier car, it looked like he had wasted no time getting back in the swing of things. With a warm handshake and enthusiasitic smile, Amos welcomed him back into the free world. The first order of business he had told Roddy, was to get something to eat.


At a nearby greasy spoon, Amos filled Roddy in on all the exploits he had been up to since his release. He had had some good friends eager to see him get back out on the street who had set him up with some sweet jobs that had paid handsomely, but now something had come up that was so big, he needed some help. Naturally, Amos had told Roddy then, he immediately thought of him.


It turns out that Amos had gotten in good with some heavy drug pushers, and was a relatively well trusted runner when a moderate size shipment needed to pass hands. Having proved his service impeccable over the past few months, his bosses had decided to let him pick up a really big score, straight out of South America. Providing him with a boat, five million dollars in cash, and a heavy named Tico, they expected Amos to sail down to Columbia, exchange the cash for cocaine and bring the drugs back into the country. But Amos made a few alterations to the plans, and that was where Roddy came in.


As Amos told the plan to him, Roddy felt the fire of greed begin to glow inside of him again. The proposal, as Amos saw it was, he would pick up the boat and cash, then as he made final preparations ashore, Roddy would stow away on board the boat until they were well out to sea. Then instead of South America, they could plot a course for pretty much wherever they pleased. They would have five million dollars cash, and a boat that was capable of travelling across the globe. As for Tico, there were all kinds of places to dispose of him in the middle of the ocean.


Amos' excitement had grown quite noticably while he continued to tell Roddy of his plan. The bosses would most likely suspect that they had gone down in a squall offshore, and even if they didn't, so what? They would be untraceable, sailing from port to port, riding the seas and having the adventures of their lives. Just like pirates, Amos had said.


To Roddy, the plan sounded solid, except for the fact that it seemed too much like retirement. Besides, Roddy had no intention of letting two and a half million being his greatest accomplishment, he was still young and eager to become one of the big shots that would send guys like Amos on these missions. Still though, this could be a score that would send him well on his way and set him up nicely. So, Roddy had agreed whole heartedly to the plan, while inside of his mind, he had already begun the plan's alterations.


Everything had gone off smoothly enough. When Amos went to pick up the cash and Tico, Roddy had snuck on board the boat, and hidden belowdecks until he felt the boat lurch out of port.


After waiting an appropriate length of time, he stealthily stalked his way on deck and saw Tico, gazing out at the sea, back turned to him. In a flash he was on him, grabbing his hair from behind and sliding his eight inch blade across Tico's throat.Before the second gush of blood erupted from his severed jugular, Roddy had pushed him over the side of the boat. Food for the sharks, thought Roddy.


For the next week, Amos and Roddy zigzagged around the ocean, trying to decide their next move. Amos finally decided that they would find a foreign port that they would use as a base of operations. His preferred destination was somewhere that flourished with tourists. That way they could launch raids on unsuspecting yachts, stripping the rich of their treasures, just like pirates.


Roddy's resentment had been growing with every passing day. He was wishing they had picked up the drugs before disappearing. That much coke would have brought in twice as much cash as they currently had. And now Amos was talking about some kind of unrealistic and incredibly risky swashbuckling adventure. What had he seen in this old fool? It was around this time that they came across the uncharted island.


Brimming with excitement, Amos determined that the two of them should go ashore and have a look around. Roddy failed to see the point, but agreed anyway. There was nothing better to do, and whether he liked it or not, Amos was still calling the shots. So the two of them boarded the small lifeboat and disembarked for the shore.


The fact that Amos had brought along the case of money and a shovel told Roddy that the plan had most likely changed yet again.

*    *    *

The boats prow knifes into the sandy shore. Amos jumps out first, carrying the cash and the shovel. As he surveys the island before him he tells Roddy to tie up the boat, then he walks into the foliage that borders the beach. Roddy, who by this point is just about fed up with his partners eccentricities, roughly ties the boat to shore and follows Amos into the jungle.


There, he finds Amos beginning the work of burying their treasure.


"What the hell are you doing now, man?" he asks.


Amos regards him with a not-quite-sane glint in his eye, and a lunatic grin on his face. "Oh this is perfect Rod,perfect! This island isn't on any of the maps I have for this area. You know what that means?"


Having lost faith in his one time mentor, Roddy apathetically shrugs his shoulders.


"We officially got ourselves a treasure island!" Amos chuckles,"With all the plunder I see in our future we need a safe place to stow it. What, are we supposed to trust it's safety,on land, around all those landlubbers?!?"


With this one Amos falls into a fit of maniacal laughter. He leans over his shovel, face flushed,tears streaming from his eyes as he tries to regain his composure. It is at this precise moment that Roddy realizes Amos is and most likely always was batshit crazy.


It is also at this moment that he decides to disolve the partnership.


Once Amos' fit passes, he wipes his eyes and again looks to Roddy with that same mad gleam.


" But think of it! No one knows it's here! Just us! Here it'll be safe from everyone and we can make it our own personal treasure trove ! I tell you, Rod, we'll be just like pirates! "


Before he knows what's happening, Amos feels the blade of Roddys knife plunge deep into his stomach. Too shocked at first to feel it, he looks at Roddy with eyes that are suddenly quite focused. " Why..." he grunts quietly, "...you said...said I was like a father..."


"That's right," Roddy says as he rips the knife from Amos' stomach, " but you were only like a father, and five million isn't enough cash to split two ways." Then, as if to make his point, he rams the knife into Amos' gut again, this time dragging it up and down, and side to side before removing it. Amos' eviscerated body falls into the partial pit he had been working on and Roddy stands over him, smugly looking down upon his mostly lifeless victim.


"Look at it this way, old man," he says with an almost gruesome satisfaction," every treasure trove needs a ghost to guard it, that can be your job. Just like a fuckin' pirate." He picks up the case of money, kicks sand into Amos' empty, staring eyes and makes his way back out to the beach. When he gets there, he sees that in his haste he had done such a sloppy job of tying up the lifeboat, that it has drifted out to sea.


No matter, he thinks to himself,I'm sure I can handle the swim to the boat, and even if the money gets wet, it'll dry. He steps out into the water and gets about waist deep when the reef begins. He tries desperately to maintain balance atop the jagged coral, fighting the ebb of the tide at the same time. Then, when he least suspects it, he goes down. Hard. Unfortunately for Roddy, he was always in the habit of carrying his knife tucked through his belt, and with his fall, the knife had plunged itself deep into his upper thigh.


With his leg screaming in agony, Roddy is further agonized by the sight of the case of money, waterproof after all, floating out to sea on a rip current. He then looks at his leg. The blood is flowing out freely into the salty water, but he's fairly certain that the knife missed the artery. If he can make it to the boat, he can take care of his leg and then swing around and pick up the sea-bound cash.With excruciating effort he begins to swim the sixty odd yards back to his newly acquired boat.


About halfway to the boat, Roddy begins to feel groggy. The distance between him and the boat never seems to diminish, and thinks have begun to appear in swooning doubles before his eyes. Maybe he was losing more blood than he originally thought, maybe he was going into shock, either way, he needed to get back to the boat...pronto.


Then Roddy sees something in the ocean, right about halfway between himself and the remaining distance to his safe haven, that snaps his vision back to crystal clear purity. Appearing first as a minor ripple on the surface, it then smoothly and silently breaks, revealing the dorsal fin of a shark. Then a few yards away another one, and then another one...