Friday Flash: Pirates Don’t Play Easy
Pirates Don’t Play Easy
Archibald Blood picked through his treasure on the Isle of the Crimson Skull and mulled over his prospects. Though accustomed to the crow’s nest on his ship, the nest he now found himself in filled him with a different type of thrill. He peered over the edge, contemplated the blessed ocean, and wondered if he could survive a fall and make it to his ship – or at least out of this blasted nest. The last thing he wanted was to end his life of skulduggery, deceit, and adventure as a pet for giant eaglets.
The treasure had led him here. After the harrowing climb, he’d collapsed into the nest, merely thankful to be alive and not to have been spotted by the bloody beast. However, gratitude soon gave way to despair when the mother bird returned. She had dropped his rope over the edge. Then after nudging him against one of her eggs, she’d trilled happily and flown away.
The giant eagle, by lining her nest with his booty, had caught her real quarry – a plaything for her children. But pirates didn’t play easy. He’d be damned if he’d end his days as nanny to a bunch of squalling brats.
Next to him, several eggs – almost as big as himself – quivered. The irony didn’t escape him as he picked up the biggest diamond in the world and prepared to crack them. Then he’d wait for the mother’s return.
Bloody pigeons.
THE END.
*The above story was inspired by the photo posted Monday, July 19, 2010 at the Clarity of Night blog. While I did not enter their “Uncovered” Short Fiction Contest. I loved the writing prompt. The Clarity of Night blog can be found at http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com
As always, I beg for welcome feedback. Thank you.
**The above photo courtesy of The Library of Congress and Flicker.
July 29th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Loved hearing it too!
:0)
July 29th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Fun! You left us to guess whether he’d make it out too.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Well done & you picked the best line in the story for the title.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Excellent – love the way you interpreted the prompt. And I agree with V — the title is super. peace…
July 29th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Cuteness, cuteness! I know he’s supposed to be a “terror of the high seas” type, but it made me want to meet this pirate. He was funny and resourceful.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:05 am
Awww, I’d quite like to be nannny to giant eaglets
July 30th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Suddenly I have a craving for poached eggs.
And diamonds, of course.
Fun story, Cath!
July 30th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Crow’s nest – very nice play on words, took me in completely!
July 30th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Fun story. Kick-ass first paragraph. And inspired use of the prompt.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Yup, I very much wanted to meet this pirate. He seems like a character. And good luck to him!
July 30th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
LOL – for sheer resourcefulness, think the pirate deserves to make it back to sea, complete with the biggest diamond in the world! Reckon he’s earned it
July 30th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Good story! The eagle looks like she’s in for it.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
A clever story. We need part II now…eagle mother vs. desperate pirate.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Oh, my goodness, this is delightful! And that name, Archibald Blood, is most superb for a pirate.
I’d love to see who wins that fight when mama eagle comes back.
Great story.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Bwahahaha! Very nice! He’s in one hell of a scrape. I love little things like the Eagle lining her nest with the treasure. More insult to injury.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Very nice use of the jewels in a nest prompt. The writing here is an absolute joy.
July 31st, 2010 at 1:21 am
Served those winged fiends right!! BLOODY great flash… I’m always a sucker for any kind of pirate tale. Well done, Catherine.
July 31st, 2010 at 12:32 pm
31 July MMX
Thak you for following me on audioboo.fm.
I plan to record more Vietnam “War” poetry this summer, so please watch for them.
I will read more of your works also, but I must warn you that I am a very realistic type of writer!
Cordially…
ASJ
August 1st, 2010 at 9:25 am
Poor little birdlings, but sometimes it’s kill or be eaten. Fun character and good story. Hope you go back to this fellow at some point, pirates can have some wild adventures.
August 1st, 2010 at 11:35 am
You made me laugh out loud with this one!
Excellent story and title! I’m curious to know how he’ll go back to his ship after he deals with mother eagle. Well, at least he’ll have lot’s of time to think of a solution without starving, heh. ;P
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:55 am
Ah, yes, there’s a fabulous award waiting for you at Randomities.
http://bit.ly/plethora_award
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Definitely leaves me wondering about your pirate… he may have met his match
~2
August 4th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Great! I appreciate that. I’ll get to it as soon as I have some extra time (lol).