Chapter 2

This is WIP, need to pad it up a bit. But the gist is there. I'm excited to share the final bit with folks. Let me see. Or maybe I'll work on chapter 3 and come around to it later. 

The Pirate makes a Friend

“Moooom, can Barkey and I go to the beach?”

“No.”

“Why not??”

“It’s too windy and it’s not safe, I don’t want you to go alone. How about you go somewhere else? I’ll make you a nice picnic lunch.”

“Can I get peanut butter sandwiches and chips and cookies and juice?”

“I’ll pack you some sandwiches and an apple and some milk.”

“What about Barkey? He likes cookies” Eric looked at his mum beseechingly.

His mum sighed.

“Fine, Barkey can have one cookie”

“What about snacks? What if we get hungry after lunch?”

“Then you can come home for one.”

“But what if we don’t want to come home then?”

“Would you like to just stay home instead?” his mum narrowed her eyes.

“Lunch would be great, mum, thanks! You’re the best!” Eric grinned at her.

“It’s not easy to get her to do what we want, but I can try.” He whispered to Barkey.

Barkey raised his eyes up, a look of deep understanding on his doggie face. “Woof” he agreed.

With a nice lunch tucked safely in his backpack, Barkey and Eric set off down the garden path to explore places nearby. So far, they had seen their own yard, their own backyard, Old Man’s backyard, Old Man’s yard when he wasn’t looking, and the lane their house was on, and the grocery store at the end of the road where they stopped by to buy chocolates, comics and ice creams. They liked the grocer; he gave them an extra candy or two at times. The neighborhood was old, and didn’t have too many kids Eric’s age living there, much to his disappointment.

“You know Barkey, you are great and all, but I wish we had another friend too. All superheroes have a friend, you know. Except Superman. He only had a girlfriend… yuuuck.” Eric made a face. “And we can share lunch and they can come to our house for sleepovers. Mom will let us camp in the yard and we can exchange ghost stories” he chattered. Barkey was trotting along with his tongue hanging out, stopping to sniff a plant or bark at a bird from time to time.

“… I thought I saw a ghost once…” continued Eric, as they turned the corner by the lane. “ it was at 3 o clock in the morning. I got up to pee and saw a white face in the mirror! It was so scary!” he gestured to Barkey, twisting his face to show him how scary it looked. “But when I looked again, it was gone. I woke mom up to tell her but she said I saw my own reflection. Never believes me…” he added ruefully.

As they turned down the lane, Eric wondered which way to go. When the world is your oyster, decisions can be daunting. He liked exploring unknown places. He spotted a small pathway leading away from the road. The weather-beaten trail had shrubbery on both sides that instantly hooked his fancy. That meant not many people went down that trail. He loved mysterious spots. You never knew what you’d find there. Could someone be hiding there? Buried treasure? Evil villains? His imagination always piqued at the thought of the unknown. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of having to fight off villains. It would be so thrilling! “Too bad he had left his sword at home.” He thought to himself. “One should always be prepared. Well next time! But it won’t fit in my bag. Hmmm… Maybe I need a sword holder… then I can carry it everywhere…”

“Woooooof!” said Barkey, “Woof , Woooof woof wooooofffff.”

He started rushing forward in a state of excitement.

“Whaa… hey where are you going? Wait… WAITTT…” yelled Eric, beginning to run after him. The trail got narrower and narrower, until it was just a small line overrun with grass and shrubs.

“Waaait!” Eric panted, his backpack swinging behind him.

On and on they ran – dog and boy – up the trail, stumbling over loose rocks until they turned a corner.

“Whoa!” Eric exclaimed, clutching his sides. The path had opened up into a small clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. In the middle of the clearing was a small pond of sorts, filled with the most pristine blue water Eric had seen. Tiny beams of sunlight that made it through the trees sparkled off and on over its calm surface.

“Wow, good job Barkey!”

Barkey rolled his tongue and gave Eric a swift lick.

This might be a good place for a picnic, thought Eric, settling his backpack down.

He stretched his arms over his head, and arched his back, and eyed the water.

“I wonder how deep it is… What do you think?”

Barkey was busy sniffing the backpack, attempting to put his nose through the flaps. He could smell lunch, and it smelt delicious.

“No! Not now. Later” Eric scolded.

“Hey! What are you guys doing here? This is my spot!” cried a high voice.

Eric and Barkey turned to see a boy their age looking at them. He had sleek black hair parted neatly down the side and wore an expression of extreme indignation. He wore a blue superman shirt and a blue hat to match. A was holding a net with a long handle in one hand and a tuck box in the other.

“He likes superheroes!” was Eric’s first thought.

“Who are you?”

“Who are YOU? Why are you here?” the kid grumbled.

“I’m Eric, this is Barkey. We are new in town.” Eric introduced himself.

“I’m Vishal”

“Hi” Eric grinned.

“Oh…uhhh…hi!” said the boy. He walked up to Eric’s backpack and set down his box.

“Well, but this is still my spot. I discovered it first.” He continued.

“We are sorry, we didn’t know.” Eric continued smiling, making no attempt to get out of the water.

“Do you come here often?”

“Yea. Is he your pet dog?” Vishal asked, pointing at Barkey.

“He is my best friend! Barkey say hello!”

Barkey promptly swam towards the edge of the water and ran up to Vishal. He stopped in front of him and shook himself vigorously in greeting.

“heyyyy… noooo, stooop!”

Barkey shook himself with more enthusiasm, then promptly started jumping up at Vishal and trying to sniff his butt. A friend of Eric’s was a friend of Barkey’s.

“Sttooop” Vishal put his hands over his butt, trying to turn away from the dog.

Eric laughed.

“He does that when he likes someone.”

“Oh yea? What does he do when he doesn’t like someone?” Vishal grumbled, eyeing the dog warily.

“Growls at them.”

“Great!”

“So, what do you do around here?”

“I want a pet.” Replied Vishal.

Eric looked puzzled.

“Okay…aand?... Don’t you get them at a pet store?”

“I want a pet fish.” Vishal pointed to his net.

“Ohhh… Do you know how to catch fish? We didn’t see any in the water.” Eric was interested. He had never been fishing.

“Yes. You want to watch me?”

“Sure”

“But you have to be very still. And you can’t talk.”

“Okay”

 “And he can’t growl.” Vishal added.

“Okkkaay”

“Alright. But first I need to get my bait out.” Saying so, Vishal put his tuck box down and removed his sandals. Eric went up to him. He picked up the box again and opened it, holding it out for Eric to see.

“Look!”

“Ewwwww”

A mass of slimy live worms were writhing around inside the box.

“Close it!” Eric wailed. “Why do you have so many worms? Where did you get them?”

“I collected them.”

“Whaaat?”

Long back, he had learnt a new word from the telly called ‘psychopath’. He wondered if Vishal was a psychopath.

“Are you a psychopath?” he asked Vishal; an odd feeling in his stomach.

“No. What’s that?”

“A crazy person.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“You collect worms.”

“Because I want a fish.”

“Fish eat worms? I thought they eat other fish.”

“Fish eat anything. They aren’t smart, they don’t know any better.” Vishal nodded knowledgeably.

“And I did not collect them all, I got most of them at the bait shop. I collected two from my garden, then our gardener told me I should just ask the bait shop man to give me some and he did.”

Eric let out a sigh of relief. He was mentally trying to add up how much time it would have taken Vishal to gather these many worms and every answer he arrived at seemed worrying.

“The bait shop guy said I need to put them on a hook and then throw the hook into the water and be very still and wait, the fish will come and try to bite the worms”

“You mean put a hook through live worms? Ewwwwww.” Eric felt sick.

“Yea. I don’t want to do that either. And I don’t want to hurt my pet fish.”

“So, how are you going to catch it?”

“Oh see, I thought about it all!” Vishal responded with excitement. “I’m gonna put some worms in my net. And then I’ll stand in the water and put the net in and the fish will go inside to eat them and I’ll catch them that way!”

Eric looked doubtful.

“How will the fish see the worms?”

“Through the net.”

Vishal was confident.

He squatted on the ground and looked inside the box and then the net and then back at the box.

“What happened?”

“They look very gross.”

“Yeeeah” Eric agreed. The boys looked at each other, reluctant to do anything next.

“Well… you have to touch them to put them in the net. Come on, do it!” Eric urged Vishal.

Vishal extended his hand and stopped just an inch short of the box.

He hesitated. Both the boys huddled over the box. Neither seemed willing to put their hand inside an entire box of slimy, live worms. “One, maybe two are okay but so many?” Eric shuddered.

Barkey came over to see what they were upto. He nosed his way into the middle and sniffed at the box. A worm wriggled near his nose, and he let out a loud howl and jumped away from them.

“Grrrr…rrr…rooofwoof” he snarled at the box.

“See!”

“How about we use a stick to get them out?” Eric suggested.

“Oh yes, let’s try that!”

Vishal picked up a twig and poked at the box of worms. Nothing happened.

“Be still, wait for them to climb on it.”

“I don’t think they want to.”

“They will. Don’t spook them.”

“Worms don’t spook.”

Vishal continued prodding the box with the twig.

“It’s not a milkshake, don’t stir it around so much!” Eric cried.

“Want to drink it?” Vishal laughed, swiftly bringing the box near Erics’ face.

“I’ll fight you!” Eric threatened.

Laughing, Vishal tried to scoop up a worm or two and put it in the net.

“Use a leaf! They might get on a leafiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Eric suggested.

“Good idea!”

Abandoning the stick, Vishal plucked two leaves from a nearby bush and slowly kept it near the edge of the box. Three worms slowly tried to climb it.

“It’s working!”

Holding the leaf carefully, Vishal brought his net close under it. He dropped the leaf into the net along with the worms.

“Done!”

“Okay what next?” Eric was excited. Their plan was working!

“Now we go inside the pond and be still. The fish will come to eat the worms and we will catch them!”

Plopping the leaf inside the net, both boys proceeded towards the water.

“This should be far enough” Vishal said.

“Okay”

“ Now be still. Don’t move at all.” Vishal warned.

“Okay” Eric held himself stiff.

Carefully, Vishal lowered the net towards the water, and slowly dipped it. The leaf started to float towards the top, worms and all.

“Poke it.” suggested Eric.

Vishal tried to dunk the leaf in the water.

The worms started floating around inside the net. They seemed agitated and trying to crawl out.

“Carefulllll”

“I am being careful” replied Vishal, staring at the worms and trying to keep still.

They started crawling around with more vigor.

“Do you see any fish?”

“No”

“ It doesn’t look like it’s working.” Eric added.

“ It will work” Vishal was determined.

Slowly, the worms ceased their writhing and floated to the top of the net.

Eric peered at the net.

“I think you drowned them.”

“Oh no!”

“Do fish eat dead worms?”

“I don’t know. Let’s wait and watch.”

2 minutes passed, then 5. The boys water with hated breath. The ripples of water around them became still. 10 minutes went by. One of the worms started floating away from them.

“ I don’t think it’s working.”

Vishal made a face.

“Maybe we should get more worms.”

“Uh huh” Eric looked doubtful.

“ It will work this time. The bait shop guy told me fish like worms.”

“Bait shop guy said you should put them on a hook.”

“I don’t want a pet with a hook in its face.”

“Okay let’s get some more.” Eric shrugged.

Both boys waded out and got more worms from the box. Barkey eyed them with suspicion. Nothing would induce him into going near the worms again. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The boys went back into the water.

“Lets go deeper this time.”

They waded till the deepest point. This time the water was up till their waist.

Once again, Vishal lowered his net into the water.

“ Maybe you should lower it more.”

Before the worms could make a bid for freedom, Vishal plunged them deeper in the water.

Again, the boys waited.

Nothing happened.

“Does this pond even have fish?”

“Ofcourse it does, it’s a pond.”

“Doesn’t seem like there are any.”

“You are scaring them by talking so loud.”

“Fine, I won’t talk.” Eric huffed.

Standing still, the boys waited, shivering slightly in the breeze. Vishal was looking at the water intently.

“Look!” he whispered.

Eric didn’t respond. He just kept a finger on his lips.

Vishal gestured towards the water.

A small fish was swimming towards them. They could just make out its silvery silhouette. As it came nearer, Vishal lowered his body into a crouch. He wanted to ensure he caught it.

He lunged at the fish. His net made a wide arc in the water, creating a huge ripple as it went.

“Aaaaaa” Vishal yelled, as the fish swiftly swam away.

He glared at the ripples.

“I almost had it!”

Eric didn’t say anything.

“Why aren’t you talking? Say something” Vishal rounded on Eric.

“ You are swinging too wide.”

“I think you should shut up.”

“Oh yeah? Make me!” Eric retorted.

“Ill make you.” Vishal shouted back.

“I dare you.” Eric clenched his fists.

Casting the net aside, Vishal threw himself at Eric. Both boys tussled with each other, sending waves of water everywhere.

“ I told you to keep quiet.”

“ I told you fish don’t eat dead worms.”

The boys started fighting, each trying to push the other off balance. Barkey perked up on the shore.

“Woof!” he roared, and swam across to join the fray.

The two boys struggled against each other, with the dog trying to jump on both of them. With a huge heave, Eric pushed Vishal a bit deeper into the water, making him lose his footing. He keeled backwards and fell inside the water. Completely soaked, he tried to get up but couldn’t find his balance and fell over again. Spluttering, he tried to stand up again but couldn’t. There was nothing to hold on to. He went under yet again. The pond floor had fallen off suddenly and Vishal was out of his depth. He bobbed up and down, gasping for breath. In his frenzy to stand up, he was moving towards the centre of the pond.

Suddenly scared, Eric shouted.

“Don’t you know how to swim?”

“Nnnn…ooo” gasped Vishal. His cap fell off his head as he flailed his arms around.

“Oh no!” Fear suddenly gripped Eric.

“What do I do?”

With no time to think, he simply decided to swim after Vishal. With quick strokes, he made it to the centre and tried to clutch at the boy.

Terrified, Vishal clung on to Eric and stared pulling him under.

“Stop!! Don’t pull at me”

“Ughnsjk”

Eric tried to free himself from Vishal’s grip. Vishal, scared as he was, tried to let go of Eric. With a deft stroke, Eric put his arm across Vishal’s body and pulled him up.

“Don’t move. Stay still!” he commanded. Vishal obliged.

Eric quickly used his free arm to try and move them both. The water dragging them down, Eric tried to remember his swimming lessons. “Hold under the chest, and pull” he told himself.

Bit by bit, he dragged himself and Vishal away from the centre.

Soon, they could feel the floor of the pond below their feet. He let go of Vishal when he was sure he could stand, but kept a vice like grip on his hand, refusing to let his friend away from him.

Gasping and coughing, both boys made their way to the shore. Once there, they both collapsed on the grass.

“You idiot! Why did you go in the water if you can’t swim?”

“ I didn’t know the pond was so deep.”

“ I thought this was your spot!”

“I never went inside!”

“Great… juuust great!”

“Are you okay?” Eric was concerned. He had never felt this scared in his life, not even when he thought he saw a ghost.

“Yeeeah. I think so.”

“Well thank God! Do you know how much trouble I’d be in if you weren’t? My mom would never forgive me.” He punched Vishal on the arm.

“Not as much trouble as I’d be in with my mom.” said Vishal, rubbing his arm.

They both looked at each other and smiled.

“Do you want some lunch?”

“Yea… I’m hungry”

“Mom packed me some sandwiches, we can share”

Eric got up to go get his bag. Barkey was still swimming in the pond.

“Oi! Come here! Lunch!” he shouted.

Barkey turned around and started swimming ashore. He had something blue in his mouth.

“What have you got? Don’t fetch something weird from the pond”

Saying so, Eric went up to the shore to see what his dog was bringing.

As he came closer, he realised Barkey had Vishals’ cap his mouth.

“Oh… good boy!!” Eric praised him, leaning near the water’s edge.

Barkey came out and put the hat at his feet, looking pleased with himself. Eric lifted the cap. It felt heavy. He flipped it over. A small fish was right in the middle of its curve, struggling.

“Vishal! Vishal! Come here quick! We caught a fish!! Get your bowl, quick!” he bellowed.

Vishal scrambled to his feet, scooped up his bag and ran towards the water. He unzipped the bag, removed a bowl with a lid and unscrewed its top. He filled it with water from the pond and brought it near Eric. Eric tipped the cap into the bowl and watched as the fish slid inside. The boys waited with bated breath.

The tiny black fish ceased its struggling and started to swim in the water. It’s fins fanned out elegantly, sparkling in the sunlight. Both boys whooped and cheered and high fived each other. Barkey jumped up and down, pleased with himself.

“What do you want to call him?” asked Eric.

“Nemo. Cuz we found him.”