PIRATE PETE

It was a sunny, warm summer afternoon. Pirate Pete was aboard his mighty pirate ship, sailing on the Atlantic Ocean, towards South America.

"Sir, I was wondering if you could man the deck for a few minutes," one of his mates said to him. "I am not feeling well."

"Sure, Slappy," said Pirate Pete. "There's not much doing, anyway."

Slappy went below the deck, while Pirate Pete took the wheel of the ship. Soon, Pirate Pete became drowsy and he fell asleep.

While Pirate Pete slept, the cleaning crew came on deck and started cleaning the ship.

"Oh look," said Rusty, who was one of the crew. "Pirate Pete is sleeping.

"What's he doing at the wheel anyway?" asked Jolly, another crew member. "I thought that Slappy was to man the wheel today."

"Yes, you are right," said Rusty. "That is odd, isn't it?"

"Very odd," Jolly agreed.

"Well enough of this chit-chat," said Rusty. "We've got to get this deck cleaned up for the party we are having tonight."

"Yes, I suppose we'd better get our work done," said Jolly.

Rusty took a mop and a pail and started scrubbing the deck. Jolly went around the deck picking up items and putting them where they belonged. He noticed Pirate Pete's treasure chest sitting right out in the open.

"I'd better put this away," said Jolly, to himself. "I don't think that Pirate Pete would want his treasure chest sitting out like this."

Jolly picked up the heavy treasure chest and carried it below deck. He put it into Pirate Pete's cabin.

An hour later, Pirate Pete woke up. He glanced around the deck and saw how nice it looked.

"Oh, I guess Jolly and Rusty cleaned up today," he said to himself. "Well, I hope they have a good time at their party, tonight."

Soon, Slappy came back onto the deck.

"I'm feeling a bit better now," he said. "I can take over the wheel now if you'd like."

"Alright," said Pirate Pete.

Pirate Pete walked around the deck, admiring the work that Jolly and Rusty had done.

"The floor looks so clean," he said to himself. "I could almost eat off it. Well, I'd better go and put my treasure chest away now. I wouldn't want someone to be looting through it at the party tonight."

"Sir," Rusty called to him from the far side of the ship. "Slappy is ill again. Would you like me to take over for him this time?"

"No, that's alright Rusty," said Pirate Pete. "I'll do it."

Pirate Pete, once more took the wheel.

"See if you can get Slappy to see the doctor," said Pirate Pete to Rusty.

"Yes sir," said Rusty, half carrying and half dragging Slappy to the ship doctor's cabin.

A little while later, Rusty came back.

"It looks like Slappy has a case of the flu," said Rusty. "The doctor said he should be alright in a few days."

"Well, that's good new," said Pirate Pete. "Look Rusty, could you bring my treasure chest over here?"

"Sure," said Rusty.

Rusty came back a few minutes later, his face as pale as a ghost.

"What's wrong Rusty?" asked Pirate Pete. "Don't tell me that you are coming down with the flu, too?"

"No," said Rusty. "I hate to tell you this, but your treasure chest is missing."

"What!" exclaimed Pete. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," said Rusty. "I looked everywhere for it."

"Well this is crazy," said Pirate Pete. "Someone has stolen my treasure chest! Who were the last ones on deck?"

"I guess Jolly and I were," said Rusty, reluctantly.

"Alright that does it, both you and Jolly are fired," said Pete.

"You're not even going to give us a chance to see if we can find it," said Rusty, angrily.

"No," said Pirate Pete. "I'm not. I would tolerate almost anything from my mates, except for stealing."

"Look Pete," said Rusty. "I didn't steal your treasure chest and I know that Jolly would never do such a thing, either. Let me go and get Jolly so that we can settle this matter."

"No, I've got a better idea," said Pete. "You take over the wheel for a few minutes. I'll go and find Jolly."

Pirate Pete stormed off the deck and went below.

"How could they think that they would get away with this?" he asked himself over and over again.

Pirate Pete passed by his cabin as he was searching for Jolly. Something shiny caught the corner of his eye. He poked his head inside the doorway and there, sitting on the floor was his treasure chest. He instinctively went over to it and opened it up. Everything seemed to be in order.

Just then, Jolly walked down the hall.

"Hi Pete," he said. "Nice afternoon, eh."

"Yeah, real nice," Pete said.

"By the way, I hope you didn't mind me bringing your treasure chest down here for you," said Jolly. "I didn't think that you'd want it to be left up on deck, in case someone stole it."

"You brought this down here," said Pirate Pete, feeling the colour rise in his cheeks.

"Yes," said Jolly.

"Oh no," said Pirate Pete. "Look, I've got to go and see Rusty."

Pirate Pete walked with his head bowed. He was very ashamed of the way he had treated Rusty.

"Did you find Jolly?" asked Rusty.

"Yes, I did," said Pirate Pete. "I also found the treasure chest."

"You did," said Rusty, with apparent relief.

"Look Rusty," said Pirate Pete. "I'm very sorry about the way I treated you earlier. Apparently Jolly was thoughtful enough to take the treasure chest down below so that no-one would get into it at the party tonight. I'm sorry that I jumped to the wrong conclusions."

"Does this mean that I still have my job?" asked Rusty.

"You bet," said Pirate Pete. "That is, if you will ever work for me again after what I just did!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Rusty, happy that this whole mess was sorted out. "I'd work for you any day!"

PIRATE PETE STORIES