A00 – Overture
I came back into living room with two cups of coffee on a small tray. Julie was sitting on the sofa, looking outside the window. Hearing my steps, she turned her head.
"Oh, you took out the fancy ones.
What is the occasion?"
"You mean other than my moving back to town?"
"That is as good a reason as any to have a nice cup of coffee."
Ever since Jules and I learnt to appreciate the dark and oily liquid, it became the default beverage whenever the two of us have something to celebrate. We run on coffee in our daily lives, but we had grown particularly fond of collecting special blends from faraway places, to store away and take out when we sit down for a nice cup. Some do it with alcohol or smokeware, we do so with coffee beans.
It wasn't lost on us that the lifespan of a spirit in a glass bottle is considerably longer than perishables in an airtight plastic wrap. But, hey, we were kids when we started our little treasure collections.
Some things are hard to let go.
Some even harder.
It wasn't so much about the flavours of a coffee, but rather what our selection represented to us. Freedom, mythical cultures in strange places that we will never see.
"Come on. What is the real reason for you took take out THOSE?" she held the beautiful porcelain cup into my face and used the index finger of her other hand to point at its content.
"Remember how I told you of my ideas for writing a book based on the adventures of Pirate-Sam?”
“I remember telling you to not tell me about them but write them down.”
Her sparkly eyes became a lot sparkier.
“Please tell me you collected them in a book?”
“I tried to.”
“So, you did not?
Or not yet?”
“I plead the latter.
Long story short, I ended up writing a short play for children. They are going to perform it as a school project at a local school.
During production I thought about asking you for some artistic guidance for our set-design but that would have ruined the surprise. It wasn’t easy keeping quiet about it the whole time.
Now that it’s all ready to go I am here to invite you to the play next week Saturday.
Don’t worry – I checked with Tee – you guys don't have plans that day.”
Jules seemed taken aback, as if something I said upset her, just for an instant the sparks disappeared. Only to return with full force right after.
“What is the long story then?”
“I wrote several short stories based on what I could remember.
But then I realised that Pirate-Sam was even more gruesome than he was handsome. And more handsome than fearsome.
As such children, or their parents, might find his tales a bit too, shall we say, advanced.
I kept thinking about what you had told me.
Until eventually it hit me.
There must have been a time when Pirate-Sam was not yet as fearsome and but probably already handsome and presumably less gruesome, when he was still Wee Sammy the Pirate Hunter.
As such the play is about an adventure he dreams of while he’s still a kid.”
In all the years Jules and I have known each other, there were not too many times I saw her gasp for air. This was the only time I was directly responsible for it.
“I can hardly believe this. Almost my whole life I dreamt of meeting the real Pyrate-Sam, and now you are telling I get to meet a kid version of him?
That is as good as, and a lot less scary.”
“I just hope those kids will never get to hear any of his later stories. It might be a rude awaking and could ruin their childhood memories.”
“Are you working on something about his pyrate days?”
“I am working on something else, but I do not yet know what is. Probably focused on his transformation from a young boy who dreamt of taking down the fiercest of the oceans to becoming one of the worst of the lot.“
“Sounds introspective?”
“How do you mean?”
“Given you were the teenager that came up with all the horrible things Pyrate-Sam did in pursuit of his treasure and what he used to call honor, I suppose, you will find a lot about yourself.”
“I guess I wrote the children’s play to ease myself into it.”
*
Over another couple of cups of coffee Jules and I did some catching up. I especially wanted to hear how Tee was doing. If he was still angry with me after we last spoke. And if he was willing to patch things up now that I was back home.
"He did not want to talk to me about it. He never mentioned it. I really think you should give him a call, invite him over for a few beers and a meal. "
The look in her eyes made me want to make that call.
It said “it would make things so much easier for all three of us, if one of you two would finally get over yourself and make the first step. I love you both. But you guys are being total idiots. If you weren't brothers, I'd suggest you should sleep with each other to see if that smoothens things out." Jules didn’t have to say that out loud.
“Maybe take him on a field trip?
You know, like Arthur does with you?”
“Not going to happen.”
Comments