I Had Thought Myself Alone
- alone in a small boat upon the broad Atlantic
- crouching in frozen fear
- unfolding the flag of the United Kingdom
- “You don’t have to eat it.”
- to emerge from the Caribbean
I had thought myself alone in a small boat upon the broad Atlantic when I first heard the voice coming from belowdecks. Now I huddled in the stern, crouching in frozen fear as an apparition rose through the gangway, my numb fingers unfolding the flag of the United Kingdom in a vain attempt to hide myself.
“You don’t have to eat it.”
That was all it said, over and over, in its waterlogged whisper, the terrible sound burrowing into my brain.
“You don’t have to eat it,” it said again, waving a rotten lime in my terrified face. “But if you don’t, you’ll get scurvy!”
I screamed at this sudden new vocalization for that was the moment I knew I was being haunted by Captain Archibald Bloodygums, the ghastliest sea ghost ever to emerge from the Caribbean.
If I didn’t eat the wretched lime I would incur his wrath and my little yacht would surely sink, and me with it. If I did eat it, I would join his ghastly crew for all eternity.
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