“Sorry,” Joel said.
“Open the door!” Keith suddenly yelled, rattling the doorjamb.
“Whoa, dude,” Ellis said, “he’s crazy!”
“Look, whoever you are, you need to go away,” Joel said loudly, “or I’ll call the cops!”
Keith calmed for a moment but his breath was coming hard. He knew he had blown it. Cursing under his breath, he turned to go, then returned to the door and threw his whole weight against it.
“Ellis, help!” Joel yelled, and the two boys were able to keep the door from pushing inward. In the struggle, Gribbett managed to get his face into the small crevice created by the straining door. Joel used his leverage to push into the mask, tearing it a bit. Grunting against the door, Joel said, “I’m not letting you in,” and tore off a bit of the mask the other boy was wearing, forcing Gribbett to recoil. The door slammed shut again on an angry and cursing Gribbett Keith.
“Hey, I think I know that guy,” Ellis said.
“Yeah, he did look familiar,” Joel agreed.
“You’ve got anger issues, dude!” Ellis called out.
Keith cursed again and kicked the door. After a moment, he strode away, furious. Turning down the hallway, he punched his cell phone angrily and growled, “It’s no use, Mister Scroggins, they won’t let me in!”
From not far away, Scroggins’s ragged voice sneered back, “Very well, looks like we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Stay where you are, I’ll let Coach know.”
“Is he gone?” Ellis asked.
“I don’t know,” Joel said. “Turn off the lights.”
“I found it,” Jasper said, coming back into the room with the map.
“Jasper, be quiet,” Joel ordered tensely, “and get down!”
“Where’s the pirate?” Jasper asked.
“Gone,” Ellis said, looking out the window and watching the boy with the torn mask scamper away into the night. “What do you suppose that was all about?”
“Joel, maybe we should just give him the map,” Jasper said nervously.
“Not like that, Jasper,” Joel said. “That dude was crazy and I wasn’t letting him inside!”
“Do you think we should call the cops?” Dreyfuss asked.
“I’m no fan of The Man, but the shorty might have a point, there have been those break-ins going on,” Ellis said.
“Pass me the phone,” Joel said, finally agreeing.
Just then, they heard the loud sound of glass shattering. “What was that?” Dreyfuss asked.
“It came from over there,” Ellis nodded.
“Ma’s room!” Joel said.
The boys froze as loud noises came from the room, the sounds of furniture being turned over and drawers flung open and tossed over the room.
“They’re tearing up the room!” Jasper cried.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Joel said. “Come on, bring the phone!”
Joel led the other boys to the front door of the flat, which suddenly shattered, and in flooded two more pirates, both tall and dressed like pirates of old, one as Blackbeard and the other as Long John Silver. These two were soon joined by two pirates emerging from Joel’s mother’s room, one dressed as Captain Hook and the other as Captain Kidd. All four wore detailed masks, and in addition to the fearsome swords they brandished, they were decked out in full resplendent pirate gear: kerchiefs, heavy overcoats, boots and sashes. Gribbett darted in the broken door, his ruined Captain Jack mask replaced over his face by a red kerchief.
“I thought we had an hour!” Dreyfuss said.
“Maybe pirates can’t tell time!” Jasper replied.
The five pirates closed in around the boys. The pirate dressed as Blackbeard spoke first. “We’re happy to leave the way we came,” he said,”but not without what you stole!” His voice was harsh but strangely familiar to Joel.
“It wasn’t stolen, we found it!” Jasper shot back.
“Did ye now, wee one?” Blackbeard grinned through his mask while focusing his glare on Jasper.
Joel stepped in front of Jasper. “Say, isn’t that my mom’s jewelry?” he asked, looking at Hook’s and Kidd’s hands.
“What if it is?” yet another pirate asked belligerently. Captain Hook had come in through the back window.
“You can’t do that! It’s stealing!” Joel retorted.
“Uh, Joel,” Ellis said, “he is a pirate!”
“Thank ye, matey,” Hook replied.
“That or a common thief!” Joel said, getting a bit angry.
“Idiot!” Blackbeard yelled, slapping the jewels from Captain Hook’s hands, “that’s not what we’re here for!”
“Agreed!” Gribbett called through his mask. “Where is the map?”
“And I told you before,” Joel stubbornly said, “there’s no map here for you!” Joel didn’t really know why he just didn’t give them the map and let them be on their way. But he was incensed about this break-in and stubbornly did not want to negotiate with the likes of these crude men. It probably wasn’t his smartest move, he admitted to himself, but then, he was still young and he didn’t think they would hurt him.
“He’s lying!” Gribbett retorted. “What’s that?” he pointed, looking at the edge of the map that Jasper held behind his back. Gribbet reached for it but Joel snatched Gribbett’s wrist firmly and wrenched it backward, forcing him into Long John Silver, who was standing directly behind.
“Run, y’all!” Joel said, delivering a well-measured kick to his left, at Blackbeard’s groin.
Ellis snatched up the still-warm pizza plate from the counter behind him and slammed it into Captain Kidd’s face. Jasper and Dreyfuss hit the floor and scrambled between Hook’s legs. Joel and Ellis met up with them on the other side of the fallen pirates and headed to the broken door, where they were met with a hurled pot and pan crashing against the door in front of them. Blackbeard used his superior weight to knock Jasper to the floor. Ellis and Dreyfuss found themselves cornered again by Hook and Kidd, who snatched them by the scruffs of their necks. Gribbett dashed over to pull the map from Jasper’s grasp. Joel slammed Gribbett in the back, thrusting the older boy forward, and Gribbett tripped over an in-the-way Long John Silver. The map went free. Jasper and Dreyfuss simultaneously leapt for it while Joel tried to keep Blackbeard from chasing after. Gribbett leapt atop Jasper and Dreyfuss and reached his hand down for the map that the two of them were clutching close to their bodies.
“Come
