“but capt’n d, how does one fight ghosts?” first mate roderigo asked, fear creeping slowly into his voice. demian thought he saw him shudder. “aren’t they transparent? won’t anything we throw at ‘em go right through ‘em?”

demian shook his head in exasperation. “don’t tell me you’re afraid of these things!” first mate roderigo remained silent. “we have an arsenal full of ammo!” he exclaimed brightly. “as does the sammamish squall.” he looked at lady whiskers who nodded her head in assent.

demian turned and called to his men again. “on my mark!” he held up a paw momentarily before dropping it. loud thunderous booms exploded from both ships. a shower of carrots and fish rained down onto the gray ghost ship, rocking it precariously as they landed everywhere, bouncing off its deck and hull. demian excitedly bounded over to the side of the carrot to get a better look at what was happening. “take that!” he shouted. and to the first mate, “you get their ship, good roderigo. even ghosts need a sound ship to sail the seas.”

a flurry of outraged ghost pirates emerged like whispers. they were scrambling on deck, fists pumping in the air, their mouths open in wordless shouts. demian and lady whiskers both shuddered at the sight of them.

“reload!” the first mate barked out the orders. “we gotta take them down before they have a chance to fight back.”

“i wonder,” lady whiskers said with a raised eyebrow, “i wonder why they didn’t come prepared to fight in the beginning if they were planning to attack us anyway. look at how they are scrambling!” there was amusement in her tone.

capt’d peered through his spyglass, a familiar face came into view. “wait a minute… i know who that is.” he grinned. “dame whiskey has come to play.”

stay tuned for next time’s installment

glorious sunsets and the

figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue

and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and

geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain

yes when I put the rose

in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a

red yes and how

he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and

then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked

me would I yes to

say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him

yes and drew him

down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his

heart was going like

mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.”                                – James Joyce

*  *  *

just then one of the carrot’s men shouted from atop his post in the crow’s nest. everyone turned to look up at him, but he was gesturing wildly in the opposite direction, where they directed their eyes to next. bursting forth from the horizona at astonishing speeds sailed a ship of gray with cold white sails. demian could hear lady whiskers give off a low and menacing hiss behind him.

“there’s no way we can outrun her,” scoofer muttered.

“no, nor should we!” demian declared bravely. with his head held high he started barking orders to his men in order to prepare for a clash. his heart was beating wildly for he was most excited, it would be a pawrate’s battle! “we must engage them, it would be cowardly to run!”

lady whiskers surveyed the comings and goings without a word, but at last nodded. “capt’n d is right. we are no cowards.”

“yahoo!” ookie tossed his plumed hat into the air and caught it again with a flourish. he and his brother turned on their heels to make way back to their ship, the sammamish squall but lady whiskers held an elegant paw up.

“i shall remain here, gentlemen. the carrot will take the lead, i trust you both know and understand how to follow her and capt’n d’s orders?”

the brothers saluted smartly. “yes, madame.” and with that they took a few quick leaps back. lady whiskers turned back to capt’n d who flashed her a dazzling smile.

the lady curtsied. “we are at your command, captain.”

“you shall not regret it,” he promised solemnly but with confidence for he had not lost a single battle yet.

stay tuned for next week’s installment… or maybe the week after depending

*  *  *

“lady whiskers,” demian bowed with a flourish, gesturing for her to continue.

“a Great Evil has taken over the high seas here. and i am here to see if i can make an ally out of you.” she looked at him expectantly. it was the kind of look that would not take no for an answer.

“Great Evil?” demian and first mate roderigo both asked simutaneously. demian gave the first mate a look and stepped closer to lady whiskers and her two companions. “but all we’re here for is adventure and fun. what sort of Great Evil could penetrate these high seas?”

“you are NOT taking me seriously, captain d.” she formed her words slowly, with emphasis. those dangerous looking green eyes narrowed into mere slits.

“well, perhaps you could explain better.” demian sighed, trying hard to be patient, but he itched to continue on his journey, he felt as if hours had already passed. he had his best friend to get back to, after all!

the larger of the two brothers, ookie stepped forward to offer an explanation. “you must pardon my lady whiskers, capt’n d. the matter is… most pressing and we had traveled far in a short amount of time in order to get to you. when we arrived here, on the high seas, we were immediately struck by the shadow of a rather large vessel. it had the look of an ancient maritime ship. but…” he paused and shuddered, “but though it was sailing fast towards us, sails unfurling, there was no one manning it.”

first mate roderigo and capt’n d glanced at each other, tingles shivering up their spines. “how could you be sure?” demian asked.

“they came close, even dropped anchor. my men and i, we all saw it. lady whiskers saw as well for she stood right at the helm. but again, there were no figure we could see that suggested anyone could execute those activities. we fled then as fast as we could. it was by chance that our man saw you in the distance. once we figured out it was you aboard the carrot, we made all haste to come over.”

scoofer spoke up next. “we are cats, capt’n. and as you know, we have an excellent sixth sense.”

first mate roderigo coughed a little nervously. “what are you trying say?”

“ghost pirates.” demian said flatly. “he’s suggesting ghost pirates.”

“yes,” lady whiskers nodded gracefully. she looked around directly into each member of the crew’s eyes, instilling fear amongst them and settling last of all upon demian. “of the very evilest sort.”

demian could feel his heart stop. and then drop. “curses!” he could not help but exclaim.

… stay tuned for next week’s installment!

one’s life is more formed, i sometimes think, by books rather than human beings: it is out of books one learns about love and pain at second hand. even if we have the happy chance to fall in love, it is because we have been conditioned by what we have read, and if i had never known love at all, perhaps it was because my father’s library had not contained the right books.

much food for thought.

*  *  *

capt’n d eyed the three felines standing before him and could not help but feel slightly outnumbered. there were the two handsome brothers, ookie and scoofer, black with long fur, white patches over their right eyes. they both flicked their tails delibrately in unison. then standing between them, looking resplendent in a long red cape, delicately licking her velvety gray and orange and white paws was lady whiskers.

she glided forward to where he and first mate roderigo stood, blazing green eyes smoldering at them. “you must be capt’n d the wanderer. and you must also be wondering why my men and i came so swiftly to seek you out.”

… stay tuned for next week’s installment!

my strengths lie here. in my words and in my character, which i strive to bring forth in my writing. for some of you, that’s all you really have to go on.

*  *  *

he had his nose turned up high in the air, sniffing enthusiastically while bobbing up and down on the high seas, the salty sea air punctuating all his senses. with first mate roderigo delegating tasks and handling the helm expertly, all capt’n d really had to do was tell him which way to go. straight seemed like the best course for now. as he closed his eyes to take in the glorious wind whipping through his mane of white fur, one of his men shouted from above. “ahoy!”

capt’n d looked in the direction of where the guy was pointing. another ship was heading straight towards them!

he trotted over quickly to where first mate roderigo stood and peered through the telescope that had been set up for a better look. three crisp sails flapped smartly in the wind with another one being hoisted up in the meantime. this flag was white with a bold and black paw print dashed smack dab in the middle, two bones crossing beneath it vigilantly.

another “ahoy!”

demian nosed the telescope to his right and from the horizon rose another ship, the same paw and bones flag flying tall and proud. “raise ours!” he barked out.

first mate roderigo was chuckling as he caught capt’n d’s eyes, brimming with excitement. the pawrates are convening!

… stay tuned for next week’s installment!

*  *  *

demian trembled slightly at the gruff sounding voice, so very unlike his best friend’s. he took a deep breath and conjured up his cutest puppy dog eyes just in case there was trouble; the very one that seemed to get him a treat and belly rub each time at home. he looked up to see the face of a man with a long, black mustache that flowed freely down to his chest peering back at him with curiosity.

“wot?” the man raised one bushy eyebrow, as dark in color as his imposing mustache. “don’t look at me like that! it’s not my fault that you’re late.” he then broke out into such a huge grin that demian felt an instant need to run into his arms and give him kisses all over his face.  the man laughed a deep belly rumble, stood and announced, “look whose here- captain’s arrived! where’re we off to today, capt’n d? your first mate roderigo and the rest of these scourges are at your service.” with that roderigo doffed his pirate hat at him with a flourish.

demian felt dozens of pairs of eyes turn towards him, stood up a little taller so as not to betray his confusion. he did a little circle and looked back at all the expectant men. his men, wanting for him to make a decision! now this was definitely a first. so he did what any proper pirate captain would do and took a deep breath, lifting his chin slightly to keep his pirate’s hat from slipping off his head.

“WOOF!” he barked out literally with as much command as he could muster. the pirates seemed to understand him, as they all scampered about the ship, hoisting the mast and unfurling the sails, excitement abuzz on the ship.  he then finished in a voice that surprised himself, “let’s just make sure i’m back home in time for dinner!”

“aye, aye capt’n d,” first mate roderigo saluted, “another right proper adventure before dinner, just the way we like it.”

… stay tuned for next week’s installment!

high school changed my life precisely for the friends and kindred spirits i found there. if i had followed all my supposed middle school friends to a very different high school, then i would be leading a very different life right now.  i go so far to imagine it to be devoid.  so i wanted to take a moment this morning to say that the most important people in my life to me other than my family are my friends. i have had incredible luck ever since that fated day at GHS when my high school career began. my advice for kids? make good friends. they will last you and affect you in ways you never can even imagine, for the best. and your life will be infinitely richer and fuller for it.