THE GRAND STORY OF THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE ADVENTURES OF BARON BRITPOP BLASTFURNACE

Explaining My Plight

Baron Britpop Blastfurnace • Part 9

Cover design by Mark Starlin (royalty-free image by Andrey_Kuzmin)

Explaining My Plight

Once we were onboard The Jellyfish and out of view of the Sea Merchant II, Captain Peanut Butter retired to his cabin without saying a word. His first mate, a man with unusually large muscles and a scar that ran the length of his left cheek, walked up to us and abruptly asked, “Are you sailors?”

“I am a blacksmith, and Andelbert is a baker,” I replied.

“I thought as much. You are worthless to me. But you paid to be part of the crew, and you will be. You’ll be swabbin’ the deck and helping the cook. I got no use for layabouts. And we got a sturdy plank we ain’t used in a while.”

Then he smiled an unnerving smile and walked away. I instantly began to second guess my decision.

Andelbert broke my train of thought by saying, “Don’t lose hope. I watched the men working on the Sea Merchant II closely, and I am confident I can do several of their jobs. I will teach you. But for now, let’s begin swabbing the deck.”

So we swabbed the deck vigorously. The threat of a short walk into a vast ocean is a surprisingly powerful…