26 @StoryADayMay #SampleSunday The Price of a Boa

shortstorymonthx240On this, the final Sunday of Story A Day in May, we visit the childhood of the fictional Holly Jahangiri of Llannonn.

Holly appears in the short stories “By the Book” and “The Pratty Who Saved Christmuss.” The planet Llannonn also appears in FORCE OF HABIT.

Ted Mark Crim is colorful fellow of the good-with-weapons sort, co-author of The Shandahar Chronicles.

The real Holly Jahangiri can be found looking at the world from a fresh perspective.

The Price of a Boa

by Marian Allen

Juvenile Holly Jahangiri sincerely regretted hiding from her mother. If she ever got home safely, she promised herself, she would apologize and would accept any penance her mother imposed.

All she had wanted was another five minutes looking at the ships in Deep Blue Sea Harbor. Their home, Zilla Village in Meadow of Flowers Province, was inland, and they seldom visited the seaside. The sea called to Holly. Sometimes she toyed with the notion of leaving her birth demographic of Rural and joining a Wandering Tribe, perhaps one of those who went down to the sea in ships.

Now Holly was in trouble – deep water trouble! She had hidden aboard one of the ships, had fallen asleep in a lifeboat, and now she was a stowaway.

And not just any ship. A peek at the flagstaff showed the black banner with the white skull that marked the ship as a pirate vessel. If the pink bow had been on the side of the skull’s dome, Holly would have been somewhat comforted by knowing the captain was a woman, but the bow was at the skull’s throat; the captain was a man.

Oh, well, nothing to do but face the music. She crawled out of the lifeboat onto the apparently empty deck.

A heavy hand clamped onto her head and turned her around.

The hand released her.

Before her, stood the most terrifying sight of her young life: a man of heavy muscularity, in a three-cornered hat covered with bits of things. He wore a trim beard, a white blouse with puffy sleeves, a plaid skirt, knee socks, and shoes with buckles. Only two kinds of men dressed like that: men who liked to dress like Naughty Schoolgirls, and men who were very, very, very, very, good with weapons.

“Aye, look yer fill,” he said gruffly. “Captain Tedmark Crimm is who ye’r lookin’ at. And who am I lookin’ at?”

The dread pirate Tedmark Crimm! Of all the ships in all the world, she had to stow away aboard his! “J-juvenile Holly Jahangiri. I didn’t mean to steal a ride. I’m terribly sorry. I only wanted to see more of the ship.”

“That you will, Stowaway Holly Jahangiri, that you will.” He roared an order, and men and women in all manner of colorful costume swarmed around. “This is Stowaway Holly Jahangiri,” Captain Tedmark Crimm said. “Put her to work.”

And they did. They took away her Rural tunic and sash and gave her bell-bottomed trousers and a shirt of horizontal blue and white stripes. They taught her to swab the decks, trim the sails, batten the hatches, and weigh the anchor (it was very heavy).

One day, when she was in the hold, checking to make sure the pesky water sliders weren’t into the ship’s stores, she heard a tell-tale pop.

It was a sound the pirates mimicked for her often, sometimes with glee at frightening her, sometimes in deadly earnest. It was the sound, they told her, of a basehart poking a hole in a hull.

Baseharts usually lived 20,000 leagues under the sea, but sometimes, in what the sailors imagined was a coming-of-age ritual, one would surface and poke a hole in a ship for no apparent reason.

Holly ran toward the sound – and the sound of water hitting the deck – and found the hole. Seawater squirted in at an alarming rate, right onto the seabiscuits! If she ran to report, everyone’s favorite food would be ruined!

She called for help as loudly as she could and did the only thing possible. She stuck her thumb into the hole, plugging it. Again and again, she called for help, but no one could hear. Surely, her absence would be noticed! But no; everyone would assume she was working somewhere else. How long would it be? How long must she stand here like a living cork?

They came looking for her when she missed a meal.

The ship’s carpenter plugged the hole and the ship’s healer bandaged her swollen thumb.

As the healer put her gear away, the doorway darkened, filled with the sinister figure of Captain Crimm.

“Saved me ship, did you?”

“Saved the biscuits,” she answered.

He laughed, white teeth gleaming. He gestured for her to follow him on deck. There, he said to her, but loud enough for the crew to hear, “We’ve taken a vote. We’re making port at full speed. Back to Deep Blue Sea Harbor, where I think there’ll be someone waiting for you.”

“Mother!” Holly tried not to cry, but she was a very young pirate, and the fun had worn off. The fun had worn off half-way through swabbing the first deck.

Captain Crimm, Holly learned, had sent word by carrier seagull back to port as soon as she had been discovered. He was ruthless, but he didn’t want anybody’s mother to worry.

When Reformed Pirate Holly Jahangiri saw her mother standing on the dock, waving both arms and smiling and crying at once, it was all she could do not to jump in and swim to her.

Their embrace would have called for a swelling of violins, had there been an orchestra nearby.

“And,” Captain Crimm growled, “with yer mother’s permission, I present you with this.” He snapped his fingers and the ship’s quartermaster handed him something from the ship’s treasury.

It was a purple feather boa. A feather boa! Sign among her people that the wearer had accomplished something that made them a valuable member of society!

Holly’s mother nodded, beaming with pride.

“Wear it in good health,” said the captain. He touched two finger to the brim of his hat and hurried back aboard his ship, before the manly tears could fall.

And so, Juvenile Holly Jahangir earned her purple feather boa and the respect of her people. And put her new skills into practice by mopping the floor every seventh day for a season, as restitution for the worry she’d caused her mother.

It was, she thought, worth it.

~ * ~

MY PROMPT FOR TODAY: Is that a purple feather boa in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “26 @StoryADayMay #SampleSunday The Price of a Boa

  1. Jane

    May 26, 2013 at 8:18am

    Thanks so much for my Sunday morning riot-laugh!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Holly Jahangiri

    May 26, 2013 at 10:20am

    AWESOME!! You even had ME in tears – tears of joy, of relief, of laughter – funny how well this parallels real life. Sort of. Thank you, thank you – another amazing little story in the saga of my alternate life. I love it, and you.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 26, 2013 at 12:47pm

      Now, you KNEW nothing bad was going to happy to Little Holly! I’m glad you enjoyed it. You’re still my favorite character, but don’t tell Bud.

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    • Holly Jahangiri

      May 26, 2013 at 2:37pm

      Oh, I trust you completely, Marian – that doesn’t mean there weren’t some moments of great suspense! (After all, I didn’t know Tedmark Crim before today, so you never know – could’ve made me walk the plank to be carried home in the belly of a shark, or rescued by merfolk, or – well, one just never knows.)

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      • Author

        Marian Allen

        May 26, 2013 at 9:07pm

        Holly, if you knew Ted Mark Crim, you would have been VERY worried! lol!

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  3. Christine Campbell

    May 26, 2013 at 12:05pm

    Nice one, Marian. I always think the mark of a good kids’ story is that it should appeal to the adults who end up reading it to the kids. This one does. Delightful! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
    Christine
    cicampbellblog.wordpress.com

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 26, 2013 at 9:09pm

      Hi, Jen! The Holly stories weren’t written as children’s stories, but you and Chris are right: this one WOULD be fun as a picture book. Maybe I can pitch it to my publisher that way. 😀

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  4. Kiril Kundurazieff

    May 27, 2013 at 12:18am

    Loved it!

    The end was a bit of a surprise as I expected the pirates to keep her around longer and not be such softies. 😀

    Nikita has posted his own Day 26:Milk, it Does an Old Kitty Good

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 27, 2013 at 6:57am

      Ah but these are pirates on the planet Llannonn, where courtesy is king. 😉

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  5. Pete Laberge

    May 27, 2013 at 11:03pm

    Everyone wants a good feather boa!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 28, 2013 at 10:02am

      Well, o’ course they do! 🙂 The real Holly Jahangiri has made her purple feather boa a trademark of sorts, so naturally the fictional Holly Jahangiri has to have one, too. 🙂

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      • PeteLaberge

        May 28, 2013 at 9:42pm

        Some women look good in a feather boa. Like Holly. Being a guy, they won’t let me wear one. Lesley and Noella would say I look silly, and another lady I know would steal it. Heck, she’d look so fantastic, I’d give it to her, if I had a boa!

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        • Author

          Marian Allen

          May 29, 2013 at 7:21am

          Aw, Pete, that’s just sad! You need to get his and her feather boas for you and your friend, and never mind what people say. ha!

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  6. Pete Laberge

    May 29, 2013 at 3:05pm

    I like the idea of his and her boas. That works for Lesley or Noella. (Long story there, 37 years roughly, not kinky, all above boards, all legal.)

    But the other lady…. hummmm. She’d still want the boa. And get it. And deserve it.

    I wonder if my friends Dan and Ron would like to go boa-ing together? We’d be like the 3 musketeers.

    The League of Boa Wearing Gentlemen.

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  7. Pete Laberge

    May 29, 2013 at 6:53pm

    Well….

    I’d have to go watch a certain movie.
    And even then…. Sean Connery would get mad at me!

    Maybe I let a professional writer like you do it.

    I could be the UBER evil genius who wants to take over the world, and is foiled by the Boaists!

    Needless to say, my Boa is Royal Blue.

    I’m sorta like Brain in Pinky & the Brain. Oh, hella, I’m actually a Pinky…

    There, you twisted the confession out of me, you cruel person. Gloat. Gloat while you can. But soon, I will take over the world. And then, I’ll give you a nice purple, white, and silver boa!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 29, 2013 at 6:58pm

      Weirdly enough, my #3 stepdaughter gave me a white, purple, and silver scarf for mother’s day! ~cue the theme from The Twilight Zone~

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      • Pete Laberge

        May 29, 2013 at 7:57pm

        Well, I’m not Rod Serling, if you were worried!
        PML

        Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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