On Maps and Madness

I suppose that day will always be remembered as the day that Lady Annabel ran away from her life of luxury and apparent riches, leaving all behind to join up with a band of pirates to sail the seas of Lemuria. What complete and utter madness had overtaken such a mild mannered and docile female, one who had always listened and followed the words of her father and husband. Some say it was an illness that she contracted that invaded her mind; others whispered that she had been seen hiding in laneways following the band of reprobates who constantly trailed after a certain Capt Ebony Wilder. Well whatever the explanation, Lady Annabel had passed the point of no return. She had cast her lot in with those who existed on the edge of common decency and civilization. There was no turning back now.

Thank Goddess for that, I thought to myself as I fell onto a wooden board that was to serve as my bed for that night and all the nights that lay ahead in this new life that for once I had chosen, and not being decided on for me. Now this is freedom I said aloud to the table and curtainless porthole that looked out onto a moonlit sea.

Rising early the next morning I was greeted by the sight of the remnants of the previous nights revelries. Bottles and bodies littered the entire deck. But then the Captain herself emerged and letting a loud roar she bellowed to all present to get up off their —– and start to prepare to sail. So it was true then that we were all about to begin our new voyage of discovery. Tentatively I approached her, preparing to ask her for some details about this lost civilization for which we were supposedly seeking. Looking me in the eye, without even a flicker of movement in her gaze, she held me there spellbound for who knows how long. Then she smiled and handed me a bottle which looked curiously like the one I had tossed into the sea just before I boarded the Calabar. When she moved on and left my side I opened the bottle and emptied it of its contents, which unsurprisingly had been metamorphosed into a map , upon which was written the words, ‘’Herein lies the secret divulged, shewing the heretofore hidden pathways to a realm of freedom, creativity and happiness. ‘’ Then written in the daintiest handwriting off to the side in a corner of the map were the words dedicating this particular document to a certain Lady Annabel deemed worthy of the treasures should she manage to find them. Looking up after the Captain I caught her eye briefly as she turned to glance my way again, smiling for a moment before she turned aside to yell out more orders. And so, pushing the map into my trouser band, I jumped into action as we all prepared to set sail.

Soul Sister