Greetings everyone, I'm sorry that I haven't written of late. Turns out raising children is a rather difficult task. Yes, I speak of the little ones mentioned in my last entry.

It is the craziest thing. Little Sam seems to be obsessed with fire! Every time you turn around, the boy has some candle (always lit) or a stick from Greasy's fire place, or some other thing he has lit on fire. All in all though, Sam is a really nice kid, he just has this thing with fire.

We have already corrupted Steven (even though we weren't trying to). The little tyke marches around on deck with a phoney eye patch (no one seems to know where he got it) saying things like "shiver me timbers, a storms' a-brewin", or "ship ahoy matey, but i can't see what colors she is a-flying" (even though the horizen is clear), or in speaking to the crew doing their various duties, "work harder you filthy lubbers, or i'll have your guts for garters" (making me wonder if he even understands what he is saying). In order to keep him from playing with real weapons, we were forced to make him a little wooden cutlass and dagger which he brandishes at us at every possible oportunity.

Sasha is, by far, the best out of the lot. She is so sweet and helpful, she also assists in keeping her little brothers in line (very helpful indeed). But she has taked to hanging aroung the galley and assisting Greasy make food, and she must have some magic up her sleeve because the food tastes wonderful now. (not that I'm saying that greasy can't cook, because she can, but the food has really improved.)

well, suffice it to say that in all of this, Mandy, Myself and the rest of the crew come out as the villians because we have to do the tough things (like making the boys bathe, ah they can smell! or putting them to bed when they would rather stay up late). But they still love us, and are truly attached to us. I've been debating with myself whether keeping them aboard was the right thing to do. Surely our life is not a good one necessarily, but it may be better than the alternative (leaving the children in a town to fend for themselves...).

oh, well, I suppose I shall think on this later, as it is getting late and I no longer have any candles to use (Sam has taken them all and hidden them who knows where) so I will be going.

~Striker

Today has been a bad day. Yesterday was a bad day. The day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that (and on and on) have all been bad days. Today was bad becuase the children are making me sick.

Yes, I said children. I swear I'm getting soft in my old age! Either I'm getting soft, or I am just a lousy pirate. See, we saw the children, the little lass (Sasha is nine) and the little lads (Stephen is seven and Sam is only five) floating in a small boat early one morning. Some of the girls aboard the Vagabond (namely Bloody Ethel but some agreed with her) wanted to leave the children afloat, but I could not stand the thought of leaving them to die. So we pulled them  aboard our boat and fed them and gave them a place to sleep. Poor little things, they were so terrified. Imagine what they must have thought after being rescued from the boat only to be pulled up on the deck of the ship occupied by tatooed girls!

Anyway, after a nap and some more food, and our reassurance that we would not 'eat them for supper' they became quite talkative and proceeded to tell us all about their troubles. Seems they had been on a ship crossing over from England and had struck a reef. the boat had sunk they being the only ones to survive. Naturally, I felt truly sorry for the little ones, seeing as they had lost both their parents all in the same day. I decided to keep them aboard until we hit a harbor (I have connections who would be willing to take care of them). Well that decision may not have been the best one.

The little buggers were up before the sun the next day, and woke half the crew along with themselves. Sasha was so sweet and wanted to help make breakfast, so I let her, but the boys....well let's just say that I spent the better part of the day chasing the boys down, making sure they didn't fall into the ocean, fall from the mast, tickle the helmsman, or stab each other with swords. It was a very long day. And that is the way the last two weeks have gone. Each day I assign one of my sailors to keep an eye on the boys (but the boys always manage to cause trouble anyway) and try to keep them occupied. Fortunately for us, we discovered that Sam and Stephen are very excited about learning to become pirates (they even wanted us to make them eye patches which Mandy was only too happy to do for them) so we have found a way to keep them under control.

Well, I'd best be going, I have a frightful headache and Sam is playing with one of the candles in my cabin, and I'm afraid that he is going to light my bed afire!

SAM, PUT DOWN THE CANDLE!!!!!!

~Striker