The Captain

The captain cleared the tangled cords from his eyes and swung them over his shoulder like lengths of filthy rope. He turned into the wind and felt the vessel pitch to starboard.

“Damn ballast,” he muttered. The crew had been careless with the cargo again.

He had a mind to take these landlubbers out to sea – orders be damned! – and leave ‘em stranded on some salty rock, but that just wouldn’t do; they had a schedule to keep.

One came up now, greener than seaweed, and nearly swooned.

“Hey mister,” he said. “Can you stop the bus? I think I’m gonna hurl.”

This is my response to this week’s Friday Fictioneers prompt. Usually I’d say “hosted, as always, by Madison Woods” — but as of this week “as always” no longer applies; Madison is moving on, and leaving the Fictioneers in the capable hands of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.

A big thank you to Madison for hosting for all this time, and for all the hard work that goes along with it! (Thanks also to Ron Pruitt for providing a photo so apt for a departure).

The Captain was originally going to be a character in my Real Life Characters series, but he just never made it in. However, if you’re interested, I think some of those stories flew under the radar — especially Albino Black Cowboy and The Mirror Lady — and I’d love it if you’d check those out and let me know what you think.

Hit me with your comments and criticism for this story, however, just below. Happy weekend everyone!