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WALTER THE DREAMER AND THE PIRATES

 

BY

 

Melissa Kesead

 

 

 

 

Walter went to bed feeling hurt and confused.  His parents were fighting again. He lay down on the top bunk of his bed and fell into a deep and troubled sleep, and then he began to dream. He dreamt that a pirate ship was attacking a cargo ship bound for England. The pirates had just begun to board The Persephone when the Captain yelled out, “Walter! Where’s Walter.”

 

“Here I am,” Walter shouted as he stood up in his bed, brandishing an invisible sword. He stepped to the right and fell off his bed and landed THUMP on the pirate ship, right on top of Greenbeard, their captain.

 

The pirates became so confused that the men of the Persephone boarded easily, capturing half of the pirate crew. But when the pirate prisoners were safely aboard the English ship, Captain Greenbeard scrambled out from underneath Walter and cut the lines that held the two ships together. The Raven sailed away and the crew of the Persephone cheered for their victory.  But what of Walter, the one who made their escape possible? He was still aboard the pirate ship and being held prisoner.

 

“You will walk the plank for what you have done Walter,” Greenbeard bellowed.

 

“No, please, I beg you,” he cried.

 

“Walk.” He was pushed farther along the wooden plank. When he reached the end he could see the sharks waiting impatiently for his visit.

 

“Please Captain. Please have mercy.”

 

“Off you go, my boy,” was all he said, and pushed.

 

“No!” Walter screamed as he fell toward certain death. But instead of the bite of a hungry shark, Walter felt the slight cushion of his bedroom carpet under him.

 

“Walter. Walter,” his father said as he gently shook him.

 

“Honey, what is it? What happened?” his mother cried.

 

Walter looked down at his wet pajamas and the shark tooth in his hand and smiled. “Oh, it was just a dream.”

 

THE END