In this series, I will take the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com and craft a short piece of creative writing around it. My goal is to embrace the meaning of the word in some unique way, all the while trying out different styles, rhythms and characterizations. It is as much an exercise in creativity as it is an exploration of grammar. Enjoy!
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By Alex Seise
The old pirate dipped his long white beard in the chipped bowl filled with indigo dye. The frizzy fibers sucked up the deep blue color, quickly draining the vessel of its contents. All that remained was some foamy scum on its steep sides.
“Thar cawmin’ ep frahm theh souwth,” he yelled, inky blue rivulets running down his battle-scarred chest and onto his torn brown slacks. They stained the drawstring at the waist, but he couldn’t have cared any less.
“Theh Brit’ish, cap’n? Ohr theh Spana’rds?” The first mate stared into the distance, trying his best to spy sails. The horizon was unadulterated as far as he could see.
The captain whipped his head around. “Neith’r, yeh scurvy scall’p trap. An’ not theh nat’ves neith’r. Nah, theh sails I’ve seen with me own two eyes were frehm theh east. Theh far east.”
The mate opened his eyes wide, never having seen something so peregrine before in his life. Would the barbarians want to fight, or would they merely want to trade? No one actually traded with pirates, but the captain wasn’t afraid to lure strangers aboard the ship under false pretenses before turning them upside down and stripping them of coin and cloth.
“Let ’em cawm at meh.” He twisted his beard and spilled a trail of blue ink on the planks. “Them’ll rawn back home fearin’ for their lives after they’ve done meht Ol’ Cobalt Bristles, the most feared pirate in theh whole Indies.” He spat. “Leht ’em see for ’emselves.”
