This one came to me from out of the surreal timelines where many heave their lives to be more...

“You dirty rotten scoundrel you.”
“Who me?”
“Yes you.”
“That’s a terrible lot of terrible you have there.”
“I’ve been saving it up for someone I don’t like.”
“Well give me fair warning next time.”
“Right oh.”

“CQ calling, CQ calling.”
“Who’s that calling?”
“It’s me, CQ, on the wireless.”
“What do you want?”
“How about a chat?”
“What about?”
“Don’t know yet, not woken up.”
“Let me know when you do, or not.”
“Oh, I remember now: Zen and the captain are in Bangkok.”
“What are they doing there?”
“They were rowing to Australia with the gang when the boat sank and so they all swam for it and Bangkok was closest.”
“Well done CQ. Keep me informed.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir, CQ over and out.

“Now what cap’n?” said Zen pulling seaweed out of her hair and raising her arms up high.
“Arr, I been thinking ‘bout that, an what we need is a boat is what,” said the captain squeezing water from his hat and looking around for a boat.
“You know cap’n, I think it was that dirty rotten scoundrel we picked up that was the cause of all this,” said Zen steaming in the hot sun.
“Arr, ye could be right lass, ye could be right.”

The dirty rotten scoundrel was moving backwards pursued by two men waving sticks and shouting in Thai.
“I was just looking is all,” said the scoundrel with his hands up before his face.
“You get out of here before we call the police, we know what you were doing,” said one of the Thai men in Thai.
The scoundrel turned and fled into the crowd with his bad face and towered over the smaller Thai’s and so stood out like a broad bean in a bowl of black eyed peas.
.....
“Look cap’n, there he is, the dirty rotten scoundrel,” said Zen pointing.
“Arr, that be him,” said the captain looking in the direction Zen was pointing.
“Let’s go beat him up,” said Zen bursting for a fight.
“Let him be, we’ve got better things to do,” said the captain eyeing a boat with a mast rocking gently in the harbour.
“But cap’n...” began Zen, her fists balled up and looking furiously at the scoundrel.
The captain took Zen by the arm and moved her off to go see the boat with Zen squawking all the way.

She was a beauty and looked to be as fast as the wind as she rode the swell and pulled at her ropes that bound her to the jetty.
Sleek, fast, unguarded and could only belong to one of the elite and so in the captain’s eyes ripe for the picking.
The captain stared at her with his eyes gleaming, still holding Zen and appearing as a couple out for a stroll.
“That’s a big boat,” said Zen looking over the length of the sixty footer before her.
“We’ll need the gang to crew her,” said the captain beginning to put a plan together.
“They’ll be in one of the grog houses and pickled up to the gills,” said Zen leaning into the captain’s embrace.
“We’ll come back after dark,” said the captain and took Zen off to search for the gang.

“CQ calling, CQ calling.”
“What’s the news?”
“Word has come in that the captain and Zen are back in business,” said CQ on her wireless.
“What’s their progress?”
“They’re doing the rounds of the grog houses in search of the gang.”
“Good, excellent news, carry on.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir, CQ over and out.”

In the tavern the gang were pickled up to the gills with the dirty rotten scoundrel in the middle of them and roaring drunk to boot and were having as good a time of it as they could ever remember but seeing as they could only remember the last few moments maybe that’s not saying much. Into this barrage of noise and commotion walked the captain with Zen trailing not far behind. She had a gun in her belt, her bag over her shoulder and a far away look in her eyes....

End of part one

Images from Pixabay