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The Vessel
As I sit here in class today my mind wonders and takes me to different places, but there is one thing in common, I always travel in a majestic sea worthy vessel. In my mind this beauty with its three huge masts the middle being over 150ft tall, is a vessel worthy of taking on the toughest storm and sailing through the calmest days. The figure head is of Poseidon’s beautiful bull, the one who was given to the king of Crete. The deck is made of polished oak the hull is made of redwood. The cream colored sails contrast not only the oak decking but also the beautiful blue sky. The thing in real life must weigh over 5,000 pounds, but since we are in my imagination we can make it however large we want to. So you must be curious why this ship exits in my imagination. Well I can tell you that it takes me places all over the world and this is my book of adventures with my crew mates on my ship. Today my story starts in South-Carolina on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The sea is a crisp blue with waves gently rolling onto on the sandy beach as if it’s trying to escape its bowl. The ship creaked and groaned against the dock as it is trying to escape and go out to sea to find a new adventure. The morning sky was a mess of colors there was green, orange, yellow and gold. As I looked out on the horizon trying to find red but there seemed to be none. If you didn’t know there is an old folklore red sky in the morning sailors warning. But the sea seemed crisp and ready to sail. Oh yes then the beautiful vessel you know the one I described earlier, It was moored at the pier and ready to sail. So I should probably introduce my crew, my first mate Caleb he has an old shaggy beard that is so stiff any animal that would fly in would be eaten for supper. Then my first crew member is Jerry, he can make anything work even though it may not look pretty. Then my second crew member Arzack has a talent for making things that make life easier, he is the only reason we can run this massive vessel with only five people. Then the last but certainly not least is the cook and fisherman Bob, for the talent that he has is name is very simple. He can run six fishing poles on each side of the deck. Well, after that introduction’s we should set off. Our goal is to get to Europe in twenty days, well then we should get started. Sailing the seas is 10 percent doing stuff, and 80 percent sitting on the deck staring at the sky at the almost blinding stars. Then the other 10 percent is sitting on the deck missing land because all you see is ocean. Good news we made it to Spain in less than 14 days that must be a record. Well, any way it was a pretty good trip the waves were no problem and the wind was favorable. Our goal was while in Europe we are determined to retrieve our family’s treasure. As we approach the coastline, it is so beautiful there are barely words for it the shore is sheared off cliffs showing all of the different layers of rock. The beach sand is so white that it could be salt from the ocean. The waves are crashing up against the beach trying to escape its hole in the earth. This could be seen miles, and it was beyond describable. After that we got back in our boat and traveled around Spain into the Mediterranean Sea and the memories of my earlier adventures came flooding back like a gush of wind. Like the time I was pushed into the sea by an angry sailor who made himself look like a fool. Or the time when I was sailing by myself and I got hit in the head by the boom when it swung around, I was knocked unconscious for several hours. Well reviving my memories was not the goal of this journey, the goal was to reach Italy and find a family treasure that was lost long ago when the Athenians fought the Spartans. According to the family legend… Then all of a sudden I hear a voice from a distance, oh shoot it’s my English teacher
“Anderson is there something you want to say?’ asked my English teacher.
“Well no…”, I replied
“Well then pay attention next time I ask you a question.”, She declared.
I forgot to tell you that little detail this story actually takes place in my head in during English class while I escape boredom. So any way back to the family legend… It was lost long ago in the battle between the Spartans and the Athenians, but my family was on the losing side. Long ago had the Athenians a chest full of cloth and velvet but the prized possession the family crown. It was made a century before them by a local black smith it’s beauty was a sight to behold and during the war was sent to the Italian king in the town now named Naples for safe keeping. The crown body is made of Twenty-four karat gold implanted with a large peridotite and then all of the jewels surrounding it. The family legend says the cloth is made of the purest velvet, and smelled of to this day fresh strawberries. It was hidden in the basement of the palace to never be seen again by anyone. So that’s what we are searching for a hidden lost treasure that has not been found in centuries! Well we arrived in Italy and we started looking, well it can be many places we have a general idea of the location of the basement. Well, Naples is one of those places like New York it seems friendly in nature, but behind the scenes it has lots of dark secrets. I think any big city has its secrets. As we walked around the city asking questions, it soon caused us some unwanted attention. This was not so good. When suddenly out of nowhere, there was a bag over my head and I was knocked out, and again my mind went further into the past. Uh-oh there’s my English teacher again,
“ANDERSON!”, my English teacher exclaimed
“Oh sorry Ma’am.”, I Replied,
“That’s the second time today that you drifted off, do you want a detention?”, she asks
“No Ma’am.”, I say back
“Then Pay attention!”
But where was I, oh yes, English class. We are talking about Adjectives… I was young, a little headstrong and full of courage there was a sailor was making bad remarks about me and I reply to him saying,
“Are you taking about me!?”
He comes back with, “Oh just talking about how ugly you are”
“Oh is that so? Well your mama so ugly your daddy had to move across the Atlantic to get away from her.”
“You”, he replies. He charges and throws me over the railing and as soon as I hit the water I wake up alert and ready to fight, but discover I’m tied to a chair and my captors say,
“So you remember that time when you called my mom ugly? Well, now she’s here to set you straight.”
I reply to them “well, is that so you threw me in the ocean and I survived with the sharks. I think I can handle your mom”
Shocked he replies, “Oh yea forgot about that…well… what I can do for you?”
With a steady and clear voice I reply, “You can start by untying my bindings and then can you point my way to Hotel Tiempo?”
“Well Sure It’s just down the street to the right.”
“Thank you.” I reply with a firm voice.
My old crew member untied my bonds and led me out of the building on to the street. The city of Naples was calm, the air had a slight scent of fish and the ground beneath me made little crunching sounds as I walked across the cobble stones. I noticed the building’s all around me creaked and groaned, swaying a little in the wind. When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted at the door with,
“Do you have a reservation?”
I replied to him saying, “No we are here to recover the queens’ treasure.”
So slight introjection, you must be wondering why this crown is called the queens’ treasure. I can give you that answer, at the time it was delivered to the king the queen took the crown and wore it is a very rare circumstance, because the king is usually the one who wears a gold crown and a queen wears a sliver one. Because it was so unique, and beautiful many thieves tried to steal it but failed. This is how the crown became known as the queens treasure.
He says, “So you are the one who finally seeks the treasure of the crown, Follow me.”
We followed the man down through a series of locked doors into the basement and sitting there in the middle of the floor on a pedestal was a chest with the legendary crown.
“Pist, Carl” my friend whispers to me “the English teacher is asking you how to spell Accurate.”
“A-C-C-U-R-A-T-E.” I answered the teacher.
“Very good Carl I’m glad you are with us today” my teacher says back to me.
…Any way my crew and I pack-up the crown and sailed across the beautiful Atlantic to South Carolina. Where we had and appointment with the director of a museum, we reviled the crown to him and he marveled at its beauty.
"You actually found the legendary queens crown I can't believe it!"
"Yep and I donating it to the museum for a small fee." I reply to him
"What's you fee?" he asks
"Five-thousand dollars." I reply.
"No problem" He says to me "that barely anything for the queen's crown."
The crown stayed at the museum for the days to come and until the end of time.
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This was inspired by a writing prompt and this is what I came up with