The third night the pirate stays in the shadows of the back corner and manages to keep most of his water. The second night (the pirate guesses it is night) the pirate stands as close to the bars as he can and stares and the girl drops the bread nearly out of reach and spills the bowl of water almost entirely. Then she turns and scampers up the stairs. The girl brings a plate of bread and a bowl of water and sets them outside the pirate's cell with hands shaking so badly that half the water spills. (He is usually asleep.)Īpproximately three hours after the short guard replaces the reading guard, a girl comes. He pays elaborate amounts of attention to his shoes when he is not asleep. He wishes to be no one but himself, he lacks the imagination to conjure alter egos, even the imagination to empathize with the man behind the bars, the only other soul in the room beyond the mice. The pirate cannot discern the precise schedule, as the basement-dungeon has no clocks to mark the time and the sound of the waves on the shore beyond the stone walls muffles the morning chimes, the evening merriment. Wondering if the difference between pirates and thieves is a matter of boats and hats.Īfter a time he is replaced by another guard. The guard sits in a chair by the door and reads crime serials on faded paper, wishing he were an idealized, fictional version of himself. (The pirate realizes this but withholds comment.) The careful psychological design forgotten, distilled into habit and convenience.) No one remembers that now on the key side of the bars. Freedom kept in sight but out of reach, left as a reminder to the prisoner. (Close enough to see from behind the bars. Someone said to throw away the key, but the key rests on a tarnished ring on a hook that hangs on the wall nearby. The pirate was placed here for numerous acts of a piratey nature considered criminal enough for punishment by those non-pirates who decide such things. (The basement could rightly be considered a dungeon.)

(The pirate is a metaphor but also still a person.)

The starless sea genre