While London Slept- Chapter 12

He was the only awake man on the street this side of the river Thames. Even the policemen stopped their rounds, some earlier than others to escape the rain. London was asleep for a short time back then, with the early risers getting up in two hours. Yet Father Kenneth couldn’t wait for the rain to stop. He was told so long ago to meet at a certain dock that morning, rain or not. He tried in vain to keep his entire body dry, but by the time he reached the dock, his pant cuffs and feet were soaked.

He was so worried about getting shelter, he had forgotten how majestic his old ship looked. The Jolly Roger swayed gently in the water, shaking off the rain like it was a huge dog. Its sails were neatly wrapped against the masts and twenty cannons contained by heavy wooden windows. There were a few men on the deck as Father Kenneth boarded the ship; three sweeping the deck with brushes and whatever soap was left, two more outside the door he was heading towards. He expected trouble as he reached it, but as they stopped him, all they said was: “You be early. Wait ‘ere.”

After a few minutes, the guards let him into the Captain’s quarters. Since he had been gone, it had gone into serious disrepair; it smelled of rotten fish and rust, and a film of dust and tarnish covered all the metal objects in the captain’s cabinets, including a particular hook meant for a big fish or a wrist.

“Sit down, Mr. Smee”

The dry call from the captain caught his attention. He was sitting there, gaunt and fierce with large fingers crossed in front of him on the ornate desk. There were maps strewn across the surface of the desk, weighed down by two compasses, one to see directions and another to draw them.

He took a seat opposite his younger captain. He was a boatswain to his father as well, and he alone knew how alike they were.

“How’s the mission going? Better yet, the ‘Pan’ boy. How are his studies going along?”

In a deep corner of Smee’s mind, he had been preparing the answers. In fact he sealed himself up in his room to prepare them.

“Very well, Captain. In fact, I broke him quite easily. I thought it would be harder, given the Latin I forced him to study at an early age-”

“I see,” Captain Hook interrupted, “So he’s at the orphanage, being kept there like a caged animal ready to be put down?”

Smee looked back at him with a new glint in his deep blue eyes; one with a smile.

“Yes, sir. Ready for you like a fatted pig.”

“That’s not what I think.”

What had gone into him? Was it the rotten smell?

“Captain, with all due respect, I think the smell in this cabin has clogged your senses. Might I open up a window…?”

“It’s not the smell, Smee!”

The captain got up from his seat, knocking it on its side and made Smee stand up in alarm, his smile fading slowly.

Captain Hook bent down and lifted a small chest onto the desk. It was squirming slightly, vibrating on the table.

“Explain THIS!”

Smee’s smile turned to utter confusion. “Captain, sir… I don’t- I don’t know what that is-”

“THIS,” the Captain began, his rugged finger pointed directly to the chest, “holds the boy’s shadow! Caught in the marketplace, near our little informant, not too far away from your little orphanage!”

Smee’s confusion got mixed up in a loss for words. The cold, conniving man was reduced to a bumbling idiot with one fowl contradiction.

“That means your STAR pupil is on the loose! And you thought you could get away with that alibi?! You are a LIAR!”

Smee took affront to that. “A liar?! Now, I’m anything BUT! The last time I saw him was at the orphanage.”

Captain Hook wasn’t convinced. “Did you check his bed before you left?”

Smee hadn’t thought of that.

“Smee, you didn’t think that maybe you could’ve brought him to me tonight and ended your job quicker?”

“Was that the actual plan, Captain?”

Captain Hook was staring wide-eyed at his incompetent boatswain. His anger reached the highest tolerance.

“That was absolutely the plan! He was supposed to be old enough to know who he was. I told you to bring him if you saw fit! You could have ended your façade tonight, and had enough time to make it back to Neverland for tea!”

The Captain set his chair back up and swept some dirt off his shoulders.

“But no matter. It is not all lost. We still have his shadow. And he’ll be weak-minded without it. Once he comes to retrieve it, he’ll finally be in our grasp with no other choice in the matter.”

He turned to his boatswain, who still shook in embarrassment.

“Go back to your flock and keep them in line, Father Smee. Never mind your failure, but we will be here every night until the deed is done. You are to be here every night as well. You are still responsible to find out where he is if you want to have a clean record again. Dismissed, Mr. Smee.”

Father Kenneth pushed his chair in and bade his captain farewell before he disappeared into the early morning.

If you were up during that hour, you would have seen a massive brig raise itself up into the early morning sky and be convinced that you were daydreaming again.