The cat love a hat

This story happened just this week so I thought I'd tell you all about it.
These has been a ginger cat hanging round the dock for a while now. I thought he liked Dixie but of course she was far too busy as First Mate to look at him twice. Anyway the other day I came back from working at the library and my pirate hat was sitting on the dock next to my ship The Heron. I paused and flipped it over with my foot, expecting that Dixie had trapped a rat under it, but there was nothing. Frowning I called to Dixie but got no answer, that was strange as well as Dixie always greets me when I return, usually to ask where supper is. I picked up my hat and started to walk up the plank to board The Heron when the ginger cat rushed off the ship and grabbed my hat off me as he passed. He ran down the dock with my hat in his mouth when Dixie appeared from nowhere and tackled the ginger cat to the ground, snatching my hat from him she ran back up to me, handing back my hat. We both stared at the ginger cat until he was well away from the dock.
It seems as if this strange cat was after my hat all along. I have to lock my hat away now when I am not wearing it. Dixie is out right now trying to find out where this cat is and who he is working for. We may have a new adventure facing the ginger cat and his master.

The Kitchen

I have told you a little about my dad but hardly anything about my mother. She is not a pirate but she grew up with them. My mothers family have always owned a pub called The Kitchen and generations of children grew up playing under the bar and listening to the pirate stories of Adventure and danger.
When my mother was older she joined my grandma serving and working the bar that's where she met my dad. My dad loved The Kitchen pub and would always love his father telling the crew "our next Adventure is  to The Kitchen" so when he would ask my mother to sail off with him he was serious, but my mother would smile and serve another customer.
One day my grandma sat my mother down and said "Fran, you cannot live your whole life in this pub, you need to go out in the world and see it".
By this time my dad had his own ship and named it Kitchen Adventure in the hopes my mother would go from one kitchen to another, he was over joyed when she said yes.
My mother told me that she finally said yes as my dad was the first one to ask her after she had decided to travel, but I think she always saw that my dad was the toughest, bravest pirate in the whole sea and he would show her a real adventure, and he did.

Into the Cave

Once I heard the scream every part of me wanted to run away, but I was surrounded by pirates and if I wanted to be one of them I needed to hold my nerve. The three women with me all reached for their weapons, each has a different sword. I had a small pistol which had belonged to my mother, I held onto it with both hands and I got courage from it. The others were feeling braver too and together we moved into the cave.
A few steps inside was the pirate who screamed, we checked her and she was alive but out cold, I was told to stay with her and to firs my gun if I spotted any of the Sirens. I sat for some time with only the light from outside for company, suddenly the pirate I was watching started to wake up.
"Are you alright?" I asked
she nodded and looked at me with frown "Where am I?" she asked
"Your safe, the others will kill the Sirens and return soon"
"Siren" she corrected "there is only one"
"are you sure?" I demanded, her features changed into an old woman's as she reached out to touch me. I pulled back and fired my gun, I was pushed backwards by the explosion and landed with a thud outside the cave. Minutes later the other pirates joined me asking what I had seen. I told them and they were worried for their crew mate. As they talked about what they would do next, their words sounded like they were getting further away and I felt like I was falling into a very deep hole.
I was out cold for two weeks in all, I missed the others finding the dead Siren, my shot had killed it and I missed my dad's crew killing a baby Kraken that the Siren had been raising as her own child. My dad missed that fight too as he sat by my bunk day and night to chase off Davy Jones if he tried to take me away.
When I woke I was home with my mother and brother and they were all happy to see me. My mother took another two years before she let me go out on KAS again. I only have one thing to remind me of that day and that is a white streak in my hair where the Siren touched me. I keep it as a proud mark of my first fight with a monster.

Sirens

The first time I went on an adventure that involved a sea monster I was 13. My parents had 2 ships then, one for living on and one for working, my dad called it insurance, if the ship was lost during a battle at least his family and home was still safe. My dad's ship was named Kitchen Adventure, this was like another famous Pirate ship, Adventure Galley as a galley is also the name of a ships kitchen and also a tribute to my mother who worked in a pub kitchen when my dad met her, but that was another tale.
I was so excited to be setting sail on KAS (Kitchen Adventure Ship) that I hardly slept the night before, I could hear my dad being told all the things he could and couldn't do by my mother. I smiled as I pictured him nodding away while secretly planning to ignore everything my mother said. As soon as we set sail my dad called me into his quarters and there was the four female crew that had been waiting for us.
"we are going to fight a great monster this time" he said "but we need all your help to get there" he looked at me and smiled. "this monster is guarded by creatures known as Siren's, do you know what they are Sailboat?"
It was the first time he had used my pirate name and I was so happy I nearly missed the question "they call to ships singing or just saying nice things to lure them onto the rocks, legend said they use magic to make themselves look beautiful and really they are ugly"
Dad nodded "correct, women are not effected by this charm so I need you five to go ahead and get rid of the Sirens before we follow to take out the monster"
"Sir, why not just block the men's ears?" one of the women asked
"as they will still be able to see the illusion, I can't trust myself under magic and I have a beatiful woman at home, so I can't trust the crew not to fall for the magic"
the woman nodded "get some rest we'll set you with maps and supplies tomorrow and Sailboat?"
"yes dad, I mean Captain"
"you will be navigating so try and read up on your studies ok"
"yes, sir"
I was really excited to be going on a raid against a real monster but I fell asleep quickly as the sea air drifted round my bunk.
Next day we set off in a small boat with KAS anchored well away from the Siren's. It took us 2 days to find where the Sirens were hiding and as we approached I was very scarred. The lead pirate told us to wait as she scouted the entrance, moments later she screamed.
Please come back next week for more on my Sirens tale.

Pirate Traits

All pirates need a gimic, that is one thing that makes them stand out, back in the high pirate seas a pirate Captain called Blackbeard would put cannon fuses into his beard and light them. When faced with a Captain like that you would hand over your ship without drawing a sword. Now in my parents day it wasn't about scaring people, it was about getting your crew to stay and work for you. My father was Reliant Red, he was a great man who helped anyone he could. He made a living from chasing sea monsters for fishermen, there was money in that and he learnt pretty quickly that monster's hate Red. So thats all he wore and that bought in money and kept his crew working.
I don't have a crew, well except first mate Dixie and I don't rob ships so finding a gimic was hard. My red sails showed who my father was and bought me respect from other ships so that wasn't it. It took me years to find it and I have already mentioned what it is, can you guess?
My cat was my unique pirate thing, no pirate in history was know for a cat as first mate and it is very useful in fighting monsters to have a friend so small and quiet