One of my Alter-Ego’s’ ‘Gratitude List’

Being a writer, I  create characters, some of which take on a life of their own.  One of those is my Pirate self, One-Eyed Red.  She is a ship’s cook and doctor on board the pirate ship Calabar Felonway on the seas of Lemuria.

 

Lemuria is part of an amazing Creatives Site that has a worldwide membership and readership, called Soul Food Cafe ( Pythian Games, soulfoodcafe : Soul Food Cafe, Pythian Games, Priscilla’s World Tour ,The Calabar – Pirate Ship ) any of these should guide you to the alluvial flats of Soul Food Cafe, where you can meet writers, artists, artisans of all types, and many other creative folks as well as see what they create.

 

One-Eyed Red is a Pirate’s Pirate, her face is always red, from both the wind and the heat of her belowdecks cookstove.  It is her duty to care for the Pirate Crew’s bellies and health: a job she takes seriously and does as best she can.  You can count on her for a pipe and a chat whether you’re above or belowdecks, she will be utterly honest, yet she displays kindness on a daily basis.

 
“Now then, is yon ladie finished singing praises like one o’ them wee yellow canaries?”  Red fills her pipe deftly, and lights it with a long sliver of wood, alight from the stove’s flames.

 

“She is like that, she is, allus ready t’ see th’ good in other, and share the good wi’ anyone that’ll listen to her.”  She pulls in a few fagrant puffs and lifts her feet to rest on a small keg.

 

“I canna complain, she did gi’ me a voice, and a life.  And she is a right good un’, fer a landlubber.”  Red winks around the smoke from her pipe.  The heat and steam in her kitchem have her hair escaping from its’ tight braid in a corona of ringlets around her solemn, chunky face.  She flips up the patch on her left eye and rubs the eye  underneath before fanning it for a monment, the skin beneath a startkling white in contrast to her sun and wind-burned face.

 

“Noo, I asked her tae let me tell ye good folks what I am grateful for in me Pirate life.

Fairst, I am grateful for the faith that keeps me strong an. happy.

I am exceeding grateful for me Mum an’ Da for bringin’ me intae the world, an’ welcoming me as well.

I am thankful every day for bein given the freedom tae be who I is, nae what others would want me tae be.

I love music and thank the Gods every day fer th’ joy of it.

I am grateful that I am still able to sail on the Calabar, an’ do me job well.

I am humbled an’ exalted that I am gifted wi’ the friends I am blessed with.

The Sun, Moon, an’ stars that guide me across the sweet waters of the Lemurian seas.

Th’ seasons an’ elements, for their gift of life an’ kmowing that everythin’ that hae been, will be again.

Laughter, for ’twill chase away almost any megrim what might be weighing yer spirit doon.

An’ I am grateful fer all th’ gifts o’ our world, an’ all th’ wonder o’ th’world as well.”

 

Red leans forward and tamps her pipe into the cookstove and stands, immediately matching the rhythm of the waves against the hull.

 

“Noo laddies, I must be gettin back to feedin’ amd carin’ for ye, an’ I would be lyin’ if I didnae say that I get such joy frae havin’ all o’ ye in me life.”  She turns to the stove, stirs a couple kettles and hums off-key and tempo.

 

And that is what One-Eyed Red is grateful for!!