Chapter 107

Me?

(Boggo)

My head was throbbing like one of Thrush’s eyes. I could hear my blood pump and rush in my skull. When I coughed, phlegm escaped my lungs. There was a faint glow in the absolute darkness which I could barely perceive through the squint of my eyes. It was an eerie glow that seemed to come from every single grain of air. With a groan, I rolled over.

Ella’s paw landed soft on my back. “How are you feeling?” Where she ran her paw, water trickled off my fur. We were soaked.

“We made it? What happened?”

Thrush’s sudden voice scared me so bad, my tail went poofy. “Barnacle-eyes’ hoard was blown overboard. Pinky-chew went to fetch it all and to look for missing goblins. She found a dreambon ale among the chests at sea. Barnacle-eyes knew it wasn’t hers. Stumble-not told her you set sail. She summoned me to help.”

Ella fell onto me with a desperate hug. “Oh, Boggo! It was so scary!”

After a few blinks, I could just make out Thrush’s enormous eyes. They were the only thing of him I could see, and they bobbed when he spoke. “It makes me smile to see you two safe. Thank you for surviving the storm. You-”

I grunted as I rose to my knees. “-I know, I know…be more careful next time…”

Here comes the scolding, just like the elder blue besties used to give me. I already felt so, so bad. Scoldings only made me feel worse! I had been the Captain and I had to let Ella down. Why me? Why did I have to keep sailing with those big huge clouds on the horizon? I should have known they were menacing and that they moved quickly. Of all the besties I let down, why did it have to be Ella and Thrush? If something were to have happened to Ella…because of me...

Stupid Boggo! Oh, my heart hurt worse than my pounding headache!

Ella rubbed my back. She scurried up to Thrush and spoke up at his seemingly floating eyes. “You should have seen us! Boggo was Captain when the rain and wind and sea started crashing! The waves got higher and higher, and they splashed into the Craft.” With her paws, and with a dance, Ella painted the picture. “There was water everywhere. We jumped into action! No hesitation! When it was time to bail and paddle, I bailed while Boggo paddled! He was right there with me. Believe me, I was with the right bestie at the worst time!”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Of all the besties? All of them? You think I was the right one to be with?

“Then we couldn’t see anything! Then there were onions and garlics and vines and leaves and lots of chests and everything attacked us! We banged into everything. Thrush, it was so scary! I lost my footing, but guess who never lost their footing! Boggo paddled with all he was worth! Not twice did he falter. He seemed so determined, that I felt I had to work twice as hard to match him! His strength was my strength.”

Me? You drew strength from me? Me?

“Then the chests opened and all the promotion boots came at us. It was a good thing because they were perfect for bailing with.”

Here it comes… That was when I had failed us…

“You can imagine how Boggo feels about boots. He even faced off with one, and it was a slippery one! My Boggo never backed down—no sir! Even when the sharks came at us! No other bestie I know would have kept a straight sense of what we needed to do! It was Boggo who leapt for the dreambon ale! He even reached over the frenzy of sharks, over all their fins when we lost the bottle. He-he reached out like this-” And Ella stretched on tiptoe, bit her lip, and reached as far as she could. “But, Thrush? Our bravest moment had yet to happen! Boggo sacrificed himself. He passed the title of Captain back to me, just like he said he would. What other bestie would have trusted someone else to strap them to the thwarts? Do you know how brave you have to be to trust someone with your life? To step down when it was time to step down? No, sir, I have never met someone braver than my Boggo. Oh, golly, just the best! He let me tie him down with shoe laces! Shoe laces, Thrush! The belt of his sworn enemy! What other bestie would have drank a whole waterskin of anti-gravity ale to save their crew? …I tell you, Thrush, if you ever find yourself in trouble, you would be lucky to have Boggo by your side.”

Ella. Is this how you see me?

Ah, but listening to Ella say all these things… It defied everything I’ve ever been told, everything I’ve ever been scolded about, all the things blue besties and the elders have yelled at me for throughout the centuries. Was this it? Did I officially obtain some color of bravery in my fur? Had bravery become even a small part of me? Like a feeling? Or a scar? Something deep that can stay with me?

As Ella further evolved as the best storyteller there ever was, I found myself smiling. That was me in her story! Me! Gee, the way she put it, I did sound a little bit brave. How odd it was to hear something heroic about…me.

Oh boy, I wanted to stand up as tall as I could, and floof my fur, and puff my chest, and say, “You see what Boggo can do when it counts? Everyone everywhere was wrong about Boggo!”

The light of the…Where the heck were we? …Well, the eerie glow of the space dimmed by half when Thrush blinked his massive eyes. It took seconds for his blink to finish.

When he spoke, the airy glow fell on his fangs. “I think we should celebrate with smoked fish and dreambons.”

Oh man, oh man! As it turned out, we were in Thrush’s yurt. The glow was coming from an angler fish he had committed to his Merchant's Chest of Drawers.

Happiness was soon spread out upon the table. Ella and I were both the size of Thrush’s paws, and the four of us blasted through smoked fish and dreambons while Thrush’s eyes and reappearing fangs seemed to hover above.