Chapter 45
Yellow
Our ketch met with the sloops. Barnacle-eyes brought every Captain into her deckhouse. Fumes of onion wrinkled the air and rose to the sky. Blue jays cawed from on high. Sparrows dove into the giant wild growth of flowers for insects.
Every time the deckhouse door opened, Barnacle-eyes’ big voice bounced out with some instruction on the upcoming voyage. Dozens of goblins milled about with bailing buckets. They were slow, seeming confused by the lack of flooding water. Meanwhile, Remember-not fitted goblins with dresses made of canvas and hammered flower patterns.
From on high, I blocked the sun with a hand, leaned out of the crow’s nest, and peered through the late summer haze at Lavenfauvish. I could see Green-fin. There was the dock where we had moored. There was the cleat. I squinted and leaned out just a bit more. Alas, I could not make out any puff of yellow bestie fur.
I entered the crow’s nest and scrambled for the brown paper bag. It crinkled when I opened it. Ella had been holding onto this bag for quite some time! I stood on tiptoe to look inside. I gasped and pulled out a fully painted figurine. It was a warthog with two saddles, one blue, one yellow. I marveled at the figurine and turned it over and over. I made it gallop atop the loot chest Barnacle-eyes had left for me. I made it snort and rear before tucking it into the chest with the rest of my figurines. Amassing figurines for our board game was my new purpose and I felt a tremendous joy collecting each new piece. The ache in my chest hurt a little less.
I skittered back over to the brown paper bag and tore it open. The bottom was filled with roley-holey marbles: a green one with an eye, a blue one with a swirl, and yellow one with painted butterfly wings, one with a rainbow swirl, one that was half yellow and half blue, a black one that glittered, a clear one with a glass rose inside, and a purple one with a red heart in the middle. I tucked each one into my loot chest after careful examination. My tail swished to and fro.
The last thing in the bag was a 20 sided die. It was a big one too, as big as a horse chestnut still in the shell. It was blue and there were a ton of gold flecks on each side. The numbers were engraved and also gold. I rolled it 50 times, not once landing a 20.
I kept it with me as I sat on the threshold of my crow’s nest and gazed out at Lavenfauvish. I couldn’t believe Ella got me such wonderful gifts. And I wanted to keep looking into that brown paper bag because I felt that there was something I missed. It was empty of course, and the gifts were delightful but…I still ached.
I missed her.
I rolled the d20 at my side as I thought about her. As it clattered and bounced, I wished with all my heart that she were with me. The die landed on the beautiful engraved 20 for the first time. The number stared at me. In the sunlight, it gleamed a bright gold, almost a fierce yellow.
I squinted, but that gleam of harsh gold and fierce yellow shone in my mind. That shine morphed into Ella. She was standing at the foot of the gangway with her thumbs beneath the straps of her pack. She was in full gear dressed for adventure. But why? I hadn’t been able to figure it out at the time, and it seemed odd. She was dressed to go, but go where? Was she leaving right after seeing me off? She hadn’t mentioned traveling outside of the red colony.
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The things she had said rushed through my mind: “I dream of adventure like that”, “I wouldn’t pass up an invitation like that”, “That kind of adventure is an adventure worth looking forward to! It’s almost the best adventure”.
My eyes shot open and I gasped.
I clutched my d20 and flung myself down the mast. I landed like a tossed potato in a white trumpet flower. I clawed my way through the walls of petals and fell onto a clove of giant garlic. I rolled off and landed in a tangle of vines. I scampered out of the raised bed and slipped on the deck. Goblins milled about and I dodged them. A couple of goblins in big black boots clomped around me and I held my tail to my chest in fear. I ran straight for the deckhouse and burst through the door.
Barnacle-eyes was tracing her sea map with her finger. “…straight until we get here and then straight again; straight over this sea part; straight here and then straight there.”
All the goblin Captains nodded grimly and listened intently to our Admiral. There was a stern air to the meeting and I began to tremble.
“Excuse me?” I said softly.
Pinky-chew traced the map with a finger. “If we go straight here, we can’t go straight through here, can we?”
“We can if we keep going straight,” Barnacle-eyes said. “We have to stay westbound.”
I took a shaky step forward and held tightly to my tail. “Admiral, I have a little question.” I could barely hear my own voice. No one looked at me.
“Are we ready to sail out?” Barnacle-eyes said after a pause.
I fidgeted with the end of my tail and the d20, trembling all the while. If I had one opportunity left to bring Ella aboard, it was now. As I fidgeted, the d20 slipped out of my hand and tumbled on the deck. The goblins turned as one.
I rolled an 18. Something inside me clicked. I stopped shaking. I stood straight and let my tail go. I took a deep breath.
“Admiral!” I shouted. “Permission to bring aboard the most amazing yellow bestie in the world as a new Friend crewmate! We have to go back for her!”
“Another ship rat?” Pinky-chew said.
“Bestie,” I said.
Barnacle-eyes performed a pirouette. “They’re multiplying! Permission granted, Boggo! Please thank you!” To another goblin she said, “Captain Soft-heart. Please escort Boggo to Lavenfauvish to pick up and invite the yellow bestie aboard in Friend crew mate capacity. Please thank you. Remember-not, help me draft a Friend position contract. Please thank you.”
∞
We took Soft-heart’s sloop. Sloops were much closer to the sea. The raised beds had little sprouts and there were only a handful of goblins. When we docked, the pier guard asked for a docking fee. While Soft-heart dealt with all that, I leapt onto the dock and bolted between the legs of the guard. I was trembling, but my booties slapped the dock as I ran. I went beneath the dock, but my booties offered no grip on the wood and I fell right into the sea. I gulped air as I paddled like a newborn kitten to shore. Soaking wet, I sprinted up the rocky beach beneath the boardwalk and flipped over rock after rock. At last I found one of the red bestie tunnel entrances! But before I scrambled in-
“Boggo? What are you still doing here?”
I turned around.
“Ella! You’re still packed!”
“To be honest, I was hoping…”
I whipped out the wet Friend position contract and read the official invitation to crew Barnacle-eyes fleet. Ella was speechless as I stammered. Then she threw her arms around me. She gave me a dozen kisses on my cheek.
“Let me say goodbye to the red,” she said.