Fan Fiction ❯ The Tom ❯ Entry One ( Chapter 1 )

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The Tom


Entry One:
Date: March 14
Location: New Orleans
Condition: Rocky and treacherous. The river? Calm.

Hi… ummm… I-uh-I’ve never done this before… probably because good-quality paper (not that this is exactly royalty here; At least the pieces aren’t so dirty that they’re the same color as the pen I’m writing with… oh yeah, that’s nice.) isn’t exactly easy to come by where I come from. So now I-- huh? Where do I come from? Well… I guess I might as well start from the beginning, eh? Though I have no idea why I’m explaining myself to a journal… Hey, hey, hey! No need to get offended here! Sheesh, I can’t believe I’m consoling a dead tree… a living tree I could understand, but a dead-- okay! I’ll tell you!
I should start with my previous residence, huh? Ha! If only… My “place of residence”, along with several other boys (I’m a girl by the way) happens to be the abandoned building (no, not building, shack. That stupid place is small!) behind the old candy store… makes you wonder what it was used for… What? Yeah, I’m an orphan; Although Patrick keeps assuring me they are all somehow, miraculously, my long lost brothers. Sure, I’ll believe that… what with Patrick’s red hair and green eyes, William’s black hair and amber eyes, Joe’s blue hair (although I’m sure he dyes it, no matter how many times he tries to convince me otherwise… don’t …don’t go there…) and black eyes, and… well, I’m pretty sure Luis and Moe are related, what with their light brown hair (Luis’s is right above his shoulders, while Moe’s is in what he calls “the decent look” right above his ears) and gray-green eyes; They look like twins! …maybe they are twins… Anyway… I really don’t think they could be related to a much paler (William jokes that I was bit by a vampire) girl with ever-changing blue eyes and long blond hair! Ummm… getting back to the story… Huh? You want their height too?! Fine… uh--Patrick is the tallest out of the group. (Last time we measured him he was 5’ 11”) Joe comes right after him, (hehe, Joe and Patrick always were my favorite in the group) followed shortly by me. That’s right, I’m tall! ALL MUST BOW DOWN BEFORE ME!! Hehehe… continuing… Luis and Moe are right behind me (I’m afraid they’re going to pass me soon. NO!) and William is the shortest. (I always tease him about that little fact… You can tell I don’t like William as much as the rest huh?) Okay… so can I get back to my story now? Right.
Well, shortly after I had turned 14 (we think… it’s so hard to keep track of age on the streets… Joe swears he knows his exact birthday--July 22nd--and that he’s now 19, but he swears a lot of things. We’re pretty sure that Patrick is 20-something, and Luis and Moe are both about 16... We have no clue about William though… I wanna say that he’s 17...) William was sulking because I had hit him (his nose was only bleeding for a couple minutes!) when suddenly he gave a smirk (you know, one where you can just hear the wheels in his head turning?) and he turned to me and--- well, why don’t I just go into a narrative for this part, eh?
William turned a particularly mischievous glance upon me, the ends of his mouth coming up in an obvious smirk. “Well aren’t you just the little adult now… a big, strong 14.”
I shifted nervously on my knees. That face on William was never a good sign. But I couldn’t let him know he was getting to me. “Yeah? So?” I gave an evil grin. “I look more adult than you do… Mr. 17 year-old.”
His smirk faltered momentarily at the jab at his height. “Ooh… you just crack me up so much, missy.” He gained a grasp on his emotions again, and the smirk once again surfaced. “You always was so intelligent--”
“Were.” I interjected.
His smirk grew. Uh-oh, I think I just walked into something here… “Yes… Then what would you say to a little wager, huh?”
“What do you mean?” I asked warily. His whole demeanor was glowing with something I was not about to trust.
“You know that Passenger Steamboat anchored at the river right now?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I hear they’re looking for help… a couple of strong lads to keep the place in working order.”
…I didn’t like where this was going… “What about it? What’s that have to do with me?”
William just grinned at me, looking for all the world like the cat that had swallowed the canary. “Why don’t you just mosey yourself on down there and sign up as one of those hands?”
What?!?!! “But they only accept boys… you said it yourself, ‘a couple of strong lads`.” I was trying to stay calm at his suggestion…
Somehow, William’s grin grew even larger. What was his mouth made out of?! Rubber??! “I’m sure that little barrier wouldn’t present a problem to our little actress here, now would it?”
Was he suggesting…? Shoot. Explain a dream you had once to your friends (or not in William’s case) and you’re labeled as an actor? I swear, the playing cards only chased me (before turning into talking wolves) that one time!! …alright, so the dream I had told them was one of my calmer ones… that doesn’t mean I want to become an actor or anything… maybe I shouldn’t have spent my free time finding ways to entertain them… Darn! You’re just a bit of a comedian and suddenly you have to disguise yourself as a guy?!! “My dreams aren’t that weird!!!” Everyone started and stared in surprise at me. …I really should keep all my thoughts in my head… I shook my head in dismissal and they all calmed… I had been bursting out with weird phrases all my life, it was a surprise they even noticed anymore. Turning to glare at William, my expression darkened considerably, and he paled considerably. Hehe… my glare always works… at least on boys it does.
But… William sure wasn’t going to back down this time. Although he shook with the effort not to turn tail and hide, he kept up at it. “Unless… you’re too chicken to do it?”
…Does William really think that’s going to work on me? I don’t care what he thinks about me… I don’t care what anyone thinks about me. (if they think I’m psychotic, they’re probably right) My glare didn’t diminish, and I gave him a hard slap to the back of his head.
Yelping slightly, and making sure to move far enough away that I couldn’t attack him again, William settled and waited expectantly. Why was he…? Oh. That’s why… Joe decided (for some strange reason that still annoys me) to join in on the debate… and he was taking William’s side. (although he made it seem as if he was helping me out) “Come one, Missy! That would be so cool!” I usually listen to Joe, (he likes wacky stuff like me) but I still wasn’t about to lean. But maybe I spend too much time around Joe… he knew exactly what to say to chinch it. Remind me to punch him when I get back… “And you’re always telling me how much you love adventure… And you’d get the opportunity to mess with people’s minds… really being a girl and all…” Argh! He’s right, I love to mess with people’s minds. William smirked in victory… my resolve visually crumbling.
Giving William a half-hearted glare, my shoulders slumped in defeat… the only defeat by William, I might add! “Fine… but when I get back…” My glare went back to full power, and this time it was directed two both Joe and William. “Will and Joe get a beating, and Joe goes down to being my second favorite ’brother`!” William paled at the mention of the pain he was going to receive later. Joe paled as well… not because of the beating (he knew I wouldn’t hurt him too bad) but at the announcement that he had just lost a spot on the countdown. That’s right, Patrick (my little Irish ’brother`) was now number one in ranking!
Shortly after this little drama, Joe tried to make it up to me by helping out with the disguise. I didn’t have to do much to my clothes, as I despise dresses and skirts, (I was wearing a sturdy pair of overalls over a plain, red shirt.) Joe lent me his nice boots (I usually went around barefoot, and that wouldn’t do for a ship) and we went over the little details about my disguise. William pointed out my long hair, but I told him there was no way I was going to let him cut it. Still bitter, I rambled a bit as we got ready, and I have no clue as to half of the things I muttered. Patrick amusedly informed me that one of my more intelligible ones was ‘May the King of Hearts, the Luis-wolf and bad stage comedians torment your souls forever!` … If that was the most ordinary thing I said, I can assure you that even I don’t want to know what the other things were… the stuff of nightmares they are… Moe (who’s eyes were glazed in surprise) mumbled something about ‘The Birds of Paradise and a bucket of peanut butter’ (poor boy, that’s what happens when you purposely try to catch what I’m saying when I’m in one of my rants… he should be okay in a couple days)
The Afternoon found me walking down the street towards the busy bank. Passing by a street corner were a young boy of 10 was shouting out headlines, I paused. Three minutes later and I had purloined the newsboy of his hat… I always did love those hats… Huh? Purloined? That’s right, purloined. This street kids has a vocabulary (Ooh! Look! A five syllable word!)
Upon reaching the boat, I looked up at the side, blanching slightly. ‘The Tom`?! What kind of weirdo names a boat after a man?! I thought boats were called ‘she` and junk like that… unless the owner wasn’t really a freak, and just like cats… You know, a Tom Cat? …hopefully that was the case…
I went up to the man (who looked like he hadn’t even heard of a shower) accepting applicants (okay, so he basically just went ‘you a boy?’ ‘alright then, get on up there and get working’… even to some boys who weren‘t applying!) and informed him of my wish to join on as one of the cleaner-kid-thingies (I have no idea what the term is for that job… on a pirate ship they’re called a swabee, though! Arrr, me maties! Hehehe… I’ll stop now.) He glanced at me and asked my name. I gave him, ’Glen William`. He started for a moment before giving me another hard glance. I can understand his dilemma… I had effeminate features, (since I am a girl) a slight body, and a soft voice. This could have been written off as me being young, maybe 10 years or so, but my height kind of blows that right out of the water… ( the low string of curses I was letting out underneath my breath was probably a bad idea too) And then, Glen isn’t exactly the most masculine name in the world. (I happen to love my name! …came up with it myself when I was four!) Finally he gave up and nodded me onto the boat, and I clomped my way on. (Can you tell I was still angry?)
I went straight to my quarters to sulk for a bit and then decided to bring you out. (you’re proof that I came through with my dare) I’ll meet the rest of the manner less crew tomorrow, (that’s when the boat starts out as well) and I’ll make sure to write down every despicable detail. But for now… I’m going to sulk some more!