Yo-Ho Yo-Ho, A Birthday Just For Me

"Happy birthday to me," the girl says weakly, "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Evelyn. Happy birthday to me." Evelyn lays sprawled out the best she can in her small lifeboat looking up at the sun, basking in its heat. She covered her eyes with her arm and let out a small whimper and then moved her arm back out to her side. "I've heard that song sang to everyone every year back home but not once has it ever been sung to me. Not like I was really of any importance to anyone there."

 She sits up and flips her scarlet red hair to one side of her head and looks at the ocean all around her. "Nothing. All directions. Not even a bloody hint of a bird or," She looks over into the water. First at her reflection of her fair skin and ultramarine blue eyes and then focused her vision to see any movement in the water, "Not. Even. Fish. I'm not sure if I would really be fond of fish on my birthday. Though this dingy is made of wood I don't even know how I would cook it." She looks around at the supplies that are kept under the two seats and notices the only thing in them is a bottle of rum and a first aid kit. She opens the first aid kit and in it is chewing tobacco, a flask of more rum, and a few pamphlets titled "How to Talk to Your Parrot About Gun Safety", "How to Teach your Pet Monkey From Being Disrespectful Around Fishmen", and "The Sixth Re-Opening of Waterworld". "Bloody good for nothing pirates!" Evelyn yells. Yet she takes the Waterwold pamphlet and tucks it into her shirt pocket on the right side of her vest. She's always been curious about the waterpark but also heard how they keep closing because they don't actually check the water they take in from the ocean and usually suck in a sea monster or two when they do. Now that's she's on her own, she'd love to stop by.

She took the larger bottle of rum and popped open the lid, and sniffed the contents of the rum, "Oof. This is heavy. I mean the island's drinking age is 20 but nobody is around. They won't arrest me for being 19 and drinking some of this right? I mean what's a year away from the right age, am I right?" Evelyn kicks her head back and takes a large gulp of the rum and yanks herself back forward quickly spitting it out, "Neptune's Sack! What the hell?! My throat! It's- Why the hell is it burning?! Hah! Haaaah!" She yells raspy as she coughs and gasps for air. She looks at the rum and puts the cap back on and stashes it back underneath the seat and says to herself, "Okay so maybe the drinking age is 20 because it's when it finally tastes good? We'll try again later."

 Realizing there really is not anything else to do she lays back down in the dingy looking up at the sun again. She thinks to herself how she had gotten to this point, celebrating her 19th birthday adrift out to sea. She closes her eyes and starts to account to get to the point she's at.

"Evelyn, get another one of those kegs out of the back!" A woman in a light-yellow dress demands walking into Evelyn's room. The walls in the room were bare except for a few posters of shows the island had in the past, a bed, a closet, and a window overlooking the front street of the building.

 "No! I'm too small for that! It's heavy and you can't make me!" A tiny Evelyn calls out.

 "Just do it you brat! We're barmaids and we need to serve our customers!" The woman scolds.

 "Do it yourself you old hag! I'm not going to be a barmaid when I get older! I'm going to be a pirate!" Evelyn yells as she runs out of the room.

 The woman in the yellow dress turns and watches the small Evelyn run away and whispers, "Oh Evelyn. Dear 10-year-old Evelyn. Pirate is not in the island's directory."

The young Evelyn walked into the dining room where men and women were talking and singing. She walked over to a table with an open seat and the men looked at her and smiled. They were playing cards and Evelyn just watching as her legs swayed in her seat because she was too short for them to reach the ground.

 A few minutes went by and one of the men said to her, "How are you this fine night Little Lyn? You sure are quiet while watching our little game."

 "I'm fine. Just trying to avoid the old hag," Evelyn replies with a grin.

 "Delilah?" The old man laughed, "Oh squirt, she's not old. She's only 25."

 "That's old to me," Evelyn said.

 "Any 3's?" A man across the table asked.

 "Go fish," The man talking to Evelyn replied.

 "He's lying, he has two," Evelyn calls out.

 Frantically, "Hey! Hey! Don't call me out like that!" The man exclaims.

 "Cough it up you cheat!" The man across the table demands reaching out his hand.

 "Oh what the hell. I'm done with this game anyway," He says throwing his cards in the middle of the table.

 Excitedly Evelyn says, "So Mister Goob, have any more stories to tell me?"

 The man Evelyn called Mister Goob was a pirate. He had been one since he was 8 years old and at this time, he was 34 years old. He had sailed the sea's his whole life and he was the Captain of his own ship, and their pirate crew was the "Crystalline Pirates" due to the color of the ship looks like a crystal floating on water and the reflection of the water, sun, and the moon made it almost look invisible. That is for other ships, until it is too late. It was the power of a treasure he came across when he was a teenager.

 Goob sits crossed legged facing Evelyn now and starts to stroke is dark brown beard looking at her, "Hmm," he ponders. Looking at her now with a smile, "There is so much I haven't told you and have that it's hard to think about what you've already heard."

 Glowing with wonder, "I don't mind hearing anything a second time."

 Going back to stroking his beard, Goob finally says, "How would you like to hear about the great Fishman War?"

 "Captain!" the man across the table says overhearing the conversation, "Are you out of your mind? Do you really think that's a wise story to tell a child? You'll give her nightmares."

 "Is it worse than the Whirlpool War?" Evelyn asks.

 "You told her that too?" The man now stands up.

 Laughing, Goob responds, "Of course I did. I have so many stories after all."

 The man sits down, "Well that war isn't as bad as the Whirlpool War so what do I care."

 "First Mate Taco really does his best to keep you in line Mister Goob," Evelyn says.

 Goob looks over at his first mate who still has a bit of a disgruntled look on his face and Goob exchanges a cheesy smile, "Yes. He does," He looks back over at Evelyn and says, "At least he's doing his best. As a Pirate we are sure as hell are Loose Cannons'."

 Evelyn looks at Goob with content eyes and says, "I might not have a father Mister Goob but I know a bad dad joke when I hear one."

 Rubbing his head and laughing Goob says, "Fine. Fine. Well," he sighs, "Where should I start?"

"Get up," a voice calls out. "You good for nothing child."

 Evelyn tosses over in her bed and says, "5 more minutes. Please. I don't want to exist today."

 "Then no chocolate today," the woman says.

 Evelyn shoots up in her bed to see Delilah and yells, "It's Saturday!"

 Smiling, Delilah says, "I knew that would wake you up."

 "Why didn't you just lead with that?" Evelyn says before Delilah left her room.

 Delilah looks back and says, "Because Lyn, you're going to be 19 in a week, and I don't want you falling asleep on the orders and drinks on the men and women who'll be bidding on your new menu when they can't entice you with chocolate to wake up." And walks out of her room.

 "Right. But with hefty coin, right?" Evelyn yells out.

 "Sure," Delilah responds down the hall.

 At this point Evelyn is 18 and with her birthday came the first request she's ever made to the island council to ever accept. Despite she never wanted to become a barmaid she became very skilled at cooking in the kitchen as well as entertain all the guests with her expert drink mixing at the bar. And with the head cook retiring, she put in a request, made to face off against the other chefs, and won. She was then to put together a new menu and many of the islands regular attendees were excited to try it.

 Since she was six years old, she was put to work in many places around their island of Gabuslma. An independent island ruled by a women council located in the heart of the Tarragon Sea. It was an island where sailors, pirates, and the navy to roll in and can restock their supplies, enjoy food drinks at any inn or bar, play games at the game halls or dance at the dance halls, watch shows at the many plazas or the other entertainment like feature entertainment movies at the theater when a movie shipment arrive from one of their merchant ships. And for specific long time loyal pirate customers, arms store they keep a secret from the Navy vessels that visit. They were an independent nation after all which meant they were their own country and not part of the world government.

 The only places away from all this were the farmland for crops, resident housing, island citizens markets, and the processing warehouse, the office buildings, and the school for the children on the island.

 Evelyn leaned back onto her bed and started staring at the ceiling fan watching the blades spin around and around. She was not excited for her 19th birthday because despite everything, it would again be looked over. Not once has her birthday really been important. She's the first and only orphan the island has ever had and with no laws on how to handle that, she was put to work all over the island. In the farming fields. Helping at the bars. Handing out fliers for the shows at the entertainment district. Delivering mail to the citizens and office building employees. So much as any job they could give her on the island, se had to do it. Her only time of freedom was when she went to school and the small few hours she was get as break times of certain jobs. Instead of playing with the other children after school, she would be escorted to where she was to work that day. To her, it was hell. When she got older and became more aware, she was being treated unfairly.

 Evelyn slipped on some pants, boots, a fire red shirt and a black jacket over top of herself and looked at herself in the mirror and says to herself, "I'm going to be a pirate. What everyone has to deal with when I leave is not my damn problem."

 "If we had a choice in the matter, I would sure support that notion," a man's voice came from the door.

 Evelyn jolted to being startled and saw a gorgeous redheaded boy standing in the doorway, "Jackson. What are you doing here?" She begins to blush.

 "Doing what I do every weekend," he smiled, "Picking you up to make rounds."

 Jackson was the only boy on the entire island Evelyn cared to give the time of day to. She doesn't know what it is about all the boys on the island, but she imagines that she's a little smitten by Jackson because he has red hair that suited him very nicely. Or because she has red hair as well.

 Evelyn follows Jackson into the hallway and down the stairs and out the door of the resident house she lived in. Unlike most of the people on the island, she lived in an apartment alone since she was six years old because she didn't have a mother or father. Evelyn was dropped off at the island as a baby by a mysterious pirate crew that had never docked on the island before. Only a man and a woman exited the ship and walked straight to the council building doorsteps, placed her down, and walked away and the ship took off. 

 People were alarmed and afraid it was a bomb until the package started to cry and inside was little Evelyn. Evelyn, her name that was itched on the soft pink cotton blanket around her. When she turned six, she moved from the daycare facility to her own apartment. Since she didn't have a family, it was fully furnished and paid for.

 When they stepped out onto the street, Evelyn cracked a smile. For once the sky was clear without a cloud in the sky. The sun was bright, and the luscious greenery of the island was shady and healthy. Palm trees and many other plants on the sides of the road were green and large.

 "You're beaming Lyn," Jackson said noticing the smile on her face as they began walking down the road toward the warehouse district.

 Evelyn put her hands on her cheeks to hide her blushing and said, "Shut up. It's just a beautiful day. You know damn well we nearly get those here."

 Jackson laughed, "Yeah, I know. I smiled too when I got up this morning. So, things should go easier today than usual. Let's go." And he started down the road.

 Jackson was 21, just two years older than Evelyn. He applied to be a technician at a young age and since his father used to be a technician, he was accepted. He started training at 12 and began the role at 16. The youngest technician the islands ever had. He volunteered after that to be responsible for Evelyn's transportation from then on.

 Evelyn applied too, as well as a guard. But the island council didn't see that as "help" to benefit the island, so she was denied.

 They entered a large beige building up the road and almost immediately in front and clear view they overlooked where many machines and people were working. The first Saturday of every month was notorious for being called chocolate day because sweets were limited to the residents as being rewarded at the end of the week for the hard work during the week and the kids just got a free ride of sweets for just existing. Until she turned 18, Evelyn was still classified as a child. Being escorted by Jackson just meant she could still get chocolate for free.

 Jackson's job as a technician was to check on all machines to be in working order and to fix anything if not working correctly or broken. There were other details of his job, but Evelyn never knew what it was because this is all she ever saw him do.

 With an extra early box of chocolate for Evelyn helping Jackson, they leave and headed for the next couple warehouse buildings for checkups and then to Jackson's office at one of the smallest buildings in the warehouse district. Evelyn kicks back on his office sofa as Jackson sits at his desk and starts writing out a report on a piece of paper. Jackson had a private office where he ranked 1st among the technicians when he turned 16. Higher ranked technicians got private offices and the lower got cubicles and had to work their way up to a higher rank.

 Once he finished the report he was working on, he looked over at Evelyn who was just looking at him with a smile as she was laying on his sofa. "You good?" He asks shyly in response to the look in Evelyn's eye.

Evelyn told herself that if she's going to say something, anything, it has to be now. "You're a beautiful man, Jackson," she said softly.

 Blushing, he replied, "Oh, um, thanks?"

 "That's cute," she said, "you're not all work and can still be flustered by a woman."

 Jackson composed himself and said, "Well, yeah-"

 "Can you take me?" Evelyn asked softly edging herself towards Jackson's desk.

 Feeling more flustered, feeling the blushing getting redder in his face he replied, "Uhh, take you? Take you where?"

 "Take me away," she said standing up straight, walking around his desk, and sitting on it, just in front of his chair and then leaning forward, inches from his face and whispers, "Take me away from here. Take me anywhere but this forsaken bloody island," Now, near his ear, she whispers so softly so Jackson can feel the wind from her breath brush against him, "Marry me."

 Jackson stands up, closes the door to his office and locks it and turns to Evelyn and says, "Are you out of your damn mind?"

 "Seriously?" she laughed, "I've wanted this for so long from you that now is the perfect time than anytime. I'm sick and tired of working here, working there, working everywhere. Since I was six it's been work, work, work, work, work. I'm an orphan, so what? I get treated like a pissant for not having a family. At least is you marrying me I can finally do what I want."

 He turns to look at her, "What, you mean like becoming a pirate? That's not exactly in the island's job directory. And remember, as a citizen of the island the law says you cannot leave."

 "To hell with the rules. I'd rather King Neptune strike me dead than keep me here for the rest of my life." Evelyn says. "She walk up the Jackson and brushes the side of his face gently with her hand and says, "So marry me, Jacky Boy."

Jackson, sweating as he moves Evelyn's hand away says, "You can't do that."

 She looks at Jackson with a serious look, puts her hand up again and gently brushes her hand on the side of his face again and says, "You are really ruining the mood my dude."

 Jackson pushes past her, "I really don't plan to be executed for marrying you and at fault when you leave. As you remember, my dad left the island and my mom paid the price."

 Annoyed, Evelyn sat back on the sofa, "It's not the same thing. You were 10, and your dad was just fed up with the island, like me."

 "Except he always had a family," Jackson said.

 The mood of the room got so dark Jackson could feel a haunting sense of unease evil within the room.

Evelyn was looking at Jackson with and angry expression but with tears starting to form in her eyes, "How dare you."

 Realizing what he had just said, "No, wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

 "HOW DARE YOU BRING THAT UP!" Evelyn finally shouts with tears now streaming down her face. "That was uncalled for! You know my entire miserable existence on this forsaken island is because some bloke and wench had a child and no pride to raise it, so they drop me off here! And in turn, I'm treated unfairly like a slave! For crying out loud!"

 "But you got hired full-time at the-"

 "For once would you shut your pretty little mouth?" Evelyn cries out. "I don't give a shit about that!" Evelyn said. She looked at him. He was holding the sides of his head with his elbows on the desk looking down. She looks away and sighs, "Screw you, asshole".

 Jackson stood up quickly, walked over to her and kissed Evelyn passionately and after comprehending the surprise kissed back. Though moments passed it felt like time stood still until they finally pulled way.

 Smiling and blushing red hot Evelyn said, "Was that kiss supposed to be another form of apology because as my first, it was nice."

 "I feel bad from what I said but I'd be lying if I said I didn't always want to do that since you turned 18." Jackson said. Seeing the smile on her face as she touched her lips he looked away as he unlocked the door to his office, "I just can't marry you." He sighed. Opened the door and said, "Now I think you should leave."

"And I did," Evelyn moaned under her breath. She sat up on her hands and knees looking down and said, "the same night that happened I left as well. Went out back of the Inn to refill the beer and I took a dingy off one of the ships and left." Getting angry, she punched the ground and yelled, "Who does that dumbass think he is!"

 "Men, complicated creatures, aren't they?" A woman's voice said.

 Evelyn quickly looked up but was stopped at the sight before her. All around was what looked like a dome of the ocean. She noticed she was sitting on the ground at the front steps of what looked like a temple at the bottom of the ocean. She continued to turn until she could see a woman standing away from her who was just smiling. She had Scarlet red hair like Evelyn's with a fair complexion and was wearing a red and orange dress with rose gold impression along the hem that looked like a robe.

 "Nice to see you Evelyn, darling," she smiled. "You can call me Freya."