5 Sea Island 4 (1)

Polly had had many fantasies about her life as a pirate, but none of them came quite close to reality. For starters, she had no crew, and despite a few hands-on practices, she was far from being a pro in the matters of ship steering. Upon acquiring The Birbalinda, Polly had almost immediately packed her bags, loaded the ship, written to her parents, friends, and other relatives, sold her cardboard box by the trade route, and set sail.

She had honed her piloting skills for a few weeks by sailing over, and into, and through the BRB Cut Sea before taking a bittersweet leave from her home island and sea and moving on to the Eht Sea. However, being a one man crew was no slice of pecan pie. Polly estimated she lost more weight manning The Birbalinda than she did when she was a young sprout and had tried her hand at counting calories. That wasn't saying much though, for in those days of old she had about as much self-discipline as an embryo. This led her to decide losing five pounds would be a waste of time and effort only moments after she had decided that she would lose five pounds if it were the last thing her grandma asked her to do before passing into the void.

As of now The Birbalinda was slowly drifting towards Sea Island 4, the island closest to hers. Polly was in the kitchen beneath the deck cracking a cold can of iced tea looking over her map. From her infrequent studies, Polly knew that Sea Island 4 was what could be described as a jungle island. The terrain there was mostly of gargantuan flora, but the fauna there was of average size, or so she assumed.

Her plan was to pop by the island, do some exploring, pick some flowers as mementos, maybe scavenge something that could serve as food, and then sail on to Sea Island 5. Perhaps now is the time to mention that although Polly was many things, a planner was not one of them. Her "plans" were more like vague ideas of what she would like to do rather than things she would actually carry out.

Polly emptied the can. It was getting late, and she had mopping the bathrooms set for the morrow, so there was no way she was staying up any later than necessary. In a matter of moments darkness had swallowed The Birbalinda and Polly had crashed on the couch.

x x x

The morning brought with it the fresh screams of seagulls. Unlike fairy tale princesses who had the fine pleasure of using singing doves as alarm clocks, pirates had no such rights to animal labor. Instead, they got gulls screeching like it was a pirate who killed their family, ate their dog, stole the dirt off their great-aunt's grave, and ignored their grandma's birthday invite. Polly rolled out of bed, didn't brush her teeth, and popped up to the deck. Somehow, despite the fact she had left Sea Island 2 literally six days ago, she was able to see the unmistakable neon green of Sea Island 4.

After confirming her suspicions that her destination had been reached by checking her map and her Island Encyclopedia, Polly headed back down, performed her morning routine (including brushing her teeth, which is something all civilized folk should do), ate half a bagel, and waited for her ship to drift closer to Sea Island 4.

It was far too early in the morning for her to be doing any hard labor (in her opinion), such as ship steering, so she decided she might as well enjoy the free manpower that was the morning wind. However, Polly quickly tired of lounging in her kitchen snacking away, so she decided to walk to the island. It wouldn't take long, it would be good exercise, and it wasn't even that hot. Really, what could go wrong?

So, being the jolly, but ignorant, but still quite jolly young lass she was, Polly jumped ship and began strolling on the cerulean waves of the Eht Sea. Soon, after an hour of casual walking that had Polly sweating so much it looked like she went swimming instead of walking, she was there.

Sea Island 4 was even brighter close up than it was from a distance. When you were an hour's walk away, you could pretend that the fluorescent flora didn't make you want to claw your eyes out, but when you were standing face to face with a garishly green tree, well, there wasn't much one could do. The island would have been tolerable if it wasn't just green that popped out at you from all four corners, except that it was. There was not a shade of brown, or pink, or white, or even red to be seen in that disgustingly vivid place. Polly could hear her vision crying in pain and it hadn't even been ten minutes.

Polly refused to turn back and scavenge her ship for a pair of sunglasses, because her pride and poor physical simply wouldn't allow it. The lass moved deeper into the island until she could no longer see the blue of the sea and was surrounded by a sole color. Her Island Encyclopedia had said that there were a number of rare birds on Sea Island 4 alongside plants legendary among chefs. Strangely, the farther she walked the brighter and quieter it got. It would have been an okay setting for a forest ambush if it wasn't for the fact there weren't supposed to be any people on this island to do any ambushing.

The pirate paused mid stride to evaluate her state. Back on deck she would take a nap around this hour, so she saw no reason why she shouldn't do so now. After all, plenty of rest is an important factor in adolescent growth and Polly was desperately trying to transition from bean sprout to beanpole. She found herself a nice patch of grass and laid down for some quality rest.

A shrill caw interrupted her snooze just after she had settled down. She cracked open an eye, just as she would a beer (kids don't drink. Alcohol is a depressant and it will depress your family when you die) only to find a fluffy bird bigger than her head staring her right in the eye in a manner that could be described as challenging.

"Hoo are you?" it squawked.