Pirate Challenge | Asha Ganguly

Pirate Challenge

by Asha Ganguly, age 10

Nessi was sleeping peacefully in bed when a dragon attacked! The dragon pulled at his leg. Out of Nessi’s pj’s came a sword and cut open the dragon’s belly, but the dragon survived and tore open Nessi’s limbs.

Nessi woke up drenched in sweat. Just a nightmare. A scary, drenched in sweat nightmare about dragons. So babyish for this 150 year old man. He stared down at his blue with pink dots pj’s. He was babyish.

Nessi was hungry, so he got out of bed and tugged on Bone’s tail. Bone was his annoying, barky dog. Nessi shivered in the cold room and opened the door. Bone followed Nessi out, and they went into the kitchen. Nessi opened the fridge and tossed Bone a bone. For himself, he got a cup of warm milk. Before he knew it, the warm milk was no longer there because he drank it all. Only his Muppets mug. Bone started whining, and Nessi turned to him and hissed. Bone had finished his bone and was whining for a new one.

“We don’t have enough money for another bone if you want to have one everyday, you priceless dog! You cost a fortune!” Nessi yelled. Nessi’s gray, blank eyes meant nothing compared to how he used to look. His shiny, green eyes and flat, pushed back, oily hair was no more. Bone barked and ran around. Nessi stepped on his tail to keep him still. For one minute Nessi yawned and lifted his foot and Bone ran. Not only did he run, but he jumped through the doggie flap, and he was outside.

Bone was outside in the streets. Nessi, the unloving, grumpy, old man felt a stab of fear for his dog. Nessi ran out of the door and breathed in the smell of the sea. Nessi slammed the door of his house by the sea and ran after his dog. “Come! Bone! You can have another bone!” Nessi called running as fast as his stubby, little legs could run. Bone stopped and started peeing against a tree, and then ran again. Soon enough, they were at the beach. “Oh, Bone. Come here,” Nessi panted. Even though the dog could be a pain, the old man needed the dog to put his anger on. Bone stopped at the sea and stared at it.

Sand got in Nessi’s slippers, and he pounced at Bone. Bone scampered to the side, and Nessi ended up face down on the sand. Nessi got up and spit out all the dirt and sand in his mouth. “You old, filthy dog!” he yelled. Bone shuffled to the deck. “As much as I don’t like you, you mean a lot to me. Don’t duck!” He yelled and ran at Bone. Bone jumped, and for one, horrible moment, Nessi thought he would lose his sweet, bad Bone. Bone landed softly in a tiny boat and put two of his paws to his tiny heart. “You want to go canoeing? Was that your plan all along, Mudface dog?” Nessi yelled.

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Nessi jumped into the canoe and undid the clip. Bone ultimately started barking. “What?! I am the one who is letting you canoe!” Nessi screamed. Bone howled a deep, long howl. “I really should have brought your thing that makes you bark less.” Nessi said, nodding viciously. “I will go get that.” He added. Slowly he got up, being careful to not flip it over. “Wait,” Nessi mumbled. Nessi couldn’t see the deck anywhere and felt the side of the canoe. No paddles. They were stuck at sea. “All your fault!” Nessi yelled at Bone. Bone didn’t look guilty. Nessi hadn’t even sat down, and he put his arms up in the air. The boat tilted and wobbled. Nessi looked at the boat like a rat and didn’t put his arms down, that was the mistake. The canoe flipped over and this time Nessi wasn’t worried about Bone drowning, he was worried about both of them drowning. Nessi pushed water to the side and grabbed Bone. Nessi swam up and breathed a gulp of air. Suddenly, he realized his arms were still underwater with Bone, so he lifted that up and the golden retriever breathed in. “Bone!” Nessi yelled, pointing at a big wave coming their way. “I want to tell you before I die that I never regret being mean to you, but I still love you 20 out of the 50 percent in my heart!” he said. And then they got pulled under.

To be continued . . .

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