An Infinity of Turtles hen Bartholomew started his day, falling off the edge of the Earth was not on his agenda. In fact, being a pirate (a group not known for their executive planning and productivity), nothing much of anything was on his agenda, except perhaps carousing, haranguing, and maybe even leering if he was feeling ambitious. Bartholomew idly considered adding some marauding to the list. Unfortunately, marauding wouldn’t be possible at the moment, as the ship continued to sail farther and farther away from the very town they had been terrorizing. The merchants traveling in this part of Greece had become wary of them, and the pirates were quickly running out of prey. So, the plan now was to set out for Venice, hugging the Georgetowner 2020
coast and stopping minimally in order to get there quickly. They set off at night to avoid trouble, and as the ship skimmed near the coast, Bartholomew found himself almost wistfully watching the lights of the town recede. The beach was now dark and lifeless, dotted with only the occasional flock of seabirds, or sea turtle shuffling its way onto shore to lay eggs. t was almost serene in a dreary sort of way— that is, until the tempest overtook them. In all his days on the sea, Bartholomew had never seen anything like it. One moment the waves appeared calm, and the next, they battered the ship like a toy in the hands of an angry child. Immediately, the captain began desperately barking orders 18
