\u201cHootsman,\u201d Fay hissed, catching up with Barnaby as he rounded the playground swingset and took off down Hogan Street. \u201cWhere the heck are you going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBarnaby panted but didn\u2019t slow down.
\n\t\u201cGet cereal!\u201d he huffed. \u201cWhere else?…Guy\u2019s a freak!…he\u2019s gonna whack my head off!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNO CHATTERIN\u2019 IN THE RANKS!\u201d bellowed Yellow Tooth. \u201cAnd slow down a wee! Me men need to save a little energy for the lootin\u2019 part of this raid!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBarnaby did slow down. Then he stopped. Right on the front lawn of a house with green shutters, where a plastic deer gazed mutely at its reflection in a green gazing ball.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis is your house Hootsman,\u201d stated Fay.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDuh,\u201d said Barnaby. \u201cAnd we eat Jolly Rogers at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis be a storehouse for Jolly Rogers?\u201d demanded Yellow Tooth, as several other pirates took swings at the plastic deer.<\/p>\n
\n \t\u201cIt be,\u201d said Barnaby, still panting. \u201cIn the cabinet next to the refrigerator,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe what?\u201d asked Yellow Tooth.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe fridge!\u201d replied Barnaby.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe WHAT?\u201d demanded Yellow Tooth.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe friggy-dairy!\u201d snapped Fay. \u201cThe big cold thing!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWell then,\u201d said Yellow Tooth in a calmer, but no less menacing voice. \u201cLead the charge boy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBarnaby shrugged, then yelled \u201cCHARGE!\u201d Fay was right behind him as he barreled into the kitchen where Mr. Hootsman was eating a cold-cut hoagy and staring at the news on tv.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201c…the band of criminals,\u201d<\/em> said the tv, \u201cnow on the loose in the vicinity of Elbow Harbor is considered armed and dangerous…\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNeed some food Dad!\u201d called out Barnaby as he rifled through the cabinets. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAttababy,\u201d said Mr. Hootsman, without looking up. \u201cAlways work up a good appetite at school. You show\u2019em!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c…citizens are advised to stay in their homes and lock the doors…\u201d <\/em> droned the tv.<\/p>\n \n\tJimbo, Scratchy, and the other pirates were clogging up the kitchen doorway until Yellow Tooth pushed his way through and snatched the three boxes of Jolly Rogers Barnaby had pulled from the cabinet.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThree?\u201d demanded Yellow Tooth. \u201cThree blasted gorsh-forsaken boxes?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMr. Hootsman looked up from the tv and squinted at the huge, ugly man blocking his kitchen doorway. Then he looked back at the tv screen, which was currently displaying police sketches. \n\tFay glanced at Yellow Tooth, who\u2019s lip was starting to curl into a sneer.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey\u2019re hungry Dad,\u201d said Barnaby with a shrug.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cA dang sight hungrier than three dinksy little boxes,\u201d growled Yellow Tooth ominously. \u201cI think we need more.\u201d He turned his glare on Fay. \u201cNow it\u2019s your turn Missy Loud-mouth. Here\u2019s hopin\u2019 you can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor a moment, Fay looked at Yellow Tooth\u2019s cutlass and considered her options. She could refuse. But the likely result would be a headless Mr. Hootsman, and that would not improve him much. She could run away, but one direction was blocked by a hungry band of scallywags, and the other by Mr. Hootsman who, again, would likely end up headless if she used him for cover. The thought was too gruesome to contemplate.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOooookay,\u201d said Fay with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. \u201cLet\u2019s go troops!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHootsman,\u201d Fay hissed, catching up with Barnaby as he rounded the playground swingset and took off down Hogan Street. \u201cWhere the heck are you going?\u201d Barnaby panted but didn\u2019t slow down. \u201cGet cereal!\u201d he huffed. \u201cWhere else?…Guy\u2019s a freak!…he\u2019s gonna whack my head off!\u201d \u201cNO CHATTERIN\u2019 IN THE RANKS!\u201d bellowed Yellow Tooth. \u201cAnd slow down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\u201cBarna-baby,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve joined the outlaws?\u201d<\/p>\n