Blackhook the Pirate walked over, quite crookedly due to his peg leg, to the far end of the captain's quarters of their ship, The Destiny. He stood in front of his son Bertie who was sitting at the window seat, staring at the ocean with his journal and quill in his lap. Bertie's mother, Black Handed Jill, was still on deck at the helm steering the ship. Blackhook cleared his throat to get Bertie's attention. "One day, lad, all this will be yours!" Bertie looked at Blackhook, confused. "What the curtains?" "No not the curtains, lad. All that you can see! Stretched out over the blue waves of the ocean! Miles and miles of sea! Treasures beyond your imagination! Wenches galore! The Destiny herself! This will be your kingdom, lad!" "But, Mother!" exclaimed Bertie. "Father, I'm Father." Bertie continued, "but Father, I don't want any of that." Blackhook was astounded. He knew Bertie, short for Blackbert, was a bit soft around the edges but he always chalked it up to his youth and naivety. He figured Bertie would come around once he was older and had witnessed a few attacks and raids. That time had passed and it was due time to claim his right as captain of The Destiny. Why, piracy was in his blood! It was only fit that he live up to his birthright. A serious expression clouded his face as he looked at his son. "Listen, lad, I've built this ship from nothing. When I first took command of The Destiny, she was no more than a skeleton frame with a few torn up sails. All the other pirate captains thought I was daft to build a ship out of practically nothing, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the ocean. So, I built a second one. That sank into the ocean as well. So I built a third one. That burned down, exploded in a million pieces, then sank into the ocean. But the fourth one stayed afloat. An' that's what your gonna get, lad...the strongest ship in the sea!" Herbert replied, "but I don't want any of that...I'd rather... Blackhook was quite impatient, "Rather what?!" "I'd rather...just...write poetry!" Bertie opened his journal and started reading, "my heart is an ocean, filled with such waves, I'd love to meet a lad...errr lass, who's heart is so brave..." "Stop that, stop that! You're not going to write poetry while I'm here. Now listen, lad, in twenty minutes you're going to steer the ship starboard towards Port Dortuga, where you shall commence with other pirate captains and boast your new status as pirate captain! You'll be the king of the sea!" "But I don't want the sea," said Bertie, gloomily. "Listen Alex,..." "Bertie." "Bertie. We're pirates living on the bloody ocean. We need all the help we can get and a pirate's reputation is everything." Bertie sulked, "but I don't want it." Blackhook was getting angry now. "Don't want it?! What's wrong with it? Your mother and I worked very hard to get where we are. We commandeered many ships, found buried treasure, and pillaged many villages to achieve the level of infamy that we have. And we did it all to pass down to you so that one day, this day, today, you can make your own destiny! On The Destiny!" "I know but I want the career that I have to, to have, a certain...special...something..." Bertie flipped open another page of his journal, "to write, to write, it is what's right, what's right, for a man like me, how I love poetry, on this cold night, cold night..." Blackhook shook his metal hook he had for his left arm, "cut that out, cut that out. Look, you're steering the ship to Dortuga and claiming your right as pirate captain. Looky, so you better get used to the idea." With that, Blackhook walked out of the room, his peg leg making a distinct clunking noise as he hobbled away. Bertie shrugged his shoulders and shrank into the cushions of the window seat. He waited for his father to leave and took out a pile of rope he was hiding behind the window seat pillows. He was going to escape. Earlier in the day he had already "commanded" Nigel, one of the cabin boys, to move the dingy towards the stern of the ship. He would tether the rope to the large captain's bed and climb down to the dingy through the very window he had been staring at. There, his true destiny would await.