Free Port of Spies by Brian James Page B

“The cap’n says you have to treat us like part of the crew, so there!”
    â€œAye! Inna’s right,” Vicky said.
    It was true. When the Sea Rat was attacked by rival pirates, we saved the day. Even Rotten Tooth said we did a shipshape job. And he promised Captain Stinky Beard that he would treat us like real pirates.
    â€œAye! I remember,” Rotten Tooth admitted. Then he reached into his pocket and took out a really, really, really long list and handed it to us. “That’s why I’ll be giving ye the ship’s shopping list,” he said.
    I gulped.
    It was the longest list I’d ever seen.
    I started to read it out loud.
    â€œFour barrels of beef. Ten pounds of butter. Fourteen boxes of candles. Twelve barrels of oatmeal. Twelve barrels of seaweed. Three boxes of soap.” I stopped reading when I got to the hog’s head because it made me feel sickish. I stuck out my tongue and finally said it out loud.
    â€œYuck!” Gary said.
    Inna’s face turned as green as her dress.
    â€œDouble yuck!” she yelled.
    Vicky grabbed the list from my hand and waved it in Rotten Tooth’s face. “Arrr! What’s this have to do with being a pirate?” she asked.

    â€œAye!” Aaron shouted. “Pirates are supposed to swashbuckle, not shop!” Then he started jumping all around and swinging his arms again like he was holding a sword. Only he wasn’t watching where he was swinging, and he swung his arm right into Rotten Tooth.
    Rotten Tooth picked Aaron up with one hand and growled.

    â€œUh-oh! I think we’re in big trouble,” Gary whispered to me.
    â€œAye, matey! Really giant trouble,” I whispered back.
    Rotten Tooth looked even madder than the time Aaron made him fall into the fish-gut tank. I thought for sure he was going to toss Aaron right into the sea.
    But then Rotten Tooth didn’t look so mad anymore. He put Aaron down. He took the list back from Vicky and put it in his pocket. “Arrr! A promise be a promise. And I promised to treat ye pollywogs like one of the crew,” he said.
    I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears!
    We were going to be able to explore King’s Island after all!
    We all smiled. Then we started to walk down the gangway. We got halfway down before Rotten Tooth stopped us again.
    â€œBut before ye go, I have a little Pirate School lesson for ye,” Rotten Tooth said. He reached into his pocket and took out the list again. “In a pirate crew, the newest recruits always do the shopping! Now get to it!” he shouted, shoving the list into my hand.
    We all moaned and groaned. Sometimes being part of a pirate crew was tough work!
    â€œArrr! And another thing,” Rotten Tooth said as we headed ashore. “Keep ye eyes and ears open. Landlubbers be very suspicious of pirates . . . especially wee pirate kids.”

Chapter 3
    Shop Till You Drop!
    â€œYo-ho-ho!” I shouted when we walked into the general store. I was really excited. “This is the biggest store I’ve ever been in!”
    â€œAye,” Vicky agreed. “We wouldn’t even be able to fit all of this stuff on the Sea Rat !”
    There were rows and rows of shelves stretching from wall to wall. They were piled high with all kinds of food. Some I’d never heard of before, like a giant orange thing called a pumpkin.
    â€œAvast! They even have toys!” I said, pointing to a shelf on the far wall. It was filled with toy ships.
    â€œGangway!” Aaron shouted, and rushed toward the toy section.
    He didn’t get very far, though, because Vicky grabbed hold of his belt. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, taking out the shopping list.
    â€œSoggy sails, Vicky’s right,” I said. “We have to do the shopping or we’ll never finish before it’s time to set sail.”
    â€œThen let’s hurry,” Inna said. “If we finish early, we