By: Lisa Anne Hetu
The sun set in silence on the horizon as Captain Topher's ship sailed on. No one was on deck except that little genius of a bird. However, Mikey the Genius Parrot was asleep, curled up in a little ball of rainbow colored feathers. The dark water gently lapped at the sides of the great ship. Then, from the darkness came a single note, music of the ages. The sound started quietly and then grew louder and fuller, evolving into a song. One voice became two, and then three, but never disrupted the calmness of the night.
Mikey blinked his eyes open, listening to the sound. He had been listening to this sound every night for a week now. He liked this music, and tonight wanted to sing along with it. For a moment the parrot absorbed the music echoing off the water, then he started to sing. But, this was a young parrot, and even the genius that he was didn't know much about carrying a tune. Mikey's loud squawking woke Captain Topher, who thought that his parrot was in trouble. Junping out of bed, Captain Topher grabbed his purple velvet robe (he's not a cheap pirate), and raced up on deck in a sleepy haze. "Mikey! Mikey! What is it?" Topher shouted, stumbling on deck.
Mikey was confused. "Did you have a bad dream, Topher?" Mikey wondered.
"Of course not!" Topher said, recovering quickly, "You were squawking, I thought you were in trouble."
Now, Mikey was insulted. "I was singing! Squawk!"
Suddenly, Mike and Steve came running up on deck. "What was that wracket?" they asked.
"Mikey." Topher said, dully.
"Sirens." Mikey corrected.
"what?" Mike and Steve said, looking at the parrot.
"Sirens..." Mikey repeated slowly, as if talking to children, "You know, women in the sea that sing and lead sailors astray."
"You heard sirens?" Topher asked.
"Actually, I can see a siren too." Mikey said, pointing with his beak, "Now since you're all awake, I want a mint. Squawk!"
A very beautiful woman sat stretched out on an outcropping of rocks. She was dressed in a white dress, damp from the ocean spray, her hair blowing freely in the wind that came off the water. Her face was pale in the moonlight, and her eyes shawn with the nightly glow of the ocean. Lisa was not afraid of the pirates ... in fact, she invited the men openly to join her. With a musical voice like chimes in the wind, she called the pirates to come off their ship. "Come weary travelers," Lisa called, "I will ease your tired bodies. Come down to the rocks and I will rub the knots from your muscles."
Captain Topher and his pirate thugs were practically drooling off the side of the ship. This worried Mikey, who wasn't affected by the seduction of Sirens. "Umm ... guys?" Mikey said, "Guys? Topher? Don't listen ... hey! Don't leave the ship ... please, you'll drown ... I need mints. Do NOT leave this ship!"
But Topher and crew were dangerously close to jumping into the water. The siren was standing on the rocks now, with her arms outstretched to the pirates. Captain Topher and his thugs severely wanted to hold this woman in their arms, to touch her and kiss her. They were even prepared to fight each other for possession of her. "SQUAWK!" Mikey screamed at the top of his lungs, finally suceeding in getting the pirates' attention. As soon as the pirates turned away, Lisa disappeared into the waves that crashed against the rocks. "It's for the best," Mikey said, "She would have killed you."
"Maybe, but at least I would've died happy." Steve said.
"I think I need a cold shower." Mike said.
Captain Topher was disappointed too, but decided that Mikey was right. As Steve and Mike made their way below deck, Topher looked out to the ocean again one last time, then went to sleep as well.
The End.
