A short story based on http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts/the-boat.

“Now hold it right there,” a menacing voice said from behind me. Shit. Turning around I saw a cutlass pointed at me. It looked pretty real, too.

I had that feeling from the start this was a bad idea; unfortunately, I had been bored enough to go along.

I don’t believe anyone would argue that it’s odd when fiction becomes reality. Sure, it happens, but it’s not all that common. That said, it was the last thing on my mind as I was approached by a teenager in a pirate costume while I was at the beach. At first I tried to ignore him, concentrating on my book, but he was an insistent lad. He stood there for near five minutes before I finally, yet internally grudgingly, acknowledged his presence.

If I had to guess, I’d say he was about thirteen or fourteen years old. He looked truly ridiculous standing there, wearing the full costume. Boots, black trousers, long buttoned coat – all you’d expect to find in a cheap store bought pirate costume. A fake cutlass was in a scabbard at his waist. He even had a fake pirate on his shoulder. Looking behind him, was a small rowboat with a pirate flag on it. He had a weathered piece of paper in his hand. I knew where this was going.

“Hey mister, you wanna help me?” he said when I finally looked up. I resumed reading. He stood there, hovering over me.

“Awww, c’mon,” he pleaded.

I sighed, might as well play along for a little bit, and maybe he’ll go bother someone else. “What do you need?”

Without hesitation, the young man held up the weathered piece of paper, describing a map he had found in a nearby store, hidden behind a bookshelf. Now of course, I wondered what he would be doing behind a shelf, but he was young and probably being a nosy kid poking behind everything he could while his mother was shopping. Where was she anyway? She should keep an eye on her kid. The boy excitedly went on with his story, about how it was a pirate’s treasure map, as it was plainly marked with a red “X”. I wanted to tell him that it was likely just a gag, or some sort of prop for a show that somehow ended up where he found it, but he didn’t pause long enough for me to do so. I stopped him and asked, “What’s you name, kid?”

“Jacob, sir,” was his polite reply. At least he has manners.

“Well, Jacob, where’s you mom? Does she know you’re running around talking to strangers?” Bothering strangers, that is.

“I told her about the map I found. She told me to find someone to play with, but I want to find this treasure, and adults are the smartest people I know.” Well, there’s no denying that. Maybe it won’t hurt to humor him for a little bit. Maybe his mother’s cute, too, could earn me some brownie points right from the start.

“Well, Jacob, where do we start?” I asked.

Jacob opened the map again, which surely resembled this coastline, and looked too recently made to be a genuine treasure map. Not that I believed in treasure maps, but this certainly was not one. “The X marks a spot on the beach over that way,” he pointed excitedly to a spot on the beach near a grove of trees. He started walking that way when I grabbed his arm.

“Not so fast. Shouldn’t you tell your mother where you’re going?”

“Nah, she’ll be alright, but we’ll need some equipment.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as he ran to where his mother was laying, grabbed a plastic shovel, and returned.

 

We walked to the spot he thought was marked on the map. As we got closer, Jacob became more excited, rambling on about the treasure he expected to find. I did not say much, I didn’t want to play into his fantasy too much to see the kid be let down.

A few paces further on, Jacob handed me the shovel. “You’re stronger,” he said, “you do the digging.”

“Where?”

“Right here,” Jacob said, looking at the map and pointing to a spot near the roots of a tree. I bent over, and started to dig.

“Now hold it right there,” a menacing voice said from behind me. Shit. Turning around I saw a cutlass pointed at me. Now that he held it, that fake cutlass looked pretty real.

I had that feeling from the start this was a bad idea.

Behind Jacob stood a tall man, likely close to my age. He had one of those faces only a mother could love: really ugly with a few scars. One eye blinked rapidly, some sort of tic. Jacob held the cutlass in my direction, he arm visibly shaking, though whether it was the weight or fear I was unsure.

“Throw me your wallet,” the ugly man said. I did nothing.

“Your wallet,” the ugly man repeated, and prodded Jacob forward with the cutlass. I thought he must be as cowardly as he is ugly, if he’s going to to have a mere child threaten me.

However, the joke was on him. Over the years, I had walked through various unsafe neighborhoods on my commute to work, and had become accustomed to carrying no money, using my debit card whenever necessary. In fact I had not much in my wallet except the debit card, my bus ticket and work ID, none of which would be useful to the thug. I tossed the wallet to him and it fell short landing in the sand. He grabbed it and ran, Jacob following behind him.

I waited a minute. No telling what some psychopath with a cutlass would do, and I was unarmed.

I left the grove. The boat was gone, and I have not seen it since.

Going back to my spot in the sand, I came across an officer and described the hold-up man to him. I doubt he believed my story, but if it’s happened before, maybe there’s hope that the pirate goons will be caught.

At the end of the day, went home. Needless to say, I never saw my wallet, nor Jacob, again.