Chapter the 13th
Shawn clutched the rail to keep from being tossed in all directions in the subway car. Several times, the train dropped into a free fall that lasted far longer than any dip he had experienced on a roller coaster. The train dove and looped and jolted from side to side like a ship in a storm at sea. Long after Shawn had resigned himself to riding like this forever, the subway crashed. Shawn lost his grip of the rail and slid half-way down the aisle. The windows broke and the lights went out. Hoping to get some idea of where he was, Shawn put a hand through the window and swore when he cut a finger. Then he felt a damp, jagged rock. The train started up again, moving very slowly and Shawn whipped his hand back inside just in time. The slow motion of the train and the loud crunching sound made Shawn think the train was plowing through a rock. After a time, the train stopped again and the door slid open. Shawn cautiously approached the opening. There was nothing outside that he could see. Shawn stuck a foot out but felt nothing but air.
“Just step over here, King Shawn the First,” a woman called out to Shawn in a grating voice.
Shawn peered into the darkness and thought he saw the blurry shape of what could be a booth of some sort.
“There’s nothing to walk on,” Shawn answered back.
“Just hold on to the line, Your Majesty.”
“What line?”
As Shawn asked the question, a thin, purplish light became visible. Shawn grabbed for it. It felt like the thinnest of wires.
“Will it hold me up?” asked Shawn.
“Of course it will, Your Majesty. The threads of Mellany’s Web are totally unbreakable.”
“It seems to me that a king should be given a better way to get out of a subway car,” said Shawn.
“There is no better way to get from one place to another than Mellany’s Web,” said the woman. “I suggest you not speak badly about her web any more if you wish to get out of the subway car.”
Shawn wasn’t sure he trusted either the line, the woman in the booth, or Mellany, whoever she was, but the only alternative he could see was to sit in the crashed subway until he starved. At least falling would be much quicker death. Shawn grabbed as strong a hold of the line as he could and pushed himself away from the subway car. He dangled precariously over what he assumed was a bottomless pit, but the thread held up as Shawn inched his way across the abyss. As he approached the booth, he could make out the pale face of an old woman who picked up a bottle and took a long swig from it. Not even when he came up against the booth did Shawn feel any kind of surface below his feet, so he maneuvered himself on to the edge of the booth’s window and sat there without relinquishing his hold of the line.
“Welcome to my booth, Your Majesty King Shawn the First,” said the hag.
This close, Shawn could see that the woman was frightfully ugly, half-bald, with most of her teeth missing, and a body odor that made Shawn feel sick. He was flattered that his royal status was being recognized but he wondered how this woman could know his secret imaginings.
“Where am I?” asked Shawn.
“Here. Where are you going?”
“I’m trying to find Moreley’s Toy Shop, but it keeps on eluding me.”
“Ah! Moreley’s Toy Shop! And what, Your Majesty King Shawn the First, are you hoping to find there?”
“A new engine for my train set.”
“Ah! A new engine for your train set! Why I think I just might have your new engine>”
“Where?”
“Here.”
“I don’t see it!”
“That is because I am still hiding it from you.”
“Then show it to me!” Shawn demanded.
“But you have to pay for it, first, Your Majesty King Shawn the First.”
“How much is it?” asked Shawn.
“The toy train is cheap, Your Majesty King Shawn the First. It only costs you your life.”
“MY LIFE!?”
“Just your life.”
“But—I’m not dead am I?” Shawn asked in a cold panic.
“That is up to you, Your Majesty King Shawn the First. Isn’t today your birthday?”
“No.”
Shawn winced at the memory his past birthdays. Most of them were desolate, lonely days for all the company his new toys and gadgets gave him.
“That is too bad,” said the hag. “I can give you your parcel if it is your birthday present.”
“Can I have it anyway?” Shawn asked eagerly.
The hag pulled out a parcel from under her counter. Shawn had to restrain himself from grabbing it on the spot.
“I suppose you can have this parcel if you are willing to be born today,” said the hag. “That would make today your birthday. Here! Catch!”
The hag tossed the parcel at Shawn. Forgetting where he was, Shawn let go of the line to grab for the parcel and he fell of the window ledge. His scream was cut short when he landed on something soft and bouncy, but with the package firmly in his hands. With his heart beating overtime, Shawn tried get a sense of where he was this time. The only light came from slender lavender cobwebs that looked like the thread that held him when he got out of the train. In that light, Shawn could see that he was sprawled on an unmade bed that felt and looked familiar. He leaned over and squinted at the carpet on the floor. It looked like the carpet in his room back in his real home in New York. Beyond the bed, all was darkness and shadows, making Shawn think that only his bed and the floor beneath it was in this place. He held the package up to his face. It was to read in the dark, so he took out his cigarette lighter and flicked it on. No flame came out. Throwing the lighter away with a few choice curses, Shawn did what he could to make out the address. The package was addressed to him as King Shawn the First, but the return address was not Moreley’s Toy Shop but Royal Corelee Light Bandits, Inc.
“Now what could that be?” Shawn asked himself.
Then he remembered his toy bandits who had brought empty bags back to his room after their last raid. Shawn tore at the package, but the tape was impossible to break. He reached for his pocket knife and tried to cut the tape with that, but the tape was too tough for the knife as well. Shawn muttered a few more choice words and slashed the knife through the air. The bed fell into the dark as if Shawn had cut the cables supporting it. Shawn clung to his package and his pillow for dear life until the bed bounced up and down as if another cable was holding it up and then the bed settled into an uneasy equilibrium. Shawn tried to pull himself up, but found that his hands were bound. He struggled with the trunk of his body, but the ropes wrapped about him were too tight. Only when Shawn gave up the struggle did he realize he was caught in a web composed of lavender threads extending in all directions farther than he could see. He thrashed about, but only caught himself more firmly in the web. The web wrapped itself around the unmade bed and the package. Then the package moved away from Shawn. Even then, Shawn refused to loose his cool. He refused to scream for help. There was no help for him anyway. He would face whatever horror presented itself without cowering. So resolved, Shawn looked up towards the ceiling and saw a spidery head peering at him. The face was light blue and the eyes were a fiery orange. Six spindly legs supported the body that made its way down the web towards Shawn. Shawn screamed.
-------------------
"Well," said Captain Karen, "I must say that listening to stories is much nicer than listening to you talk about robbing poor innocent people.”
"I beg your pardon, my fair Captain Karen," said Captain Patch. "We don't steal nothing that belongs to other people."
"Yes, we do!" retorted Captain Eagle.
“Actually,” replied Captain Patch, “in a manner of speaking, perhaps one can suggest that our transactions involve changing the ownership of an object from one person to another. However, the things we steal don't belong to the people we take them from.”
"Do you mean you're like Robin Hood?" asked Captain Karen.
"Hood Robin, hoodwink!" commented Polydorus.
"Never heard of him," said Captain Patch.
“Why, Robin Hood was an outlaw who robbed the rich and give what he took to the poor.”
“You could say we do that,” said Captain Eagle. “Usually we are quite poor when we rob the rich of their gold.”
“What do you do when you become rich from the gold you steal?” asked Captain Karen. “Do you give it to the poor, then?”
“If we gave our gold to the poor,” said Captain Polly, “then we would be poor again and we’d have to take the gold back and give it to ourselves all over again. Better to keep it in the first place. Easier that way.”
Talking about stealing gold is all very well,” said Captain Karen, “Well, maybe it isn’t so very well after all, but I think the time has come when we must decide who's in charge and then decide what we are going to do. It was my impression that we were supposed to go on a quest."
“That’s what I thought we were supposed to do,” said Captain Nigel.
“That’s what I thought, too,” said Captain Edmund.
“Who wants to go on a quest when we can steal a fortune or two from Correlee?” asked Captain Eagle.
“I DO!” cried Captain Dennis.
“I want the fortune!” cried Captain Michael.
Several boys and pirates muttered approval of one idea or the other.
Captain Karen clapped her hands loudly like a school teacher.
“WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING IF WE KEEP ARGUING!” she yelled.
The pirates and boys quieted down and looked at Captain Karen sheepishly.
“I think we’d better have a Chief Captain,” Captain Nigel suggested.
"How do we decide that?” asked Captain Hilary.
"Where I come from,” Captain Karen explained, “we hold elections where everybody votes on who they want to be Chief Captain and the one with the most votes gets the job."
"That's no good," said Captain Geoffrey, "we might vote for the wrong person."
"Yea," said Captain Polly, "I say we appoint a chief captain!"
"Hear! Hear!"
“How are we going to agree on an appointment of a chief captain when we haven’t agreed on anything else?” Captain Karen asked.
“All we have to do is get everybody to appoint the same person as our chief captain!” Captain Polly answered.
"I appoint Captain Karen as Chief Captain!" Captain Edmund piped up.
The whole ship became still. The wind died down and it felt as if the ship was floating gently on air. Captain Karen could scarcely believe it. She braced herself for a series of mocking replies at the suggestion.
"Chief Captain Karen!" chirped the parrot.
The pirates and the boys looked up at the parrot with respect, then frowned in concentration. A murmuring arose among the pirates. The boys whispered among themselves. Then, as if from a pre-arranged signal, they all nodded their heads and broke out in a brief cheer.
“Congratulations, Chief Captain Karen,” said Nigel.
Chief Captain Karen’s jaw dropped.
“But—I haven’t accepted the election,” she protested.
“That’s all the more reason to appoint you captain,” said Captain Peg.
"Pointed captain, pointed captain," added the parrot.
"Well," said Captain Karen, "I'm most—flattered—but I—I don't know anything about running a ship."
"We'll help you," said Captain Hilary.
"All you have to do is be in charge," Captain Patch assured her.
"Your job is to be the chief captain," Captain Polly explained, "and the ship's job is to be the ship."
"Who's the first mate?" asked Captain Smirch, a skinny, quiet man, the cook.
“Who’s the second mate?" asked Captain Geoffrey.
"And the third!" "The fourth?"
Karen resigned herself to this strange appointment and decided to make the best of it.
"How many mates are there supposed to be?" asked Karen.
“As many as you want,” said Captain Peg.
All the boys and pirates except Nigel raised their hands crying "Me! Me!".
Chief Captain Karen raised her hands to restore order.
"Okay, Okay," said Karen, "I appoint Captain Nigel as first mate, Captain Polly as second mate, Captain Edmund as third mate and Captain Eagle as fourth mate. Don't complain about how unfair I am, because I already know that my choices are unfair both to those appointed and to those not appointed.”
All the boys and pirates cheered. Karen and her appointed mates each took a bow. Then the newly appointed Chief Captain became serious.
"Now that I have been appointed Chief Captain,” said Chief Captain Karen, making her voice as firm as she could, “I insist that we make up our minds as to what we are going to do.”
"Rob the coast of Corelee and get back the light they stole from us!"
“Sail for the Island Kevin the Weaver Painter drew!”
"Sight the nearest merchant ship and loot it!"
Karen clapped her hands sharply to bring the crew to order.
“Bring me the map,” Chief Captain Karen ordered.
"I'll get it!" squeaked Captain Edmund as he ran off for it.
"He'll never find it," Captain Eagle giggled.
"Find it, find it," echoed the parrot.
But it only took a moment for Captain Edmund to return with the map.
"What's the idea of hiding it behind the harpoons and the Encyclopedia of Penguin Care and Culture?" Captain Edmund asked Captain Eagle accusingly.
"To keep you from finding it," Captain Eagle replied.
"Which is why I looked there first thing,” said Captain Edmund smugly as he proudly presented the rolled-up map to Karen.
Chief Captain Karen unrolled the map. Her eyes grew wide when she recognized the drawing style and the handwriting.
"Where did you get it?" she asked.
"At Moreley's Toy Store," Captain Nigel and Captain Edmund chorused.
"And where is Moreley's? Toy Store?" asked Chief Captain Karen.
"We don't know where it is now," said Captain Edmund. “We were in Taverner & Tye's rehearsing the Lost and New Found Mass by Christopher Tye when some girl who came in with Kevin the Waver Painter dropped a candle that opened the way to Moreley’s and so we got to go there. We found this ship there, too. Kevin the Weaver Painter he drew the treasure map so we could find the missing light there. Kevin was going to come with us, but he had to run back and find the girl who dropped the candle and he missed the boat when it sailed away."
"He ain't a bad map maker neither," said Captain Polly. "Knows right where to draw the inlets and the sea monsters and everything. Even marked the spot for the treasure."
“Is Kevin still somewhere in this world?” asked Chief Captain Karen.
“He was last time I saw him,” said Captain Edmund.
“Oh,” said Chief Captain Karen. “I hope he’s all right?”
“So do we,” said Captain Nigel.
“Worrying about Kevin the Weaver Painter won’t help him and it won’t help make up our minds as to where we set sail,” said Captain Peg.
“I think Kevin and Sheila are okay,” said Captain Dennis.
“Why?” asked Chief Captain Karen.
“See the purple thread up by the crow’s nest?” Captain Dennis asked her.
Chief Captain Karen looked up and saw two or three threads of light lavender threads much as she saw them every night since the ship disembarked.
“Yes.
“My Great Aunt says that Mellany’s Web holds everybody by a thread, and that means Kevin the Weaver Painter and Sheila are being held by a thread somewhere.”
The logic sounded dubious to Chief Captain Karen but she decided that was all the comfort she was going to get concerning her brother.
“Well,” said the Chief Captain, “if Kevin drew this map just before we set sail, then this island can’t be anywhere and we can’t get to it.”
"It can too be somewhere and we can too get to it!" roared Captain Polly.
"Can too! Can too!" echoed the parrot.
"You can't draw an island if it isn’t there," Captain Nigel insisted.
“But you can imagine an island and draw that,” said Chief Captain Karen.
“How can you do that?” asked Captain Nigel.
Karen opened her mouth in amazement.
“Don’t you ever imagine anything that doesn’t exist?” Karen asked him.
“No,” Captain Nigel answered with a perfectly straight face.
Chief Captain Karen looked at Captain Nigel’s face for signs that he was kidding, but couldn’t find any.
“Well, I’ve done it lots of times,” said the Chief Captain.
“How?” asked Captain Michael.
“Why, I imagine, say, a white horse,” Karen replied, “and then I imagine that a golden horn grows out of that horse’s forehead, and then I call it a unicorn.”
“That’s right,” said Captain Michael.
“But unicorns don’t exist.”
The boys and the pirates looked at each other with funny faces that gave Chief Captain Karen a sinking feeling that, once again, they thought she was mentally deficient. Captain Dennis stepped forward.
“But Chief Captain, Sir,” Captain Dennis stammered.
“Yes?”
“I think of unicorns all the time,” said Chief Captain Dennis, “and my Great Aunt thinks of them all the time, and—and—“ Captain Dennis’ face turned red and he choked on his words.
“You see, most respected Chief Captain,” said Captain Smirch, “for all the respect we have for you and for your wisdom—“
“Do you mean to say you believe in unicorns?” Chief Captain Karen asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” said Captain Eagle, “it’s like, when you’ve seen unicorns all your life, you kind of assume they exist.”
“I—guess—reality is different here in Carelin, isn’t it?” said Chief Captain Karen in a small voice.
Nigel clapped her on the shoulder.
“Don’t take it hard, Chief Captain, Sir. It isn’t your fault if your world is deprived of unicorns.”
“But this still doesn’t answer my other question,” said Chief Captain Karen.
“What question?” asked Captain Eagle.
“Why does this island with buried treasure have to exist just because my brother drew it a few days ago.”
“Oh, that’s easy,” said Captain Edmund. “If you have a picture of something, than something has to exist or it wouldn’t be a picture of something.”
“Got it?” asked Captain Hilary.
“I—I guess so,” said Karen, not knowing how she could argue with Captain Edmund’s logic. “I have to admit that everything Kevin drew last time he came here came to life.”
“Hear! Hear!” cried several boys and pirates.
Captain Edmund rolled up the Treasure map and handed it to the chief captain.
"So, should we set due course for Kevin’s Island?” he asked.
“Well,” said Chief Captain Karen, “my nest question is: will a search for this treasure help us find the missing light that we are supposed to find?”
“Kevin the Weaver Maker drew gold, frankincense and myrrh in the treasure chest,” said Captain Edmund.
“Then he drew in gold pieces made out of light,” said Captain Nigel.
“Or light made out of gold pieces,” said Captain Edmund.
“My Great Aunt would never have let me go treasure hunting right now if we weren’t hunting for the treasure chest with the light in it,” said Captain Dennis.
The more Chief Captain Karen thought about it, the more she thought that the logical thing to do was to follow the logic of the world she was in at the present time.
“Then I say, set a due course for Kevin’s Island,” said Chief Captain Karen.
"I move we celebrate our search for the treasure," said Captain Nigel.
"I second the motion," said Captain Eagle.
"Carried!" cried Captain Polly.
"Carried, carried!" added the parrot.
Captain Nigel stood up and whistled through his teeth. One of the pirates took out an accordion, another a harmonica, and before Karen knew it, all the boys and pirates were dancing and singing all over the deck. First Karen had to dance with two of the pirates in turn. Much as she liked them, they made her wish pirates were in the habit of taking baths. Then Nigel delivered her from them and gallantly whirled her about the ship. Karen thought she had never danced with a boy she liked as much and she wished he were in her class back in Milton. During a slower dance, everybody stood aside to watch the couple.
"Do you want to marry me?" Captain Nigel suddenly asked, right in the middle of the dance.
"Why, I don't know," Chief Captain Karen replied, wondering if events were fast moving out of her control, "we're a bit young for that."
“I know,” said Captain Nigel. "I don't mean tomorrow, lovely as it would be to have a ship's wedding. I mean later, when we’re old enough, and I've earned enough money from being a pirate, or an opera singer, or something, so I can support you and all our children.”
"Well," said Chief Captain Karen, "we shall see."
"I'm content to wait until we both can see," said Nigel.
At the end of the dance, the pirates sat down in a circle. The boys, taking the hint, stood in choir formation. Captain Nigel announced that they would sing the Gloria from the Lost Mass of Christopher Tye because they promised Mr. Schnitzelbergen that they would. Karen had heard nothing like it before, and she didn't know what to make of the music, but she felt strangely relaxed by it. The pirates made a surprisingly appreciative audience for such delicate music. There were a few solos with Captains Edmund and Geoffrey singing a beautiful song called Pie Jesu that Chief Captain Karen remembered hearing once on the radio. The finale was Captain Nigel singing “Motherless Child” in a pleasing alto voice with such heartbreaking intensity that Chief Captain Karen couldn’t help but think he was singing about his own life. Captain Polly unashamedly let his tears run down his face and nobody made a mocking gesture at him. Chief Captain Karen was severely tempted to marry her first mate that very night.
------------------------
Having recovered from his scream, Shawn pulled himself together and refused to cower before the orange spider. This was his room and he was going to act like it. No spider, no matter how large, was going to make a fool out of him. Shawn pulled himself up as straight as the threads binding him allowed.
"What are you doing in my room?" Shawn asked the intruder.
The spider stopped a moment, then continued her way down the web towards Shawn without answering his question.
"I did not invite you here!" Shawn insisted. “Answer my question!”
“The answer to your question, my dear," said the spider in a motherly voice, “is that you did invite me to your room.”
"I did not!"
"Poor dear, you just don't know what you are doing."
“How come you know what I'm doing, then?"
The spider stopped again and rubbed two of her legs together as if they helped her think.
"I suppose that if you hadn't started to spin this web for me, I wouldn't have come."
"I didn't spin your web!" Shawn insisted. "I've never spun a web in my life and I never will! Now let me go this instant!"
“But I do not have you in the first place,” said the spider. “If I do not have you, how can I free you? It is up to you to do what you want to do."
"With this web holding me so I can't move a muscle?" Shawn yelled.
He started to struggle but only entangled himself all the more for his efforts.
"I thought you wanted to move and accomplish something," said the spider who had now come to within a few feet of Shawn.
"You're making fun of me," Shawn spat out. "Everybody makes fun of me."
"Poor thing. Let me show you what I mean. By that, I mean let me help you show yourself what you mean. It's all very simple. First of all, what do you want to do?"
"I want to get free of this spider web!"
“That is something you can't do. So why don't you just do what you want to do?"
"I can't!"
"Try it."
Shawn let his arms go limp and he glared at the spider.
"Weren't you trying to do something just now?" asked the spider.
Shawn thought a moment and realized he had almost forgotten everything.
"I was trying to open my package,” he replied.
“Then open it.”
“You took it.”
The spider handled the threads near her feet as if they were a system of pulleys and the package slid down the web and landed in Shawn’s lap.
“Now open it,” said the spider.
“With what?”
“Your knife.”
"I can't!"
"How do you know?"
"Because I tried, that's why, and it didn't work."
"Did you sharpen your knife?"
"No."
"Oh yes, of course not, my dear. You didn't have my web to sharpen it on. Just pick up your knife and sharpen it now."
"Would you mind setting me free?" Shawn asked through his teeth.
"Not in the least, my dear boy,” said the spider. “Unfortunately, I cannot meet your request. However, I will make a suggestion. Suggestions help once in a while, you know. Why don't you stop fighting the web and just pick up your knife?"
Shawn tried again to yank himself from the web only to bounce back against it as if he were a ball tied to a paddle.
"Now that doing it your way has failed yet again," said the spider. "Why don't you try my suggestion?"
"Because it won't work."
"Then you will just have to stay where you are with your unopened package sitting in front of you forever and ever."
Shawn spit into the spider's eye. Then he cowered, expecting the spider to pounce on him and devour him. The spider's eye burned a fiercer shade of yellow, but she didn't attack. Shawn waited for the spider to berate him, but she said nothing. Instead, she crossed her legs and sat down in the web as if she were a six-legged Buddha and gave every impression that she could sit there forever.