JTONY:
I let this task filter through my head for a while, allowing ideas to percolate without really thinking about it, when finally the image of someone pulling up a piece of a story from the depths of, in this case, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

Stow Lake is a wonderful man-made lake with lush greenery and animals. There are thousands of places to hide things and have them be found without having others disturb them in between. Contained but still wild.

I decided to write a story for Thanksgiving, and chose as a protagonist the Pirate Princess of a series of stories I've told my kids and their friends over the last few years. I wrote the story out then copied it out by hand onto 13 different pieces of paper.

To protect the paper I took standard clear contact paper and sandwiched each piece of paper between 2 sheets of the self adhesive contact paper. I then attached a piece of string (about 6' long) with a red ribbon at the end.

I took these pieces of the story to Stow Lake and planted each one in a different place... some in trees, some in the water, some just stuck in the bushes and reeds. At each place I left the red ribbons somewhere visible, though not too visible to be too obvious.

I planted the pieces 100 paces apart (fitting, I thought, for the Pirate motif). This was a difficulty because my paces at 6'4" are much larger than my 12 year old son's or 8 year old daughter's. I shortened my pace a bit, which worked for the most part, but many times I had to pace it off with them and make sure they were in the right place (15 paces of bushes and reeds is a lot to be off).

Evie decided the story pieces should be worn, so she ran around with a skirt of story parts draped at her waist. Bryce was happy with his hat and scarf.

Overall successful, I think. I'd like to do it again, though I'd like to a)find a better way to have them find the story pieces and b)add some sort of interactivity to it all. Cool enough to do though, even without the task!


Bryce's various not random (for once) comments of illogical glory-

It was fun. Mostly because my sister Evie kept doing the most ridicules things. (quite funny. The stuff that she did with wearing the story bits was...very amusing. ) The actual method of story delivery was interesting, butdefiately needed tweaking to make it work better, mostly because it needed more interactivity (istuff like this would be the most fun if it was done in an A.R.G. like manner and if it could be a "living" story. (i.e. a story that could change while it was being found.)




STORY
1.
Sara, the Pirate Princes was onboard the Blue Unicorn, returning from a raid on the False Temples of Benjamin the Gold, stood on the deck, leaning against the fore capstan. It was considered bad form for one of her rank to be on the foredeck, but she liked to be near the bowsprit, able to see ahead of the ship with nothing to stand between her and her vessel's destination. She liked the spray from the waves against her cheeks and she liked riding the swell from the tip instead of the trough. Her men understood, and cut her a wide berth. The captain on the foredeck usually meant a change of mood. Whether toward the joyous of the melancholic, no one knew and all waited to find out with a catch in their breaths. For this solitude, Sara the Pirate Princess of GreenSkull Island was Thankful.

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2.
When she was on the island, she was always the Princess, outranking anyone else on land. She was their one true leader. When she was aboard a ship, however, she took command of that ship as its captain, but was not ranked above the other captains on other ships. Whatever ship she was on, the captain of that ship was demoted to First Mate (and those below made room in the chain of command appropriately), but otherwise she was just another pirate captain, just like the 48 or so captains who made the island their home ports.

This was according to pirate law. As pirates have always been oddly democratic, with a crew always able to "elect" a new captain without it being called mutiny, the Princess put herself on equal footing with her captains once she set foot on board a ship. The other captains could, if they wished, challenge her. If enough captains decided to do that, she'd be put down and they'd elect a new pirate Prince or Princess to rule the island.

Sara trusted her men, though. Yes, some were scoundrels... I mean, what could one expect... they were pirates after all. But each had strengths and skills and understandings that she valued. Each one offered unique and wonderful gifts and her Island prospered with their work, her people grew strong with their help, and for this she was thankful.

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3.
The Princess looked out past the bowsprit and noted a darkness in the sky. She turned around and shouted down amidships to her first mate, who was watching her carefully, ready to offer any assistance she might need.

"Mr. Spirits, I think we may be headed into a storm," She said. "Send a man into the crow's nest with a spyglass and get a report."

"Aye Aye, Sir. You, there. You heard the Captain. Grab a glass and get up there."

A young sailor ran to the bosun for the glass and jumped up the shrouds to the nest. Once he got situated Mr. Spirits called up to him, "Well, what do you see?"

The sailor called down, "It is a storm, sir. A big 'un, and comin' on fast. If we stay on course we'll hit the start of it in less than an hour."

"How wide is it, can we go 'round it?" asked Mr. Spirits.

"Too wide to go 'round, Sir."

Sara, who was listening, began climbing down the ladder from the foredeck. "Mr. Spirits, have the men furl the sails immediately and tell Mr. Digits at the helm to head us directly into the wind and keep us there. Looks like we'll have to ride it out. I'll be in my quarters. Bring me a report when we hit the storm."

"Aye Aye, Sir."

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4.
Sara hated storms. Totally irationally they frightened her. She could stare down Dr. Rockslide standing behind the cannons on his aptly named ship Despair without the tiniest patch of skin showing a flinch, and lightning and thunder had her diving for cover. And storms aboard ship were worse, because you not only had nature atacking from above, but from below as well.

There was one thing that comforted her, however. She went to her chest at the foot of her bed, opened it and brought out a lamp. It wasn't a magic lamp or anything... wasn't even really worth all that much, but it always made her feel safer to have it running. It was a spinning lamp with a decorated shade that rotated from the heat of the candle inside. The decorations, mermaids and mermen, tridents held high, were projected from the light of the candle onto the walls, surrounding Sara with protective spririts. Sara felt calm again, and for this she was thankful.

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5.
The storm hit, and it was a tough one. Big waves with the bow going almost vertical as it would climb to the top of the wave. Rain came down and rolled off the decks in rivers, only to be replaced by new rivers from the waves crashing over the sides.

Mr. Spirits knocked on Sara's door. She opened it to him.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but there is an issue with the crew. They've become afraid, and unfortunately they believe that the storm has come because of part of the treasure we've brought back from the False Temples."

"Really, Mr. Spirits. What part of the treasure are they concerned with." Sara wa sn't sure exactly how to handle the situation. These men weren't all the normal crew of the Unicorn... many had been picked up at the False Temples when Sara had ordered some of the Unicorn's men to stay with another ship, the Spike, that had been damabed by Benjamin the Gold's cannons. These new men were superstitious and full of stories of ghasts and sea spectres. Clearly it was these men who were stokikng the fears. Still, the other men had accepted them as crew and so they had to be treated as such.

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6.
"Sir, there is a small, golden idol," said Mr. Spirits. "One of the men saw it while the treasure was being stowed. He believes it to be an idol stolen from a shrine at the White Cove, and the shrine bears a curse to anyone stealing from it."

"Bring the sailor to me, Mr. Spririts. I would like to talk to him."

"Aye, sir." Mr. Spirits turned to leave, water dripping from the 2 rear corners of his tricorn hat.

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7.
He returned shortly with a middleaged, sun hardened sailor named Lerique. Sara looked at him hard, bringing up all of the intensity she could muster.

"Well, Lerique, if we actually do have this idol, what do you propose we do. If it is causing us to be in this storm, wouldn't that mean we are already cursed?"

"Yes, Ma'am... um... I mean, Sir, Captain. Yes, Captain, we are already cursed, but the curse is specifically on those who are in posession of items from the shrine. If we lose posession, the curse should also be lost." He shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"So are you suggesting we throw it away?"

"Yes, Captain. If we throw the idol overboard the curse should lift."
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8.
"Mr. Spririts, as this is treasure, we cannot just throw it overboard unless the entire crew agrees on it... we must keep to the code, after all... will you organize a vote immediately. If any vote to keep the idol, please set them aside so I can speak with them."

"Aye, Sir."

"Mr. Lerique, would you recognize the case that the idol was put into when we stowed the treasure?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Right. Mr. Lerique, you're with me. We go down below to retreive it."

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9.
Sara and Lerique did indeed go below and found the idol with little difficulty, and for this, Sara was thankful. She didn't want to leave the men waiting long ond deck, especially in the storm.

She wasn't sure how she felt about the theory that the idol could cause the storm, but she knew how intensely these ideas could run in the crew, so she wanted to follow whatever procedures the crew felt was necessary. The crew was unanimous in the desire to remove this particular piece of treasure, for which Sara was again Thankful. She didn't want to try and convince folks to follow a superstition they didn't adhere to, nor did she want to convince the others to give up their superstition. Sara was thankful that the crew remained united.

She stood up at the bowsrpit, holding the idol over her head, and said, "I and the crew of the Blue Unicorn relinquish all posession over this idol, and return it to the earth and sea." Saying this she threw the idol into an oncoming wave. The idol disapeared completely.


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10.
Just two hours later a knock came at her door. Mr. Spirits was there with a report.

"Captain," he said, "The storm seems to have broken. bright skies and a rainbow can be seen on the horizon. The brightest spot is on a heading toward home."

Sara smiled, "Thank you Mr. Spirits. Please set a course for Greenskull Island."

"Aye, Captain," he said.

Sara opened the curtains over her windows and a shaft of sunlight entered the room, and for this Sara was most thankful of all.

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11.
The rest of the voyage to GreenSkull Island was calm and relatively uneventful. The "superstitious" Lerique actually had a great deal of interesting lore to impart to members of the regular Unicorn crew... lore he had picked up from the many years he had spent as an indentured servant in the False Temples. One was an old harvest holiday that was practiced long ago, a holiday not unlike one practiced by Sara's own people, back before the time of the Pirates. This gave Sara a great idea she hoped the other Captains would approve of.

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12.
When the Blue Unicorn entered the Harbor, Sara stood on the aft deck with a spyglass and counted the ships. She let out a sigh of relief when all 48 had been accounted for. She had been particularly worried about the Spike, but it wasn't the only ship damaged, and with that storm, idol or no, other ships could have run into trouble. Thankfully all of the ships had returned.

"Mr. Spirits, have a launch prepared for me. I have things to attend to ashore while you bring in the Unicorn." Sara started off toward her cabin to retrieve her stuff.

"Captain, would you like someone to row you in?"

"Yes, Mr. Spirits. Have Mr. Lerique prepare to come ashore with me."

A few minutes later Sara and Lerique were in the boat with several men handling ropes to lower them into the harbor.

"Mr. Spirits, the ship is yours. See you in port, Captain." Sara always loved the official transfer of captainhood, always so formal.

"Thank you Princess. The ship is in good hands. Men! Lower them down!"

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13.
The Princess Sara and Lerique went ashore quickly. Sara went to the hut of the oldest woman on the island, a woman everyone called auntie (with her age, it was possible she was everyone's auntie). Auntie knew everything about the old ways, and she and Lerique had a long discussion about how this should be done and what to do about that. Soon orders were flying out of Auntie's hut to get this ingredient or cook that item. Soon there was a feast brewing.

Sara sent Lerique to get word around to all the villiagers and Pirates alike. There would be a feast, with ceremonies and speeches, to be held that very evening, and participation was mandatory. Soon the entire island was in preparation.

At the feast, the very best food was served, made up of the wild game on the island (turkeys and pigs) and the best of the treasured spices and ingredients both from the hidden larders of the oldest villiagers and the treasure trunks of each Pirate Captain. All ate, and wondered at the power of the company and the gratitude they shared for one another.

At the end of the feast, Sara spoke a few words. She thought back to all of the moments in the previous few days she had recognized her own gratitude, and wanted that to come across to all in attendance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I called this feast today in order for us to recognize all the amazing things around us. We are free men and women, we are for the most part in good health, we live on this beautiful island, and we each have strengths we share with one another. We have built a good life here, and I don't want any of us to take that for granted. Yes there have been dark times, and there will be more, but even in the darkest time, there is a light somewhere for which we can be thankful," she smiled to herself thinking of her lamp. "So, please, lift up a cup of rum to the sky, and thank the gods, spirits, and those around you for all we have. In gratitude!"

All in attendance repeated, "In gratitude!" and drank.

That night, Sara fell asleep with her lamp on, mermaids twirling about her, and her dreams were filled with all the goodness a Pirate Princess could imagine.