It was awkward, honestly, talking to this person I had thought was fictional my entire life. Never the less, I invited him in and we sat at the table, the chair scratched the floor and added to the tens of marks that were already there.
I asked Jacob to tell me his story. His face tightened but he relaxed and leaned back against he chair. I got us coffee and put it on the table.
“Well, I guess CJ told you some of my story?”
“Not really, mom didn't ever go into your background. I guess it was really hard for her.”
“Well, when I was young I lived with my mom. My dad was a drunk and was kicked out when I was eight.” His eyes clouded and I could tell he was reliving it. “ ‘You get out of my house and take all your drinks with you. I never want to see you back here, wasting our money and drinking me out of house and home.’ Mom yelled at him all the time, but that time he was really gone for good. She grew cold and hard and would whip me when I was bad. For one year she was healthy and she could take care of herself. But then the fever swept through our town and she grew ill. With the strength she had she would still beat me, but I nursed her back to health. One day though, she got sick again. I took all of the money we had and used it to pay for a doctor to make her better. He came and she got better but she beat me worse than before, then kicked me out.
“I boarded CJ’s boat while she was in town and hid in the storage compartment. I stayed there for a day while she was a port and a few hours more until she found me. She took me in and nursed me back to health. She took me in and I grew up on her boat. She became like a mom to me and I loved her. I could tell she had pain in her life and I opened her heart.
“That one day the ship attacked us, I was scared. Real scared. I hid in the barrels like I had when I first came, I tucked my self in between them and I thought I was safe. That shell came through the wall and I couldn't breathe. Jacob, there was smoke everywhere and the water was rising was rising really fast. I heard CJ come down the stairs but when I tried to go to her I cut my arm on a nail, I stayed where I was and she found me. But that second shell hit and we were separated.
“I flew into the water and I think I blacked out. I saw a ship nearby and CJ got picked up but I passed out again after that.
“When I woke up, I was on a beach alone with nothing but a bunch of wood scattered around me. I was really beat up with scratches all over me, but an unusual looking mark was on my leg and I couldn't feel it. It hurt like fire later though.
“I remember finding part of a sail and wrapping my leg and arm where the nail had got me and sitting for a few hours more there on the sand. When the feeling returned to my leg it hurt o-so very badly I cried and screamed. The salt water only increased the pain and I couldn't breathe.
“I heard footsteps and muffled voices yelling and rushing about. I remember the voices having hands that lifted me off the sand and ripped the sail off me, that eased the pain a whole lot. Someone touched my leg and I passed out from the pain.
“When I woke up, again, I was on a bed with my leg properly wrapped and my arm as well. A man was standing over me, smiling. He put down his paper and sat beside me, minding my raised leg.
“ ‘Son, you got stung by a big stinging ray out there. Where is your family?’ He asked me and I realized for the first time. I didn't know. I didn't know if my mom was alive and I didn't know where the ship had taken CJ. I got really scared then, Jacob. I remember the man rubbing my back as I hyperventilated.” He paused.
I nodded, asking him to go on. I was very intrigued. This man was visually older than me but he had the greatest memory of anyone I had met except maybe my mom.
“After my leg healed in that doctors hut, I met Anjelica. She was a young helper in the town and went wherever she was needed. I was about five years older and we became very close like siblings. I stayed in that small town for a while with Anjelica and her mother, Macey, who later passed due to the yellow fever virus.
“When Macey died, I was nearly eighteen so I took Anjelica in and I began working on the docks and ships in the town, Kopeck. Anjelica continued work in the gardens and as a housemaid. We worked for five more years and eventually I made enough money to buy my own ship, The Searcher Two. So Anjelica and I left Kopeck. I remembered how to sail and I taught her all CJ had taught me. We traveled so far, to so many places we had never been. I began to search for CJ.
“We eventually could hire a small crew with me as Captain, and Anjelica as my first mate, we manned the ship and made a living out of our travels. Sometimes, we would provide passage to others for a little extra money.
“There was this one  passenger who really struck my memory. She wanted to go to the next country over, which was about a three day sail and she volunteered to pay a great deal of money so we agreed. The whole crew adored her. She was the kindest young woman you could find and her name was Kelsey Ann. She preferred we call her Ann but nearly all the men on the ship called her Ms. Kelsey Ann because she was just the kind of lady that deserved that kind of respect. For the three days she was with us, she became extremely interested in the works of the ship, so I began to teach her the ropes of sailing and Anjelica helped as well. She loved it and promised us that one day we would see her again with a ship of her own.
“We didn't believe her but sure enough, about a year later we were around the same area and a ship came up beside us. A woman swung over and curtsied saying, ‘Well Jacob, what did I tell you.’ She had become Captain Kelsey Ann. She had lunch aboard, The Searcher Two, and then went back to her ship, The Aspirer.
“I didn't meet Ms. Kelsey Ann again for a while, but every so often you could see her ship in the distance. One day we were sailing by and I spotted her ship, but it looked in a battle for she was firing. We sailed closer and realized she was sinking. We couldn't get to The Aspirer quick enough but we reached Kelsey Ann and pulled her aboard but a few months after living aboard our ship she passed in a shooting battle.
“Anjelica and I grew older and we continued to search for CJ. It seemed we traveled the world. We went to Africa and Asia, Europe and the Americas. We sailed everywhere but it seemed CJ was no where to be found. I was giving up hope until one day I was in port and I remember very clearly, two men standing to my right with large beards and dirty salty clothing taking. The taller one said, ‘It seems Captain CJ and Kade are getting married and retiring.’ The shorter one replied, ‘Is that so? It's a shame she lost that boy, I know she would have loved to grow old with him as her son.’ That was when I turned.
“The two men I recognized as a couple of crew men from The Searcher, when I was there. I walked over and grasped their shoulders. They looked very surprised but I knew their names immediately.
“Jet and Gabe, I have missed you very much. It's me Jacob.” They were surprised and we spoke much about where I had been and I inquired about CJ. The men told me she was getting married to the Captain who had saved her and every year around this time they visited the place where they thought I had died. I thanked them and grabbed Anjelica, heading on our way.
“We went to that spot, which was nearby, and sure enough off on the horizon a ship was sailing off. We followed suit but lost them eventually and so we explored the area.
“One day, my little Anjelica was in port grabbing a quick bite to eat and I heard shouting so I ran to where Anjelica was surrounded by men with swords. She drew hers and they advanced. I began to help her fight but we were outnumbered. I was pushed out and I lost my little sister. I heard a grunt and saw two men fall but before they collapsed. One of them shoved their sword toward Anjelica and it pierced her side. The sword pierced her left lung and went through into her right. They left her gasping there, choking on her own blood.
“I cried and told her I was sorry but I couldn't let her suffer like she was so I ended it. She thanked me in her last breath and I swear that was the hardest thing I had ever done.” He gasped choking back tears. He grasped the water cup, I had given him. I moved to say something but he started again.
“Just like CJ, I swear that day, my heart solidified into a rock. For the next twelve years I sailed the world three times over searching ever town but I could never find a CJ. Even the people who had heard of Captain CJ couldn't help me. I had given up hope when I was in a store and I heard someone say, ‘Did you hear the Cara Jane and Kade’s boy, Jacob, is graduating high school this year?’ Immediately I rushed over and asked where they were living how I could find them, anything and this woman told me that Cara Jane, CJ, was living in California. I went and searched everywhere in California.
“For five years I went to every town and searched all of California. It takes a while if you include travel time. Then one day I was using a taxi to get to a store from the train station and we were hit head on.. I got a concussion and minor brain trauma. I had to stay in that small town for about a year doing rehab and surgeries. The last year and a month I came the rest of the way and I finally found you but now CJ is dead.” He put his head in his hands and I was speechless. I could say nothing so I got him some water.
I sat back down at the table with a scrapbook I had found and slid it over to him. “That has pictures from as long as I can remember, I think even before their wedding.”
He began to flip through it and smiled every so often, laughing at the goofy pictures and he began to cry. He reached the end of the book, and with tears streaming down his face he slid the book toward me. It was open to the last page where a feather was pressed in the creases. “That was the feather that I wore in my hat.”
I stared at it and smiled knowing that mom had always kept a piece of Jacob around. I closed the book slowly and rose. “Come on, I want to show you something.” I walked up the stairs with him behind me. The third step up creaked twice and when we reached moms old room, I pushed the door open. It squeaked. Mom always had lived the creaks of our house because she said it had made it feel loved.
“What is this?” I had opened the chest and moved aside. He sat on the floor beside me and began to rummage through the box. He would finger things and others he just held quietly.
A faint rumble of thunder rolled and I knew it would rain soon. I stood and moved to the window. From here you could see the grave where the Great Pirate CJ was buried. I moved back to Jacob who had re packed the chest. “Would you like to go see her?” I asked.
“Yes. Is she buried here?”
I pulled him close to the window and pointed at the salt water canal that ran past the old cemetery and I said, “There is a little ditch where the sand and water flood when it rains. We buried her there, Dad knew she would love the salt water.”
About five minutes later we pulled up to the path next to the cemetery. The wind had picked up and it was brisk and windy. I felt the salt water in the air and I smiled, knowing my mom was happy here. The thunder rumbled again, closer this time.
Jacob went and stood at the edge of the canal, next to the ditch and the salt water sprayed up and splashed him. He didn't seem to mind the spray, in fact he breathed it in. The rain started and it streaked down in turrets and painted my clothes making them darker.
“She always loved the rain and salt water mixing during storms.” We stood like that for a while. The rain came down relentlessly and we stayed by mom talking for hours about her.
It even seemed that the water around us radiated with her and I could feel her smile be complete now that Jacob and I were here together.
Over the next few months, Jacob and I became friends and my dad grew very fond of Jacob. We would go for dinner to dads place and he became like my older brother. Eventually, my dad passed away and we buried him right next to mom where the water was always around them.
Jacob and I kept up with each other although we moved away from each other. I became a marine biologist and I found a hoard of treasures and trinkets in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with the help of my older brother. Eventually Jacob grew old and his supposedly healed brain trauma came back, giving him frequent seizures and about a month ago he passed from an especially bad one. I buried him with the rest of my family and promised I would be there beside them one day.