>>5583791"They beat her?" you ask.
"Among other things, yes. They would beat her over the smallest mistakes, so she was terrified they would kill her if they knew Mad Mary was part of her. That's why Mad Mary tightened the noose, as it were."
"What an evil creature." Edith says.
"Not evil, Edith. Just hungry. It was her parents that were evil. Dr. Bell hasn't seen her parents since they were sent to prison, but she lives with Mad Mary every day. She doesn't even use their name, they were Smiths. She took the name Bell from the telepath couple that adopted her."
Old Ironsides pulls up to the dock.
"And that, my friends, is why everyone's a little scared of Dr. Bell. Because she went through that, through all of that, and trained that black 20 like a dog." Sam gets out of his seat and steps onto the dock. "Good night and pleasant nightmares."
You and Edith follow.
"It's not good night yet, Sam." Edith says. "We still need to see the ghost pirates!"
"Stars are coming out." Sam says. "It's close enough to night, and the pirates are the pleasant nightmares.
"Gilbertown..." you say to yourself as you take in the surroundings.
Some of the little 18th century buildings are made out of brick and mortar. Most are not. Most are made of wind and eerie light.
You can hear voices from off in the distance, too distorted for you to determined their precise location. They seem to come from everywhere. One moment you swear someone is whispering in your ear, the next you strain to hear a conversation far in the distance.
The island is alive with the dead.
"You know they named this place for a guy they hung in Boston." Sam says. "True story. They were fans."
"Mr. Gilbert was a pirate?" you ask.
"Don Pedro Gilbert was a pirate captain, captain of the ship Panda to be precise."
"They actually called it the Panda?" you ask.
"Hey man, it was the 18th century. Maybe they thought pandas were like, grizzly sized. But yeah, he called his ship the Panda. They were picked up in Boston on charges of raiding a ship from Salem called the Mexican."
"What was a Mexican ship doin in Massachusetts?" Edith asks.
"No, not a Mexican ship, the ship was called the Mexican."
"Why would a Massachusetts ship call itself the Mexican?" Edith asks.
"I don't know, why would a pirate ship call itself the Panda? Sometimes people pick silly names for important things. Our continent is named after a dude called Amerigo. Europe is named after a mythological cow." Sam puts his arm around your shoulder. "And let's not start on Xerographer here..."
"Hey! I like my name!" you say.
"Someone has to. Anyway, Pedro and his crew were charged with raiding the Mexican and setting fire to it while its crew was still inside."
"Why would they do that?" Edith asks.
Sam rolls his eyes.
"What?" Edith asks. "I just want to know! It seems excessive if they already had the treasure!"
