Several warm afternoons later, Lucie Hurston was over.  Lucie’s father, who was a writer, had moved his children onto a houseboat after his wife had died.  The three children were named Sicily, Lucie, and Prince Edward (all three were named after islands).  Mr. Hurston had recently anchored next to Pearly Beetle.  The family hoped to grow proficient with their boat so that, by the end of summer, they could travel around the world.  Mr. Hurston meant to practice his seafaring skills, but when he had an idea for a story, which was often, Mr. Hurston dropped what he was doing to write.  This allowed his children to enjoy a great deal of free time, but did not enhance any of their skills.  Of the Hurstons, only Lucie seemed to have a natural talent for all things that were ocean related. 

​

Lucie and Mona had become good friends.  Lucie and Mona were the same age and got along well.   On this particular day, the girls were eating lunch in the kitchen at Pearly Beetle.  Lucie tapped her fingers against the table.  Mona knew she was thinking about pirates, who were rumored to be coming to Pearly Beetle for a vacation.  Lucie often asked when Mona thought that they might be coming.  Lucie seemed to have a particular affinity for pirates.  Sicily, Lucie’s sister, strode through the kitchen door looking very wet.   

“I’ve never seen such a shabby house as yours, Mona,” Sicily began.   

Mona sneezed. Sicily’s awful airs made Mona and Lucie sneeze like they were in a stuffy room.  Sicily was ever so stuffy. 

Sicily continued, “The floors are rotted through. Why, your house is nearly done for.”   

​

Mona was so surprised she opened her mouth to say that Pearly Beetle was kept in excellent condition, changed her mind, took a sip of water, choked, and let out a hiccup.  

“Horrible manners too,” noted Sicily as she crossed the kitchen, dripped water all over the floor, sat down at the table, and took a sandwich half from her sister’s plate. 

Lucie ignored Sicily and turned to Mona. “Did you want to go fishing?” she asked.   

“It’s raining, so you won’t be allowed out,” said Sicily, and Lucie sneezed.   

“I’m still allowed out when it rains,” exclaimed Mona.   

Sicily shook her head.  “Not when it pours.” She took a rather large bite of sandwich.  Just then they heard loud rumbles of thunder.  Manx whined and curled himself beneath Mona’s chair.  Mona slumped a bit.  It was true she wouldn’t be allowed out in this weather.   Lucie tapped her fingers against the table again and muttered something about pirates.  Mona looked up.  She had an idea. 

 

“If you’d like, I can show you the rest of my house.  I know houses aren’t that interesting, but there is a lot of interesting stuff on Pearly Beetle that has been here a long time,” said Mona.   

“Great,” said Lucie as she pushed back her chair because the famous Pearly Beetle Inn was something to see, and Lucie knew it.  

Sicily began to huff to herself.  She sputtered like a train in preparation for departure. Right before Mona and Lucie left the kitchen, she let out a loud, “humph.” 

“You can come with us if you want,” said Mona. “Where’s Prince Edward anyway?”  Lucie clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. 

“Mr. Hurston took him to town today,” said Nanny who had just come back from cleaning some of the guest rooms.  After telling Nanny their plan, all three girls left the kitchen.   

​

Downstairs was the kitchen, living room, parlor, front hall, and dining room.  They didn’t venture to the basement. 

They passed quickly from one room to the next.  Pearly Beetle had a long history and Mona tried to tell some of the stories that Nanny would tell to guests when they first came, but it was hard to remember everything.  Mona would stop and point out various possessions, which had stood so long in the same place with so many events surrounding them that they were like solid dots on an invisible timeline.  Mona pointed to the loveseat in the lounge.   

​

“My Great, Great Aunt was very beautiful.  Her name was Sylvia.  A lot of people wanted to marry her.  She finally got engaged there on that loveseat to a General, but I think she left.  Yeah, I remember now.  The day before the wedding was supposed to happen, she disappeared.  She ran away with a captain and they both left on a ship that was lost at sea,” said Mona.   

The girls walked over and peered at a small, but impressive hole in the wall.  Mona continued, “It nearly killed my grandmother.  I don’t remember who shot the bullet or why.  We can ask Nanny.” 

They moved on to the dining room, which contained a long, polished table.  The legs of the table tapered out into claws so that its appearance was similar to a flat monster with feet, but no head.

   

“Who’s he?  A General?” asked Lucie.  She pointed at a very old painting of a young man.  He stood in a uniform with a grin on his face.  Mona grinned back at him. “That’s the crooked sailor,” she said. “He was bad.  He deserted his troop during a battle and the army wanted to put him in jail, but he had this house built on Pearly Beetle and they couldn’t find him.  He just wore the uniform to look nice in the painting.  It was finished the night before he died and hung in that spot.  The next day he was poisoned by someone.  At least that’s what people thought.  No one knows for sure and no one knows who did it.  Nanny says he really was bad, but I don’t know,” said Mona, “he doesn’t seem so bad.  Lucie nodded in agreement.  The sailor did have an awfully pleasant look about him. 

“Who do you think poisoned him?” asked Lucie. 

“Nanny says it was his wife, but—.” 

Sicily interrupted her.  “I doubt it.” 

“Which part?”  

“The whole story,” said Sicily. 

They moved on to the next room.  The grandfather clock struck noon as they entered.  On an old dusty rug in the living room, Manx had just curled himself into a great brown ball.  Both Manx and Mona liked to lie there because two huge windows in the living room allowed the sun to warm up the rug.   

​

Up one flight of stairs was Mona’s bedroom, Nanny’s bedroom, the guest bedrooms, the study, and the library. There was a third floor of guest rooms and an attic too, but they remained on the second floor.  Lucie liked Mona’s old taxidermized sea otter.  Hanging on Mona’s wall was an etching from a book called, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.  They didn’t venture into Nanny’s bedroom, but Mona showed Lucie a couple of the guest bedrooms.  Each had a dresser, atop which a large pitcher and bowl sat, for guests to wash their faces.  They could of course use the bathroom sink, but since Pearly Beetle had only one bathroom per floor, it was often crowded and so these pleasant devices were left for the guests’ use.  The beds, like Mona’s, had quilts over them, though Mona’s was a more complex pattern.  Each bedroom had a window with a view of the ocean.  

​

“Positively revolting,” Sicily exclaimed at the eighteenth-century paintings that lined the hallways.  She seemed to be enjoying herself.  Mona and Lucie ignored her.  The next stop was the library.  Shelf upon shelf, books on every subject imaginable, silently called out to the girls.  Like the kitchen, the library had two large windows with window boxes underneath.  Several sofas were fitted into a small circle in the middle of the room.  Lucie, Mona, and even Sicily browsed through the stacks of books.   

Shaking her head, Sicily sighed loudly.  “Useless,” she announced.  “Walls cracked everywhere.”  Sicily pointed to a crooked panel where she had just pulled out a book. 

“Wow, I never noticed that before,” said Mona as she pulled at the out-of-place panel Sicily had pointed out.   

​

“Look,” cried Mona as she lifted out the panel. 

“See the whole house is falling apart,” said Sicily. 

“No, it’s a hidden area.  I guess like a safe,” said Mona. 

“What’s in there?” asked Lucie, as she tried to peer around Mona. 

 “Wow,” said Mona.  She pulled several dusty things from the hole in the wall to show Lucie. “A small gold watch, a couple of coins and—look!” In her hands was a carefully folded paper, which Lucie took and unfolded. 

“Is it the crooked sailor’s will?” asked Mona as she craned over Lucie. 

“No.  It’s half a map,” said Lucie.   

Mona was disappointed.  She was not interested in maps.  She barely glanced at it. 

​

“What good is half a map?” sneered Sicily. 

“The right thing to do would be to tell some pirates,” said Lucie. 

“You think it’s a treasure map?”   

“I don’t know.  They might like it anyway.” 

“We can send them a note in a bottle,” said Mona.   

“That’d never work,” said Sicily.  Mona stared at her. 

“The only reason it wouldn’t is if you couldn’t read the tides.  And that would be very embarrassing,” said Mona. 

Sicily stalked off.  Lucie and Mona went downstairs to find Nanny.   

​

“Do you have any empty bottles, Nanny?” asked Mona.  Lucie stood next to her. 

“For flowers?” asked Nanny, “Oh, darn,” she said before Mona could answer, as the fish scales she had just scraped oozed onto the floor.  “I don’t have any empty bottles, but you could use a jar.”  Mona nodded and Nanny rinsed her hands and produced a jar for Mona.  Mona was glad that she hadn’t told Nanny what she wanted a bottle for.  Nanny might not approve of sending maps to pirates.  

“Thanks,” Mona called, as she and Lucie banged through the kitchen door.  They climbed down the path and jumped into the Leviathan. 

“You sure this’ll work as good as a bottle?” asked Lucie as they sat in the Leviathan waiting for the right tide. 

“Of course,” said Mona, “I figure there’s always pirates in the West Indies.  Sicily’s right.  You do have to know the approximate location of the people you want to get in touch with.  Throw it in, throw it in.” 

​

Lucie tossed the jar into the water.  It splashed and bobbed as the waves pushed it forward then backward and side to side.

Lucie dusted off her hands. “I hope they get it,” she said.