Chapter Text
jay reached down and gave her boat a push. before she could think about it, she leapt off the dock, landing on her feet right in front of the seat. the boat swayed back and forth, but jay managed to keep it from capsizing as she sat down and grabbed her oar. with a satisfied grin, she put her paddle to the water and set off down the swamp.
jay was what you could call a pretty normal girl. she’d never known her father, but her mother had raised her in this swamp, and she’d never left. she’d gone to school here, had her first kiss here, worked her first job here at her mother’s shop, and would probably die here. it wasn’t much, but she was content to help her mother run the bait and tackle shop. this was her home, and she loved her mother more than anything. the swamp was truly beautiful, and the people were—
“hey, uh, miss! hey!”
jay glanced over to see a frog man struggling to steer a beat-up motorboat. “hello, sir!” she called back cheerfully.
“hey, i need some help! could you—i need some help!” the man called out.
looking closer, jay could see that his boat was covered in scorch marks, presumably due to some sort of engine failure. she turned towards him, narrowly dodging a large willow tree.
“oh, thank you, ma’am. thanks so much,” he exclaimed, scrambling onto her boat. his added weight sent the whole thing down a few inches, but they remained afloat, and jay backpaddled to turn them in the opposite direction.
“no problem,” she mumbled.
“so, uh, where’d you get this boat?” the man asked.
“built her myself,” jay replied. “i call her The Rainbow.”
“no way, man. that’s fucking cool.”
jay smiled. “thanks.”
“you’re pretty good at rowing it, too,” he said. “wait. holy shit, i have something perfect for you.” he produced a slightly damp newspaper from his pocket and flipped through the pages before turning it towards jay.
“i’ll look in a minute.”
“oh, yeah, uh, row the boat. here, i’ll read it aloud. ‘LOOKING FOR SAILORS WISHING TO BECOME RICH AND FAMOUS PIRATES - BLACK ROSE PIRATES, ALLPORT.’ you could totally do that!”
jay nearly let the oar drop into the water. “allport? but i—i have to stay here with my mother. i can’t…”
“i mean, if you were a rich and famous pirate, you could probably, like, send her money.”
“well, this—this is my home. i—“ jay shook her head and continued paddling.
“i mean, it’s up to you, man, but it would be fucking cool. you could go out there and, like, have adventures and fight the good fight and all that dope shit!”
“fighting the good fight…” jay repeated. her mind was racing, and she barely noticed where she was going until they nearly crashed into the dock. “here we are, sir,” she said absentmindedly.
the man leapt out of the boat. “well, thanks for the ride. do you, uh, happen to know where i could get a new boat?”
“for a swamp town, boats are surprisingly hard to come by around here, especially motorized ones,” jay replied. “i had to build my own. i think your best bet would be traveling on wheels. there’s a guy in town who sells pretty good bikes.”
“i don’t know how to ride a bike,” the man replied.
“well, then, i guess you’ll just have to roll with it.”
“ha. see, you could totally become a pirate.” the man walked away.
jay tied up her boat and climbed up to sit on the edge of the dock. “allport…” she mumbled to herself, staring down at the ad the man had given her. sure, she’d daydreamed about sailing free on the open seas, seeing the world, being on an actual sailboat, but those had just been daydreams. she couldn’t really leave home…could she?
“mom,” jay said, walking into the bait and tackle shop. “i think i’ve found my big chance.”
her mother looked up with wide eyes. “what do you mean?”
jay walked up to the counter and showed her mother the ad. “i know being a pirate is dangerous and all, but i could finally get to really sail.”
her mother nodded slowly. “you know i’ll be proud of you, whatever you choose to do. if this is what you want, well, remember me when you’re rich and famous.”
“you—you think i should do it? you don’t want me to, you know, stay here and take over the shop?”
“sweetie, i want you to follow your dreams.”
jay’s eyes burned, and looking up, she saw that her mother was tearing up too. she walked around the counter to hug her.
“good luck out there, jay-jay. i love you.”
“thanks, mom. i love you too.”
with that, jay left the shop, got on her bike, and began pedaling into town.