Four Pirates and an old tree

Four Pirates and an old tree

Looking the horizon far in the distance, I let the sea air surround me. I was back in my country.

I was born and I grew up in the island. Many would say that I was lucky, yet I tell you that this island has forged the crucible of my misery.

We were very poor. For my brothers Henry, Jo and me, nature, forest, fields were our playground. We used to spend hours with our bff Mattew.

Mom, who raised us alone, since Dad died, had forbidden us to go to the beach. Intrepid as we were, we decided that break the rules will be fun, so we made our move and found this place our Eldorado, our secret haven.

One day we woke up with the idea that we will be the Pirate of the Caribbean Island in search of the place to hide the stolen treasure.

We all four dressed up with our usual rags. We took our fake sword, we tied our hair with old pieces of cloth, “Et voila” ... we were fearsome pirates ready to attack the coast of the Caribbean islands.

I was supposed to be the black pirate with a single eye. We were running, laughing, and without realizing it, we arrived at the old tree.

This place was amazing. It was the dreamy décor for our play. It was a cave were we, the pirates, were supposed to hide our treasure.

No one would come here because it was hard to access to. The beach was covered with shingles, dead tree trunk ... and the cave was the perfect hideout.

And the tree… A scary big tree which seems to be hung in the air. It roots were just outside the soil, and it branches were gigantic. Imagine being an adult now how it seems still scaring and out of place. When I was a little boy, it was just…sorry…but freaking frightful…

Today, I’m 30 years old. Hands in my expansive short with sandals. Tall dark and handsome. I was just laughing at this big tree, which hadn’t change for a bit after all this years. I was about to leave when I saw my brothers and Vincent our best friend coming to our cave.

“Hey guys, what are you doing here?

They just answered in unison: we did not forget our rendez-vous… fifteen years, ten o’clock we had to meet just here to dig up our treasure.

We laughed; we hugged each other and then entered our cave. The treasure was still there.

Marbles, agates, bracelets made of old seeds, old wooden soldiers that we had made, a truck that we also made with a tin and bottle caps... They reminded us of the good old times.

We decided to let our wooden box in place with our treasure. We will make a treasure map for our children; it will be fun to see them try to find it.

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