Captain Alice

Jeffery stood on the wooden desk chair swinging his plastic sword through the air. The room before him was the great ocean on which he sailed as the first mate on the S.S. Bala. His best friend and Captain of the ship, Alice, was on the other side of the room fighting off a one eyed pirate from the helm of her bed.

“I will cut down any pirate who enters this ship!” Jeffery yelled. “Hiya captain! What are your orders?”

Captain Alice sliced down the one eyed pirate before looking up at her shipmate. She was dressed for the seas with a styrofoam sword in one hand and a play telescope in the other. Her pretty blonde curls bounced freely under her Kangaroo Kids Captain hat, and she was pretending to undulate as the imaginary waters that surrounded her were becoming more and more perilous.

“First mate Jeffrey! Come to the front of the ship!” Alice hollered across the room. “ Take the wheel so I can call our friends from below!”

“Yes Captain!” Jeffery screamed before leaping from the chair onto the bottom of the bed. It was effortless as he had made the jump many times before.

Alice’s room in her parent's fifth floor apartment, was often changing to fit whatever adventures the two eight year old friends could imagine. Sometimes they would find themselves deep inside a cave with bats swooping at their faces, as they searched for lost relics. In all reality they were under the bed with a flashlight and a treasure map they found in an old board game. Other times they turned off all the lights and let the glow in the dark adhesive stars on the ceiling above, take them into space. That is where they fought off aliens and saved entire planets from destruction. But today, like most days, they were protecting the great open waters from evil pirates who tried to rob the ocean of its treasure. Alice was in love with the ocean and even more so with the sharks that resided below the surface.

Jeffery reached the front where Alice was and she leaped down from the bed, pretending to splash into the ocean waters below. There was a pillow laid out on the floor. She mounted it and began to yell, “On top of this Great White Shark I will fight these pirates to the death!” What followed was an intense battle between an army of ferocious sharks and the pirates that tried to claim the waters.

Jeffery loved to watch as his friend brought her imagination to life before him. Riding around the room on her pillow, slicing at the air. He never met someone who loved anything as much as she loved the ocean.

Her love all started when she first got sick six months ago, and had to stay home more often. Jeffery wasn’t entirely sure why she had to, but her parents put a fish tank next to her bed as a way to cheer her up. And it worked flawlessly. The tank was amazing. Giant green plants stretched from the blue and black pebbles that laid across the bottom, all the way to the surface of the water. Realistic looking rocks and caves were strategically placed along the bottom, allowing the small fish to hide from what Alice considered to be the the main attraction. Placed in the middle of the tank was a large ceramic Great White Shark with its mouth wide open to show the razor sharp teeth inside. A creature so great and so fierce that bubbles pumped steadily from its mouth. Alice liked to think it was growling under the water.

Two days after the tank was put in Jeffery came over for his regular Saturday play date. He washed his hands and put on his paper face mask, like he was trained to do since her diagnosis. Then he walked down the hallway to the second door on the right. Alice's room. When he opened the door there stood his friend next to the tank and a giant smile on her face.

“Jeffrey, you're finally here!” she exclaimed. “We must protect these waters! Are you in?” This is when Captain Alice and her First mate Jefferey were born. It turned out the ocean had many threats which the two would fight valiantly.

There was the evil fisherman, StingRay Robins, who wanted to capture all of the dolphins for himself. Well, Captain Alice tracked him down and cornered him into a cove where she put a stop to his evil. It was also there in the cove that Captain Alice found she had the ability to communicate with sharks and she was able to call them to her aid.

But then they met a notorious woman by the name of Coral Cathy who wanted to poison the ocean creatures so she could have all the Coral to herself. When Alice and Jeffery heard of her plan Alice herself rode a Great White into battle, while Jeffery stayed on board the ship finding a cure for the poisoned waters.

Every Saturday Jeffery would rush up two flights of stairs from his third floor apartment, and then barrel down the hallway towards Alice’s door. Ready to play and see where her imagination would take them that day.

But one Saturday, Jeffery was met at the front door of his Captain's apartment by Alice’s mom. She had been crying.

“I am sorry Jeffery,” She said. Her eyes were bloodshot and tired. “Alice isn’t feeling well. You will have to see her another time”

Jeffery was filled with worry. He knew that the treatments Alice had to endure sometimes made her sick, but never to the point where she couldn’t play for a few hours.

The next week went by at a snail's pace, as he couldn’t wait to see his friend and Captain. So when Saturday came around once again he was ready to go, and it was impossible for him to sit through breakfast. He had already dressed himself up as first mate and was plowing through his food. But around the last bite of his Toaster Strudel, his dad came into the room to sit next to him. His face was bleak, and he placed his hand on Jeffery’s shoulder before speaking.

“Jeff buddy,” He spoke softly and gave Jeffery’s shoulder a loving squeeze. “You won’t be able to play with Alice today. Her mom called me to let me know that Alice is still too sick for company.”

When the time came, and Jeffery was finally allowed to go back to see his friend. They had received a phone call from Alice’s mom. Jeffery's dad had taken the phone call, and he also accompanied Jeffery to their apartment. Jeffery thought this was strange and had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach but he was able to put it aside because seeing Alice again was all he could think about.

Jeffery walked into the apartment and was asked to wash his hands and put on a mask. Just like before. He walked back towards the bedroom where he spent many Saturdays fighting alongside Alice on their ship made of cotton and wood. The army of sharks splashing alongside.

He opened the door and walked into the room and there was Alice. Laying in her bed, skin and bones. Her lips were cracked and all of the color and life had drained from her skin. The blonde curls that once blanketed her head were gone, all that was left were patches of hair on her almost transparent scalp.

Jeffery stood next to her bed and held her hand. They were alone and the room was silent except for the hum of the fish tank pumps, and the bubbles tickling the surface of the water. Jeffery watched as she lay there She was so still. He began to cry. Her hands. Once warm and full of strength and life, were now cold and lifeless to his touch.

It hurt him to see her like this.

After a while Jeffery left the room and went out to the living room. His father was hugging Alice's mom while she cried softly into his shoulder. Jeffery himself still had tears in the corner of his eyes and he was confused by it all.

When he and his father were outside the apartment and down the hall he asked.

“Dad? What is happening to Alice and her mom?”

“Oh Jeffery,” His dad stopped walking and looked down at him. “ Alice is really sick and she may not live for very much longer. They have hospice coming in tomorrow.”

Jeffery knew what life and death meant. They lost their cat Snickers the year before, and his father and to sit him down and explain then. But this felt different. “What is that? Hos-pi… Hos…”

“They are people who will come in and make sure Alice is super comfy for the next few days. I am so sorry buddy.” With this his father looked away, possibly to hide the tears creeping from his eyes.

They walked in silence the rest of the way back to their apartment on the third floor. Jeffery sat in his room the rest of the day. Crying on and off but mostly thinking about his friend, and how the last time he was going to see her was in that bed, the last place she would have wanted to be.

It was there sitting alone in his room that Jeffery thought of one more thing he could do for his Captain.

***

The following day Jeffery and his father left the apartment and walked to the local pet store just a few blocks away. The streets were busy and the day was hot but he didn’t seem to notice.

When they arrived at the pet store Jeffery ran to the room in the back where several fish tanks were stacked to the ceiling. He began looking in each of the tanks and his father helped him read the identifiers beneath them. There were Tiger barbs swimming in large groups, colorful Cichlids swooping in and out of caves, and various types of guppies chewing at the surface of the water.

After a few moments they found what Jeffery was looking for.The associate helped him pick out two and a very excited Jeffrey held the bag close to his chest the entire walk back to the apartment.

Alice’s mom must have known he was coming because she didn’t seem surprised that he was at their door on a Sunday. His dad hadn’t come with him this time. She let him in, with a sorrowful look on her face and a half smile. Seeing her like that made Jeffery’s heart ache, but he moved forward with his plan. He washed his hands one last time and put on a face mask before entering her room.

Alice was still in bed sleeping right where Jeffery left her the day before. He approached her quietly and slowly. Wrapping his tiny fingers around her hand he spoke, “Alice. Alice wake up. It is your first mate, Jeffery.”

Her groggy eyes began to work themselves open and she turned her head slightly to look at her friend. He held up the bag from the pet store, and watched as her puzzled face began to bloom into excitement.

“Their Bala Sharks,” Jeffery said, “ Time to command your army once and for all.”

Alice smiled.