The Old Sea Dog

 On the bus, Mike sat next to Nann, he sat down very gingerly so that she wouldn't see the pain he was in, plus the fact he didn't want to let her see him as a wimp. The run to Pieta was horrible, every jolt of the bus sent waves of pain from his backside, up though his spine to the top of his head. Nann was saying something to him, but the pain was making anything said to him unheard. At Pieta Mike got off the bus, he said goodbye, but as normal did not squeeze her hand. he didn't even give her the usual wave as the bus pulled away. Nann watched Mike walk into the block of flats, wondering what she had done wrong, or said. All the way home she went through what had been said, in case she had somehow upset him in some way. In the flat, Mike called to his mother, to say that he was going to change and go down to the boathouse. Putting on his old clothes he walked up to the lounge and said, "hello," he didn't go in, just stood at the door, then grabbing a drink,

 By now the bus was entering the school grounds, and it was time to start the new term. Nann had to go to the main office and be assigned a class, so Mike said he would see her on the bus home. Mike walked into the classroom to find Mr Ward sat at the teacher's desk, as he went to sit down, he was joined by Dave and Chris, they were engrossed in talk of the holidays, Chris had spent the holiday on his father's tug, and Dave and his mum had gone to Sicily for a week to some volcano. As the rest of the class joined and sat at there desks, Mr Ward stood up and told them all, that for the rest of the year, he would be there form teacher. The silence in the class was deafening, you could have heard a pin drop. They all disliked the man, he never smiled or cracked a joke. His whole attitude with school was work, work and more work. Mike looked at Dave then mouthed, role on December. The first day back was spent getting ready for the new term, the class were given a lot of new referen

                                             Chapter Four The Christmas holidays were a time of parties and general fun and games. The navy had a tendency to make a big thing of Christmas, not only for the sailors but for the wives and families. Che chief's mess put on a party for all the children of the chief's, with games and a big tea, then father Christmas would arrive and dish out presents to every child. Then a few days later, H.M.S. Phoenicia put on a huge party for all the children who's fathers served at H.M.S Phoenicia, from the lowly Able seaman to the senior chief's, this party was held at the N.A.A.F.I club and sailors dressed up as pirates made every child crawl through the pirate's cave, there to meet one eyed Jack, the pirate captain. Each child had to pledge elegance to the pirate code and once done, each child was given an orange, some nuts and a small bag of sweets. There were games, a death slide and a trip on the pirate ship, which was a 52 foot

The stage was set, ready for the first act, the class were in the changing room getting into there costumes. Dave was being given a white beard to make him look older, and Mike had a wig, that came down to his shoulders, and once in the silk shirt and baggy trousers, he looked quite the part. Even the hairpiece on his chest looked authentic. As the class stood at the side of the stage, ready to start the play, the curtain went up and it was all go. Mike was not due on stage until well into act one, so he stayed at the side and watched the opening scene. It was going very well, as Mike stood there, he heard whispers and wows coming from those of the class not on stage. Mike looked back towards the backstage area, coming towards him was May, she was dressed in trousers that were almost see through, held at the ankles by two straps, a belt around the waist and tassels that hung from the front of the belt and discreetly covered the top of her thighs. In her belly button, she wore a large g

 This, however, was a three act play that Mike had written which caught her eye, it was the story of an Arab sheikh, who's daughter is taken from him, whilst at his summer retreat, she is held captive. Then the son of a sultan hears of the sheikh's loss, and with the promise of a fortune and marriage to the daughter, he goes in search of her. After a short battle where some of the son's men are killed and the thief is left to die on the desert and the heat of the sun the sultan's son returns the daughter to her father. During the return journey, the son and daughter realise that they are falling in love, so the son refuses the treasure, but accepts the hand of the daughter. In the last scene of the play, the son puts his hand around the daughter's waist, kisses her on the lips then leads her into his tent. Down curtain. May read through the play and liked it, as it was their classes turn to do the school play at the end of term, it was decided that instead of the us

 They both got up and walked out of the classroom, as they went down the steps, Mike asked Dave if he had done his essay as they had agreed. Dave showed Mike his essay, and like his own, apart from one being a radar and the other being sonar, the two essays were identical. As the two boys stood outside4 the headmaster's study, the prefect who had given them the essays to do came and stood next to them. After a few minutes, all three were called into the study, the headmaster was sat at his desk, he looked at the prefect. "I understand you assigned these boys with some written work," he said, "is that correct." "Yes sir," the prefect said." "And have they handed it into you yet," the headmaster asked. "No sir, they have not." The headmaster looked at Dave and Mike. "And pray," he asked, "did you intend handing in the essay's." Mike looked the headmaster squarely in the eyes. "We were going to hand th

Dave looked at Mike, "sorry mate," he said, "you sure know your naval history." The boys shook hands and looked at May, she was smiling. "Go on you two," she said, "before you miss your bus. The two mates dashed out of the classroom and over to where the buses were waiting. A big cheer went up as they climbed aboard there buses and found seats. Dave's bus set off before Mike's, they were the last to leave the school. Also unlucky, because they did not have their usual driver, it was either the father or grandfather, but the run home was the slowest anyone had ever known. When Mike finally got off the bus and into the flat, his mother was waiting for him, Kelvin was already sat having a drink, and Mike's mother wanted to know why he was so late, Mike didn't mention the essay, just said they had a slow driver. After dinner, Mike and his dad were on the balcony drinking there coffee. Mike told his father about the essay's that Dave an

                                           Chapter Three. Mike and Kelvin took the canoe out almost every afternoon, but Mike did notice that Kelvin was not as enthusiastic as at the beginning, and there were days when all he wanted to do was go fishing a little further around the creek from the boathouse, he had met up with some local fishermen, and together they would sit on the wall overlooking the water and fish for most of the day. This was 1957, and fishing in Malta was so much different than fishing in England, for one thing, in Malta you didn't do it for a hobby, you did it to feed your family, and the rods used, were very long bamboo poles with a length of fishing twine attached to the end, this was one and a half times the length of the pole, then on the other end was a hook, well, to be honest, four hooks joined together, then some twelve inches above that a float. The Maltese used bread for bate, with something mixed with it that was very smelly, but the fish seemed to

Mum looked at Mike's empty glass, "come on then Michael, time to make a move, we have lots to do," "ok," Mike said, "I'm with you."  Mike did not mind shopping with his mother, in fact, he enjoyed it. Together the pair of them walked back up to the opera house, then turning left up up the narrow street to the citadel, where the N.A.A.F.I. shop was. On the inside, it was nice and cool, this was due to the thickness of the walls, and made shopping there very pleasant. Mother knew what she needed, and within an hour Mike and his mother were back outside again with Mike carrying a large cardboard box of groceries, everything from fresh bread to baked beans, Heinz of coarse, Mike's dad refused to eat any other brand, he had tried a few, but always came back to Heinz. As Mike and his mum stepped out into the mid afternoon sunshine, they heard the toot of a car horn, it was Mike's father and his brother, they were parked up across the square. Mike

 Mike woke with a start, his mum was calling him, "come on Michael, it's 05-30, time to get ready for school." Mike was up and out of bed in a flash, and within moments was in the bathroom. Having had a wash, and done what you do in a bathroom, he walked back to his bedroom where his mother had laid out his clean clothes for school. Dressed in khaki shirt and shorts and brown sandals Mike went into the lounge where he sat at the table to eat his breakfast. His father was already finishing off toast and marmalade, he looked up at his son, "sleep well," he asked, "not too bad," Mike said, "good," his dad said, "have some corn flakes," Mike went to grab a bowl, but his mother came in from the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs on toast which she put in front of him. Mike ate the food, he loved eggs, mother called from the kitchen, "Michael, would you like toast and marmalade," "yes please," Mike answered, "

 By the time they had gotten home, and had lunch, and changed, it was 14-00, Mum gave them the usual safety spill and they were out the door down the stairs and into the street. Crossing the road to the boathouse there was only one person around, an old fisherman scraping barnacles off his upturned boat, a weird looking monstrosity, more like a coffin, even the bows were flat, so that in the water the bow wave, instead of going either side of the boat to the stern just got pushed forward, and when used, the fisherman stood up facing forwards and rowed with one oar over the back end, very weird, but it worked. Mike and kelvin would often pass him in the middle of Pieta creek with his rod in hand catching fish for his tea. And sometimes he would be out at night with the help of a large primus lamp catching fish. Mike wished him good afternoon as they walked the canoe down the slipway into the water, Kelvin climbed into the front seat with his paddle, this paddle being half of the double,