The Adventures of Cane Greenwall

Cane Greenwall’s reality came into existence at the exact moment his head thumped against the bottom of a raft. He attempted to stand, trying to gain his barring’s, which caused a loss of balance and resulted in a trip into a tepid body of water. Panicked, he swam back to the vessel and flopped over its edge. Taking a moment to breathe, he then propped himself up on his elbows. He saw nothing but barren sea around him. The ship he was thrown off was nowhere to be found. 

Cane sat clutching his knees thinking about the mutiny that had just occurred. His brother had been the one who orchestrated the betrayal, slandering Cane’s name to any crew member who would listen.

Cane is a chicken; he is not brave enough to lead this ship. 

Whether the other pirates had agreed was unknown. What he was sure of was that his brother shoved him overboard. Now all alone, Cane wiped tears from his eyes. Fear gripped his body and he was unsure what to do. Eventually, he decided that movement was better than nothing, he started up the tubular engine that stuck out from the raft and headed in no particular direction.

 After 10 minutes of traveling, he noticed that the water beneath his raft was turning a purple hue. Leaning over the boat he cupped his hands and brought some of the water to his mouth, the faint taste of purple Kool-Aid coated his taste buds. With his mind trying to compute this new development, his eyes took stock of what was appearing in front of him, giant clear bubbles sitting on the surface of the sea. He clutched the engine and thought about turning the ship around but at the last second, he bellowed “I will be brave!”

He continued forward into the spheres that were multiplying one on top of another. In all his days on the high sea, he had never seen anything like it, but he knew he must show no fear in the face of this adversity. Soon his raft became enveloped by the soapy substances. He took a look around and began to flail his fists into them.

Pop…Pop…Pop.

One by one the bubbles fell. Cane let out a tremendous scream “Cane Greenwall fears nothing!” 

He stood with his fists ready and looked around for any further opposition. He shuffled his feet and noticed a slosh of water. His raft was beginning to deteriorate.   

“I am not afraid; I will find a way out of this,” he said into the void.

The void was quick to respond. Out of the corner of his eye, a monstrous yellow creature emerged, with a gigantic beak of orange. Cane had never seen such a thing and his mind struggled to fathom its existence. Without warning it let out a tremendous squeak that rattled Cane’s eardrums and shook his soul. He scurried to the back of his raft causing more water to enter, keeping his fists raised ready for an attack.

“Do you wish to harm me?” The beast said in clear English. 

Flabbergasted into stillness, Cain went silent.

“Well?” The beast said.

“I am brave!” Cain spoke with all his courage.

“That was not what I asked of you. I asked do you wish to harm me?” said the beast.

“I do not wish too; I just want to brave.” Said, Cane.

“I see. Do you need a ride?”

“Well…yes but why would you help me?” Cane said.

“Because I trust others and that makes me brave.” Said the yellow monster. “I see you too are brave, although it has nothing to do with wishing to fight.”

“How do you know? In fact, my crew threw me overboard today because I am not brave.” Said, Cane.

“Do you wish harm on them?” said the beast.

“No. I wish to return and show them I am brave. I…I am tired of being alone.” said Cane. “I would forgive them if they apologized for their mistakes.”

“To forgive, now that is true bravery.” The beast said with his eyes fixed in place forward. “In my experience, humans are very prone to mistakes, but if you can forgive them, they tend not to repeat them. Let me give you a ride and we will find your old crew. Besides I don’t believe that raft will be suitable for long.”

Cane looked down and noticed the water had risen, only a select few areas of the raft remained above the water. With a stutter, he leapt onto the back of the creature and within minutes shore began to appear. Upon approach, however, thunder started to rumble in the distance, and it only increased as they got closer. Suddenly, ten feet from land, the skies opened up like a door to another universe and a woman, 50 times the size of the creature he rode, stood above them.

With a sigh, she spoke “Cain Verde why is your juice box in the tub again? I thought we had already spoken about this.”

“It was Cane Greenwall’s raft,” he said with a shrug.

“If that is his raft then why is the action figure on the rubber duck? You know what never mind, it’s almost time to get out of the tub anyway.” Cain’s mother said.

From behind her waist, he saw a scraggly mess of hair and beneath it two eyes looking at him. “Your brother would like to say something to you Cain.” Said his mom.

His brother, Abe, circled his mother.

“I am sorry for pushing you off the couch. I didn’t know it was going to hurt. Would you want to play pirates before bed? You be Cane Greenwall and this time I’ll do whatever you say!” Abe blurted.

Cain looked at his brother and nodded a polite yes.

“Good boys, now shake his hands.” said the mother.

Cain jumped up from the tub and hugged Abe, soaking his pajamas.

“Oh Dios Mio,” said the mother.