O Is For Old Salt | Nancy Drew Investigates {A To Z Challenge}

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we'll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with "A is for Anchor" and ending with "Z is for Zodiac." Each post is an installment of "Nancy Drew Investigates the Case of the Missing Anchor" - so you may want to read the posts from the beginning, in order to follow along with the story (click here for the first post and here for an index of all the posts). At the end of each post, you'll also find some random thoughts on the day's particular topic. So, if Nancy isn't your thing, feel free to skip the story and go straight to the end.    

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When we last left you, Don and Judy told the girls about sailing to the Bahamas and Nancy filled Shelley and Marvin in on the conversation between Captain Gus and the man from Party Time.

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As the girls made their way to the dinghy dock, George felt something brush against her leg. She looked down and saw a tiny tortoiseshell kitten with a crooked tail staring up at her curiously. George reached down to scoop up the kitten, but she jumped away quickly doing a sort of somersault in the process. “Isn’t she adorable? I wonder what her name is.”

“I know,” said Nancy with a smile. “Let’s call her Little Georgie because she does judo moves just like you.”
“I wish we could take her home with us. I wonder who she belongs to,” said George as she looked around the dock.

As they were watching the frisky kitten’s antics, an older man, with a full white beard, pipe and a captain’s hat came up to them. He looked like a real old salt. All that was missing was an eye patch and a peg leg. “What are you doing with my cat?” he asked with a gruff voice.

“Is she your cat?” asked Nancy. “She’s cute as a button. What’s her name?

“I call her Blackbeard, on account of the black markings around her mouth. She has to earn her keep though and keep mice off of my boat.”

“Oh, which boat is yours?”

“It’s called Xebec. I run Xebec Charters out of Pine Tree Bay. Maybe you’ve heard of it. We do fishing charters during the summer.”

“You must be Captain Gus,” said Nancy with a smile. “I’ve heard all about you. Actually, we were thinking of organizing a charter trip for our boyfriends when they’re on summer break from Emerson College. Some friends of ours have chartered with you before as well and said they had a great time. They also mentioned a young man who works for you - I think his name is Pete.”

“Pete’s my nephew. He helps out occasionally, but right now he’s busy with other things.”

“Yes, now I remember. They said that Pete sells used marine equipment.” Nancy said innocently. “I bet he’s doing a good business. Did you hear about all the stuff that got stolen from the marina in Pine Tree Bay a few days ago? Lots of folks are going to need to replace their stolen items. Do you know if Pete is here at the regatta? Maybe I could introduce him to a few folks.”

Captain Gus looked at Nancy suspiciously and said gruffly, “I don’t know where Pete is. Whatever he gets up to isn’t my business and it shouldn’t be your business either.” He bent down, scooped up Blackbeard and headed off to his dinghy in a rush.

“Did you see how nervous he looked when you were asking him about Pete?” asked George. “I think we’re on to something!”

Tune in on Tuesday for the next installment of Nancy Drew Investigates – P is for Plane.

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Little Georgie on the left and Big Georgie, the Adventure Cat, on the right. Although, Little Georgie isn't all that little anymore, but my sister hasn't sent me any recent photos. What kind of auntie is that?

My sister wanted C to be for cat (our whole family is full of crazy cat ladies) but I already had catamaran lined up. To make it up to her, I featured her cat, Georgie, in a cameo role in today's installment. I was visiting her in Portland when she adopted little Georgie, with her adorable crooked tail.

I have another Georgie in my life, Georgie the Adventure Cat, who lives with her two humans on a sailboat. When her humans go away, she stays with me on my boat. When her humans come back, I pretend that I don't know them so that I don't have to give Georgie back.

{You can probably tell by now that we don't have a boat cat and we're not going to be getting one anytime soon. I live vicariously through other people's cats.}

Of course, this doesn't have anything to do with today's word - old salt. But, in a way it does. I always imagine those crusty old sailors, who scowl and speak gruffly to everyone, have a soft spot when it comes to kittens. After all, who wouldn't? Can't you just picture Captain Gus cuddling up with Blackbeard and scratching her belly when he thinks no one is watching?

Do you have any pets or wish you did? If so, what kind?

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