Day 615: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: shiny pirate beads

Ginny and Gail were 12-year-old twins whose least idea of a good summer was to spend it in the care of their “boring old grandparents.”

All Grandpa did was go to church, take care of his little ranch, and hang out with Grandma on the porch, although occasionally they might go shopping where the old people shopped.

But, Dad had to go back to the army, and Mom picked up a summer job that would help pay the bills all year, so off the twins had to go to their grandparents to live their boring life … until one day as the twins were helping with chores, they opened an old drawer and found a sack of treasure... a whole sack of shiny pirate beads!

Grandma looked at Grandpa.

“Do you want to tell them, or shall I?”

The twins' hearts both started beating faster as just a little of what might be considered a swashbuckling gleam came to the old man's eyes.

“Well, girls, I wasn't always a boring old man. One day, when I was young, I was walking down by the docks in San Francisco, and a great, black ship with tall masts and bones fixed all the way around the rail sailed in through the fog. The men on board had eye patches and were wearing all this fabulous jewelry, and they were flying the Jolly Roger flag.”

The twins' four eyes were as big as saucers.

“So, in came the ship, and a lot of young men like me stopped and stared – a chance to become a pirate! A dangerous life, but if we were lucky, we might become rich and be remembered for hundreds of years!”

“So what did do you DO?” the twins said in tandem.

Grandpa sighed.

“Well … it was a difficult decision, but I decided to stay a boring YOUNG man, got out of there, went up on Haight Street, bought all those beads and came home to Grandma!”

“Oh, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Remember, girls, if I wasn't boring, you wouldn't exist today!”