Ahoy Matey!!!!

When was the last time you were in the MacDonald's drive through lane behind a pirate ship?

I agree, it doesn't happen very often, but it happened to me this morning. Luckily I had my camera and trusty notebook with me and was able to hurredly switch from my normal every day persona to that of Mary, Super Journalist. I didn't have time to change into a tan raincoat and fedora (actually I don't even own this kind of attire), I just jumped out of the car and started taking pictures as the pirate ship tried to manuever around and under the clearance bar.

Naturally, when you see a pirate ship there are bound to be pirates around. So I am not exactly sure why I was surprised to see, as I rounded the corner of the building, a man decked out from head to toe in pirate garb. He looked like the real thing; not quite as good looking as Johnnie Depp, but swashbuckling just the same. When I asked permission to take his picture, he posed bucanner-style and presented me with his best marauder version of a cheesy grin. Forgetting all about the journalist's code of ethics, my inner wench fell head over heals in lust; I was swept away with an almost undeniable yearning to go sailing on the high seas.

"My crew is in the car ahead of me," the brigand told me. Good God in heaven above, had I been picked up and dropped in the middle of a Pirates of the Caribbean set? After handing over a few pieces of eight to pay for his meal, the hooligan shouts to his mates, "everyone out of the car!" Clearly none of them were the least bit shy. They tumbled out of the car faster than I could cry in my best damsel-in-distress voice, "please sirs,don't hurt me."

I started clicking pictures like the photographer I am not. The kodak moment was too good to pass up. I moved in for a close up of the driver, still at the window awaiting his food, threatening to run the server through with his saber if the french fries weren't hot and crispy (something with which I could completely agree). From the looks of these guys they had not read anything more than a treasure map in years. Certainly not a copy of Fast Food Nation; unless it was the chapter that talks about how MacDonalds like to hire only teenage girls. Maybe they were on a pillage and plunder reconnaissance mission.

Once my journalism class lectures kicked in, I remembered I was supposed to be asking the 5 "W" questions - who, what, where, when and why. I'm embarrassed to say, I left without finding out who these rogues actually were, but the rest of the story (a la Paul Harvey) is this: The whole crew was headed for Hope Haven's Children's hospital to do a presentation to a group of special needs kids who had just finished studying about pirates. Turns out they were good pirates after all, which sort of makes this tale even harder to believe, doesn't it? Whoever heard of good pirates?

All this happened in a span of about 4 minutes. They don't call it "fast" food for nothing. Ha! I hopped back in my car, grabbed my Coke and headed home, totally amused and satisfied. Not with the drink, but with the degree of humor I have managed to find in this world if I just look for it. Recently I've seen 1) a cockatiel walking across the road, 2) a teeny weeny frog which I'm sure was God's way of telling me that my pet canary was going to be okay in his new heavenly perch, and 3)hamburger-eating pirates. I've got to agree with Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House on the Prairie fame, when she said, "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."

Signing off and wishing you, not only the sweet and simple things of life, but the ability to hold them dear.

Merry ME