12 Days of Sneeze (Superstitions), Day 10
As the ellipsis at the end of yesterday's post suggested, this is a continuation of the superstition, albeit with different characters. My comment yesterday on being tempted to turn this into a fanfic, naturally, still stands.
“Ah...At-KIRSHHH!!”
“Now you've done it,” John said, “Couldn't you have waited until we were on the open ocean to do that?”
“It's not my fault I have hayfever,” Jared pointed out irritably, securing the line before digging out his handkerchief, “In fact, that's part of the reason I went to sea in the first place. And can I help it if Lieutenant White assigned me to tie down the supplies, which happen to be stored on the port side of the ship?”
“True,” John conceded with a slight smile, “And you were constantly rubbing at your nose when you weren't handling the supplies or ropes, showing you were at least trying to keep the sneezes at bay. If we run into a storm, though, I'm still going to blame you.”
“That's fair,” Jared said, “Now come on, we'd better hurry. I'm sure White will be down to inspect our work any minute.”
Ten days later, the Cerberus was caught in the middle of a particularly foul gale. Through dedicated effort, the ship managed to pass through it with only minimal damage to the sails and decks. But the wind, rain, and tense hours did end up taking a toll in a slightly different way...
“I'm almost impressed,” John rasped, before taking a sip from his cup of tea, “One sneeze from you has managed to get over a quarter of the crew sick all at once.”
“Oh, shut up,” Jared said, sniffing thickly, “I'll accept the blame for the storm, but most of us have spent at least five years at sea. We should be strong enough to get through a heavy rain without coming down wi...ISHHHHHKKKK!!”
“Bless you,” John sighed, “I'm sorry, I shouldn't take it out on you, and I certainly won't openly say you're responsible to anyone else. But until this cold clears up, you're the easiest target for my ire. So in exchange, I'll be the one who gets us our food and drink until we've recovered, so you know there aren't really any hard feelings. Maybe I'll even be willing to wash all our handkerchiefs when our supplies inevitably start to run low. Does that seem fa...eh...ehh...Etchh! Heh-SHH!! HET-SHHFFFF!!!”
“Bless you,” Jared said, smiling slightly as he lowered his handkerchief, “And yes, that's fair. On my end, next time we leave a port during the spring, I'll do my best to find reasons to be on the starboard side of the ship for when my hayfever inevitably makes me sneeze.”
“Good,” John said, burrowing himself down into his hammock, “We'll shake on it as soon as I feel strong enough to get out of bed.”
From the same unknown source as yesterday: ...But a sneeze on the Port (left) side of the ship means bad weather is ahead.
“Ah...At-KIRSHHH!!”
“Now you've done it,” John said, “Couldn't you have waited until we were on the open ocean to do that?”
“It's not my fault I have hayfever,” Jared pointed out irritably, securing the line before digging out his handkerchief, “In fact, that's part of the reason I went to sea in the first place. And can I help it if Lieutenant White assigned me to tie down the supplies, which happen to be stored on the port side of the ship?”
“True,” John conceded with a slight smile, “And you were constantly rubbing at your nose when you weren't handling the supplies or ropes, showing you were at least trying to keep the sneezes at bay. If we run into a storm, though, I'm still going to blame you.”
“That's fair,” Jared said, “Now come on, we'd better hurry. I'm sure White will be down to inspect our work any minute.”
Ten days later, the Cerberus was caught in the middle of a particularly foul gale. Through dedicated effort, the ship managed to pass through it with only minimal damage to the sails and decks. But the wind, rain, and tense hours did end up taking a toll in a slightly different way...
“I'm almost impressed,” John rasped, before taking a sip from his cup of tea, “One sneeze from you has managed to get over a quarter of the crew sick all at once.”
“Oh, shut up,” Jared said, sniffing thickly, “I'll accept the blame for the storm, but most of us have spent at least five years at sea. We should be strong enough to get through a heavy rain without coming down wi...ISHHHHHKKKK!!”
“Bless you,” John sighed, “I'm sorry, I shouldn't take it out on you, and I certainly won't openly say you're responsible to anyone else. But until this cold clears up, you're the easiest target for my ire. So in exchange, I'll be the one who gets us our food and drink until we've recovered, so you know there aren't really any hard feelings. Maybe I'll even be willing to wash all our handkerchiefs when our supplies inevitably start to run low. Does that seem fa...eh...ehh...Etchh! Heh-SHH!! HET-SHHFFFF!!!”
“Bless you,” Jared said, smiling slightly as he lowered his handkerchief, “And yes, that's fair. On my end, next time we leave a port during the spring, I'll do my best to find reasons to be on the starboard side of the ship for when my hayfever inevitably makes me sneeze.”
“Good,” John said, burrowing himself down into his hammock, “We'll shake on it as soon as I feel strong enough to get out of bed.”
From the same unknown source as yesterday: ...But a sneeze on the Port (left) side of the ship means bad weather is ahead.