Posts Tagged ‘pirate’

Surprised by a Pirate (a true story)

Monday, January 28th, 2019

surprised-by-a-pirate

As I stooped over to open the pirate chest full of treasure, I sighed. Memories flooded my mind, from a treasure hunt in the backyard for a pirate party after reading Treasure Island, to painting the chest gold to transform it into King Tut’s treasure back when we studied ancient Egypt. We shoved that treasure chest into a closet under the stairs as a tomb for my toilet-paper-wrapped kid in a cardboard sarcophagus. Fun times.

My kids are now teens. Having outgrown the treasure box, I put it up for sale. A man claiming to be a pirate contacted me. He wanted to buy the treasure chest, and he needed me to deliver it because he had only one leg. My son Stephen drove me with the treasure chest over to his house, where he lifted the pirate treasure one last time. The man with the one leg not only gave me the $20 I was asking for the box, but he paid me another $20 for delivering it just ten minutes down the street from my house. Since I needed the money for groceries, I burst into tears and hugged this wild gray-haired man in his wheel chair.

There was something about his eyes that tugged on my heart. His appearance matched his description of himself as a pirate (he really did look like a retired pirate, with the personality to go with it). The surprised but happy look he gave me when I hugged him was priceless. As I drove away, I pondered how I could go back. I knew the compassion in my heart was from Jesus, and I wanted to make sure he knew that he was loved.

He was too interesting a person to just pass by and move on. I couldn’t let him sit there all day in his wheelchair, house-bound, just waiting to die. Yes. I said it. That’s what I saw in his eyes. I saw it because it was a mirror of my own soul, longing to be set free from the suffering, sorrow, and evil of this world.

I sat at the computer, pondering the meaning of life. Since I sold the treasure chest through Facebook, I clicked through to his profile. Without any thought, I pressed the button to add him as a friend. Within the hour, he mentioned that he needed a housekeeper. For some reason I sensed danger. Not knowing if the danger was real or imaginary, I asked my ministry friend if she would like to come with me to clean this man’s house. She said yes.

The fact that I hate cleaning became obvious when I wrestled with cleaning the walls of a shower that had a seat attached to the middle of the tub. There was no space. My ministry friend did not want to touch the bathroom with a ten foot pole, so she sang sweet songs about Jesus as she swept and mopped the living room. She asked him if it was okay for her to sing, and he seemed pleased with it. I prayed for his soul as I struggled to keep my balance.

Kicking at the grime, my back aching from the scrubbing, I sighed a bit too loud. My pirate friend laughed, shouting to my ministry partner that I was cussing in the bathroom. “No, I’m not. Are you trying to get me in trouble?” I responded, laughing.

We finished up, and the pirate paid us way more than seemed right, so I put some money back, returning it to him. He pressed me to take it and I said no.

I’m actually glad that I said no because after two times of cleaning his house, he said that he had run out of savings. This was after canceling the third time of cleaning due to going in and out of the hospital. I was sad for some reason, not just because I needed the money, but because there was something about the pirate’s eyes that was compelling. When I went to return his key, I told him that Jesus loved him, even though it seemed like He didn’t because of his amputated leg. I was sad that he had to suffer, and I told him that Jesus is with us in our pain. I didn’t know what else to say, so I hugged him one last time before I drove away.

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #6: Conversation with Yourself

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(
A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #6: Conversation with Yourself

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-6“What do you mean?” you say.

  • You can write a script of you talking to yourself. What you’re going to do is dress up in a costume (or have a hat or a certain hair style), and say something. You’re sitting on one side of the table, and you go ahead and say something.
  • Then you quickly stop the camera, and you go run to the other side of the table. Put on a different costume because you are a second character. And then respond to yourself. Oh, yeah.
  • As you go back and forth like that, you can film it. Take a look at how fun that can be. (Watch the conversation between a car mechanic and a race car driver.)
  • To make it easier to record, you can record all of one character’s lines first, and then record the other character’s lines second. Put it onto your computer and cut and paste it together into a conversation. Fabulous idea, huh?

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full page conversation between two characters that you will play.
  • Dress up as those characters.
  • Read your lines (or memorize your lines for better acting), and record it on a video camera. Upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #5: Write-A-Go-Round

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(
A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarrggghh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #5: Write-A-Go-Round

  •  Grab a journal and line up some people.
  • Have the first person write one sentence and then pass it to the next person. The second person writes a sentence and then passes it to the third person.
  • You can do this in a circle or in a line, and go back and forth. Things can be quite hilarious.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-5“Once upon a time, there was a giant who lived in a castle. The giant ate marshmallows. The marshmallows turned into balloons and floated away. The giant screamed, ‘Come back, marshmallows!’ He built a catapult and flung himself into the air…” (continue the story for a full page)

So you see, a Write-A-Go-Round would be a fabulous idea for a party or for any other time that you get together with other people. Make sure you have at least three people.

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaarrggghhh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page Write-A-Go-Round story.
  • Dress up as a pirate.
  • Read your Write-A-Go-Round story  into a video camera and upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #4: Puppet Show

Friday, January 25th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarggh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #4: Puppet Show

  • homeschooling-reluctant-writers-8First you need to find yourself some puppets. If you do not have puppets, you can make some puppets with paper sacks. You can make them luxurious with suede and all kinds of fun stuff. If you need help making super cool puppets, you can look at my website SusanEvans.org, under Art, under Paper Bag Puppets. What else would it be? (Note: This great article, along with hundreds of my best articles, are now locked inside my Unit Study Treasure Vault, the best place on earth for homeschoolers.)
  • Look at what puppets you have to see what characters you have to write into your puppet show.
  • Grab a sheet of paper, and write the names of the people. You write the name in capital letters, you put a colon, then you put what they say.
  • Put stage directions in brackets or parentheses. Then you have the character say whatever he says. And so you write your puppet show and make it as wonderful as you can.
  • Now comes the fun part. Get onto your computer. If you have a camera attached to your computer, which most people have nowadays, you can record your puppet show. Yes, you don’t even need anybody to record you because it’s right there. So you act it out with your puppets, and you’ll have a fabulous show.
  • Watch the fun “Around the World” puppet show. Notice that it includes backgrounds that were drawn on construction paper. Feel free to make the scenes more elaborate and colorful.

Now wasn’t that fun? This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaaarrrrggh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page puppet show.
  • Perform your puppet show into a video camera and upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!