Sunday, May 2nd, 2004

I’m the captain (or first mate) on a Master & Commander-era ship. There is a lanky shirtless enemy sailor up in the rigging. One of our men shoots at him and misses. He eventually comes down and I offer him a deal. I tell him to stand on the front of the ship. He has to stand up straight and not hide behind anything. One of our men will fire one shot at him with a rifle from the back of the ship. If he misses, I will let the enemy sailor go with a thousand pieces of gold. If he suffers a non-lethal hit, we will nurse him back to health and he will join our crew. If he is hit in a vital area, we will let him die.

As we arrange for this deal, I try to clear the deck of excess things. I bring over a plastic bad filled with papers and pencils. I take out the pencils and look for a sharpener.