Alright grandchildren, settle down. That's right everyone into your beds. Joshua, stop

jumping on the bed!! You're jarring me so much that I can't remember my story. "Ohhh please

remember Grandma! You have to tell us the story about Neverland!!!! Now Jeannette I

promised you two that I would tell you my story, and as soon as you are quiet and get tucked

into bed I will begin. Now my dears I was born in 1669 in a small American seaport. "But

Grandma, that's not possible!!! You're not that old...... are you??!!" Yes, Jeanette I am very old, 

344 to be exact but only our family knows this. "How's that possible?" Magic. "Magic!! But I

thought magic was just in fairy tales." That's what I thought to Jeanette but now I know

differently. "But that doesn't make any sense!" Hush now child, let me tell you my story and it

will all be explained to you. Now where was I..... ahh yes my birthplace. My mother was the

wife of a sea captain in Her Majesties Royal Navy, and as she was an outgoing woman she

insisted on traveling with her husband. In those days this was something nearly unheard of but

my father was a forward thinking man, and loved my mother dearly, so she joined him on

almost all of his voyages. On this particulartrip she was pregnant with me, her firstborn, 

and it happened that the time came for my birth while they were in America. My mother named 

meCarolina after the town they were staying in. "Wait Grandma! I thought your' name is Karen?"

Why yes child it is but my full name is Carolina. Now the next day they were to set out again for

England, so the first months of my life were spent at sea. My mother had two other children

after me, a girl and a boy, and finally settled down in a small town; in a large, but cozy estate.

With children that needed her she no longer felt the call of the sea to go to distant lands. Father

however continued in the Navy and made an impressive name for himself. At the age of seven 

my father began taking me on sea voyages with him, short ones at first and steadily longer until

I had traveled all the way across the ocean and back. I thought life was perfect. I had a happy

family, food, and enough adventure to fill me for a lifetime. Nevertheless, my happiness was

about to end. When I was ten years old, the same age as you Jeanette, my father and I were on

a short trip to Ireland when we received the news that my mother and siblings had died of the

plague. Father was devastated. I could not understand it at first, but the truth slowly dawned

on me. It felt like I suddenly had a huge hole in my heart. "Your mama died!! But that's awful!!

"I know Joshua, but there was nothing we could do about it."

My father grieved for a long time but when he recovered he made a drastic change to our life

style. He sold our property and bought a tiny cottage by the sea. At this time he decided that I

should learn swordsmanship. Father was a superbswordsman, and had given all of us children 

small daggers and taught us how to use them, but now he wanted me to learn how to use a real

sword. He spared no expense and began to have me tutored by the best sword-master in the

land. I learned everything from fencing, broad swords, axes, daggers, even archery and how to

use a slingshot. Whatever the weapon I at least had the knowledge of how to use it. From this

point on I was always with my father. We rarely stayed in the tiny cottage that my father had

bought and instead spent most of our time at sea. Father became my teacher and taught me

mathematics, geography, improved my writing, and drilled me on the workings of a ship. My

father even hired a man to go on our sea trips to specifically train me in sword skills. Oh, how I

missed my mother and siblings, but I went to so many new places and had so many adventures

throughout the next six years that I rarely had time to miss them. Father became everything to

me and all of my efforts were to please him, whether learning the stars or mastering a new

sword maneuver. The summer that I turned sixteen, however, was when my life truly took a

strange turn. My father had been sent directly by the Queen herself to search the area of the  

Bermuda Triangle for pirates as this was a supposed hiding place for them. The only problem

with this was that the Bermuda Triangle was supposed to be cursed and most sailors avoided

the place at all costs. Sailors are highly superstitious, but my father was able to come up with a

tough crew of men and set out to obey his Queen. Of course I went with him, as we were never

apart anymore, and I was incredibly excited to be going on such a dangerous adventure. So off

we went pirate hunting, a noble task for Her Majesty, but in the end we got more than we

bargained for.

"Graaandmaa, when do we hear about fighting the pirates! I want to hear about that!!" I'm

coming to them Joshua, please be patient. It had been over a month since we had set sail and

we were nearing the region of the Triangle. I was having a rather rotten day since the weather 

was looking to turn into a storm and father was making me practice my sword play. I had been

working on using a great two handed broadsword with my tutor until my arms ached and now

my father wanted me to continue the lesson with my regular sword. I loudly protested over this

but my father only told me that ladies do not complain. I practiced until my father declared that

I could be done for the day, and I hurriedly went to my cabin to change out of my sweaty

clothes. The hot air of the region was oppressive, promising a tropical storm, so the whole crew

was on edge. We had sailed for weeks without seeing a pirate ship and the crew was beginning

to grumble. Suddenly the lookout in the crow's nest shouted out, "Pirate ship ahead!" And low

and behold in the distance there was indeed a ship flying the Jolly Roger, the skull and

crossbones, the sign of a pirate! As we were behind her the pirates had not noticed us yet but

we all knew that it was only a short time until she would realize that we were on her tail.

However, the pirate ship was not our only worry. All afternoon we had been watching dark

clouds in the east grow larger and larger until they had turned into monstrous thunderheads,

rearing like an ugly snake over the water that was slowly crawling towards us. With the tropical

storm headed for us my father decided that instead of trying to pursue the pirate ship we

should try to outrun the storm. The pirate ship had other ideas. They had finally seen our ship

and had turned around and were making a run towards us. Now my father had a real problem,

but he commanded the men to their battle stations even as the wind began to pick up and howl

through the rigging. I was frightened, but terribly excited at the prospect of fighting real pirates

even though my father had forbidden me from actually going into battle. I was puzzled though

at what madness would overtake a sea captain to try to do battle in a storm, one that could

turn into a hurricane no less, but I was ignorant in the ways of pirates at that time. The wind

grew louder and stronger while the waves picked up energy and size until they were quite

dangerous. Nonetheless, the pirates began shooting at us, and we at them with our cannons

and muskets. Soon the pirate ship was forced next to ours, not from the planning of its captain,

but by the sea itself. The battle was going badly for my father and his men. The pirates' galleon

was twice our length and held three times as many men. We were boarded and even though

our men fought courageously, it was a losing fight. I was supposed to stay in the main cabin

guarded by my tutor, a brave man and a great swordsman, but when he saw how badly the

battle was going, he rushed out to fight with his comrades. I watched from the window as the

pirates slowly pushed back our men. By this time the storm was in full force and rain was

whipping down onto the deck and lightning flashed across the sky. The pirates were taking a

heavy toll to their number, but there was so many of them that when one was slain another

man immediately jumped to his place. Finally, when one of the pirates cut down our rope

maker, a good friend of mine, I could take it no more. In a reckless rage I stormed out of cabin

onto the deck and began wildly hacking at anyone within reach. There was only a few of the

crew left, my father among them, fighting valiantly against the pirates. After my rage had past I

was left with a cold fear in the pit of my stomach as I watched the great number of enemies

around me. I realized that I was going to die or worse if the stories about pirates were true. I

looked over at the others and realized that my father was the only one of them left standing.

He was surrounded by a great number of men and was fighting like a madman. The swords

flickered in and out and gleamed in the bright bursts from the lightning. Finally one of the

pirates swords found there mark and I heard a great cry. I wondered for a moment where it had

come from till I realized that it had come from my own lips. Almost at the same moment the

ship gave a huge shudder, and then listed to the side. When the ship twisted I was thrown from

the deck into the heaving waves. Now by some miracle, I was still holding on to my sword when

I fell and to this day I still do not understand how I got it into my scabbard while trying to stay

above water. Now grandchildren, I know that you think that it was strange to try to save my

sword, but my father had drilled into me the importance of being able to protect myself, and I

was going to try to honor his wishes even if he was dead. Dead, my father was gone. It was a

horrible realization. Here I was almost drowning, but my breaking heart was what really was

pulling me down. Unexpectedly, I felt a something hard hit me as it drifted by me. I reached for 

it and successfully used it to pull my head all of the way out of the water. I had grabbed onto a

piece of the ships railing and I now felt a shred of hope. Then I felt an abrupt pain in my side as

if someone had driven a large knife into me. My pain was so great that I saw a light and stars

flash before my eyes and then I passed out into darkness.