Sloopy Treharne sat where he always sat - on an upside down lobster pot at the end of the quay. Some days he sat mending nets for the other fishermen for the price of a pint or two at The Smuggling Judge. Some days he just gazed far out to sea, but whatever he did he always puffed on his old black pipe. His bushy white beard was long stained yellow from years of nicotine, and very rarely did he remove the pipe from his mouth, except maybe to chuckle as some merry thought passed through his mind.

Most noticeable about him was that he always wore his jumper or coat on inside out. This was not an action of a man with an absent ageing mind, it was a deliberate move and when asked by the curious why, he would simply chuckle low down in his throat and reply, "cause of the Piskies".

Jack often came to sit with him. Jack was a troublemaker, or so he was constantly being told. He had no friends, and was wary and guarded because that was how people were with him. He did not shy away from trouble and did not care about repercussions, in fact, his survival from repercussions only proved just how tough he was. The other local boys left him alone unless guaranteed the comradeship of numbers.

The strange relationship between the eccentric old sea captain and the young troubled boy was a source of mystery to others. It had been the middle of summer when a bored Jack had made his way down to the quay to watch the fishing boats. One day he was going to own his own boat, just like his father who had been lost at sea 5 years before.

Jack had spied the old man puffing on his pipe with his inside out jumper and he had laughed at him and made remarks about old Sloopy being short of a few marbles. Sloopy had merely chuckled in the way that he did and nodded at the boy unruffled. This had surprised Jack, he was used to people giving him an earful back or calling him names.

"So why d´you wear your jumper inside out?" Jack asked, unable to curb his curiosity.

And Sloopy replied, "Cause of the Piskies that´s why."

"There´s no such thing as Piskies," Jack snorted.

"And how do you know that, you ever not seen one?" Sloopy returned.

"A?" Jack replied confused. "If I´ve never seen one then that proves they don´t exist stupid," he eventually said.

Sloopy chuckled again.

"Doesn´t mean a thing ma boodie," Sloopy said. "you thinks cause you never seen one that that means they don´t exist, now that´s stupid if you ask me."

By now Jack had settled down on a lobster pot next to the old man, his face wrinkled with bewilderment.

"Have you ever seen one then?" he asked.

"Aye."

"I don´t believe you," Jack said sniffing and then wiping his sleeve across his nose.

"And that be your choice ma boy," Sloopy nodded relighting a match to his pipe and puffing quickly until it caught.

Jack gazed out to sea, watching the twinkling afternoon sun reflect off the surface brightly. Local fishermen were scrubbing their boats. Jack could remember his father bringing him down to the boat on sunny afternoons. He would be put to some task or other, being told that if he helped to look after the boat then one day it would be his. Now the boat sat somewhere at the bottom of the sea, it would never be his for the sea rarely gave back what she had claimed for herself.

"My Dad had a fishing boat once," Jack blurted out.

"Aye, I know," Sloopy nodded. "The Lady Rose, named after your mother."

"You knew it?" Jack gasped in amazement.

"You think I´ve been sat on this quay for all these years and not know every boat that´s been in and out of here?"

"Did you know my Dad?"

"Aye. Knew him when he was your age too, you´re a chip off the old block young Master Moon," Sloopy said turning his head to the youngster for the first time and winking at him.

Jack gazed at him in wonder. Suddenly the old man grew in his estimation.

"He used to bring me down to the boat with him some days. I´d help clean," Jack remembered.

"You used to stick your tongue out at me too."

"I did?"Jack said as a cheeky grin crossed his face.

"Your Dad worked hard, sorry day when he went down."

Jack nodded and they both sat and stared out to sea in thoughtful silence.

"So did you really see a Pisky?"

"Aye," Sloopy grinned to himself, he knew the lad would get back to that eventually.

"Where?"

"Outside the town, on the lane what runs out to the old tin mine."

"What did it look like?"

"It looked like a Pisky," Sloopy said.

"What did it do?"

"It tried to lure me away of course, that´s what Piskies do if you take to wandering lonely paths at night. I was 16 and in love with Jess Retallick who lived in a cottage outside of town. I was quite prepared to risk Piskies to go and see her but it nearly got the better of me."

Jack´s eyes widened. His tough cool exterior forgotten about as he cupped his chin in his hand and stared at Sloopy.

"What happened?"

Sloopy puffed on his pipe deeply, his eyes faraway in a time when he was 16 with big ambitions and still known as Benjamin Treharne. He removed his pipe and began to tell his tale.


© Carolyn Eddy 2004