Atticus Claw Goes Ashore by Jennifer Gray

a bucket. Not that they could have escaped. They were surrounded by sea. They hadn’t had sight of land for days. They had absolutely no clue where they were.
    Pam didn’t hear Slasher. ‘Nice one, Jim!’ she squawked. ‘You’re the kind of bird who can get on in life, especially on a pirate ship. Even though you’re not a parrot.’
    ‘I hate parrots,’ Thug murmured. ‘They’re worse than melons.’ Pam had tied his tail to a mop with a bit of rope. He sloshed about in the poop, trying not to trip over. ‘Chaka-chaka-chaka-chaka-chaka!’
    ‘I’ve told you, Pamela,’ Jimmy said, ‘magpiesare just as good as parrots. We’re nasty. We’re cruel. We’re clever.’ He paused. ‘And we like treasure.’
    ‘That’s true, Thug,’ Slasher said. ‘You’ve got to admit the Boss is right about that.’
    ‘Yeah, I like a bit of treasure,’ Thug nodded. ‘Especially glittery things. Not much sign of it round here, though,’ he added bitterly. He poked at a sticky seagull dropping with the mop. ‘’Ere, Slash, pass the Scrubbit, will you?’
    Slasher pushed a pack of soap powder towards him.

    Thug dunked the mop in it and swept it from side to side with his tail. The seagull dropping dissolved into a gloopy soup.
    ‘Magpies can’t talk human though, like parrots can,’ Pam said dubiously. ‘I mean, I like you, Jim, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t know what the Captain will say when he sees you and realises Toothless Tony bought the wrong birds.’
    Captain Black Beard-Jumper had been holed up in his cabin since he rejoined the ship. The magpies had only glimpsed the Captain once, through the cabin window. Captain Black Beard-Jumper had been sitting at a desk with Pam on his shoulder and a small black cat on his knee, surrounded by charts, muttering to himself. He was squinting at a scrap of paper, which he pulledfrom a bottle with a thin dagger.

    ‘The Captain will love me, Pam,’ Jimmy boasted. ‘Don’t worry.’ He sidled towards Pam and put a protective wing around her shoulder. Jimmy cleared his throat. It was time to find out about the treasure. ‘So,’ he said nonchalantly, ‘what’s this I hear about a casket?’
    ‘I can’t really say, Jim,’ Pam said. ‘It’s a secret.’
    Down below on the poop deck, Thug and Slasher stopped scrubbing.
    ‘Did she say “secret”?’ Thug whispered.
    The magpies loved secrets.
    ‘Yeah!’ Slasher whispered back. ‘Shhh. Let’s listen.’
    ‘You know all the Captain’s secrets, don’t you, Pam?’ Jimmy asked slyly.
    ‘I suppose I do, Jim. He talks to me,’ Pam said proudly. ‘He says I’m his only real friend. He says if he tells the other pirates things they’ll cut his throat and steal everything.’
    ‘It must be hard, having all that responsibility,’ Jimmy said. He frowned as if he were thinking something over. ‘You’re
his
friend, Pam,’ he said eventually, ‘but what about
you
?’
    ‘What do you mean?’ Pam blinked.
    ‘What you need, Pamela, is a friend of your own,’ Jimmy said. ‘It’s lonely out here at sea. You need someone you can share things with.’ He snuggled closer to Pam. ‘A bird you can trust.’ He paused. ‘
Me
, for instance.’
    ‘He’s trying to get her to tell him the secret!’ Slasher said excitedly.
    ‘That’s clever, that is,’ Thug remarked in awe. ‘No wonder he’s the boss.’
    ‘I’d like to tell you, Jim, I really would …’ Pam wavered. ‘But …’
    ‘What’s the downside, Pamela?’ Jimmy wheedled. ‘You said it yourself. I can’t talk to humans. I can’t tell anyone what you tell me and the Captain’s never gonna find out unless
you
tell him.’
    ‘Well, when you put it like that, Jim …’ Pam put her beak to his ear and started to whisper.
    ‘She’s telling him!’ Thug and Slasher hopped up and down.
    Slasher fell over the mop.
    Thug tripped over the sponge.
    They ended up in a heap, covered in slimy poop.
    ‘There, so now you know.’ Pam stopped