h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The snake's attention was diverted for a moment. That was all the time Paulh needed to make his escape. He ran like the wind until he reached the river. Taking a deep breath, he jumped in and swam as fast as he could. When he came up again for air, he found himself in the middle of the ocean. In front of him was a ship. "The Black Pearl" was painted on its side. He motioned to the pirates to pull him up,which they did.

"May I speak to captain Jack Sparrow?" he said to a portly African American woman. She laughed merrily. "Honey, do I *look* like any kind of sparrow? My name is Pearl Bailey. This ship is named after me. Now, sit down and let me sing for you."

After the concert, Pearl invited Paulh to join her in a sumptuous banquet of grits, barbecued ribs, black eyed peas, collards, and sweet potato pie. Paulh ate raveously until his plate was clean. It was then that he noticed it had started raining. Looking up, he saw vast storm clouds.

"It's the storm of the century, Pearl said wistfully. That's why we came out here today. I love sailing in storms!"

Paulh was les thrilled than Pearl was about this. "Thanks for the delicious lunch." he said. "Is there someplace safe below deck where we can wait out the storm?"

"Not really," Pearl admitted. "Oh, there's places where you can stay dry for a while, but once the gales start blowin', the water'll rush across the decks and submerge you . It's better just to stay on deck and just enjoy the storm."

Soon the wind was whipping the waves up into mountains. Pearl, being quite heavy, had no trouble withstanding the wind's fury, but Paulh was much lighter. He soon found it necessary to hang onto the main mast, until, with a snap, the wind broke it off and sent it crashing into the sea, Paulh along with it...

I foresee an exciting sea story...

[Amy P]

Well, at least Paulh got a chance to get fed.