elingregory | I haven't posted for a whole weeeeek!

That's because I finished the edits to Alike As Two Bees and pestered two very kind people who had agreed to look it over for me. The result overall seems to be 'needs a bit of work' but was positive enough to keep me smiling and motivated. You'd think at my age I'd be more robust, wouldn't you?

Anyhow, now I'm cutting the 'that's, 'then's and 'there was'es and adding some bits to clarify what's going on. And then I'll get it betaed and then edit again and then think about where to put it. Fun stuff.

Meantime here's a bit of pirates. I wrote it back in January and had completely forgotten about it:

The hands were not happy when the two ships turned off the regular shipping lanes and headed due west.
“No chance of prizes and we’re taking a heading for some filthy shores,” Davy told Kit, adding, “or so I’ve been told. Protheroe tried his hand at some logging, but says all he got was insect bites, the shits and the shivers. I don’t want none of those. There’s flies the size of starlings, he says, that’ll suck a man’s arm dry.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Kit said but next time he saw Protheroe he shook his head sadly. “Have you been frightening the other hands again?” he asked.
Protheroe grinned and scratched amongst the thatch of hair on his chest. “Maybe I exaggerated just a little,” he admitted, “but how could I not when young Davy sups it all up as gospel.”
“Young Davy is a year older than I am,” Kit pointed out, “and you don’t try to scare me.”
“Only one man on the Africa who can do that,” Protheroe said and looked past Kit, towards the stern where the captain was talking to Valliere.
“I’m not scared of Val,” Kit protested and left Protheroe to laugh. Kit knew who he had been talking about but Griffin’s behaviour had been such lately that Kit was able to ignore most of his memories and treat the man as a valued colleague and respected superior.
“Sir,” he said once he was in earshot. “Are you rested? I’ll turn in if you are.”
“Perfectly rested, thank you Kit,” Griffin replied. He glanced at Valliere and dropped his voice a little. “But I do need to speak to you before you sleep. Jago and I made plans, but it’s clear that for at least some of them we will require your assistance. Perhaps a glass or two in the cabin?”
“Certainly, sir,” Kit said and followed him down the gangway with a little flutter of excitement in his belly.