The Ship Of Dreams

• Piper Mitchell, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

There once lived a pirate named John. John was not just any pirate, John was a pirate who owned the one and only "Ship Of Dreams". The ship of dreams was a ship that people could walk onto and wish for anything they wanted, but it cost them one gold coin per wish. For some people this was expensive, because back in the day it was hard for some people to get jobs and make money unless you were born into wealth.
So one day John was packing up after a long day of wishes, when he saw in the corner of his eye, an old homeless man waiting for him outside at the bottom of the ship. John was going to wait until he was finished packing up, but he thought that the old man could be in trouble or need help, so he dropped his things and walked down to the bottom of the ship.
"Hello sir, can I help you?" John asked.
"Erm, hi John I've heard about you, and your ship, and I was wondering if I could have a wish." the old man said weakly.
"Well I was just about done packing up, but I'm sure I can squeeze you in." John replied.
"Oh thankyou John, it is most appreciated."
"Oh it's no problem," John said "so how many coins have you got?"
the old man reached into his pockets, and suddenly had a gasped look on his face. He padded himself down trying to find the gold coin he brought, but it turned out that the old man's coin had fallen out of one of the holes in his raggy old jeans.
"I'm so sorry John, but it seems that my coin has fallen out of one of the holes in my pants, can I maybe give you something else?"
The old man pulled out a rose from his pocket.
"I was going to give this rose to my wife but maybe you could take it and I could wish for something even better for her."
John didn't know how he could say no to the old man, so he decided to take pitty and have the rose and give the old man a wish.
"Ok sir, I'll take the rose and you can go upstairs and make your wish."
The old mans face lit up with joy. He ran upstairs excitedly to make his wish. John sat down with his new rose, waiting for the old man to finish with his wish, so he could go home to his wife and kids. The old man ran down the stairs and gave John a big hug.
"Thankyou so much John, you have no idea how happy my wife and children are going to be." the old man said in tears.
"Anytime." John said.
The next day at work John started opening the ship up, when he saw an envelope on the table. He opened the envelope to find a note, the old man wrote, thanking him, plus a stack of cash repaying John for his kindness.