Chapter: Tears in Paradise

It was morning. At least that's what Joe deduced from the fact that the sun had been tickling his nose for a while. And something else made his olfactory organ rev up. He took a deep breath and inhaled the delicious smell of fried bacon. Then he sat up and looked around. Not far from him, Bunny lay on a straw mat and slept peacefully. She had one arm around Buster, the other on her face. Joe grinned. His captain really was a late riser. But now he didn't feel like lying down again. He got up with a growling stomach and followed the smell of breakfast out of the hut. In front of the door his gaze immediately fell on the fireplace, over which a few fried eggs and a few strips of bacon were sizzling in a pan. If Norman kept cooking them such a delicious meal, Joe really didn't mind that he might join their gang. They could also use any kind of reinforcement ...Speaking of which, where was Norman anyway? He couldn't just leave the good food here unattended like that. But a noise made him assume that Norman must be very close. Joe ran around the hut and found the man who was just about to hang up his laundry. A pair of shorts and several different colored Hawaiian shirts were already hanging from a rope tied between two palm trees to dry. A bright yellow specimen with large red flowers adorned Norman's full torso this morning and secretly Joe was very happy that this man did not wear a leaf bikini every day.
Norman didn't seem to have noticed him yet, because he was still happily tying clothes to the leash, wiggling his bum rhythmically. Joe saw that he had headphones on and that he was listening to lively music with a Walkman. Now he even began to sing loudly and his listener was surprised to find that he had a very melodious bass voice that reminded a little of Barry White.Joe didn't think it was a good idea to interrupt the man in the middle of the song, so he decided to go back to his breakfast to wait for the others.
He was about to steal a strip of bacon from the pan when Norman strolled around the corner whistling.
"Hello young friend. Already awake? You must have been hungry, didn't you?" He called cheerfully when he saw Joe.
"Uh, ... yes ... I just woke up. I haven't had time to look around ...", Joe stammered and spontaneously decided not to speak to him about his little vocal part.
"Shall we wait for the little one, or won't you be able to take it that long?" Asked Norman, poking around in the pan.
"Oh, that can take a while. Bunny can sleep forever. We can leave something to her.", Joe replied quickly and a little later he greedily stuffed the really delicious fried eggs into his mouth.
"Boar, have you ever worked as a cook?Your food tastes really good !! ", he enthused with his mouth full, accidentally spitting a little egg yolk around.
"100 points! You're spot on. Before I came here, I was a chef at" Chez Jacques ". The best restaurant in Tuvalu, the island I come from. Our cuisine is famous for its excellent fish specialties!" Norman proud.
"Hey, I think I read something about the shop in the newspaper. Real luxury place. My parents really wanted to go there too. And you worked there? What are they doing now without you?", Joe asked interested.
"Oh, I was never such a big animal there, you know. I was surprised that they even hired me. I just don't fit in between all these lacquer monkeys. They even wanted me to be in the kitchen Wear a suit! Actually, I had more to it than all these bastards put together, but I have my own style and I won't let that dissuade me, no matter what they say.With such an attitude, of course, you never become a head chef with them. But let them see how they get along without me! ", replied Norman and Joe saw for the first time how his usually cheerful expression darkened. To be honest, he couldn't have imagined a free spirit like Norman in such a posh restaurant either.
"That sounds like you never want to go there again ..." he tried to dig a bit.
"Well, I had three months to think about it and ten horses won't get me into this prison! And if you are referring to my decision on your offer ... I think you have a new crew member from now on.", Norman grinned and the twinkle in his eyes lit up again.
"... and a new ship. Bunny will be happy about that! Me too, of course. And finally we have someone who takes care of the physical well-being of the crew. Only dry bread and mushy fruit were slowly hanging on to me Neck out.Do you have any other hidden talents? I have a slight fear that our team has not exactly been made up of close combat professionals so far. Bunny's devil powers are great, but ... ", Joe began to explain, but Norman interrupted him with an angry snort.
"Well, listen! Don't trust others! Anyway, I'm still in good shape!" He shouted and went over to the demonstration. He rolled up one of his shirt sleeves and proudly flexed his biceps. Joe still seemed to be a bit skeptical, but when Norman asked him to lend a hand himself, he was amazed to discover that these were not just mountains of fat but real muscles.
"That's not pudding, my friend! I used to be champion of the wrestling team. I won the title three times in a row! Okay, I'll admit that I got a little out of shape when I was a chef, but since I've been here I landed, I started training again out of sheer boredom.I swim every day and sometimes even jog around the island! And with half a serving like you, I'll take it easy. ", Norman laughed and grabbed Joe by the hip to sit down on his broad shoulders without any effort. Now the skeptic of the group was also convinced and, above all, positively surprised by their new addition.
"Well then nothing can go wrong now, Rambo," he giggled and patted Norman on the shoulder appreciatively.
The two romped around a bit and when they got back to the hut, Bunny and Buster had finally got up and had already completely wiped out the remains of the breakfast. As expected, Bunny was very happy about Norman's acceptance and then suggested finally inspecting her new ship.
"Who knows if you have not lied to us. Maybe your ship is the last junk mill ..." she jokingly speculated as they made their way through the forest to the other bank of the island, where the boat was anchored ."It couldn't be worse than our last model ...", Joe whispered behind his hand and caught a dirty look from Bunny.
But they were not disappointed. Norman's ship was not the largest, but of course a completely different caliber than their previous means of transport.
"It has a mast! With a sail!", Joe cheered and this time he got a painful kick in the back of the knee for his jokes.
"Yes, she also has two small cabins and of course a fully equipped galley. Miss Akyoo has served me faithfully for a long time!" Added Norman with pride in his voice.
"Miss Akyoo ???", Joe and Bunny asked as if from one mouth and Joe couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yes, the name is very appropriate. After all, she's a real beauty, isn't she?" He replied with a slightly offended undertone.
Both nodded in agreement. You could see exactly where Norman had recently patched the boat back together because the wood he had used for the repair was a bit darker than the rest and there was also a large patch on the white sail, but overall it was the "Miss." Akyoo "really a pretty ship and ideally suited to continue your journey with it."Does she have a cannon too?" Asked Bunny after she couldn't see any weapons at first glance.
"No, that's not a combat ship after all. She has a large trawl net for that. You can catch at least half a ton of fish with it!" Boasted Norman and you could clearly feel how much he cared about his boat.
"But something crucial is missing!", Bunny said, whereupon Norman looked at her indignantly as if she had just insulted him personally.
"The pirate flag, of course! You don't happen to have one ready?", She added quickly and grinned.
"Oh. No, I didn't need anything like that until now. But I have a black tablecloth and white paint. You can have that.", Norman sighed in relief and a little later Bunny was sitting armed with a bucket of white paint and a brush bent over a piece of black cloth and busily painted to himself. You could tell that she was very focused, because her eyes were squinted and the tip of the tongue, which she had wedged between her teeth, looked slightly out of her mouth."And what is that supposed to be now?" Joe asked again and tried to look curiously over her shoulder.
"You will see when the time comes and now let me work in peace!", Bunny hissed annoyed and covered her work of art as best she could with her hands.
"Artist ..." Joe growled and went back over to Norman, who had lit a small campfire on the beach and was now roasting a few marshmallows over the flames.
"Let her go. She just wants to surprise us.", Norman said soothingly and handed Joe a stick with a browned marshmallow. Joe let the fragrant delicacy melt on his tongue. He was already sure that Norman's presence would reduce the controversy potential of the team a lot. Wisdom comes with age, even if you don't look at it immediately on this specimen. But he questioned this consideration again when Norman suddenly jumped up as if stung by a tarantula and began to jump wildly on the spot."There's a ship over there. I think it's coming here!" He exclaimed excitedly and pointed out to sea.
Joe and Bunny raised their heads in confusion to find that Norman was really right. A boat had appeared not far from their island and it actually appeared to be heading in their direction.
"Strange ... Do boats come into this area often?" Bunny asked skeptically.
"No, not a single ship has passed here in the last three months. No wonder. I don't think this island is even on any nautical chart.", Norman replied, staring intently into the distance.
"Maybe you got lost ...", Bunny mused aloud.
"Or they want to rob us ..." added Joe fearfully.
"Oh, if it's up to you, all the