She was a normal girl like all the others, the only difference was that this girl was obsessed with pirates. She had pirate swords, a pirate bed, and everything for her was pirates. Her parents were worried because she didn’t play with the girls but with boys. She played pirate war games. One night, when there was a big rainfall coming down, it knocked at the door: Knock, knock, knock. The girl went to look and it was the pirate Barba Roja. He asked her if she wanted to navigate with him, and the girl enthusiastically said yes.

The next day, the parents called the police to find the girl, but she never turned up again. After a few years, the girl was the capitan on a pirate ship they used to rob, fight and destroy other ships.

One night they wanted to attack a ship, but it didn’t go well and her whole crew got killed. She knew that she would die, but she continued to fight nonetheless. She got killed eventually, but she died satisfied because she died like she had always wanted to. So she stayed in history forever.

This was a short story by 13 year old Julián Rivera who lives in Ciudad Bolívar, a neighborhood in the south of Bogotá. It was originally published in the book Letras del Sur by the Bella Flor Foundation. I found it too good to miss, translated it, and decided to put it up here as an Idle Musing. Ship ahoy, pirates! Photo (cc) by Janine.