No Pirates Allowed! Said Library Lou (2 page)

First—say
Ahoy
to these letters! This fine alphabet!”

“Letters?” Pete scowled. “Thar be more than
X
?” Lou spread them all out. Big Pete looked perplexed. “Blimey!” cried Big Pete. “A code! Of old! A secret one—Aye!—to find the sweet gold!”

Library Lou grinned a witty-wise grin. “Brilliant!” she cried. “Now time to begin!” “Here they are. All of them. Pleased to meet you. Isn't this fun?!” said Library Lou.

“Fun?” Big Pete sneered. “It be torture no less! Me'd rather be kissin' a fat treasure chest!”

So
many letters! Big Pete got confused!

W
's?
H
's?
S
's? And
Q
's?

Some she called vowels—
A
's,
E
's,
I
's,
O
's, and
U
's?

Soon Lou took some letters and mixed them about. “Look!” exclaimed Lou. “
Words
to sound out! Now here is a stack you may take home with you. Then come back tomorrow,” said Library Lou.

Up on the poop deck, Pete practiced that night. He practiced each word till he got each word right. “Igor,” he bragged, “we'll hold riches untold! 'Cause us? We be hard-workin' gluttons fer gold!”

Yes, day after day after day, he went back. And night after night, Lou piled high a new stack.

Soon…

Big Pete was reading not small words, but
BIG
—

swashbucklin'
… buccaneer
… thingamajig.

But Pete got impatient. He'd worked day and night and
still
not a trinket or treasure in sight!

One day he barked at Lou,

“Do what ye told! Ye said ye'd be helpin' me find that sweet gold!”

“Correct!” answered Lou. “In a book, there's a clue. I've given my help. It's now… up to you.”

Pete stared at those books lined up shelf…after shelf! A code? A clue?

ARRGH
! “Me find 'em me-self!”

Maybe, just maybe, the code be in rhyme. He
loved
Mother Goose. Dr. Seuss—how sublime! They tickled his fancy, but—no secret code.

Avast! Easy readers! He snatched
Frog and Toad
.

Day after day after day, he went back. And night after night, he piled high a new stack. He found books called classics, great tales of the sea. “Blimey!” cried Big Pete. “Thar's whar the clue be!

Treasure Island
…Me like it!” But—no clue to be found.

Stumped, Big Pete scoured each shelf, up and down.

Gangway! The
non
-fiction!
Thar's
whar she be! Soon, luscious loot! Fancy-free on the sea!

Those factual books, Big Pete came to love. He read about things that he'd never heard of—stink bugs… and baseball… and surfing…and Mars… dinosaurs, mummies, electric guitars!

Pete's picks and his ax and his shovel got…dusty. At piratey ways, Big Pete got a might…rusty.

Now—Pete wasn't a pirate just dreaming of loot, but a
reader
he was, and a good one to boot! When one book was finished, yes, when one was done, Pete picked up another. Oh, reading was—
fun
!

He read and he read and he read and he read! Then suddenly one night, Pete popped up in bed.

The next day…

at Seabreezy Library, things were just right. Book lovers were cozy. The sky was blue-bright when Big Pete and Igor tiptoed through the door (
shhh…
) and spied Library Lou in aisle four hundred four.

They both gave her hugs. Each, a kiss too. “We've come to thank ye, Miss Library Lou! 'Cause of ye, now we know—
books
be the treasure!” “Shucks,” whispered Lou.

“It's been my pleasure.”

Now—Library Lou, with a smile, big and proud, is hanging a sign that says—