A Pirate Next Door

Wednesday. I have a neighbour. At both castles, Perth and Sydney, a pirate captain keeps a galleon full of prisoners just down the corridor.

I went to introduce myself. Villain to villain. I thought we might share a pot of tea and some complaints about young people. He was too busy shouting at a parrot to speak to me.

His prisoners and my students, I have since learned, are often the very same people. A big party arrives, too many for one room, and half go into my castle while the other half go into his ship, and the gamesmasters start both at the same moment. Or a family finishes in the sanctum, has a sandwich and goes straight back in to face the captain.

So I am to share my enemies with a pirate. Very well. If they get away from him first, at least they reach my walls tired.