Port of Spies Read Free Page A

delicious!”
    â€œAye!” I said. Then I reached for a cookie sitting on the counter.
    â€œDon’t touch!” a lady yelled from behind the counter.
    We all jumped back.
    I could tell by her face that she didn’t like us at all. The corners of her mouth were droopy and her eyes were buggy.
    â€œBut . . . we just wanted to buy some cookies,” I said.
    The lady picked up a rolling pin and waved it in the air. “I know what you wanted! You wanted to steal my cookies!” she shouted.
    â€œNo we didn’t!” Aaron shouted. “We were going to pay for them!”
    â€œLiar! Thief! You stole a cookie, didn’t you?” the lady shouted.

    We gulped!
    â€œLet’s get out of here,” Vicky said.
    â€œAye!” I agreed. “That lady’s crazy!”
    We ran outside and picked up the boxes.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Gary asked.
    â€œWe’ll tell you later, mate,” Vicky said. “But now . . . just run !”
    We ran as fast as we could, but the lady from the bakery was running after us. “Thieves! Thieves!” she yelled.
    Soon there were a whole bunch of townspeople chasing us. My heart was beating at top speed. If they caught us, they’d find out we were pirates. And if they found out we were pirates, we’d be in big trouble.
    â€œFollow me!” Aaron shouted. He turned the corner and we all went after him.
    Then . . . CRASH!
    I bumped right into Aaron. Vicky bumped into me. Then Inna and Gary bumped into Vicky.
    â€œDead end,” Aaron said, staring at the wall in our path.
    â€œFollow you ? I should have known better,” Vicky said to Aaron.
    But there was no time to argue, because just then the crowd came around the corner. We were trapped.
    â€œYou’re in big trouble now,” one man said.
    â€œYeah, we don’t like thieves on King’s Island,” another one said.
    Inna stepped up to them. “We’re not thieves!” she shouted.
    â€œAye!” Aaron shouted. “We’re pirates!”
    Vicky clasped her hand over Aaron’s mouth. “That’s supposed to be a secret!”
    â€œOh, yeah,” Aaron mumbled into Vicky’s hand. “Sorry, mateys! We’re just sailors.”
    â€œArrr! It’s too late now, Captain Big Mouth,” Vicky said.
    â€œPirates!” the lady from the bakery shouted. “Pirates aren’t welcome on King’s Island! All pirates are thieves!”
    â€œThat’s not true,” Inna said. “We paid for all this stuff.”
    â€œAye,” I said. “Just ask the shopkeepers, they’ll tell you.”

    I saw someone push through the crowd. Maybe it was a rival pirate coming to snatch us away. But when he made his way to the front, I could see that he was a boy like me.
    He had blond hair like me. And he was just as tall as me. But he wasn’t wearing pirate clothes like me.
    â€œLeave them alone,” the boy said. “These are my friends.”
    â€œBut they’re pirates,” one of the men said.
    The boy laughed. “They’re not real pirates. We’re only playing pirates.”
    The grown-ups made huffy noises. “We should have known,” one grumbled. “Silly kids,” another one said. Then one by one they started to leave. Even the lady from the bakery left after we showed her that we didn’t steal any cookies.
    â€œWhy did you stick up for us?” I asked.
    â€œBecause,” he said, “I’ve never seen any real live pirate kids before. In fact, I want to be a pirate when I grow up. I want to be the captain of my own ship one day,” he told us. “Captain Jack, because that’s my name.”
    â€œAye, me too!” I said. Then I jumped up and down. “Only my name’s Pete, not Jack!” I told him.
    We were all happy to meet Jack. He was the first person on King’s Island who didn’t give us dirty looks. Plus, he