Obviously, a title like this begs more questions than it answers.
Does this mean that I boarded shipping liners with a john boat and assault rifle? No, though I likely wouldn’t be admitting it if I had. For the record though, there also wasn’t a full-rigged schooner or a blunderbuss in sight either.
No, I was more of the Friendly Neighborhood Pirate type. These past two summers, three nights a week, I would put on a full face of makeup, strap on my (very fake) sword and head in to work, where I walked families around town and told ghost stories for an hour.
Not gonna lie, it was a pretty sweet job. I got to dress up like this, and the money wasn’t half bad either.
That is not to say, however, that it started out easy.
It began two years ago when I was talking to some pals who I worked at the beach with, and they said they were short an actor for the annual Ghost Walk.
As a joke, I said I was always happy to jump out of the bushes and yell at kids if they needed an extra member and then went on thinking nothing of it. But, by the end of that day, I had emails from the owner, accountant and attorney, all shoving me contracts to read and lines to sign as the new Ghoul on the Ghost Walk.
Sure, I thought, so long as I don’t have be one of the pirates.
Now, I’ve always been a somewhat introverted person, and getting up in front of a crowd for an extended period of time was exactly the sort of thing I hated, but putting on a cloak and popping out for half a second? Piece of cake. I could yell at kids all day.
That is…until one of the two actual pirates quit.
There we were, stranded with one pirate, one ghoul and one week left until the fourth of July – the busiest week of the year. And there I was, with most of the lines memorized through sheer happenstance, and they needed somebody fast.
I made my best excuses, told them I was very sorry, and I hoped they could find someone soon. My bosses, in turn, reminded me how they would never want to ask too much of me or put me out of my comfort zone, and they were very grateful I’d stepped up at all, etc., etc., etc…and then scheduled me in as the new pirate.
Did they give me a nice raise? Yes. Was I excited for this? Not remotely. I was, in fact, terrified to get up in front of those crowds, terrified of forgetting my lines and terrified of screwing up everything.
But the show must go on, and eventually, I decided that this was worth it.
I was shaking so bad the first time I did my makeup that I smeared lipstick all over my face. When we got to the meeting point and found our audience, my stomach was churning so bad I was sure I’d vomit on the nearest dad’s feet.
And then – it went on without a hitch.
Weeks went by, and I eventually got more used to my role as a pirate. It became fun, I learned how to vibe better with the audience, I started telling new jokes and making up new stories and we got raving reviews.
Even when the other pirate got let go before the end of the summer (that’s another story) and I got promoted to being the Captain, it wasn’t that big of a step up. The Ghost Walk had become my territory, and after a successful summer at it, I was brought back on to write, produce and manage the whole thing again the next year.
Therefore, while I won’t speak to the likely difficulties faced by buccaneers of the Barbary Coast or the Botany Bay, I can say that ultimately, my time being pressed into piracy was a one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m really grateful for it.