Hannah smiled. The “thief” was probably one of the hired hands Winnie hired for the summer. “You said you’re having a cake, too?”

“You betcha. Those six-year-olds can really eat.”

“What kind of cake?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking of ordering a cake from the place at the mall that puts pictures on top. I figured I’d take in a picture of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow so they could put it on the icing, but Connor was worried that Little Matt would be upset when we cut the cake.”

“Upset?”

“Yes. He idolizes Jack Sparrow as being the best pirate ever. Connor didn’t think he’d like it when he saw us cut Jack Sparrow into little pieces.”

“Connor’s probably right.”

“I know he’s right. I thought about it and decided not to buy that cake. But now I don’t know what we’re going to serve with the Blackbeard Pie and the clock is ticking as loud as that crocodile in Peter Pan.”

“How about a Rummy Tum Tum Cake?” Hannah asked her. “Pirates drink rum, don’t they?”

“They sure do. Do you make it?”

“No, but Sally does out at the Lake Eden Inn. She puts real rum in hers, but I bet she could make it with rum flavoring.”

“That’s a great idea, Hannah. I’ll call her right after I get off the phone with you. Do you want to know what I got Little Matt for his birthday present?”

“Definitely. What did you get?”

“I found one of those standup cutouts of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and I hired a photographer from Holdingford to take a picture of Little Matt standing right next to it. That photographer did a real good job. I’m going to give Little Matt the standup cutout and the photographer made a big print of that picture. I had it framed so that Little Matt can hang it in his bedroom.”

“That’s a wonderful present, Winnie.”

“I thought so, too. And I checked with his mother since she’ll probably be the one to hang the picture and she thought it was a real good present, too.” Winnie was silent for a moment. “Do you think you can make a pirate cookie, Hannah?”

“Absolutely. You don’t have to worry about that. Lisa and I will have them ready to go tomorrow in time for the party.”

When she hung up the phone Hannah had another cup of coffee at the workstation and thought about what Winnie had said. “A pirate cookie,” she said with a sigh, attempting to think of what type of cookies she could bake. Nothing came to mind so she thought about pirates and what they did. They made enemies walk the plank, some of them wore gold earrings and had parrots on their shoulders, and they said Ho, ho, ho, and Arggggh. None of those things brought any particular type of cookie to mind. What else did pirates do?

Hannah got up to get one of the Cocoa Snap Cookies she’d baked early this morning. Perhaps the chocolate would jump start her thought process. She took a bite of the cookie and imagined she was on a pirate ship, watching the crew. What would they do next? They would board a merchant ship and steal bounty, or perhaps they would wait until the captain had turned over his payload and collected from the buyer. Then they would steal the gold pieces that had been given in payment. Gold pieces. Was there anything she could do in gold pieces? Hannah thought about it for a minute and drew a blank. Perhaps she should concentrate on the pirates themselves, rather than their lifestyle.