People want me to tell them about pirates, but I know that if I told them what pirates were really like, it would ruin their day.” I don’t quite follow you, I say. “Well, you know, Treasure Island,” he says. “Long John Silver with a parrot on his shoulder, the push and pull of good and evil, the romance of the high seas. The integrity of the thief, all that stuff. Whereas if there were even one photograph of the aftermath of a real pirate raid on a ship, you know, it’d turn your stomach. There’s a reason they hung pirates without a trial.”
