in The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & other stories by Tim Burton

Sugar's in Danger

There was once a ship named Sugar. Its crew was searching for a sandy beach where they could stay until the tide came in, just so they could restock the ship.

As the sun was setting they sighted the perfect spot. ‘Land Ho!’ called the sailor in the crow’s nest. They set up camp on the most remote part of the island in order to avoid danger for as long as possible. However, after being there for a while they realised there was none, so they set up permanent camp to regain their strength after the long and gruelling journey they had endured.

Rebecca was five and she always forgot to brush her teeth. Her parents weren’t usually around to tell her to do it and it wasn’t that she was a dirty young girl, she just forgot to do it.

One night she began to feel one of her teeth ache, but didn’t tell anyone so as not to worry her parents, especially as when she inspected her teeth she couldn’t see anything odd. Even so, that night she again forgot to brush her teeth.

Meanwhile, the crew had found some precious minerals in the island’s sand, so they had begun digging, when all of a sudden the area under their ship caved in, leaving it deep in the island’s interior.

The next morning Becca awoke with a searing pain in one of her teeth, and with tears in her eyes ran to the toilet to look at them in the mirror and, this time, she could see a little black spot on one of her back molars, and seizing the opportunity, decided to wake her mother, who was still home. On waking, she was startled at her daughter’s face covered in tears and felt, at the same time, guilty for not paying as much attention to her as she knew she should. She jumped up and scheduled a dentist’s appointment for that afternoon.

When there, Rebecca was told she had a cavity, so the dentist began drilling and removed what seemed to be a small object, which to him looked like a small ship. Puzzled, he presented it to the young girl, as a token for her bravery.

The crew after having descended into the pit to try and get their ship back on the water, began thinking that setting up camp had been a bad idea. Some of the men were trying to climb back up after having reached the conclusion that the ship was permanently stuck, when all of a sudden it was lifted away, as if by magic, and the space above them was promptly covered up, immersing them in darkness. The crew was doomed to never see daylight again.

A chocolate friend

I have a friend who is a witch. Her face is of white chocolate and her cape and hat of dark, mixing the sinfully low in nutritional value and the densely full of flavonoids and antioxidants.

I decided to go out for a walk with Minerva, as I decided to call her, in the palm of my hand, switching her from one to the other when they started to get sweaty, enjoying the moment to lick up her remains, as if cleaning up the mess she had created with her potions.

After hours in the sun, however, there was nothing left of her except a small dark circle on my left palm, as if she had finally perfected her disappearing spell and left only a small puddle where she had once been.

 When I got home I had a look in my chocolate box to decide who I’d be taking out the next day, and decided on a milky brown prince, thinking that maybe he would be a gentleman and wouldn’t leave me by the end of the day.