"Hi sir, is there something I can help you with?" asked the pet store clerk of the odd patron that had just walked in.

"Aye matey, the name is Barnacle Jim and I'm in need of a parrot."

Joe heard what his customer said, but wasn't able to respond. His attention was momentarily drawn the peg leg of his customer.

"Argh, gazin at me peg leg are ye?" asked Barnacle Jim.

Joe's cheeks immediately turned a bright red and it was all he could do to stammer out, "Pardon me sir, but how'd you lose it?"

With a stomp of his wooden appendage Barnacle Jim proclaimed, "I lost me leg when it was caught in some seaweed down in Torkelville. It's made out of a very hard cedar, comes in handy when the woodpeckers come a'callin. And trust me, they do."

Remembering that he was still at work, Joe looked toward the parrot Barnacle Jim had been staring at. "Are you interested in purchasing that parrot?"

A tear momentarily entered the pirate's eye as he sighed, "Aye I would, but I'm a bit short of doubloons. Ya wouldn't be willin' to barter, would ye?"

Joe thought about it for a moment, he knew the store took credit cards and cash, but they had no policies about bartering.

"Well," inquired Joe, "what do you have to trade?"

Barnacle Jim dropped his gaze and muttered, "I lost everything in Chauzlion in a horrible shipwrecking, all I have are me pantaloons and this confounded peg leg."

Immediately an idea hit Joe like a summer sausage to the face, "I wouldn't be able to trade you for a parrot, but I can trade you a rabbit for your peg leg."

"Shiver me timbers, it's a deal!" exclaimed Barnacle Jim with a hearty laugh.

Five minutes later Barnacle Jim hopped out of the pet store with a rabbit plopped on his shoulder and a smile on his face. Joe's gaze followed the pirate as he slowly disappeared toward the shoreline. He could just faintly make out Barnacle Jim ask of his furry friend "Bugsy want a cracker?" as the pirate stuffed a saltine cracker down its throat. And a few more hops toward the shore and the pirate was out of Joe's life and onto some new adventure; hopefully, Joe imagined, with a broken broom stick serving as his new peg leg.