It was an unusual house. It was what attracted Dean in the first place. It was the last one remaining from the village of Sea Quest, a place full of sailors and pirates’ centuries before.
Rumour had it Ma Nicholls lived there the first female pirate of the area. She would use her dagger to eat her food and hold it at the throat of any who came near if she believed them worth robbing. It was said it was her cutlass that attracted her husband’s attention to begin with. They stayed together until he gave her the seven kids she wanted.
Ma Nicholls refused to leave the house when the village was cleared for fear of it going under the sea. The sea level came to under the top floor of the house. The third floor could be seen from the pier the means of access via a ramp.
The Nicholls descendants sold the house to Dean thinking they’d robbed him, that it would eventually go under. After a decade of it not happening the surveyor agreed it was unlikely.
Dean found the sea traffic soothing. It inspired some of his paintings which he sold from a shop on the pier. The local history society and the seafarer’s museum both made offers but he turned them down. To Dean this was his forever home.