I am going to show remarkable restraint. I will not talk about puffy shirts. I will not type the word "Argh!" I will not use the description "swashbuckling."

But all this is very difficult when you're writing about the annual Mystic Pirate Invasion. This year's onslaught happens from Friday through Sunday in downtown Mystic.

The schedule of fun and frolic includes: a free screening of "Hook" at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Mystic River Park; pirates roaming Mystic during the day Saturday; and pirates invading our fair town on Sunday, starting at noon, when they arrive via the schooner Argia. Those pirates will be taking hostages, whom the public can free by making donations to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation.

On Sunday, too, dancers will perform in Mystic River Park, and youngsters can do activities at Mystic Arts Center and, at 2 p.m., hear a Pirate Story Time at 2 p.m. at Bank Square Books.

And feel free to talk as much like a pirate as you possibly can.

Mystic Pirate Invasion, Fri.-Sun., downtown Mystic; see schedule above; facebook.com/mysticpirates.