COMPANIONS – THE STRANGEST DREAMS!
Match each of Simon’s dreams with the early voyages of the following adventurers:
- James Cook
- Alejandro Malaspina, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, Cyetano Valdés y Flores
- Alexander Mackenzie
- Merriweather Lewis and William Clark
- Emperor Zhu Di’s loyal eunuch admirals
- Peter the Great’s Russian voyages of Vitas Bering and Alexei Chirkov
Miguel rolled over. He was instantly awake from a deep sleep. For two years he slept fourteen inches from his best friend. Every night their hammocks rocked in unison and they became aware of each other’s habits even in the dark, deep recesses of exhausted sleep.
This early morning, Miguel sensed Simon’s absence.
The Cuban boy pulled on his cotton pants, tiptoed up the steep steps of the Discovery, and saw his friend sitting quietly on the deck.
Both boys had been on the Pacific coast long enough to recognize the scenery that surrounded them, but they were still awed by its brilliance and power. Simon’s slight body, with knees curled up against his chest, was silhouetted against the rising sun. The gold orb bathed the clouds in a purple trim; the radiance illuminated the giant trees dominating the shoreline. Their trunks dwarfed the small boy gazing skyward. The limbs of these mighty forest denizens were dressed in a rich, lush mantle of moss and lichens. Young Miguel shivered as a natural physical reaction to the cold morning air, but also as a hidden spiritual response deep within his soul. The forest of the Pacific coast was a natural cathedral – silent, endless, all powerful.
His friend was calm but his eyes looked tired. “Are you alright Simon?”
Simon smiled and nodded his head. “I had the strangest dreams!”
“A nightmare?”
“No, just strange – I’ve never had dreams like them before.”
Miguel was curious. “Tell me.”
Simon rocked back and forth very slowly.
“In the first dream, I saw our Captain.”
“It was a nightmare!” Miguel slapped his forehead.
Simon laughed. “No. But it was strange. His hand was wet and he reached out to shake the hand of another man. This man’s hand was covered in dirt. The strange thing was – their hands never touched. One hand returned to the sea and one hand returned to the land. The man with dirt on his hand carved something into a big rock and then disappeared into the forest.”
“That was it?”
“That was it for the first dream. In the second dream three men did shake hands. One of them was actually a boy who wandered all alone in the woods and suddenly entered a clearing with a great White House. They went inside and the man in the house wore fancy clothes with a powdered wig. The three men shook hands and had a glass of water. The boy and his friend spit out the water because it tasted salty. The man in the fancy wig just smiled and nodded.”
“Weird! Simon.”
“Oh, it gets stranger.”
In the third dream I saw ships; dozens of ships. Miguel, they were huge! They grew food on the decks. The ships sailed everywhere and the crew drank green and red tea. But Miguel, these men – something was different.” Simon squeezed his legs together.
“I’m not sleeping next to you anymore!”
Simon laughed. “The captain held up a wooden pulley. Miguel, I recognized the pulley. It was exactly like the one the native people of Neahkahnie Bay showed us.”
“The tribe we visited just south of here?” Miguel asked.
Simon nodded his head.
“I’ve heard enough Simon – you’re scaring me.” Miguel turned to leave.
“Wait, there are more.”
Miguel was too curious to carry out his threat to leave. He cocked his head to listen. Simon inched his chin forward and began the next dream.
“I was Captain of a mighty ship. I sailed my ship between two continents and I stood on the deck wearing a sable fur coat and observing everything in sight. I ordered a cup of tea and YOU were my cabin boy.”
Miguel turned as red as the rising sun; a combination of humiliation and anger. “I was not!”
“Oh, yes you were! And as you stepped onto the quarterdeck you dropped my tea cup and it smashed into a million pieces. I thought of having you flogged but you dropped to your knees and said, ‘I’m sorry, Simon the Great.’”
Miguel fumed. Simon laughed.
“It wasn’t me.” Miguel gritted his teeth.
“Well, he looked like you, in fact everyone was either dark-skinned like you and the natives – except!”
Miguel pricked up his ears, “Except??”
“Except at one village the natives were all white skinned.”
Miguel shook his head.
“Wasn’t that dream GREAT.” Simon giggled.
“No!” Miguel was firm.
“Careful.” Simon pretended to unfurl a leather whip.
“Not funny Simon.”
“Relax, relax. You’ll like my next dream better. Do you remember the Sandwich Islands; sandy beaches, warm water and friendly people? Well, we were there again but then I turned around and we were on a flat barren desert with a huge solitary rock. The rock was as big as the Rock of Gibraltar. Standing between us and the rock was a group of people. They were native people to this strange land and their skin was burned black but their hair was curly and blond. I turned around again and I was in another strange land with mountains like Switzerland. Again, a group of native people appeared. They scared me. They stuck out their tongues and tried to rub my nose and then they began to dance a fierce, frightening, challenging dance. I turned around and I was back in the Sandwich Islands and then I turned around for the last time and was here on the Pacific coast. I kept turning like a ship traveling around the globe!”
“You’re strange Simon. Of course all you Englishmen are strange!”
Miguel pointed and laughed at Simon.
“Maybe – but the last dream had your people in it – the Spanish!”
Miguel fell silent.
“They were chasing me. I was running in slow motion; my feet were like lead. Spanish sailors were dressed in elegant uniforms but their ships were tiny, hard to control schooners. These four men were courteous, intelligent, regal, and secretive but they kept chasing me all around this island. Just when I was sure they were going to catch me – they turned south, sailed away and never came back.”
Miguel was intrigued with all these strange dreams. He sat there next to Simon as the morning sun warmed their backs. “What happened next?”
Simon smiled, “I woke up!”
