Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans (16 page)

“Either we’re late for school or it’s time for dinner,” Tommy said.

“I hope dinner,” Liberty whispered.

“Neither; that bell means Indians,” said William, as he began searching the surrounding hills.

Pilgrims from every direction were heading for the Common
House. Women and children left their homes and men returned from the field and forest.

William pointed to a neighboring hill and shouted, “There! A single Indian on Watson Hill.”

Sure enough, a lone Indian walked with long strides toward a brook that bordered the hill where the Pilgrim settlement was.

William spoke loudly so all within earshot could hear him. “Do not fire your muskets! The Indian walks boldly but he does not look hostile. He is only one and we are many. There is no need to fear. God is with us.”

I was amazed watching this group of Pilgrims listen to William so closely. He was clearly the leader that they turned to for direction. Just like on the boat! They all put their muskets down and quietly watched.

Nobody else spoke as the Indian crossed the brook and began climbing the pathway up Cole’s Hill. We were now close enough to see that he was a tall man. His hair was black and long but his face had no hair, unlike most of the Pilgrim men. However, the biggest difference was the fact that the Indian was practically naked. A piece of leather covered his waist but his legs and chest were bare.

“Hold your ground,” William said firmly to his line of defense.

The women and children had gathered together farther behind us. I looked back and saw several holding Bibles. One mother covered her daughter’s eyes and others had turned away from the approaching intruder.

Finally, when the Indian was only five yards from us he stopped, his path clearly blocked by the barricade of Pilgrims. His eyes were the color of tree bark. He had a large bow slung over one shoulder and a quiver of arrows over the other. Then he
did something completely unexpected. He smiled and saluted us with much delight and said, “Welcome, Englishmen!”

“Wait, did he just speak English?” Tommy whispered. “How is that even possible? And he doesn’t even look scared. He just walked up to us like it happens every day!”

“Shh, let’s listen,” I whispered back.

A gust of wind caught the back of the Indian’s long black hair and it swayed up and over his shoulder. As he scanned the crowd of Pilgrims his eyes caught the movement of Freedom’s silky black hair, which also waved in the wind. The Indian stared at her for just a moment, then turned to William Bradford and said, “Me, Somoset, friend to Englishmen.”

William responded, “Welcome, Somoset. I am William Bradford, a leader of this colony we call Plymouth Plantation. How did you learn to speak English?”

“Me learn English from fishing men who come for cod.” Somoset stretched out his arms and said, “This place, this . . .” He paused, pointing at the harbor.

“Are we playing charades?” whispered Liberty so no one else could hear. “Because if we are my guess is
harbor.
”

I offered the suggestion to Somoset and said, “Harbor?”

“Yes,” Somoset smiled, “this harbor called Patuxet.”

Liberty whispered, “Am I good? Or am I good?”

Somoset continued: “Death come to this harbor. Great sickness. Much plague. Many Pokanokets die. No more to live here.”

“You’re saying that the Indians who lived in this area died of the plague?” asked William.

“Yes,” said Somoset. “Many, many die. Much sadness. And you. Your people. Much die from cold and sickness. Massasoit knows. Waiting. Watching.”

William turned to Myles, then back to Somoset and said, “We come in peace. We only want freedom to live in peace. Who is Massasoit?”

“Massasoit great and powerful leader of this land. He watching you. He knows your people dying. He lives south and west in place called Pokanoket. Two-day journey.”

“You must be hungry,” William said. He saw Tommy and Freedom standing nearby and said, “Tommy, Freedom, run back to where the women are gathered and ask them for a plate of food and drink for our new friend.”

“You got it,” Tommy said as he and Freedom raced off to where the women and children were gathered.

William turned back to Somoset. “Please tell Massasoit that we come as friends. We are his friends. Yes, many of our people have died but we are strong.”

Myles Standish clearly wasn’t as quick to believe Somoset meant no harm. Since he was the main military man of the town, I can understand why! He probably felt he needed to defend and protect his people. Standish was wearing his helmet and breastplate. He firmly held his musket in both hands as if to say, Look here, don’t make any false moves! His trademark sword was, as always, hanging at his waist.

Myles said, “Tell Massasoit that we have guns, bullets, armor, and powerful cannons. We are here to stay and we hope we can be friends.”

“Together,” said Somoset. “Massasoit and William Bradford, together.”

“Yes,” said William. “Together in peace.”

Somoset smiled like he did when he first saluted us. “Me tell Massasoit. Bring Squanto. He speak better English. He help . . .”
Again, Somoset began gesturing with his hands, clearly trying to communicate the right word.

“Translate,” whispered Liberty.

“Translate?” I repeated loudly to Somoset.

“Yes,” said Somoset pointing at me.

William, Myles, Elder Brewster, and the rest of the Pilgrims looked impressed by my guesses. I turned back to Liberty and whispered, “You’re making me look really good.”

“I usually do,” Liberty softly replied.

Standish, still not quite as welcoming as Bradford, said forcefully, “Who is Squanto?”

Somoset continued, “Squanto translate for Massasoit. Squanto speak like English man. Help Massasoit and William Bradford together in peace.”

“We look forward to meeting Massasoit and Squanto,” said William. “Will you bring them?”

“Yes, bring them. Return in five moons. But first, stay with William Bradford tonight. Need rest, food. Tomorrow, go to Pokanoket and Massasoit.”

Tommy and Freedom returned with a plate of food and a flask and handed them to Samoset.

“Please, eat,” said William.

Liberty whispered into my ear, “I can’t believe he isn’t scared! I’m scared just watching. It reminds me of a late-night movie I saw once. Well, I didn’t see the whole movie because I was too scared. I mean if I were Somoset I think I’d wonder if my plate of food was poisoned. Or if I were the Pilgrims I’d wonder if Somoset wasn’t secretly plotting to have all his friends sneak into the town in the middle of the night and—”

“You watch too many movies,” I whispered back. “I’m guessing
William had a gut feeling. He relied so much on God’s grace to protect them traveling across the rough waters for so many months, he just had to trust that this would be okay, too! It’s really pretty amazing.”

“Either that or Myles has a backup plan!” Liberty softly replied. “He doesn’t seem to be joking around with that musket.”

“Thank you,” said Somoset. Before he took the plate from Freedom he reached out to touch the yellow feather in her hair.

Freedom handed him the plate of food and then reached up and unclipped the feather. She said, “A gift from us to you.” Somoset leaned over and Freedom clipped the feather in his hair.

“A fine gift,” said Somoset. Then he smelled the food with a curious look on his face.

William pointed to each food item, “This is a biscuit, butter, cheese, pudding, and roasted duck.”

As Somoset used his hands to sample each item, William turned to us and whispered, “He seems like an honest fellow and eager to befriend us.”

“Yes, but can we trust him to stay with us overnight?” asked Myles, suspiciously.

“Rush Revere, what do you think?” said William.

I cleared my throat and said, “Assuming he was sent to us by Massasoit, if we turn him away we may offend him, which may offend Massasoit. We can’t afford to do that.”

William turned to Elder Brewster, who said, “I agree. Our kindness may be our best ally.”

“Yes, I agree,” said William. “I propose we let him stay the night.”

Liberty again whispered to me, “William really put you on the spot with that question. I couldn’t have dug you out of that one.
Nice job answering him! Maybe you should get your own radio talk show. You know, callers call in with questions and you give them advice and stuff. I’d totally call you!”

We turned back to Somoset, who had finished the entire plate of food and was now drinking from the flask.

“Me like much,” said Somoset.

“Come, Somoset. I would like to learn more about this harbor and anything else you can tell us about living here,” William said.

This time Tommy leaned over and whispered, “Do you think Somoset really gives him the real scoop? Or do you think he’ll hold back and wait for his next move like a game of chess? I mean he sure trusts William a lot without even knowing him! So, maybe he really does tell him everything he knows about this land.”

I softly replied, “According to everything I’ve read, Somoset and especially Squanto became friends with William. I think they realized right away that they could help each other.”

As the Pilgrim leaders led Somoset into the Common House, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to time-jump to our next destination.

“Guys, I don’t know when or if we’ll be eating with the Pilgrims,” I said. “They seem pretty busy in there, so I suggest we time-travel to get a quick bite to eat, and then time-jump back in ‘five moons’ or five days when Somoset returns with Massasoit and Squanto. Liberty, did you catch that?”

“Uh, all I heard was blah, blah, blah, get a quick bite to eat, blah, blah, blah,” said Liberty. “Was there anything else important?”

“I’m in,” said Tommy. “All I had for breakfast was a stick of gum.”

“Is that what they call a breakfast of champions?” Freedom teased.

“What did you eat for breakfast?” Tommy asked Freedom.

“Are you kidding? I was too excited to eat,” Freedom said.

“Then let’s rush back to the present. Liberty? I imagine you’re ready?” I asked.

“I was ready to eat when we got here,” Liberty said.

Within minutes we found a secluded place just within the forest. When we jumped through the time portal we were standing in a parking lot behind a Dumpster with a sign that read
PROPERTY OF FOSTERS’ FAMILY DINER, FAST AND FRIENDLY SERVICE ON WHEELS.
As we came out from behind the Dumpster we saw several old-fashioned cars parked in front of the diner. Waitresses with pink blouses, poodle skirts, and roller skates were taking orders and rolling back and forth between the diner and the cars. Liberty wasted no time and trotted up to an empty parking space. Freedom and Tommy were riding on Liberty as I followed from behind.

“You seem like you’ve been here before,” said Freedom.

“Oh, I love a good fifties diner. And this place is especially good,” said Liberty in a hushed voice.

I added, “No surprise we ended up here. This is Liberty’s favorite place to eat.”

Tommy asked, “So you can go and eat anywhere? Any time in history?”

“Any time in American history. However, I’ve tried to avoid bumping into myself. That could be problematic.”

“So what do you recommend on the menu?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, I’m sure everything is good,” said Liberty. “The menu has the usual hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes. But I always
get the Veggie Supreme! With extra lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, sprouts, and guacamole on a sesame seed bun!”

“Guacamole?” asked Freedom. “Seriously?”

“Of course,” smiled Liberty. “Everything tastes better with guacamole.”

“I think everything tastes better with bacon,” said Tommy.

“Well, sure, if you’re a carnivore!” Liberty grunted. “I tried bacon once. I thought it tasted like dirty socks soaked in lard.”

“You’ve actually tried dirty socks soaked in lard?” Freedom asked, skeptically.

“Blech! Gross! Who in their right mind would taste a dirty sock soaked in lard! That’s disgusting,” said Liberty.