Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans (4 page)

“I see,” said William. “A fellow Puritan is always welcome to join us. We are boarding the
Speedwell
now. Many of us are saying goodbye to friends and family who are staying in Holland.”

“Do you mind my asking why you’re leaving? This looks like a beautiful country and a wonderful place to raise a family,” I said, looking around and spreading my arms as if to show William everything he was leaving behind. That’s when I noticed Liberty following a man pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with large cheese wheels. I hoped the horse was behaving himself.

“Looks can be deceiving,” William said. “We lived in Leiden, Holland, for twelve years, but it is not our home. Originally, we came from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England. But the government forced us to choose between following our faith and following the law.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“We chose to follow our faith. So we left in search of a land where we could be free to believe and worship without persecution. We found that in Holland. We even created the ‘Pilgrim Press’ and printed papers to help spread the word about religious freedom. But now we need a community that protects our
families from evil influences. Some of our members, including our older youths, are beginning to leave the Puritan faith because of what they see and hear from our Dutch neighbors. It is for this reason we have decided to start fresh in the New World.”

I nodded with understanding and said, “It appears your wife will miss this place.”

William’s wife quickly looked away from me. I could tell she was trying desperately not to cry, so she tearfully excused herself. William reached for her but she was now beyond his grasp.

“My wife, Dorothy, and I have decided to leave behind our three-year-old son, John. The journey is expected to be dangerous. We have wrestled in mighty prayer to know whether or not we should bring him. We believe that God has told us that John would be safer if he stayed. He will be cared for, but, as you can imagine, the decision has been particularly painful for Dorothy.”

Again, I nodded, trying to show support. I knew that William and his wife were only trying to do what was best for their toddler. However, I also knew that other Pilgrims had chosen to bring their young children.

William interrupted my thoughts and said, “I apologize. I have yet to ask your name.”

Before I could respond, screams turned our attention toward the shops. Women were running toward us while dodging several large cheese wheels as they rolled toward the water. I had a funny feeling I knew who was behind this. When all the cheese wheels came to a stop, I looked for Liberty. I presumed he was hiding.

I turned back to William and said, “Thank you very much for your time. I’m Rush Revere, and I look forward to visiting with you more on the
Mayflo—
” And then I remembered what
William had said. The ship the Pilgrims were boarding was not the
Mayflower.
“Is this the ship you’re taking to America?” I pointed to the harbor.

“It’s one of them,” he said. “We purchased the
Speedwell
here in Holland. However, we need another. We have friends who are looking into hiring a ship in London. Hopefully, it’ll be bigger and better than this one. We have many families and much to bring to the New World. Both ships are expected to meet in Southampton, England, before we embark for America.”

I couldn’t remember the fate of the
Speedwell.
Did it travel with the
Mayflower
all the way to America? Was it shipwrecked? Did it sink? I know that William Bradford sailed on the
Mayflower
to America. So he had to survive the trip back to England, but what about the other men, women, and children? I turned my thoughts again to my new Puritan friend and thoughtfully said, “I think it will be best if I meet you in England.”

Confused, he asked, “Are you not traveling with us on the
Speedwell
? Do you have another ship coming for you?”

I stared at him as I searched for what to say. Finally, I replied, “Yes, well, I, um, I’m waiting for someone. And I have some supplies I still need to gather. And I . . .”

“No excuses, my friend,” William said, smiling. He firmly put both hands on my shoulders and stared straight into my eyes. With great sincerity he said, “There is no need to fear. Take courage. God will bring us to the New World. Whatever adversity we face will only make us stronger.” He shook my hand. “I hope whoever you’re waiting for comes soon. And I hope our paths cross again. Safe travels, Rush Revere.”

As he left to find his wife and board the ship with the other Pilgrims, I marveled at his courage, determination, and faith.
I was eager to know what happened to the
Speedwell,
curious to reach England and meet the other travelers, and eager to experience life upon the
Mayflower.
First, however, I needed to find Liberty and return to our classroom. I was very curious to know what my students had learned and a little worried to know what Liberty had been up to.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to look very far to find Liberty. I heard his high-pitched whistle coming from a bright-colored shop at the corner of the street. That’s when I saw his head peeking around the corner. Was he hiding? When I was close enough to speak to him I asked, “Why are you hiding behind this shop?”

“Funny you should ask,” Liberty said with a grimace. “First things first: I need you to pay the shopkeeper of this store.”

“You broke something,” I said.

“No, I did not break something,” Liberty replied. “Just because I’ve broken things before doesn’t mean I can’t be trusted to try on wooden shoes in a small Dutch shop because I want to prove to that doubtful shoemaker that horses are wonderful cloggers!”

I looked down at Liberty’s hooves only to discover four bright yellow wooden shoes with red tulips painted on each of them. “Liberty, you’re going to have to remove those shoes and return them immediately,” I said.

“An excellent idea, theoretically,” Liberty replied. “The problem is . . . I can’t. They’re stuck. How I got them on I have no idea. But these wooden babies are wedged on pretty tight.”

I reached down and tried to pull one off. Sure enough, they stuck like superglue.

I sighed with frustration and said, “What am I supposed to do, enter you in a horse-clogging competition? Oh, brother. Liberty, I insist that from now on you stay by my side and do exactly what I say. Your freedom to choose as you please is becoming troublesome!”

Liberty calmly replied, “You’re sounding an awful lot like King James.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, not sure what he meant.

He smiled and said, “Here’s the thing. I’m a curious horse. I can’t help it. It’s just who I am. Discovering new things that interest me is what makes me happy. I love that we can travel together and discover the truth about history. But what interests you may not always be what interests me. Forcing someone else to like the things you like, or to do the things you do, is not what freedom is about, is it?”

“Of course not,” I said humbly.

“From what I heard near the cheese cooler, King James didn’t want the Puritans to have the freedom to choose what they believed. He just wanted them to stay with the Church of England and do exactly what he said, or else! But the Puritans believed that the Church of England practiced many things that the Bible never taught. So some Puritans called themselves ‘Separatists,’ because they wanted to separate themselves once and for all from the Church of England. I even heard one of the Puritan women say that the king threw an entire family into prison just because they chose to believe differently than he did.”

I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I felt horrible for trying to force Liberty to do what I wanted. “I’m sorry, Liberty,” I said. “You’re absolutely right. Will you forgive me?”

“Of course I’ll forgive you. You’re not the only one who makes mistakes,” he said as he lifted up a wooden shoe and waved it at me.

“All right,” I said, “time for plan B.” I walked into the shop, placed four gold coins on the counter, smiled at the shopkeeper, and walked back outside. “And just for the record, I hope you never feel forced to do anything. I’m glad you’re a curious horse. And I’m especially glad the Pilgrims had the courage to believe and think for themselves. Otherwise, America might not be a free country.” I lifted myself onto Liberty’s saddle and said, “I think it’s time we head back to the future!”

“Wait, you want me to run in these?” Liberty complained, staring at his shoes.

“Well, you said you could clog in them,” I replied.

“Well, yes. But clogging and running are two different things.”

“I won’t force you,” I said, smiling, “but humor me, will you? Back to modern-day America.”

“This is so embarrassing,” Liberty said pouting.

He willingly trotted back to the same field that we’d arrived in. His trot turned into an awkward half gallop. With a little more speed he said,
“Rush, rush, rushing from history!”

With one jump we soared through the swirling time portal and landed back in the hallway at Manchester Middle. I knew the time portal created a sixty-second delay of any footage from my smartphone to the digital projector. We had just enough time to slip into the back of the classroom without being noticed. We watched the students as they watched Liberty and me race back through the field and jump into nothingness. The movie ended, and Liberty flipped on the classroom lights.

Tommy raised his hand and said, “Just for the record, I’m not a big fan of King James. He sounds like a real party pooper. He probably got too many wedgies when he was a kid.”

“As you can imagine, these Pilgrims weren’t big fans of the king, either,” I replied.

“They should’ve just done what the king told them to do,” Elizabeth blurted out.

Surprised, I turned to Elizabeth and asked, “Do you do everything someone tells you to do?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked at the girl next to her. That girl, who I assume was one of Elizabeth’s groupies, raised her hand and said, “What Elizabeth is trying to say is that no one tells her what to do.”

“Ahh,” I said. “Well, then it sounds like you would’ve made a great King James.”

“You mean Queen James,” Elizabeth said, suddenly realizing she had just called herself by a boy’s name.

Several students tried to cover up their laughs but Tommy couldn’t resist and said, “Hey, James. What’s up?” He put his hand in the air as if to give Elizabeth a high five.

She ignored him.

“In all seriousness,” Tommy said, “I liked that William Bradford dude. He was cool. Too bad he and his wife didn’t bring their little guy with them.”

“Let me ask everyone the same question. If you were William Bradford, would you have taken your three-year-old son on a death-defying voyage across a tempestuous sea?”

I heard several halfhearted responses. “Probably.” “Maybe.” “I think so.” “I guess.”