Dreams

       "Bozhe moy. I can't believe you are such a pessimist," Linka told her cousin Tanya.
        "And your head is always in the clouds. Good fortune is scarce, so you better lower your expectations," Tanya replied.
        "Tanya come on, life is good."
        Linka could not believe she and her cousin were so different. They did not even understand each other. Tanya spoke mostly in cliches and thought Linka's techinicisms were pretentious. She did not like being in Tanya's company, but she had no choice. Tanya was only nineteen, but she seemed like an embittered forty-year-old. Not the best company for a ten-year-old girl with big hopes and dreams. Her parents were too busy with four other siblings, especially her two-year-old sister, Annuschka. So Linka pretty much raised herself and relied on her faithful chocolates to keep herself happy.

        Unfortunately, Linka had discovered the effect of alcohol. While in her village it was common for kids to drink a bit of wine or vodka with meals, Linka had been recently drinking to ease her stress. Obsession with grades and being always with her perfectionistic cousin took a big toll on her. So every night she would sneak and have a glass of wine to help her sleep.
        That day in January, Linka's class had read "The Eve of St. Agnes" poem. When Linka's best (and only) friend, Elizaveta had asked her if she was gunna do what the poem said and try to dream of her future husband, Linka replied, "Nyet. With my luck, I will probably dream of an ogre. Dreams are not reliable, reason is."
        That afternoon during dinner, Linka's father was talkinig incessantly about the iron mines and how if the boys were to have a future beyond that they would have to work really hard at school. He also mentioned that the girls had to go to college and find good husbands. Her mother was mostly paying attention to toddler Annuschka and helpful six-year-old Oladja. Only Mikhail, the eldest, noticed that Linka was guzzling her wine. While the other kids were drinking milk, Linka was having glass after glass of wine. And she did not stop at the table. She raided the liquor cabinet, something she had never done before, and sampled everything. She then left towards the bedroom she shared with her two sisters and passed out on her bed without even changing into her PJ's.
        Link had vivid REM sleep every night. But this night's one was special. She dreamed she was in a large field full of Edelweiss, her favorite flowers. And all of a sudden, a cute red-haired, blue-eyed boy around her age came up to her and said, in English, "Please don't get drunk anymore. I don't want you to get sick."
        "Why?" Linka asked him.
        "Because I love you."
        "How can you love me if you hardly know me?"
        "I don't know you, yet I love you already."
        They ran cheerfully across the field, laughing and hugging. It was the best dream Linka ever had.

        The next morning, Mikhail asked her, "So, did you dream of your future husband?" He was familiar with the legend.
        "Hopefully." Linka's face brightened.
        She was too hung over to concentrate much at school that day, but she could not forget about the dream. And she never ever got drunk again. In fact, she now only drank on special occasions and with moderation.
        Every year on the same night, she would dream of the boy. As she grew, he grew too. Was it her imagination, or did he get cuter every year? Plus, as her English improved, so did their conversations.
        "Don't drop that class. It will help you a lot. I know you will do well in it," he told her one year.

        Linka was blossoming into a very attractive young woman. By age fifteen, her extra pounds had turned into curves at the right places. She was getting many propects; however, none of them filled her heart. None of them were as good as the boy in her dreams who came to her the eve of St. Agnes.

        Linka dreaded turning sixteen. That was supposedly the magical age. She was positive that when her middle sister Oladja reached sixteen, she would already be engaged. But Linka's intelligence seemed to intimidate the same guys who were attracted by her drop dead gorgeous looks. "If they want me, they have to take me as I am, the entire me, not just a part of me." Her two-year-old neice Inga already idolized her because she was so much nicer and open minded than her mother, Tanya.

        Just three days before her sixteenth birthday, Linka was playing the keyboards near her village when all of a sudden a ring dropped from the sky. She put it on and was immediately transported to an island.

        First, she saw a tall, lean, African male. When he arrived, he had a mild epileptic seizure due to the shock.
        "Petit mal?" Linka asked him.
        "Yes! I am surprised you know," he replied.
        "I'd like to be a doctor when I grow up," she said.
        Next, she saw a short Asian girl who had the nicest clothes Linka had ever seen.
        "Cute outfit," Linka said.
        "Thank you. Yours is very, typical." Linka was wearing a traditional Russian costume: peasant blouse, skirt, vest, and apron. Next she saw a Native American boy who looked the same age as her middle sister. He studied the surroundings and the people. He did not seem nervous about being in a new place, only a bit confused because everyone else was speaking English and he could hardly speak it.

        "Hi," came a voice behind Linka.
        "Hello," she said, turning around. And she could not believe what she saw. It was the boy who appeared to her once a year in her dreams! Part of her wanted to hug him and tell him. But part of her backed away in caution. He seemed lovestruck for her, even though they had jsut met.Linka had been around Tanya too much, so she carefully guarded her assets.

Five years later...

        Linka woke up and found a white rose and a love letter in her doorstep. She usually did when she and Wheeler were both in Hope Island at the same time.
        "You must love white roses," Gi told her. "You seem to get lots of them."
        "I totally love them. But my favorite flowers in the whole world are Edelweiss. They are only found in Austria, though," Linka replied.
        The Planeteer boys were taking a trip to a basketball game that day. Or so they told the girls.
        The next day, Linka found lots and lots of Edelweiss in her doorstep. She could not contain her joy!
        "Wheeler, did you go to Austria just to get me some Edelweiss?" she asked, with tears of joy in her eyes.
        "Yeah, babe. I also got you some Mozart tapes to help you study so that you can kick butt in your finals!" he said, smiling.
        "Oh, Wheeler, I love ya!" She showered him with kisses.
        A few months later, he proposed.

Hopes - Companion to Dreams