A Dragonfly's Dream

Chapter XX - All about you

DREAM JOURNAL

All about you

He was talking to someone from high school. ' I send messages to all of you through your dreams right?'

He gestured towards me. 'She triggered it'.

............

We were on the way home when someone called my name. "Lyssa!" Surprised, I turned around and saw a man, not far from the Registrar's office. He was waving at me. I got the shock of my life when I recognized who it was... Rodrigo?!

I simply stared at him as he approached, still surprised at seeing him there. James' best friend hadn't really changed much. He still had that dark, ageless complexion. He was still definitely recognizable as that same guy I knew back then who made fun of poor Mr. Tim Anda's sweat marks. I did notice though, that he no longer had that sinister aura about him. "Hey! How have you been? I've been wanting to talk to you. It's been ages!" He said, as he stopped right in front of me.

And still more surprising, was the fact that he was actually being friendly with me. Back in high school, Rod was a lot of things but friendly definitely wasn't one of them.

Words rushed out of me like automatic, programmed responses. "Hey, I'm good. Yes --- it's been such a long time!"

He was beaming at me as though we were actually close back then. Which of course wasn't true since we never really spoke to each other except when he wanted to say something nasty. "What brings you here?"

I gestured towards Maya and Charise who were already in the car, waiting. "Ah, well, my friends and I just decided to come back here and pay a visit to our roots." I said, half -truthfully. "What about you, what are you doing here?"

He looked at Maya and Charise, and then once again his attention was on me. "My sister is the school nurse."

"Oh, I see." I smiled politely. Then, I remembered something. "Wasn't your mom the school nurse before?"

He nodded. "Yep. My mother's retired now."

Why was he looking at me in that strange way?

"Yeah. Listen. I know we weren't really friends in high school..." he began.

"Quite the opposite." I agreed.

He looked at me apologetically. "Look, I know I was an asshole back then. But I've changed. " He grinned. "I'm now a pastor. "

My face must have registered a look of compete disbelief that Rodrigo found it hilarious. He laughed hard. "Yes, I know it's hard to believe."

That day when he made fun of Mr. Anda's sweat marks once again flashed before me. At that time, I thought he was perhaps the meanest person to ever exist. How on earth could he have become a pastor? It was just really difficult to fathom.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about James." He was smiling as he said this, but at the same time I sensed that he was also very serious.

I raised my eyebrow. What could this be about?

"I'm listening."

.........

Rod told me that he, too, had been dreaming of James since the day he died.

"It always ends the same! He's always telling me to go find you and tell you about the feelings he had. Honestly, at first, I tried to dismiss it. All of this dream stuff goes against my tough guy image." He joked. "But this just won't let me rest!"

I looked at him. It was hard enough to believe that the same boy who tortured teachers a long time ago was now a pastor. And there he was, talking to me about his dreams. The world just never ran out of surprises. "What exactly did you mean when you said feelings?"

He looked as though he felt truly embarrassed to talk about such things. "You know, back in high school he had this---thing for you."

I was again silent but gave him a look that said, go on...

"He really liked you. But he never had the courage to say it. He was too afraid you'd reject him." He shook his head sadly. "Now I think that asshole just won't let me rest. I've been waiting for this chance to talk to you but I just didn't know where to find you. You never attended any of our high school reunions! But today, God gave me this perfect opportunity."

I nodded, and once again, just looked at him. It was really hard to believe all this was happening. I wanted to slap myself just to check if this was not all just one big dream. But I couldn't very well do that without looking like I was crazy.

"You know, I was not able to attend his funeral." I said, finally. "It would be nice if I could visit his grave, but I don't even know where he's buried."

He gave me this kind pastor look. I had to pause and wonder if that's a skill they teach you in the seminary or whatever you call it. Every pastor I've met could do that. "I'll give you my number. I can drive you there if you want." He dictated his number as I stored it in my phone.

"Thanks, it's really nice of you to offer that." I said, a little uncomfortably. And really, I couldn't believe I was saying that. "I'll see you around."

................

"What was that about?" Maya asked as I got into the car.

"Yeah, what took you so long?" Charise added.

"You'll never guess who I ran into." As Charise drove, I relayed my entire conversation with Rodrigo. My friends listened in stunned silence.

Finally, Charise spoke. "Him---a pastor?! No way! "

"Yup. He's now a pastor. And he's offered to help me with this entire 'moving on' thing.

"Oh, here..." Maya said, as she handed me a photocopy of James' childhood photo. "I just thought you might want to have a copy."

"Thanks." I looked at the photo once again. James' young face stared back at me.

I thought about the kid in my dreams. He was young, innocent and easily pleased with the simplest of things. I guess within the most cynical of us, resides a certain kind of innocence.

And it will always be there. No matter how deeply buried.