Dragons and Stars, Chapter 4: Dreams of Dragons

CHAPTER 4: Dream of a Dragon

“Are your classes always this interesting?” a melodic voice asked. Neal had forgotten even about the strange woman.

Neal, Hanna, and Grummel all turned to look at her. She sat, a smile twitching at one side of her lips.

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“My name is Hannah Silver,” she said.

“That’s my name!” blurted out Hanna.

“Yes indeed,” said Hannah Silver. “And I’m very honored to share such a good name with you.”
She shook Hanna’s hands warmly.

“You were, perhaps, a little disrespectful in your comments to your teacher,” she said.

Hanna looked down for a moment. “Perhaps I was,” she said.

“But you were standing up for truth,” Hannah Silver said. “And that’s a rare and courageous thing. I can sense you are a special woman. And you used your head.” Hanna sat up a little straighter.

“And you are Neal, and you are Grummel,” she said, shaking both hands with each of the other two in miner fashion.

Neal and Grummel shook her hands, trying to take her in.

“Please, Miss Silver,” said Hanna.

“Actually, it’s Mrs. Silver,” said Hannah Silver, a shadow of sadness crossing her face. “But you may call me Miss Silver, it sounds better.”

Hanna nodded. “Please, Mrs., um, Miss Silver, how did you know Neal’s name when we first met?”

Mrs. Silver smiled brightly. “Why, I saw him in a dream and an ainjell told me his name!”

“What was the dream?” asked Neal.

Mrs. Silver’s large eyes glowed at him as she laid her hand on his shoulder. “You were a star in my dream,” she said.

“Like a’ movie star?” asked Grummel.

“No,” said Mrs. Silver, “Like a space star.”

She sat down and they sat in a small circle around her. Mrs. Silver held both Neal’s hands in her own and stared into his eyes. Neal felt uncomfortable.

“In my dream,” she said, “I saw this asteroid, this very asteroid. In my dream, the asteroid was singing.”
“Singing?” said Hanna. “What was it singing?”

“It was humming a psalm,” said Mrs. Silver. “As it turned it sang over and over again: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and even I, a rock, shout out His praise.””

“Oy! That’s beautiful!” whispered Hanna.

Neal felt Mrs. Silver squeeze both his hands. He leaned backwards, trying to put a little more space between them.

“Whut happen’d then?” asked Grummel.

Mrs. Silver’s face grew cloudy. “As I watched the asteroid, a cold chill came over me. Then, like a nightmare, I saw a huge dragon’s head approaching from the deepness of space.”

“A komodo’ dragon?” asked Grummel.

“No,” Mrs. Silver said, “Much uglier and more terrible. It’s jaws opened wider and wider, wide enough to swallow Jupiter and all the asteroids around it.”

Hanna’s eyes were wide. Neal managed to retract his hands from Mrs. Silver’s emphatic squeezes and put them in his pockets. She stared at each of their eyes.

“Then,” she said, waving her hands, “As the gigantic jaws closed slowly over it all, I saw a bright star begin shining. But it wasn’t shining out in space, it was shining on the surface of this very asteroid.”

Her face glowed with excitement. They waited a long minute, staring at her.

“Is that it?” asked Hanna.

“Yes! Isn’t it wonderful!?” exclaimed Mrs. Silver.

“How did you know the star was Neal?” asked Hanna.

“Oh yes,” said Mrs. Silver. “Well, I did fly towards the asteroid, toward the star, and as I got closer, I saw it was a boy, excuse me, a young man, standing there, shining like a star. And when I came closer to him I saw his face–Neal’s face!” (Here she grabbed Neal’s arm with both her hands, since his hands were still firmly in his pockets.) “And a voice spoke to me and said, “Go, find Neal and help the people there.” So when I woke up from my dream, I prayed about it. Then I searched the computer for a matching asteroid, packed my ship, and came here.” She smiled brightly.

“Why do we need help?” asked Hanna.”And what was the dragon?”

“I don’t know, my dear,” Mrs. Silver said. “But God certainly does!”

Neal looked at his watch. “It’s almost time for Tai Ji practice,” he said. No one moved. Grummel was nervously twisting his great hands together, staring at Mrs. Silver. Hanna’s brows were furrowed. Neal stood up and walked to the ladder. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s not spoil two classes in one day.”

He started climbing the ladder, and Hanna stood up and followed him. When they were out in the circular hallway floating up to the surface, she put her hand on his shoulder.

“What’s with you?” she asked. “You still don’t like her?”

Neal shrugged as they pushed up the hallway to the exit door at the top.

“She’s too emotional,” he said. “She makes me uncomfortable.”

“I’m a little emotional,” said Hanna, threatening to punch him as they floated up.

“No, it’s different,” he said. “It’s like she’s…like she’s from a different planet.”

“She is,” said Hanna flatly.

“No, you know what I mean.” They pulled themselves out of the entrance hatch and into the lobby, settling slowly onto the ground.

“Do you not believe in dreams, you schmendrick?” asked Hanna, bending to turn on her boot magnets. “Didn’t God speak to Abraham in a dream? Are you better than Abraham?”

“Of course God spoke to Abraham in a dream,” Neal protested. “He was the father of a great nation. I just don’t think God does those kinds of things anymore. We have the complete Bible now…I mean, from the Christian point of view.” He often felt uncomfortable talking about the New Testament with Hanna, who generally believed Jesus was a lunatic or at best an unorthodox teacher.

“Oh, I see,” she said. “So God writes the New Testament for you Christians and then stops communicating with us.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to communicate anymore,” said Neal. “We just need the Bible.”

“So if I write you a letter I don’t have to talk to you anymore?” she asked tartly. “Well, maybe I’ll just try that.”