Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans Page 14

  “I’m just glad it’s not too cold tonight or I’d be freezing,” Cam said.

  “I think I’ll grab a couple of feathers for Liberty,” I said. “I’m sure he’s close and I bet he’ll want to join us if he can.”

  Samuel Adams joined us as others formed a circle around him. Firmly, he said, “Tonight we send a message to the King. If his ships will not leave Boston so be it. But we will toss his tea overboard and let it float back to England!” Then Samuel let out a loud war whoop.

  Many other war whoops echoed in response as we began marching down to Griffin’s Wharf, where the three ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, were moored. Men shouted and cheered us on as we hurried down Milk Street. “Boston Harbor will be a tea pot tonight!” yelled a Patriot who slapped me on the shoulder as I passed by.

  The moon overhead was bright and I was amazed at how well I could see. Was this a bit of divine intervention? Perhaps God provided the perfect weather and the perfect moon for what I hoped was a perfect tea party. Soon we were at the wharf and I felt a cold breeze come off the water and into my face. It was dark and hard to see who might be looking at us. I could barely see the faces of the other Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians. It was a little spooky, especially hearing the creaking and squeaking of the boats as the sea pushed their hulls back and forth against the docks. It was like the three ships were trying to warn the British army. Danger! squeaked the Dartmouth. Look! Thieves! creaked the Beaver. Don’t let them take our precious chests of tea! groaned the Eleanor.

  Within minutes we were divided up into three different groups and ready to board the three different ships.

  Suddenly, Liberty appeared out of nowhere and said, “Let’s get the party started!”

  “Liberty!” we all shouted, excited that he had joined us.

  “It just wouldn’t be the same without you,” Tommy said.

  “Here, let me attach these feathers to your mane. Now you’re an Indian horse,” I said.

  I would’ve joined you earlier but I was speaking with Freedom. You know, with my mind.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing,” said Tommy. “I didn’t think that would be possible once we passed through the time portal.”

  “Neither did I,” said Liberty. “But our connection has been getting stronger and stronger.”

  “And what did Freedom have to say?” I asked.

  “Oh, she just asked how I was feeling after eating all those beans. She was genuinely concerned about my well-being. That’s what I like most about Freedom. Well, that and also her name. Hey, maybe that’s why we have such a strong connection! Freedom and Liberty sort of go together, if you know what I mean!”

  “Here come Samuel Adams and Paul Revere,” I interrupted. “It looks like they’ll be joining us on the Dartmouth.”

  Liberty sighed, “I’m just relieved we’re not boarding the Eleanor. Seriously, I once had a great-aunt Eleanor who loved to suck on garlic.”

  “Did you say suck on garlic?” Tommy asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Liberty said. “She said it kept away the vampires!”

  “Vampires?” Tommy said, doubtfully.

  “Well, vampire bats. Yeah, she was a strange old mare who would stay up all night watching for bats. I guess you could call her a night-mare!” Liberty started laughing and stomping his hoof. “Get it? Nightmare! Oh, I am so funny!” he whispered as Samuel Adams and Paul Revere drew near.

  “It is midnight,” said Samuel. He looked up at the starlit sky and said, “It appears that heaven smiles down upon us. Yet there is still great danger. The British are all around us. Have a prayer in your heart that we shall be undetected. We must work quickly and finish before dawn.”

  Tommy raised his hand and asked, “What if one of those warships sees us? What if a troop of Redcoats catches us throwing the King’s tea overboard?”

  “I know,” said Cam. “I still remember what happened to me back in Virginia. They’ll cuff us until they can hang us!”

  Samuel stared at Tommy and Cam for a moment as all the men around us were listening. He finally said, “I believe God wants men to be free. I choose to believe that there is a force greater than our own here tonight. I can feel it in the air and see it in the stars. God willing, we will accomplish this mission. It is only the beginning of what we will need to do. Fear will try to stop us, but we will not let it. People who live with fear will never be free. Remember this, Tommy and Cam: We are the fear chasers. We are the hope givers. We are the freedom builders. We are the Sons of Liberty!”

  I felt invigorated by Samuel’s words! I felt unstoppable, like I could accomplish anything. I could see that the men with me felt the same way. Even Tommy and Cam looked ready to take on the world.

  Cam fumed and punched his fist into his palm. “Seriously, after what those Redcoats did to me back in Virginia with Patrick Henry, I can’t wait to get my hands on that tea!”

  “It’s tea time!” whispered Liberty.

  We walked across the gangplank of the ship and joined the other “Indians.” Some were breaking open chests with hatchets to get to the tea. Since we didn’t have any hatchets, Liberty kicked open a chest with his back legs and the three of us jettisoned the tea into the water below. It was too dark to see much but up close I saw thousands of little green tea leaves flitting down to the water and creating a sea of tea in the harbor below. Tea party, indeed! A really big one! Maybe some of the fish thought the tea leaves were fish flakes and decided to make a meal of it.

  As Liberty stomped and kicked he softly sang his Stamp Act song, “Because your taxes aren’t fair, you make us so mad, and you should know that, you make us so, so mad!”

  I kept looking over my shoulder at the docks to see if any Redcoats had spotted us. The noise we were making as we busted up the wooden crates seemed loud, but it was hard to know how far-reaching it was.

  After nearly four hours, we had finished. I remembered from history that there were 342 chests or crates of tea. King George would be furious when word got back to him. And you know what? I was okay with that. After all, he did insult my mother.

  “I think that’s the last of it,” said Cam.

  “Now I know what you mean by the Boston Tea Party!” said Tommy.

  Cam nodded and said, “Did you see Paul Revere? That dude is strong! It must be from being a blacksmith because he was smashing through those chests like they were made of graham crackers!”

  “Does someone have graham crackers?” Liberty asked. “I love graham crackers!”

  “Shh,” I said, patting Liberty’s neck. “Here comes Paul Revere.”

  “Well done!” Paul said with a huge grin on his face. “The Beaver has also finished dumping its tea and I expect to hear word about the Eleanor soon.”

  In the light of the moon we silently rejoiced in our success, and I silently thanked God.

  “So what’s next?” asked Tommy.

  “The King will not let this act go unpunished,” said Paul. “Certainly, he will try to make an example out of Boston’s rebellion. We need to do what we can to store food and supplies for our families. I would not be surprised if the King chose to close our ports. We must ready ourselves for England’s retribution.”

  I was still in awe by the fact that I was standing just inches away from the legendary Paul Revere. I mustered up my courage and said, “Thank you, Paul Revere, for what you’ve done and what you’ll do for this country. I don’t know how you find the time to do all that you do to support the cause of freedom.”

  Paul beamed at my compliment. He said, “Rush Revere, you are a good man and I am honored we share the same name. Freedom is in your blood. It is in the blood of every true American. It is part of who we are. And freedom needs our effort. It needs our attention. It we are not watchful, freedom can and will be taken from us.” Paul breathed deeply and exhaled. He looked deep in thought and said, “Only when we are free can we be all that God wants us to be. Only when we are free can we do all that God wants us
to do. Remember this, my friend, freedom is from God. And when we fight for freedom we always fight on the side of God.”

  “Thank you, Paul,” I said, humbly. “I will always remember that. Godspeed.”

  We parted ways and after leaving our boat we found an empty street and time-jumped back to Manchester Middle School. The boys changed their clothes, cleaned their faces, and walked home together. I, too, changed from my Indian attire and was glad to be back in my colonial clothing. However, Liberty left the feathers in his hair. He said he was excited to show Freedom.

  I thought about tomorrow and remembered that it would be my last day before Mrs. Borrington returned. I knew there was still one more important history lesson I wanted to teach before leaving. The fact is, England was not going to give up. And the thirteen colonies would not be able to withstand the power and might of Great Britain unless they united together. Let’s face it, Boston, Massachusetts, was getting beat up pretty badly. Other colonies would experience the same punishment from the bully of Britain, King George III. I wanted Tommy, Cam, Freedom, and, yes, even Elizabeth to understand that America’s freedoms were hanging by a thread. And King George was ready to take his sword and cut us off from freedom forever. Our only chance, our only hope was to unite with the other colonies and fight back. I wanted them to see and experience what really happened! For that to happen I would need to get them to the First Continental Congress.

  We were just about to leave the classroom when a note was slid under the door. I walked over and picked it up. The writing on the front said, “To: Mr. Revere. From: Elizabeth.” I’d forgotten about Elizabeth’s secret plan to leak information about the Boston Tea Party. All she needed was someone who could open the time portal. If she could go back in time she could rewrite the history we had just experienced. And a personal visit with King George before the BTP happened could certainly do that. Well, I wouldn’t let that happen. I knew I had the upper hand because I knew what she was plotting. Then again, Elizabeth was both clever and crafty. Maybe this was all a setup. Maybe she had something else up her sleeve.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning I did just what Elizabeth’s note asked me to do. Liberty and I arrived at Manchester Middle School thirty minutes before school started. In addition, I texted Tommy, and only Tommy, to meet us near the big oak tree at the back of the school.

  The back door of the school opened and Elizabeth walked out. She was dressed in the blue gown that she’d received from King George III. Her hair was expertly curled and pinned to the top of her head. She looked like a fairy princess; all she was missing was a magical wand.

  “Where’s Thomas?” said Elizabeth, sounding annoyed.

  “Good morning, Elizabeth,” I said. “You look especially pretty today. Is there a special occasion?” Of course, I knew she intended to time-jump to eighteenth-century England and visit with King George III.

  “As a matter of fact, yes, there is a special occasion,” she said. “And you’re my ride.”

  “Sorry I’m late,” said Tommy, who sounded a little winded. “I practically ran the whole way here.”

  Elizabeth sighed, “Ugh, I hope you’re not sweaty.”

  Tommy lifted one of his arms and smelled under his armpit. “Nope,” he said, “I still smell like an ocean breeze. At least that’s what my deodorant said.”

  Liberty turned to smell Tommy’s armpit as well.

  “That’s disgusting!” Elizabeth said.

  Liberty replied, “I think you smell way better than an ocean breeze. Seriously, sometimes the breeze from the ocean smells like dead fish. I’m just saying that I don’t think the person who picked the name of that deodorant has ever been to the ocean.”

  Elizabeth sighed and said, “Thomas, help me get in the saddle. And make sure my dress doesn’t get snagged!”

  “Pardon me, Elizabeth,” I said, “but I don’t remember us discussing any sort of field trip.”

  “Mr. Revere,” said Elizabeth, sounding bothered by my question, “I thought we’d been over this once. I’m in charge, remember? I have the video of all of you time-jumping, so if you want to keep teaching the Honors History class you’ll do what I say, and don’t ask questions.”

  “Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the barn,” Liberty mumbled.

  I pondered the situation and an idea popped into my head. I called for Tommy. “You better get dressed in your colonial clothes,” I told him.

  As Tommy walked over to get his clothes I whispered in his ear, “When I give you the signal tell Liberty to ignore whatever Elizabeth says and concentrate on time-jumping to Philadelphia, October 1774, Carpenters’ Hall.”

  “What’s taking you guys so long?” Elizabeth huffed.

  “Got it,” Tommy whispered back as he finished buttoning up his vest.

  Tommy quickly climbed up onto Liberty’s saddle and we both helped Elizabeth to sit behind him.

  “Let’s go, Liberty! Open the time portal,” Elizabeth said impatiently.

  “Aren’t you going to tell us where we’re going?” Liberty questioned.

  “I’ll give you the destination when you’re ready to jump,” Elizabeth said slyly.

  She was a sneaky girl. But I was not going to allow her to time-jump to England and divulge future secrets to King George. I knew her plan was to change history and I couldn’t let that happen. I said, “This meeting can do nothing more to save the country!” I hoped Tommy remembered that this was the secret signal.

  “Huh?” Liberty said, confused.

  “Hey, that’s what Samuel Adams said as . . . oh, I get it!” Tommy said. He leaned over and whispered into Liberty’s ear.

  “My destiny awaits!” said Elizabeth. “Giddy-up. Charge! Let’s go already.”

  Liberty started to gallop and said, “Rush, rush, rushing to history!”

  As we approached the time portal Elizabeth yelled, “England, November 1773, Windsor Castle.”

  The next second we jumped through a cosmic curtain of purple and gold and landed near a two-story colonial brick building. Other colonial buildings could be seen nearby and it was obvious that we were not at Windsor Castle, or in England for that matter. The primitive plaza was nothing like the grandiose gardens of England. And the few people we saw wore simple coats or dresses, not the fancy fashions of eighteenth-century England. The cold breeze whipped through the plaza and up through the nearby trees. Mother Nature had been busy painting the leaves a bright orange, a brilliant yellow, and a vibrant red. The leaves clung to nearby branches as they spastically fluttered in the wind.

  “Where’s the castle? This isn’t England. You imbecile! Ugh! Where are we and what year is this?!” Elizabeth demanded.

  “As your time-travel tour guide I’m obligated to tell you that we’re in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it’s October twenty-sixth, 1774,” said Liberty.

  “What!” Elizabeth yelled. “Are you deaf? I specifically said Windsor Castle. It’s supposed to be November 1773!” She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. With a venomous tone she said, “I’m going to give you one more chance to get this right. Liberty! Open the time portal!”

  “I’m afraid he won’t do that,” I said. “You see, Elizabeth, we know your plan to meet with King George and leak information about the Boston Tea Party.”

  Elizabeth scowled and said, “Get me off this thing!”

  I quickly helped Elizabeth down from the saddle. She folded her arms and said, “You found my note, didn’t you?” She looked back and forth between Tommy and me. Finally, she said, “I confess. You caught me. But it doesn’t change anything.”

  “Yes, it does,” blurted Tommy.

  “Oh, my dear Thomas,” said Elizabeth like she was speaking to five-year-old. “You can’t stop a falling star from streaking across the sky. You can’t stop an avalanche once it’s racing down a mountain. And you can’t stop me from reaching the greatness I was born to reach. I really should be thanking you because with Liberty I can reach that great
ness a lot faster.”

  “You were really going to tell the King about the Boston Tea Party?” Tommy asked.

  “Duh!” said Elizabeth. “It wasn’t going to hurt anyone. And I would look like a hero to King George! I bet he would’ve given me a crown or at least a title and I could have a hundred dresses just like this one!” She twirled around and watched her dress fluff out as she spun.

  “It’s all about you, isn’t it?” said Tommy.

  “Double-duh!” said Elizabeth. “But it could be about us! Help me reach King George and I’ll tell him to reward you, too!”

  “I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but I would never sacrifice the future of America for my own gain or needs,” I said.

  “I’m with Mr. Revere,” said Tommy, firmly.

  “Ugh, you’re such losers!” Elizabeth whined.

  “Well, you were trying to ruin the Boston Tea Party and stop it from happening so technically you’re captain of the losers,” said Liberty as he stuck his tongue out at her.

  “That’s enough, you two,” I said. “We’ve arrived at a very important time in America. History tells us that the King and Parliament were furious about the Boston Tea Party. In fact, the King was so mad he punished the colonists by closing Boston Harbor so ships weren’t allowed to leave or enter.”

  “How did families get food?” Tommy asked, concerned.

  “Sister colonies were able to send some food and supplies,” I said. “But many families suffered with many men out of work. And the Redcoats swarmed Boston like red army ants.”

  “Good! I hope the King locks up the whole city!” said Elizabeth. “He should ground everyone, feed them cooked spinach, and put coal in their Christmas stockings!”

  “That’s a bit cruel,” Liberty said, “especially the cooked spinach part! Seriously, why do people ruin perfectly good spinach by cooking it?”

  “Liberty,” I interrupted, “we’re in the middle of an important conversation.”