The Legendary Dancer of the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Under the blue summer sky, the sails of the clipper ship called the Destiny's Dreams glowed against the ocean like white clouds. The sleek design of the ship moved swiftly through the gentle waves of the sea.

The sound of people singing on the ship floated over the waves.

"The sun shining on the ocean...The ship rolls with the motion..."

The salt air carried the sounds of seagulls cawing, and also of music from a violin, a flute, and a guitar, along with the voices singing.

"Step and spin, twirl and sway..."

Above the singers rose the squawk and odd voice of Foresta the parrot, who rode on the shoulder of the ship's captain.

"aaawwwk....twiiirrrl...an...aaaayyy."

Adding to the party, a small Capuchin monkey scrambled among the dancers, with his lips pulled way back in a smiling grimace and his long tail waving to the music.

Seagulls flying overhead soared closer and began chattering to each other.

"What is going on here? "

"Did you hear that?"

"Why is everyone down there hopping around?"

The gulls had never seen or heard anything like it. They made a lot of noise discussing the odd thing on the seas below them. Then they flew onward in their journeys.

It all began a few weeks before this, when two people who were searching discovered each other. The new era for the Destiny's Dreams was born.

In 1898, anchored off Buenos Aires, Captain Alfonse realized he was searching for something.

But he did not know what it was yet.

But he did feel the mood on the ship after the last long voyage had become a little too quiet, with the sailors looking tired and solemn.

He watched the sailor called Adelberto, who was high above the ground, in the clipper ship’s rigging.

"Careful, Adelberto." The captain's voice drifted up to the sailor. Rio, the captain's rescued red, blue and yellow parrot echoed the captain's words.

"aaarrr-ul..aadeeelbeeerto." Nearby another of the captain's rescued pets hopped up to swing from one of the thick rope halyards.

"Rio," called Captain Alfonse. "Here." He patted his other shoulder and the rescued Capuchin monkey galloped over and jumped up.

On this day, despite being tired, and going against Captain Alfonse's recommendations, the sailor called Adelberto decided to work on the white oiled canvas of a tangled sail.

"I hope he is alright." Adelberto's wife, Isabella, spoke with concern. "I can't wait until he is finished and back down on the deck."

A fall from that high would be serious.

"I'm fine." Adelberto's voice sounded far away.

From up in the sky, next to the tallest mast on the Destiny’s Dreams rigging, Adelberto looked down at the group on the boardwalk next to the ocean bay. 

The clear morning air of summer on a February day in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1898, carried the sweet sounds of a violin playing, as if it was speaking and telling a story.

Adelberto twisted to see where it was coming from. One of his hands grasping a wooden boom slipped.

His other hand was wrapped around the thick rope of the woven rigging.

Then he lost his perch high on the mast and dangled in the air.

"Oh, no." Isabella, his wife, watching from the ship’s deck, gasped.

She saw his figure silhouetted against the sunny sky. It swung from the rope he held with one hand.

His heart thumping, legs waving, Adelberto tried to grab a wood boom as he swung by it. The world below spun and he felt dizzy.

Then his free hand caught hold of the tip of a wood boom holding one of the square clipper ship sails. 

Shaking, Adelberto held the boom with one hand and the thick rigging rope with the other.

His breath came in loud wheezes. His chest felt tight.

“Take it easy. Climb down slowly. Come down and rest.” Captain Alfonse Belanger, of the ship Destiny’s Dreams, had a booming but calm and confident voice.

“You’re going to be alright. Don’t hurry.”

Adelberto slowly got his breath back. Then he felt strength flow back into his hands and arms. He caught the rigging with his feet.

Now he felt secure.

"I'll be fine." His voice still sounded shakey.

Adelberto climbed down the webbed rigging toward the deck. He used slow, deliberate movements.

When he got to the deck, he stretched his hands open. They were aching with cramps.

Right now, Captain Alfonse knew something was missing. Things were off kilter with his crew. This incident with Adelberto was another sign of it.

The crew recently struggled day and night through the tall waves and gale force winds of Cape Horn. Then, they sailed through weeks of monotonous days at sea without sight of land.

Captain Alfonse knew the crew of the Destiny’s Dreams was worn out.

He let the ship anchor in the bay next to Buenos Aires for an extended time.

The crew used one of the surfboats to go on shore each day. Alfonse encouraged them to wander and explore.

He wanted them to be revived and rested after the long voyage.

Now Captain Alfonse was looking for something he had never heard of before.

He did not know what it would be. But Alfonse felt he would recognize it when he saw it.

“Adelberto!” It was Isabella. She embraced her husband.

One of the other sailors brought Adelberto fresh water and food.

“That was close. Sit down. Eat this and get your strength back.”

While he was sitting with Isabella, the violinist’s music came closer. The musician must be with the group nearing the ship.

"What is that?" Isabella raised her eyebrows.

"Let's go find out. I saw a crowd over there, when I was up on the mast." Adelberto pointed.

Captain Alfonse, Adelberto and Isabella went over the steps from the ship to the wharf. 

They walked over, and weaved their way through the small crowd around the music.

A woman was dancing and moving her arms and hands expressively.She stepped with swaying motions in a circle around a short, hunched figure with a violin.

She wore colorful clothing, with a long skirt, loose blouse, and trailing scarf that flowed.

The violinist finished the song and turned to bow to the crowd.

Captain Alfonse went up to put money into the hat on the ground.

“Wonderful!” He clapped.

The violin player looked up and thanked him.

Alfonse saw a very short man, standing as if one leg was shorter than the other, with a hunched back, squinting out of one eye, the other eye missing, and cocking his head to one side as if he was trying to hear better.

The man smiled but he did not have any teeth.

Then the dancer began to tap on a small drum made out of a basket and another musician played birdlike notes on a flute.

The hunched man began dancing now. He moved his fingers and hands as if they were telling a story.

His flexible arms waved forming shapes in the air. His knees bounced and his ankles twisted and turned while he stepped lightly and spun.

He seemed to be transformed into a liquid flowing with ease and grace.

A woman next to Captain Alfonse leaned over and spoke.

“He’s known as Raphael. So gifted. He was born with many physical issues. But also with incredible talents. He can play almost any instrument. He can speak but with difficulty. He even sings too! He is partly deaf and has only one eye. He is much loved here in Buenos Aires.”

The woman continued.

“Everyone knows Raphael. He is a legend."

“The dancer is also one of our very own locals. Alejandra.”

“The flute player often joins them. She is Valeria.”

Adelberto felt the tension from his near accident leaving him while he watched the dancing and listened to the music. It was healing him from the trauma that happened earlier.

His hands were aching less. His breathing was returning to normal. His face was relaxing.

The musicians and dancers paused to rest. Isabella, Adelberto, and Alfonse turned to go back to the ship.

There was a tap on Alfonse’s shoulder.

He turned but no one was there.

Then he looked down and saw the short, humpbacked man looking up at him.

The man began talking and Alfonse leaned mmover, straining to understand the words that were formed imperfectly.

He understood the man was talking about a passage, on the ship, and thought the name Rio de Janeiro was in there.

“Are you asking for a ticket on the ship to go to Rio de Janeiro?”

The man nodded and smiled, showing gums without teeth. The man pointed to the Destiny’s Dreams and to himself.

A look of hope lit the man's face. He wondered if his search was over. He wanted to find passage on a ship to Rio de Janeiro, around 1,000 miles away over the sea. But he did not have the money to pay for a ticket.

Captain Alfonse saw the lopsided figure of the man and the rounded back. He felt a sensation come over him. 

This man knew something.

He was different from other people.

Alfonse felt he could learn something from this man that he never knew before. He could not explain it in words.

“Your music and dancing are amazing! The best I have ever seen," Alfonse said.

The man’s mouth widened into a smile.

Alfonse felt a shiver not of fear but of inspiration come over him. He paused. Adelberto and Isabella saw the familiar look of concentration like a trance come over Alfonse’s face. What was he thinking now?

A thought bubbled up from somewhere deep, deep inside of Alfonse. It was a daring idea.

“What if Raphael and his musical troupe were the inspiration that his crew of the Destiny’s Dreams needed?” Alfonse’s thoughts went from wondering to racing.

“That’s it,” he thought. “Something I’ve never heard of before. Someone like Raphael. He has overcome so much. And he seems to fly like a bird, so free and full of song.”

Alfonse thought of himself and his sailors. They seemed so strong.

But Raphael was way above them in terms of overcoming difficult odds.

“Who knows what gifts others have that are undiscovered?” Alfonse kept wondering.

Alfonse’s companions saw his face was very still. The trance face they called it.

Isabella leaned over to Adelberto. She said, "I know he will emerge from this with some new ideas."

Now Raphael was talking but his words came out differently from most people.

Alfonse heard “oye…ite…ooosic…lrics…ing..ooo.”

Alfonse translated that to mean Raphael was saying something like, “I can write music and lyrics and sing too.”

In a high pitched, childlike voice, the man sang a lilting melody.

Captain Alfonse thought, “What an incredible person of many facets.”

Edelberto and Isabella saw Alfonse’s face taken on his concentrated, trance-like expression.

"Look. He's doing it again." Adelberto and Isabella whispered to each other.

Then Alfonse spoke to Raphael.

“We could use someone like you on the Destiny’s Dreams for a while. It is around 1,000 nautical miles to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, your destination."

"Would you be willing to make music, sing and dance on the ship’s deck and in the dining room for the passengers and crew? I can provide you with free passage on the ship if you would like to pay for it by entertaining the crew and passengers.”

Alfonse saw Raphael's eyes sparkle and the man's toothless smile spread wide.

"oy..oov...it"

“I’ve never seen anyone like you. It would be my pleasure to have you on the ship. We can make a special deal for your passage to Rio.”

"tan..uuu."

So Alfonse and Raphael made a deal. Free passage in return for entertainment provided.

Later Captain Alfonse and Adelberto listed the ship’s destination for Rio de Janeiro on the town notices.

Local people, tourists, and travelers spread the word.

“Did you hear? A special voyage! There will be violin, flute, and other music, with singing and dancing, on the Destiny’s Dreams when it cruises to Rio. Hurry and get tickets before they are all sold out.” 

"Please, bring your things and move into these cabins on the Destiny’s Dreams." Adelberto's voice was welcoming and Raphael's group settled on the ship.

The musician and dancer in the troup known as Valeria related Raphael's story to the Captain.

"He came from a family of musicians and actors. His parents split up when he was a small child. His father disappeared. His mother consumed too much alcohol and mysterious other substances."

Alfonse, Adelberto, and Isabella listened sympathetically.

"One day his mother left him on the side of a road and told him to stay there until she came back.The little boy waited. Hour after hour passed. Finally evening was falling.

She never came back."

"Oh, no." Isabella's voice was soft. Valeria continued.

"Some kind strangers took the abandoned child, fed him, and took him to a type of shelter for homeless children. Someone located his mother but she was drunk."

Adelberto shook his head sadly when he heard that. Then Valeria spoke some more.

"The little boy at the orphanage had a lopsided, hunched body, eyesight in only one eye. and difficulty speaking with hearing and speaking.But he taught himself how to cheer up other people, and learned on his own how to play many musical instruments."

Valeria finished the story. Alfonse said, "Amazing." 

Isabella saw the change on the ship.

"Look," she said to Adelberto. "The sailors are imitating Raphael's dance moves. And they are humming and singing."

Alfonse knew he had found what he was searching for.

It was someone who brought a new sense of joy to the ship.

The sailors and incoming passengers could not resist the contagious fun that Raphael brought to them.

Later that week, Adelberto climbed up the webbed rigging again to work on the square sails of the tallest mast.

"Don't worry Captain. I've got this." Adelberto's voice was confident.

The day approached when they would lift the anchor and sail over 1,000 miles north to Rio de Janeiro.

Even Captain Alfonse now often hummed music while he went about his tasks. No longer was the ship filled with solemn faces and serious voices. It was full of merriment.

The passengers arriving were enthusiastic.

"What an unusual ship."

"Wonderful."

On the deck, there was music and a short, dancing silhouette.

On the man's shirt was pinned an insignia from the captain in the shape of a clipper ship.

The lettering said, "Legendary Dancer of the Destiny's Dreams."

Raphael looked at it with shining eyes.

The sailors and passengers began singing another song.

Rio the monkey scrambled up onto Raphael's shoulder, and the dancing began again. Foresta, the captain's parrot added his voice to the music.