Copyright: Jordi Rodríguez-Amat

This text has been registered in the Register of the Intellectual Property of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

 

THESEUS’S DREAM

 

I had fallen asleep, sitting on a chair of the airport when, all of a sudden, I heard the name Heraklion on the loudspeakers. Frightened, I rushed towards the access door. At the same time, the first passengers were showing their tickets to the flight attendant.

We reached the runway. After walking about 100 meters, we boarded the plane. It was a small two-engine plane in a bad condition. It couldn’t offer the comfort we would expect to take the journey from Athens to Crete. The take-off time was scheduled for nine o'clock in the morning. We would arrive in Crete in a couple of hours.

Next to me, sat a young man. He seemed rather young, melancholic and silent. I stared at him with the intention of finding out his spirit. Without too much reflection, I thought that this man preferred thoughts to words. Despite being beside me, he was far, far away. Despite my desire to know his thoughts, through pure and simple curiosity, I did not want to distract him.

With a lot of imagination, I tried to find an explanation for his attitude. Oh yes! He’s thinking about the immortality of his soul and its reincarnation into another body. He could also be thinking about his lover. Although I was a brave man, I was a bit afraid of his attitude. Could he be an Islamic terrorist who wants to blow up the plane?

After a while, I realized that he was also looking at me out of the corner of his eyes. Was he thinking the same about me? I thought that I had to speak to him, but, what if he doesn’t speak my language? He was dressed in an astonishing way, with a vesta like the ancient Greeks. His belt, which was higher than his waist, made me think of the Charioteer of Delphi.

I looked through the window and I saw that we were already flying over the sea. The Mediterranean Sea with its powerful ultramarine blue was dotted with white points that seemed like doves: Ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes......

Suddenly, he turned his head, looked at me and asked me in a very old language: Where are we? Where are we going? Who are you? I was astonished and I did not know what to say: I gazed at him again and, after a long while, it was me who asked him: Who are you? Where are you going? Shyly, he answered me: I am called Theseus and I am the son of Poseidon, the God of the sea. Does he think I am stupid? I thought. And now he's going to tell me that he's going to kill the Minotaur. I tried to look for the hostess, but I couldn’t see her.

Seeing that I was stupefied, he looked into my yes and said that he was sailing in a ship from Athens to Crete and had fallen asleep on the deck because of the strong midday heat. What an imagination! I thought. And if it were truth? I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it had transformed into a compass. Am I dreaming? I asked myself. Many ideas came into my mind, one of them was the strong wish to go with him on his journey.

When finally, I woke up, I found myself by his side on the deck of a sailing boat, sailing at high speed. He was no longer wearing the ancient vesta and, like me, we were naked from the waist up. After realizing that I also spoke his language, I felt the smell of sweat impregnate my body. In the zenith, the big star shined majestically. Two more days and we will reach Crete said one of the leaders of the rowing team.

I thought that everything I saw was real, then in the deck of the sailboat were six boys and seven girls. They were all favored with great beauty, which had to be devoured by the monster. In any event, I could hardly believe what I saw and felt and I also admired myself that I could speak his language perfectly.

Half asleep, I could hear the captain of the plane indicating through the loudspeakers that we were ready to land and was asking us to fasten our seat belts. The temperature in Heraklion was 22 degrees with unstable weather predicted for the following hours. I looked back through the window. To my feet appeared Crete, magnificent, with mountains in the shape of breasts, one of which, mount Ida, sheltered the first cries of Zeus when, far from his father, he was suckled by the nymph Amalthea.

Once again, I looked at the man sitting by my side. Now he was dressed in a dark grey jacket and trousers of the same color. At this very moment, I thought that my wish to reach Crete had forced me to dream of the Minoan civilization. The plane landed without problems and once out of the plane I felt the emotion of someone who arrives for the first time to a place he has long dreamed of.

I continued talking with my companion waiting for the plane to land. He told me he was going to Knossos -Minoan land, capital of king Minos- and, above all, to see Ariadne. I, without stating my astonishment, as I thought he was still crazy, asked if I could accompany him. Of course, was his answer.

My spirit enjoyed a certain state of excitement caused by the emotion of being able to enter the labyrinth, together with Theseus. Also, my heart started to beat, more and more, thinking If I would enjoy the moment of meeting the beautiful Ariadne.

The visit to Knossos could not wait very long. After resting and having a snack, we drove through deplorable roads, in a bus which was old and in a very bad condition in the direction of Cnossos. After little more than half an hour, we arrived at a sparsely populated area. There, very close, I presumed, was Minos, hidden in one of the thousand rooms of his palace, seated on his throne in the royal chamber.

Arriving at Knossos, we saw men in the central courtyard jumping over a bull and, a little further on, I saw the beautiful Ariadne. My companion did not notice her and I had to tell him. The setting was made up of huge spaces, buildings of all kinds decorated with murals, stone and alabaster basements. There were chambers and lots of rooms, paving, warehouses and Minoan columns everywhere in the form of an inverted entasis topped with a pillow-like, round capital.

I realized that Ariadne was already waiting for us with a ball of threads in her right hand. She gave Theseus a couple of kisses, one on each cheek. She just gave me one. She talked to us about Pasiphae, the mother of the Minotaur, and the danger of getting lost in the labyrinth. I was scared and did not enter. Theseus was very brave and picked up the ball of threads and, without saying anything, disappeared through the front door.

It was getting dark and Theseus had not appeared. Ariadne and I became nervous. After a very long, long time, I decided to enter the labyrinth.

Just at this moment the alarm clock sounded. 6:30, time to get up.

Jordi Rodríguez-Amat

October 2018

 

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