Dreams
My brother and I would share our dreams, especially if they seemed funny, or if something unusual happened in them. But mostly, they were wishful thinking on our part about what our futures held, things we eventually hoped we would own, or places we might visit that we had learned about in school.
We learned about the Caribbean, the deep blue waters, the white sands -- and the pirate's treasure we were sure we would find if only we could get there. Our interest was heightened when we learned that Charles Island, off the coast of Milford, CT, had been a stopping point for Blackbeard and that he may have buried treasure there, according to local legend.
My brother had a dream about how one day, when he got older, he would buy Charles Island -- and he and I would go out there and find the treasure we were sure was hidden there. In his dream, he told me, the evidence was there because he found a sand dollar seashell at Silver Sands, the nearby beach. I was so caught up in his dream that I felt sure he HAD to be right, and I looked forward to it eventually happening.
Of course, that could not happen. The legends were real, but we didn't stand a chance of finding anything, not even the sand dollar shell that are native to tropical waters.
Charles Island has an interesting feature -- at low tide, there is a tombolo (sandbar) that allows people to walk over to the island and stay for a short while until the tide starts coming in again. We knew about this, but it's hard to be an explorer when your life is tied up in school and work. Although I've walked there in recent years, Paul and I never did, so the best he could do was admire the island from afar -- and settle for dreams of pirate gold.
I don't know if we perceive when our last days and nights are upon us. I can only hope that the night before he died, my brother had a dream where his wishes came true -- where he found the buried treasure, and enjoyed the rest of his life knowing he had achieved a great accomplishment.
As an adult, I've been to where he and I dreamed of going -- it is as beautiful as we both imagined. The palm trees, the white sand, the blue water -- all there. I hope his dreams that night -- April 24, 1981 -- matched the reality of the beautiful things he missed out on.
During one of my trips there, I found his sand dollar on the beach -- and thought of him. Wherever he is, I hope his dreams come true.
Daniel Pinna 
Kathy Pinna 
