i feel don quixote calling me.

last night i had a dream about a hispanic man who was visiting our family. initially i thought he was cuban, but he was vague about his past. i tried to show off my knowledge of cuban culture and language by making a comment of fuzzy details. after i made my contribution to the conversation he was silent for a moment and then told me, "that was a foolish thing to say." i turned to my two siblings seated beside me who agreed with the energetic hispanic man. ‬i felt dejected.

suddenly he grew silent and looked over our heads towards the field. i could tell he sensed someone lurking in the woods. he began to move toward the house where his horse was tied up. as he moved i looked toward where his gaze was fixed and saw six to eight men with bows and bright pink quivers of arrows emerge out of the trees. "and the rest of the family?" one of the armed men said in a taunting tone to our spanish visitor, as if to ask if he had left his loved ones at home. i looked towards where the voice was directed and saw that our friend had already mounted his horse. “at home!” he defiantly replied, “but i will see them soon!” “vamanos!” he cheered to his horse who leapt in response.

the archers opened fire sending slender, bright pink arrows whizzing toward him. the man expertly piloted his horse while ducking and weaving through the barrage of pink streaks. as he pursued his escape down the driveway, a particularly well-placed shot caused him to slide sideways in his saddle until his body was parallel to the ground in order to avoid the arrow. i was so frightened for him as i looked on. i felt the need to distract the men firing at him, but the potential risk to my own family restrained me from calling any attention to myself or my loved ones.

our man continued down the driveway, but quickly doubled back and charged at the six or so archers speeding right between them. as they pivoted to track their target one archer released his arrow into the back of his cohort. the villains stood stunned by his bold move until the hero reached a safe distance on the horizon. with the low, deep yellow sun as his backdrop, he pivoted his horse and cried to his would-be murderers, “once again, haha! vamanos!” after which he comfortably faced west towards the sun and finished his escape disappearing below the horizon.

with the dangerous men now with no other target than us, my family and i quickly sprinted for the door of our home. they did not pursue us, but as i went for the lock on the door, i found that the door was backwards and sealing it was impossible. i would have panicked, but i knew that the baffled ruffians’ only interest had vanished. i marveled at our new friend turned to legend.

my alarm sounds and i wake up.