I want to dedicate this book to my english teacher - Mrs. Klein

And to all my classmates.

Journey of Dreams

The boy ran barefoot through a green meadow lined with a strip of blue fir trees. He held his kite. The boy – named Peter, loved the feeling when the kite lifts from his hands and flies to the top of the turquoise summer sky with great wind speed.   

Summer holidays started. Finally came the time of dreams coming true, time of freedom, time of trips to the village to grandma`s – the favorite place of Peter’s life. He loved the place not only because his kind, always smiling and the best grandma in the world lived there. Peter also loved the village where grandma lived for its yellow sandy beaches. 

Sometimes Peter went to the garden. There he chose an apple tree with wide spreading branches, climbed it and dived into reading a book he brought with him. Peter loved books about adventures the most. He traveled along with the book characters through the wild Amazon or flew on an air balloon in the sky.   

This year, on the way to grandma`s village his parents gave him a present – a kite.

“You are so mature” – they said to their son, - “You will be able to fly your kite up to the sky. Give it a name and let it take you to the world of your dreams. It will help you fulfilling your dreams,” – his parents told him mysteriously before saying goodbye, smiled, went to the car and drove off to the city where adult matters awaited.    

The boy learned fast how his bright red kite friend works. He came up with a name for it – Flame. So bright as the color of the kite. This summer holiday was filled with new adventures, which he would never give up. The boy took his friend Flame and ran to the hilly coast of the blue river or to the meadows where the cows chewed juicy grass, and sometimes he would meet hobbling horses, there they would lie around on a tender field after eating grass.   

Right now Peter grabbed Flame and ran to the meadows, untied the rope and flew his kite into the sky. He felt as if Flame talked to him, Peter exactly understood each pull of the rope connecting the boy and the kite in his hands.     

“What’s up Flame, what do you see today?” – He laughed of his own words as if the kite will reply. The kite pulled the rope in his hand, made a circle around the boy and suddenly said:     

“Peter” – laughed the kite, “You don’t believe me? It’s me - Flame talking to you, you asked – I answered. You and me are friends after all! How can I keep quiet when you are asking questions?”

“So why didn’t you talk to me before?” –Peter started believing that it’s true that the kite is talking to him.

“Because you never asked anything” – laughed the kite.

“Great! It’s great that you can talk! Probably you have a lot to tell?” – asked the boy. - “I also want to share many things with you”.  

“Sure, I see so much so I can tell you all about my impressions” – answered Flame.    

“It’s so exciting!” – cried out Peter. – “That must be so interesting.”

  “But you can see all of that with me” – laughed the kite.     

 “Are you making fun of me?” –boy even felt offended. - “I cannot fly unlike you. How will I be able to see all of it when I cannot fly?”

"No, Peter, I`m not making fun” – the kite made a circle above the boy’s head. – “All you need is to truly wish to fly in the sky and you will do it easily.”

Peter was surprised. Can it be that easy? Why not to try? The boy closed his eyes very hard. He visualized himself flying so many times either on an airship or on an air balloon that it didn’t take much to imagine: Peter imagined sitting on his flying friend and together flying in the sky. He wanted it so much so he closed his eyes even harder covering them with his hands. Suddenly Peter felt that his feet no longer touch the ground and he is starting to float into the sky. He had no fear only joy of his dream coming true.

He opened his eyes and realized that he is half way to his red flying friend. He began to go slowly lower to grab the boy and fly high into the sky. Laughing, Peter firmly grabbed Flame`s neck, the flight high up to the sun was so much fun! -       

“I became so small! May I go back to my old self again?” – the boy considered.     

“Of course, as soon as you concentrate and want to go back to your previous self, you will smoothly come down to the ground” – answered the kite.

“So Peter, we shall not fly to the sun, it is too far” – said Flame. “I propose we look at our motherland first. Down there is the village where your grandma lives.

The boy saw the roofs of houses placed along the streets parallel with the river. And there is the red roof of grandmother’s house; it is surrounded by a huge garden.

Peter and Flame flew further and further. The fields were interrupted by roads with varicolored cars driving fast on them. Sometimes the boy saw railroads. Loaded trains rode them. They carried large tanks, then passenger or freight wagons. The speed was lower than the cars drove. But the trains were long, sometimes very long. “You bet with such loads, how they can be faster!”   

"We are flying now above the west side of your country. And you Peter surely know that your country is called Ukraine. We will fly now above Carpathians - mountains that cover the surface of Ukraine and other countries, for example: Slovakia, Romania and Poland. Hold on tight my friend; the winds may be strong in the mountains! “ Flames speed became unimaginable. Peter flew over high peaks; there he could see not deep but very fast clear rivers. There swam and even jumped fast fish. Flame told Peter that this river fish is called trout. Amazing long silverfish bodies of fast fish seemed like coins thrown by someone into the river. Beautiful light blue trees were growing on the slopes of Carpathian  mountains. 

After flying around beautiful blue Carpathian Mountains, Flame and Peter flew to Lviv – the center of west Ukraine. Peter was surprised it was such a big town. They flew around so low that they could see the faces of people sitting in busses. It’s strange that no one seemed to be surprised by the boy sitting on a red kite. Maybe people didn’t notice them! Peter looked at the narrow streets of the city which curved between old buildings with greenish roofs where the pigeons rested. The windows were decorated by flower cascades in different colors. Such a celebration, thought Peter. Living here should be interesting! On the streets sounded music, musicians were playing. People stopped to listen to them, applauded the musician’s talent.