Bed Time Story

As I ate my breakfast I had a curious feeling that I had to see the end of the dream I had had that night. So I finished my bread and went back to bed. I was so excited about it that after a couple of minutes. I was back in the dream, standing at the entrance to this terrifying dark cave, along with Liadan and Cavin. But for you to understand the whole story, I must start from the beginning.

Liadan, Cavin and myself were the most adventurous, brave, curious and friendly children in the whole town of Goldshire. Everybody knew us as the inseparable group.

One day Cavin told us he had heard his father talking about this place full of secrets, Redridge Mountains. Liadan and I had heard our fathers talking about it as well. They spoked about this hidden treasure up in the mountains.

We had never been there because it was a 3-hour journey just to get there. But we had our chance in a couple days. At the following weekend, the Noblegarden Festival was going to take place so we could disappear for the whole day without our parents noticing it.

With all the excitement that day came sooner than we thought. We hit the road and finally arrived in Redridge Mountains.

Once on the mountains we climbed and walked along these short paths until we found ourselves at the entrance of this terrifying, dark cave. We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes with all these fearful thoughts running through our minds.

“So guys”, said Cavin, the bravest one, “Let’s get in there and find that treasure”. Without a word, Liadan and I just followed him.

After being covered with webs we found the chest. We were excited, jumping and hugging each other but there was no lock on the chest. Although it was suspicious, we would never guess what was to come.

As we opened the chest there was only a letter at the bottom which had our names on it. Our hearts started pumping harder, but it wasn’t excitement anymore. Now it was terror!

Cavin opened the letter and it was just a blank sheet. Nothing was written besides our names. Suddenly we heard footsteps throughout the cave. We just froze in terror.

It was Cavin's father to our surprise.

Our parents had set it all up so we could get caught out of town. They suspected we would get caught. They suspected we were crossing the line and going beyond the borders of Silverpine Forest. Not even with all the warnings from our mothers would we stop.

Once home, Liadan’s father had a word with mine before leaving. Immediately my father turned to me. He started giving me a piece of his mind when I just woke up. "Woah! What a silly dream" I thought.I think this dream alerted me to the consequences I could face in the future.

“Stephen, wake up! We are already late to the Noblegarden Festival!", said my mother.

BedTime Story

I took a deep breath. I lived for the smell of the salty water, for the soft breeze through my hair and the sound of the waves crashing against my ship.
My name is Morgan also known as "The Red Lady". I'm 23 years old, I'm red-haired, my eyes are dark green and I'm pretty tall for a woman.
I've been a pirate for 8 years now and I wouldn't give it up anything in the world, not even a man. I look down at my hands, remembering the adventures and ships that me and me crew had raided, robbed and destroyed. My crew are all men and even though I'm a woman they respect me and treat me like one of them. That is a very hard thing to find, don't you think? Yes, I'm quite lucky.
A woman in this century can be expected to do everything: respect their husband, read, go to balls, play the piano, help preparing dinner; all the things that don't include adventure and getting their hands dirty. I would rather kill myself than live such a life. Where's the excitement in that? I'm so deeply in trance that I almost didn't heard the yell from one of my crew members. I looked up and saw a black spot on the horizon. I pulled out my monocle and looked though it. It was a ship, a royal ship, a French royal ship. I smiled, knowing from the silence that my comrades were standing behind me, eyes blazing with a new light, waiting for me orders. It had been two weeks since our last raid and now we were ready and hungry for more.
I turned to face them, still smiling.
- We're lucky boys! - I yelled, failing miserably to hide my excitement. - It's a Royal Ship, probably full of rich things for us to steal. Plunder ready! All they have is ours!
- Ya! - Yelled the crew in response.
- Go and ready the ship, bring the arms and prepare yourselves, it's a big one!
- Aye Aye captain! - And they all started running around following their orders.
I looked around and my heart filled with pride. My ship's name is "The Black Rose" and it's all worked by hand with rose drawings above the doors and the windows. The wood is dark, almost black, contrasting with the creamy coloured sails. On the main mast a flag with a skull and two crossed bones moved in the wind.
I walked to the helm on the main deck. "The Black Rose" is a large ship but very easy to manoeuvre. I looked though my monocle again and saw the ship approaching it's target. I turned to the deck and yelled at my men below.
- Here we go boys! Ready for another one?
- Always captain! - They yelled.
- Get the ropes ready!
- Aye Aye captain!
I walked down the steps and grabbed one of the ropes, pulling my sword with my left hand. A smile appeared on my face. Another adventure had begun.

By Andreia Salvado

The Interview

Luciano Alaster Craigie Nobre was born in Hilligdon, England in the year of 1972, but he’s actually Scottish.

His clan was a typical large Scottish family, which is a very common thing. They lived in Dundee for some years until his parents slip up and he came with his father to Portugal at the age of nine. Once again Luciano joined the circus life and had his first professional job playing Mogli from “The Jungle Book”.

He went to the Circus School in Moscow with 14 years old, but left within a few months due an arm injury. Two years later they contacted him again but he refused the offer.

At the age of 16, he said goodbye to he’s father and the circus life to achieve his dream, “I wanted to act, sing and dance. That was always what I wanted to do”.

After saying farewell, Luciano went back to England where he began to learn and train with horses, joining one year later one of the biggest stunt teams. After some training and practice, Luciano began to train people too, performing in several shows such as medieval shows, acrobatic on horses, western shows, etc. While doing this sort of show, Luciano also learned Kung-Fu, to improve his physical resistance.

A few years later, the stand team went to Malaysia to present a show to the minister and Sultan of Malaysia and it was a success: “It was a great experience”, remembered Luciano. After that, he return to Portugal to see his father again and stayed.

He did several things here in Portugal like scenes from movies and several Portuguese series (“Esquadra da Polícia”, “Quando os Lobos Uivam”, “Até Amanhã Camaradas”), as well as some ads for Caras, McDonalds and Euro 2004.

He got to know the Lisbon Players from a friend who spoke to him about the audition for “Cabaret”, but the director got sick so they didn’t do it. So a few months later they opened the audition to “The Merchant of Venice” and he entered.

Luciano has one last dream to achieve: “I would really like to finish school because I never got to finish” he explains. “No matter how talented you are, that is not enough. People love my work but that’s not enough. I will never give up my artistic life because it’s something that was born with me, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t go and do something else. Life is hard, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and you need some security.”

Andreia Salvado

Bed time story

Back in the 50’s, Tom was a normal child living in London with parents and his older brother. Only worried about toys and stuff but being far too jealous and evil to the other children at school, he had no friends at the age of ten, and it started to worry his parents, but they couldn’t do much about the situation.
One day, Tom changed by himself and it only took eight hours, the time a child should sleep.
Tom was suddenly in the middle of nowhere. He found himself lost in a strange, dark land without a single sign of life. Two, three, four hours, a lot of time had passed until someone appeared. A very big fat guy approached him and said:
“So Tom, at least you’ve found the place of your dreams, where you can do anything.”
“How can I do anything in a deserted land like this?” – asked Tom, very angry.
“This is not what it seems. I’m here to propose something to you.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll give you the chance to ask me one wish and then after a short time I can do anything with you if I need to.”
“Are you going to hurt me?” – asked Tom a bit scared.
“Of course not. Trust me I’m here to help you.” – lied the man.
“Ok then. When can I ask my wish of you?” – asked the little fellow in a rude tone.
“Right now” – said the man smiling.
Only worried about material things, Tom asked his wish very quickly. He asked for all the toys in the world, thinking it will be enough to be happy.
After a week he was tired. Even he felt loneliness. “How can I go back home now?” – he thought sadly. For the first time since he remembered, the cold child started to cry. Then, the hope returned. A white mouse appeared and said:
“Now you see what you get for being so evil.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A few more days and you’ll be alone forever. The man will return, make you a toy and put you in a small box next to other children like you.”
“And why are you here? Who are you? I want to go home!” – said Tom very scared.
“I’m John and I’m here because I used to be a bad boy like you”
“If so, why aren’t you inside the box?”
“Because the man needed help and picked me to do it.”
“Why you?”
“I was the worst kid he had ever seen and I used to kill animals so he decided to make me a mouse to punish me.”
“Oh…I’m sorry! But please help me! I want to go back home! I’ll be the best boy of all!” – he told him desperately.
“You only need to be better, not the best. As I see in your eyes you’re really sorry for being so evil, I’ll help you. There’s a way to escape. I’ll guide you to a hole before the man returns. Let’s go!”
And for the first time Tom said “Thank you”.
When Tom entered the hole he woke up. He was scared with the dream, and it took a while to understand. After that day he really changed and became a very nice kid. He started to be more friendly at home and school and after a while he had a lot of friends. After that day, the ten year old kid understood what was really important in life.

Marta Rebelo