February 5, 1789 – It is the Thursday after the first American election results; a gentleman is greeted outside the Hancock Manor and allowed entry, where a servant leads him to the backyard where John Hancock is resting.

 

John Hancock (visibly distraught from a nightmare): No, no… this can’t be…please! No!!!

 

Alexander Hamilton gently shakes his friend to wake him up from his nightmare.

 

John Hancock (screams): No, please! (He wakes up.) Oh, Alex, it’s you! Thank God!

 

Alexander Hamilton (visibly worried): Hey, John. Are you alright? I know you didn’t get to win the election and that Washington won unanimously the Presidency, but there’s always next time, buddy!

 

John Hancock (shakes his head): No, please don’t worry about that! Fair is fair; after all, we fought for a democracy, and we’re adults here; I would never act childish and cause an insurrection like a child throwing a tantrum. But, talking about that, Alex, I just had a horrible nightmare, so thank you for waking me up.

 

Alexander Hamilton: I’m glad to hear you are doing well. I did see you struggling there; you know, I heard people can die in their nightmares, or at least that’s what my grandmother told me. But, it must have been something awful if you were even talking in your sleep.

 

John Hancock (rubbing his eyes to adjust to the sunlight): It was so awful. It felt real, Alex.

 

Alexander Hamilton: Well, bud, my children usually feel better after talking about it, maybe that can work for you, too!

 

John Hancock stares confused then bursts into a chuckle; Alexander Hamilton joins him in laughing.

 

John Hancock (wipes a tear): I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try, but you always treat us like kids! Hahaha, Alex, you’re such a dad!

 

Alexander Hamilton (chuckling): Yeah, my wife says that, too! I think maybe I might rub some people the wrong way because of how I am, like Burr. No matter, let’s focus on your dream, I mean, nightmare!

 

John Hancock (gets serious): Well you’re right; it definitely was a nightmare! It started off with our time and then suddenly the sun and the moon started to rotate faster, and then time progressed extremely quickly. Buildings were constructed while others were demolished.

 

Alexander Hamilton nods to let John Hancock know that he is following his story.

 

John Hancock (continues): Then, suddenly, there’s a division between states that aren’t even part of the 13 colonies! They don’t want to demolish slavery; can you believe that? I mean, John Adams is an abolitionist; he’s always advocated for the demolition of slavery, if he were to become President, wouldn’t he follow through on his promises?

 

Alexander Hamilton (furrows his brow): I’m not sure. I would hope that he would remain loyal to his ideals, but we can never truly tell if a man allows himself to yield power or surrender to it.

 

John Hancock (starting to sweat): But the fact – okay, maybe it was just a nightmare and not a prophecy, but for about 4 years, our country, brothers and fathers, fight against each other.

 

Alexander Hamilton: John, I don’t want to be rude, but if we want change, we can’t just demand and hope that the future generations accomplish them; we have to be part of the change; like no offense, John, but your hands aren’t clean either.

 

John Hancock (blushes and looks down at his hands): You’re right! I have to put my actions where my voice and thoughts are.

 

Alexander Hamilton (proudly): Exactly, we can’t just preach to the youth, but rather we must demonstrate through our everyday actions. John, do you feel better now?

 

John Hancock (shakes his head): A little, but there was more! (Alexander Hamilton gives John Hancock a gesture to allow him to continue.) (He takes a deep breath.) That President was assassinated, after he unified the states again! Then, time suddenly sped up again; now on a device that had a face with numbers and two tiny arrows; it made a tick tock noise. Then, I was in a newer era, where there was no more slavery, but people still didn’t treat each other as equals, but rather as if we were different just because of our skin color! Like this one little boy, Emmett Till, was brutally and savagely murdered by two men after a woman lied that he had harassed her. He was just 14 years old*! Then, some brave men stood up against these injustices, one of them was a young man who was just 21 years old, named Fred Hampton; he promoted so much good change for both the children, adults, and seniors, like letting children eat free breakfasts and opening up clinics to test for sickle-cell anemia!

 

Alexander Hamilton: Oh, wow! It sounds awful about the President and that boy; we need to fix some of the amendments and create changes immediately, but Fred Hampton sounds like a great guy and with all the change he created, I’m sure he will always go down in history as both a hero and maybe even become the President? Also, what’s sickle cell?

 

John Hancock (sadly stares down): Unfortunately, rather than seeing Fred Hampton as a hero, the government, and dare I say it the rich, hated his positive movement and also had him assassinated, as well as the various other gentlemen who wanted positive change, even the President!

 

Alexander Hamilton (covers his ears): Please, tell me that the assassinations stopped!

 

John Hancock (sighs): Eventually, but then a new device with numbers shows up, and now schools are constantly infested with school shootings.

 

Alexander Hamilton: Please, stop! Tell me that good change occurs! That there are laws enacted to protect our future children!

 

John Hancock: No, I’m sorry; instead people more adamantly purchase more; they even have conventions as if to worship these relics of war.

 

Alexander Hamilton: That’s just blasphemous! Does humanity forget religion?

 

John Hancock: No, can you believe it? They even claim to be monotheistic! And when children die, they just say our thoughts and prayers, as if they can’t change anything to impede the death of innocents!! (Alexander shakes his head with disapproval.) But then, exactly like Washington said, eventually the country is divided and polarized even more because, well, this country, Russia, has a leader, Putin who vowed revenge against the U.S. and bought a man’s soul. He grants that man the ability to become President not once, but twice! All while attempting to overtake and kill the President of a smaller European country. This newly elected dictator of the U.S. harms the liberty of all, except for white males. Oh! He is like a continuation of Hitler, that’s also another awful guy from apparently the 1940s! That was my nightmare.

 

Alexander Hamilton (gently places his hand on his friend’s shrugged shoulder): Hey, I also feel awful hearing that, but we can’t lose hope. The future is always frightening, and hopefully those events don’t happen like that, but rather, democracy prevails. There are changes that we need to implement to prevent these tragedies! (John looks up to Alexander.) While I know that what you saw could just hopefully be a nightmare, I have hope that we can be the embodiment of change, and we spread that knowledge to our future generations, and their generations, forever.

 

John Hancock (wipes his eye): You know, I may not have been President, but I hope I get to live to see the day when you become a President! (Alexander Hamilton smiles at his friend.) Just promise me that you’ll stop trying to get along with Aaron Burr.

 

Alexander Hamilton (shakes his head): I know that someday Aaron Burr and I will be friends; after all, change can only occur when we retain hope.