The Lost Colony of Roanoke

As told by Patience Whinstile

June 12, 1587

We are finally in the New World. It is not like the stories that are told at home. In the stories, there is gold everywhere, on trees, on land, in the water, even people who dress in it! But there is no gold to be found. The entire place is just forest. I wish to go back home.

Patience Whinstile stepped off the boat that had carried her and her family from London to the New World. Her long blond braid waved in the wind, like a flag that said, “I’m here! See! I’m finally here!” The sun warmed her cold, wind-beaten face and hands. Her face, rubbed raw by sea salt and wind, was softened by the warm breeze that rushed through the trees.

“Mama, where is the city we are to live in?” asked Patience. “Where is our house? Where are the other people? The shops? The food?”

“Oh, hush, child! You’ll wake the babes with all the chattering you’re doing!” scolded Mama, looking warily at the other mothers with babies. “There is nothing yet. Only the woods. No people. No shops. But, worst of all, no gold!” she cried as she fell to her knees, sobbing.

Patience looked around at her sisters; Rachel, a blind girl of seven, Remember, a girl of nine, and Sarah, aged four. I must be strong, she thought. For them, and for my own sake.

September 24, 1587

It has been two months since we started living in a real house again. Rachel, my blind sister, is extremely ill. I must keep praying for her sake. Some colonists have already died, including my best friend, Sara. There has been a new baby born in the colony, the first in this strange new land. She has been named Virginia Dare, after my old queen. I find myself losing hope faster and faster. I must stay strong, though. My sisters need me.

“Rachel, can’t you be any faster! Hurry up. The men are leaving soon!” called Patience, not living up to her name.

“Ah, leave the girl alone. Yeh do know she be blind, right? Th’ men aren’t leaven’ for another hour at least,” retorted Jonah, Patience’s neighbor from Ireland. “Don’ you know she can’t move as fast as us? And between you and me,” he lowered his voice. “Tha’s a good thing.”

Patience giggled softly. She liked Jonah a lot. Of course, women had to walk with a man, for fear that Indians would attack them. She felt safer with him than with her own father. Jonah was like a brother to her.

“Where are the sisters? Don’t they want to say goodbye?” asked Rachel.

“They’re off playing somewhere. Now, keep your mind on walking,” snapped Patience. Her brown eyes flashed with anger as she looked back at her younger sister. “The men are leaving at noon. We must be there to say good-bye to Papa.”

“Will Mama be there, too? She must want to see Papa off. What will we eat while Papa is in London? When -?” Rachel’s questions were cut off by a rustling in the bushes.

“Oh my God!” whispered Patience. “Indians! Jonah, what will we do?” She started crying with fear and distress.

“Hush now, Patience. All we have ter do is hide in a tree. Can ye climb?” asked Jonah. He looked as scared as Patience felt.

“Aye. Quick, help Rachel climb up first. Then I will,” replied Patience.

As Rachel was climbing the nearest oak tree, a young girl popped out of the brush, followed by one other.

“Sarah! Remember! Never do that again! You could have been kidnapped by Indians. Where is the man you’re supposed to be with? When Mama hears about this, you will be whipped raw!” cried Patience as she hugged them both. The sisters and Jonah ran to the beach where the boat was. Just as they arrived, the men were halfway to the ship to England.

August 14, 1588

My thirteenth birthday today. I’ve never been less full on my birthday. The food is low. How we will survive, I cannot tell. My sister, Rachel, died last week. Sara died in an Indian attack last month. Even Remember is less cheery than usual. To top it all off, Jonah was kidnapped in the same attack. I feel so empty inside. There is no love in my life, no mercy from God, only ill-will and hatred from the devil. Please, someone, help me.

On a sunny August morning, Remember and Patience were outside looking for fruit and berries. As they walked, young Remember sensed that something was wrong.

“Patience, can we go home? I’m scared,” asked the young girl.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the girls. They looked up there was something shaped like a large tea saucer was hovering over them. A blinding bright light fell over the colony. Women and children wandered outside, astounded, as the light spread over the colony. One of the remaining men took out his knife and wrote “Croatan” on a post. The Croatans were the Native American tribe in the area and were hostile to the settlers. Then the people heard voices. Two things came down from the saucer. As they walked over to Patience, the taller of the two started speaking English.

“What is your name?” it asked in a deep voice.

“P-P-Patience Whinstile. Pardon my asking, but what are you?”

In reply to her question, she and the others were taken up to the saucer in the sky.

When the men came back from England, no one was on the island.

March 9, 1977

We are finally going back to Earth! The years that I spent on Giorgio (the planet we were taken to) were wonderful. It’s so beautiful! Best of all, my dear friend Jonah was taken with us! But - oh, I must go. We land soon!

At Devil’s Tower, all was quiet. From the sky dropped a spaceship. As it landed, a hatch opened in the bottom. People started filing out as amazed onlookers tried to back away.

“Papa? Papa, where are you? Papa?” cried a teenage girl in a colonial dress. “I’m here, Mama and Remember, too! Come out! We missed you so much! Please, Papa! Please . . . ” She started to cry loudly, still calling desperately between sobs. Another younger girl ran up to the pitiful, crying one, calming words coming out of her mouth.

“Patience, Golgi said Papa would be dead. ‘Tis been four hundred years. He’s dead and buried now.”

The strange people, calling the names of lost loved ones, heard this and gave up in despair. They silently filed back to the ship, some with tears running down their faces. The girls joined, sobbing on each other’s shoulders. Then, just as quietly as it came, the spaceship left.