Atman's Big Adventure

The river ran backwards on the day The Queen vanished. There was much speculation in the kingdom of Sleepy Valley as to where she might be. Some thought she might be in Heaven watching her favorite TV shows. It was always assumed that they got the Brtibox Channel in Heaven.. Other people thought she might have gone to visit her cousin in Bavaria. There were best of friends and often went camping together. This rumor was given some credence when the Queen's private secretary rang up the cousin but got no answer. Some thought she may have died of Royal Decapitation Syndrome (RDS), but no head was found rolling about. The Royal Physician announced that the Queen had had all her vaccinations. There are always those who bring up alien abduction and they gave the opinion that The Queen had been abducted by little green men. It sounded silly but did account for the fact that nobody, absolutely nobody, had seen her disappear, though it seemed to have happened shortly before afternoon tea.

At the local bar Harold sat on his customary stool and expounded his expoundings which included the opinion that they should check with The Exchequer, which was what he always said, so the others told him shut up this is a serious matter. As a matter of fact everyone was in such a kerfuffle about The Queen that nobody noticed until Thursday that the River had changed directions.

Nobody except Aman-Ra. He knew, because he had been down by Hanson's Bend mucking around, for some reason, in a bunch of cat tails in a marsh on the edge of the river. He noticed a lovely young lady on the opposite bank of the river. He was sure she couldn't see him since he was up to his chest in water and hidden behind the cat tails. She moved gracefully along the bank and looked about furtively. She set down her pack and began to slowly undress. This had never happened to Aman-Ra before, except in his imagination of course, so he was quite attentive throughout the time that the young lady was taking her bath, for that is what she was doing. If anyone had asked he would have told them that he was certain that she was quite clean. Though no one did ask and he never mentioned the incident to anyone. After she went along her way it occurred to Aman-Ra that the river had changed direction. He noticed that a plastic bottle that had floated by in one direction a few minutes earlier now floated by in the opposite direction. How odd he thought to himself. Scientists would have immediately thought a lot of other things, but Aman-Ra was not a scientist. He was just a young man who considered himself to be having a very lucky day, and recalling the lucky moment quickly pushed from his mind any thoughts of the river reversing course.

When he got back to town all the talk was of The Queen's disappearance, which he didn't find particularly interesting. He considered The Queen to be mostly just a silly old lady with a lot of money. And like it or not the realm would carry on as normal until she returned. Except of course for that part where every possible resource was being used to find Her Missingness, and people were running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. Except for that part.

Aman didn't feel himself a part of all that, but just went along with his horseshoeing business as always. He took over from his grandfather who had taught him. His grandfather still hung around, tended the fire, sharpened tools and such, but no longer worked as a farrier. The shop had never had a name, just a horseshoe above the door. Aman was a sociable fellow much like his grandfather and could often be seen chatting pleasantly with his customers or people passing by. He was a quick study and had learned the trade well, keeping up the reputation his grandfather had built. Aman's body was lean and powerful from the demands of his work. He was good looking enough and had very straight teeth. His grandpa always told him the gals always fell for guys with straight teeth. But Aman's grandpa had the kind of sense of humor where you could never tell for sure if he was joking.

Along around Thursday news spread that the river was running backwards. Aman was conversing with the Royal Groomsman who had come for advice about a lame horse, when the groomsman mentioned the news about the river. Aman recalled to himself the moment he had seen the change. Then the groomsman mused that he wondered when that had happened. "I saw it happen," replied Aman-Ra. The groomsman was startled, but asked cautiously, "When did it happen?"

"Sunday afternoon," Aman replied confidently.

"Around tea time?"

Aman thought for a brief moment. "Yeah, right around then." The groomsman said nothing but gazed thoughtfully in the distance. He thanked Aman for the advice and went on his way. In a short time the news was all over town that the Queen had disappeared around the time that the river had changed directions. The source of this information was not mentioned. This coincidence was determined in the Court of Popular Opinion to be a sign of something. Exactly what was up for discussion. And according to the General Public the most credible interpretation of the sign came from one Norma Bockwinkle, an influencer of the day who specialized in the social media of the time , which was called gossip. She was believed to trade in evil spirits. Mostly people didn't really believe she did, but professed to believe her in case they were wrong and she happened to want to get revenge on the disbelievers. She was a very convincing story teller, so when she said The Queen had fallen in the river and been swept forward in time to where she was needed, people nodded in wise and thoughtful agreement. This had the advantage of having people feel satisfied that The Queen was well and doing something valiant. The best thing of all was that this story more or less assumed that The Queen would never be back, and since people really didn't care for Her Wonderfullness all that much, that was just fine with them.

Aman-Ra listened to the others and thought to himself, wouldn't she go backwards in time if the river had reversed it's course. But he didn't say anything since he assumed that people much smarter than he could figure it out best.

Things mostly died down in town after that. With The Queen gone it seemed as if they were on holiday from the normal rules, like paying taxes and bowing every time some Royal Nitwit walked by. Also, for some inexplicable reason the change in the rivers direction didn't seem to matter, and thinking about it now Aman-Ra found that quite odd.

One afternoon Aman-Ra came back to the shop from lunch to see that someone with a horse was waiting. He saw the horse first and could just make out that someone was standing behind it. Coming around the front of the horse he saw a pair of what appeared to be female hands holding the reins. Moving further he was startled to see the girl from the edge of the river. More than startled. A lot more than startled, whatever you would call that. His heart started to race and his palms began to sweat. He struggled to stay calm. Her eyes did not show a trace of recognition, so he greeted her pleasantly and asked what he could do.

"I would like you to reshoe my horse." Aman looked over the horse. It was a handsome dun colored tobiano Spanish Mustang, obviously well cared for. "I haven't seen you around before," he commented. He looked into her pure brown eyes and studied her unblemished face. Her hair fell gracefully around her shoulders, and she was so perfectly shaped she needed no corset or bodice under her baby blue gown.

She looked whimsically at his face. "I just moved here," she replied. He nodded sagely. "Where from, if I might ask?"

"I'm from Thunder Reach."

Aman knew of the kingdom. "That's very far I should think," he replied. His personal opinion was that she was so heavenly she must have floated down from Kingdom Come but he kept his own council. He moved to look at the hooves of the horse. "Far it is indeed," was her lyrical reply. "And it's two months since he was reshod. He needs it bad." Atman nodded and looked carefully at each hoof. "Come back any time after 6:00. He'll be ready." She handed him the reins, turned away, and walked along the street. He watched her leisurely gate, the swaying of her hips, her stately posture, for long enough that his grandpa, resting in a chair under a shaded eve, smiled with amusement. Aman led the horse into his work shed, and took off the saddle. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't asked her name. He got out the tools he would need, and that afternoon he put more exacting effort into his work than ever. The result was a horse shod to such perfection that it's gait was as smooth as if it were floating on a cloud.

She returned right at 6:00 as he and his grandfather were cleaning up after the day's work. When she walked up he turned to his right and said "Grandpa, this is Miss..." And she smoothly added, "Nellie Jones," reaching out to shake his hand. "Pleased to meet you," they both said at the same time. Aman left them to go get the horse, and the old man said, "That's a fine horse you've got there. You're not a princess are you?"

She giggled. "No sir, I just know how to bargain for a horse. I come from plain people." Even grandpa, or perhaps especially grandpa, could see that she was not plain. Aman led the horse out to her and said, "Let's walk a bit. You can see how you like the gait." Grandpa watched them walk up the road. They talked horses for a bit. She told him the horses name was Lightning bolt. "See," she said, pointing to a marking on his nose. "A lightning bolt." Then she asked him if could also recover her saddle horn and he happily agreed, eager to have a reason to see her again. Just as they returned to the shop the Court Jester came wandering up the road. The bells on his cap jingled merrily as he approached. He was called Jelly Bean. It was said that the bright patchwork of his motley reminded the village children of jelly beans. He was staring around sadly. He was not merry. Always a favorite of The Queen, he perhaps missed her more than anyone else. He passed by them and continued up the road, mumbling to himself.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked. "You can pay me when I finish the horn. That will be on Tuesday." She smiled. "Surely that will be fine."

An awkward moment passed. Suddenly she said, "Make a stirrup of your hands." Aman reacted in confusion. "What?"

"Make a stirrup of your hands," she demanded. He bent over next to the horse quickly and did as she asked. She put one foot into the stirrup and gracefully launched herself onto the horses back. Just how she did it, he didn't see. She turned to him, smiled, gave a quick wave, then gently took the horses mane in her fine hands, touch her heels to his sides to get him going, turned him through 180 degrees and trotted off in the direction of the blazing sunset.

As he was locking the shed he turned to grandpa. "I was thinking I might introduce her to mom and dad." The old man looked at him with keen eyes. He knew that Aman-Ra had never introduced a girl to his parents before. "Anyway," said Aman hesitantly, "What do you think they'll think?" Grandpa rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I bet they'll think, 'He probably ain't good enough for her'". He paused with mischief in his eyes. Aman sighed heavily and thought for a moment. "Maybe she won't find out 'til it's too late," he said hopefully.

Tuesday afternoon she rode she arrived on Lightning Bolt and dismounted. Aman looked up from his work to see her standing there, a shining vision. "Oh, pleased to see you ma'am," he stammered. "Come and see the saddle." Her eyes sparkled as she examined the horn. He had covered it with beautiful buffalo skin. He watch then as she quickly and expertly tacked the saddle and checked to make sure the horse was at ease. Then she looked back at Atman. "Oh dear, I've forgotten to bring my money today," she said sweetly. "How could I be so careless." Atman looked down slyly. "That's ok. You can pay me next time you see me." She laughed graciously. "Well, I'd rather owe it to you than cheat you out of it," she giggled.

She mounted the horse and turned back toward him."You do quite well as a blacksmith for someone who likes to fool around in the cat tails." She turned and quickly trotted off. That made him think carefully for a minute or two. Did she wink? He thought she may have winked as she turned away. He wasn't sure. Was he the hound or the fox? He wasn't sure.