The Ghost Of Cooper Path

During the previous century, a dirt path off the main local road served local horse loving teenagers with a recreational friendly trail riding outlet. Most time, youths were safe in the same way a swimmer would be in water a few feet deep. But one afternoon. following an immature argument about boys, Hollow whose Hungarian bloodline sometimes ended up as a curse, separated herself from the informal pony club group, leaving the pack, wanting to go home.

Emerging from the woods, destination barn insight, Hollow gave a kick and started rising in her seat performing a picture-perfect post. Suddenly while exercising the trot, something that would never happen in the show ring occurred due to real world realities. Mah Rimba stepped on a nail, creating a havoc scene. Not realizing what happened down below Hollow continued requesting ‘Mah Rimba keep going’, igniting her travelling partner into a momentary rage. Sending the message, ‘get off my back’ Mah Rimba reared, legs planted firmly, throwing Hollow to the ground and the pony lost control crushing the girl whose unconscious state immediately turned eternal.

A half hour later Jennifer and Sarah slowly walked their steeds down Cooper Path, not prepared for what they were ready to encounter, making them age many years in the blink of an eye.

“You know I wouldn’t have gotten upset if she did not block me from talking to Brad,” Jennifer, a Latvian noted.

“Well,” her Polish friend Sarah inserted.

“Is that Hollow?” Jennifer asked.

“Yes, it is,” Sarah answered identifying the soul less body.

“Bamm that Hollow,” commentated the pair.

Hollow’s family buried their daughter only a few feet from the accident along with Mah Rimba whose tragic self-destruction tantrum took a deathly toll. Resting in a lone grave neighboring Cooper Path, the two peacefully resided for decades.

“That is what happens when distrust in each other reaches a certain level,” the parents made clear before disappearing from the area.

Time passed, Jennifer and Sarah found lifelong partners and each couple bred a child. Jennifer gave birth to Jessica while Sarah’s daughter Parker was awarded with her good looks.

“Parker why are we here?”

“We are here to pick Mushrooms,” Parker clarified, “one with the most wins, and the one with the biggest mushroom also gets a blue ribbon.”

“What happens if we do not win the mushroom championship?” Jessica wondered.

“We dance until the goats are crowned beauty queens,”

“Why?”

“Tra,” Parker paused, “Dition”

Trudging through the field they came across the tombstone plot, “this is where Aunt Hollow is decomposing,” Jessica declared.

“Hit the high road, due to a disagreement,” Parker added.

Peering around, the two could not see any mushrooms growing on the cement marker. Deciding to move on, a ghostly figure appeared, wearing a British equestrian outfit.

“Who told you I croaked due to a fight?”

“Aunt Hollow is that you?” The two children exclaimed in unison.

“Who told you I passed away due to an angry outburst?”

“Your friends, “Jessica started.

“Our Mothers, Jennifer and Sarah,” Parker finished.

“I went to another plateau, since I interfered, blocked your Mother from dating hunky Brad,” Hollow explained, “if she began a relationship, Jennifer you would not be here.”

“Why not?” Jennifer innocently inquired.

“Your Father would not have made you, you would have Brad’s qualities instead,” Hollow logically told them.

“We would be different maybe not the same, Aunt Hollow,” Parker interjected.

“Oh, by the way, thank you for blocking my Mother from meeting Brad, I have seen hunky Brad, he is no longer hunky,” Jessica mentioned.

Concluding, Jessica and Parker were good kids, Hollow returned to the coffin underneath the grass.

“See any mushrooms?” Jessica checked.

“Nope,” Parker confirmed, “what do you think it really means? When Aunt Hollow says she blocked your Mother from going out with Brad.”

“It means,” Jessica took a few minutes to find the right words, “I would not have my Father’s Lithuanian blood flowing through the gift God gave me, I might have been, Polish Latvian mix breed.”

“Does that mean if you were not Lithuanian, we would not be out here looking for mushrooms, dancing until the goats are crowned beauty Queens?”

“Actually, we would not be thinking our way through things properly,” Jessica discovered one final mushroom, “and not understanding the true reason behind the mushroom picking competition.”

“Which is?”

At that moment, Jessica fell quiet, knowing certain things must stay secret.