Day 328 - Chariot Story

Chariot Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Jesse had never seen a chariot, yet here one was with two horses, one white and one black. He had of course seen them in movies and read about them, but he had never seen an actual chariot in real life. He thought maybe at a football game or a parade or something, but he couldn’t remember or not if he had really seen one. It was a strange thing to think about. It made him wonder what other average ordinary things he had never seen before. He was fairly certain he had seen most of the ordinary things in life, but he had no way of knowing. His mind fixated on this dilemma for a little too long. He actually started to make a list in his mind of everything he had seen or thought he had seen and just what exactly constituted an average ordinary item. Could he even remember if he had or hadn’t actually seen something in real life? He wasn’t sure. He had read that memory was funny that way. If you read enough, learned enough, imagined enough, you would just incorporate it into your memory the same way you would if you had actually experienced the real thing. The mind was terribly subjective and even the most astute and rational of people had a tough time keeping things straight. Or at least that’s what the studies showed.

One of the two horses neighed and snapped Jesse from his tangential thinking. He was lost in his own mental exercise and had forgotten all about the chariot and the two horses that were right there in front of him. It was very strange to go from having never seen a chariot to being faced with one. Jesse wasn’t sure why he felt it was strange, but he did. He was confused as to where it came from and who left it there and if they were coming back to tend to their horses. Perhaps he should call the authorities. There certainly didn’t seem to be anyone around to claim the horses. That couldn’t be good. That just seemed like a big mess waiting to happen. But who abandons a chariot? And who owns one anyway? It was a peculiar thing to have and if you did have it, then it was a peculiar thing to do.

Jesse didn’t call any authorities. He wasn’t sure what he would say to them. More importantly he was starting to not want to. He was starting to want to take a ride in the chariot. He had seen Roman war movies. Suddenly he had the youthful spirit of a child and was sure he could pull a quick Ben-Hur and live out a real-life action hero fantasy and no one would be any the wiser. He didn’t stop to consider the danger factor. Heroes in stories were always taming wild horses just by being the hero. And these horses looked pretty well tamed and trained. He was sure he could just jump up on the chariot and take a ride. He was also pretty certain that the horses wanted him to. He couldn’t tell for sure because they certainly couldn’t talk to him or tell him. But they kind of gave him the eye and made him think they wanted to go for a gallop somewhere. He would leave this last part out if he was caught or if some terrible disaster struck because he was racing a chariot around on city streets. He was fairly certain that a defense based on saying the horses wanted to go for a run wasn’t much of a defense at all.

It didn’t matter. Jesse was going to go for a ride. Damn the consequences, he knew he was going to go.

And so he did.

It instantly was not at all like anything he expected. Looks were deceiving and as it turned out, the horses were far less tamed than they appeared. They both had minds of their own. They both had opposite opinions on where they were going or what they were going to do. Left, right, back, forth – Jesse was jostled every which way. He fell back in the chariot and hit his head. And then it seemed as if they were flying. Jesse thought he might have a concussion, or perhaps he had been knocked out and was now dreaming. If he was, he wasn’t able to make himself wake up with that thought.

The chariot flew. It flew far and away and fast. He crossed the sky. He crossed the waters, the lands and through the heavens. It was the chariot ride of a lifetime.

Jesse woke up in the back of the chariot. He wasn’t exactly sure what had happened. There was a chiseled Adonis of a man looking down at him. He was far too handsome and far too perfect and possessed fiery blond locks that seemed to halo glow in the afternoon sun. Jesse wasn’t in the habit of judging men, but this man was beautiful. The man explained that this was his chariot and these were his horses and wondered just what exactly it was that Jesse was doing. Jesse didn’t have a satisfactory answer. He quickly got out of the chariot and got out of there.

After a moment he realized that the man never gave any proof that the chariot was his. Perhaps the man had been lying. Perhaps Jesse had just been tricked or conned. Maybe he should have called the authorities after all.

Jesse turned back to challenge the stranger, but when he did the chariot, the horses and the stranger were gone.

Jesse went on his way. It was a strange day, a strange interaction, and a strange dream. He didn’t want to think too hard on any of them. He wasn’t sure he wanted to remember this chariot or what had possibly happened, but he was sure he was going to. He just wasn’t sure which parts were actually real and which parts were just what his imagination wished were.