Be Careful What You Wish For

 

Rachel awoke in her old bedroom. She felt down. She had recently gotten divorced and decided to move back to her dad’s farm, where she grew up, for a while just to reset.

She greeted her dad at the breakfast table and looked out over the field. To her shock, there was Rhubarb, a horse she thought was long dead.

“Dad, is that Rhubarb in that field?”

Her dad nodded as he sipped his coffee.

“Yup. Must be the oldest horse in the country. He must be over thirty now. We got him on your fifth birthday. Your face when you saw him was priceless. Shame about the guy who delivered him. They never found out what was wrong with him.”

Rachel put her hat on and walked over to her old friend. She had not thought about her horse for years. He looked a little tired as his head swung around, but he recognised her as he came over, and Rachel gave him a stroke and a hug.

“Rhubarb, I’ve missed you. Sorry I haven’t been to visit in a long time. To be honest, buddy, I thought you were dead.”

Rhubarb took a couple of steps back, almost like he understood what Rachel was saying.

     

“Seeing you has cheered me up. I’ve had a rough year or two, but I’m back for a bit, so maybe we can hang out. I don’t envy you your life your carefree life.”

Rachel spent the next couple of days with Rhubarb, telling him about her ex-husband and her divorce and how she had to leave her job. But what was strange was that sometimes, when she looked into Rhubarb’s eyes, she thought maybe he understood her. But maybe it was just her wishing he could reply, when really he had no idea what she was going on about.

Rachel did not get to see Rhubarb for two days, as she and her dad picked up some of her furniture from her old place and drove it home. It was late when she arrived home, but she was adamant that she was going to see Rhubarb. She needed his company, as she had bumped into her ex-husband and they had argued.

As she walked over to Rhubarb, she was more envious of him than ever. He never felt this way.

She told him what had happened and fed him some sugar lumps. She then looked into his eyes and said,

“Sometimes, Rhubarb, I wish I had your life.”

Suddenly, Rachel was looking back at her own body, which looked at her before standing up and jumping for joy.

“Finally! I’m out of that damn horse’s body! “It must have been nearly thirty years!”

Rachel went to talk, but nothing came out. She felt strange as she moved backwards. 

She had four legs she could now fell them move she could feel her entire body and it was difference she was a horse she was Rhubarb. 

“Feet, legs, arms, hands... They are new,” said the guy, whose hands squeezed his chest. Rachel watched as Rhubarb celebrated being human again.

Turning to look at Rachel, her body spoke, and she soon learned that it wasn’t Rhubarb in her body, but a guy who thanked her for uttering those words.

“I was the young man who delivered this horse to you nearly thirty years ago and made the mistake of saying what you just said.”

The guy was not going to say those words again, as he believed it might swap him back with the horse.

“Let’s just say I was jealous that this horse was more of a man than me,” said the guy as he looked down at the underside of Rhubarb’s body. Rachel knew what he meant, as she could feel it hanging there.

“Big mistake. Then I was the horse, and I have waited so long for someone to say the same thing and release me from that prison. Other than that year your father tried to breed from me, I hated it.”

Rachel was trying to scream out for her father or for anyone to help, but all she could do was neigh.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t swap back. I need to live life. I bet a lot has changed in thirty years. I can live as a woman. It beats being a horse, and you are a very attractive woman now.”

Rachel watched as her body left the barn. The guy was walking strangely. He probably needed to get used to having two legs again.

Rachel wanted to cry. She had somehow got her wish. She was Rhubarb, but this was not what she really wanted. She wanted her life back.

She had no idea what to do. All she knew now was that her body was gone, and the guy was unlikely to swap them back. Her only hope was that maybe another fool like her would come along one day and wish to swap lives with a horse. All the troubles she had been moaning about seemed tiny now as she stood on all four legs in the barn, alone.