The Long Rifle

 It’s time to be curious, and explore the great unknown where imps and goblins roam the network of forests and rivers of your imagination. Clear your mind, and come with me to a world much like your own—without the imps and goblins of course. In this world was a man who staggered into a wooden fort on a quest to make history come alive. He paid the fee to come explore the past, and find out the truth for himself. This tedious task could only be given to the bravest of people on earth; for digging up the past can dig up demons and angels. This man wanted to know it all, and searched the fort’s lodges and houses to peak his curiosity. He went from one house to another taking historic pictures never believing that he would return to this paradise again. He went into a large house on the edge of the fort which had glass cases of artifacts and ancient Kentucky memorabilia. He took his sweet time listening to the silent, loud stories of history as he took pictures of things that were inside the glass cases. Like a snail on the sands of time, he went down a hallway looking around the walls at paintings while he went into the next room.

When he finally went inside the victorious room, he noticed a glass case that seemed to be upright and steady. He stopped for a moment to take a closer look at what was inside the case: it was a long rifle that Daniel Boone used. He could hear the sounds of the weapon being fired outside the room with the heat of the indian’s flamed arrows penetrating over the walls of the fort. He didn’t know if what he heard was real or a fragment of his imagination, but the sounds and the heat felt real to him. So, he looked away from the long rifle safely inside the case, and the sound that filled the imps and goblins of his mind stopped. However, the man’s spirit for exploration yearned for more—which would have made Daniel Boone proud. He couldn’t help himself, he wanted to know more: to tempt fate and face the unknown. He took a deep breath, prepared himself to face the dangers of the past, and stared at the face of the securely positioned long rifle. The sounds of war returned again, and the fear faced his faith for knowing the truth. It was like he was going back in time to see the events that actually happened in this fort, and that made more of a difference to him.

The sound of cannons and rifles fired outside the room shaking the room and the heart of this feeble man. He was afraid, but couldn’t help but see into the soul of this very fort, and took that leap of faith into the vortex of the past. That was what he did by staring into this long rifle. He could see the gun powder and the silent, loud screams of the people within the fort fighting for survival and for their families. He tried to move and see what was happening outside, but he couldn’t. He was stuck staring steadfastly into this case of a lone, long rifle. Men and women were going in and out of the building: some real people and some from the ancient world of 1778. You couldn’t tell the difference; for they all dressed alike in attire from the late 18th century. The violence of the music of war from outside only got louder and louder as time went on, and there was nothing the man could do about it. Then all of a sudden, he heard footsteps coming near him; he didn’t know if they were real or his imagination. He couldn’t help but listen to them get closer to him as he blankly stared at the long rifle. With much anticipation, he felt a presence beside him and a hand on his left shoulder. He finally looked away from the weapon, and saw a tall man smiling at him.

The man seemed to have a lot of red in his young, old hair, which was covered by a fur hat. He was wearing frontier’s clothes with brown and fur and hides made by animals. The stranger looked at him as though he was trying to fulfill a hope in his friend’s curious, lone heart. The stranger introduced himself as Daniel Boone, and said that this was his rifle. The man marveled at this revelation; he grew with excitement over the chain of events that just took place. He didn’t care if this visit was real or his imagination; he wanted to believe that this was history in the making. Daniel Boone asked the man to come out with him, and fight the Shawnee because they were attacking the fort, and they needed as many men as possible to fight back. The man smiled, nodded, and followed his new found friend outside of the building where fires, cries, and battles were all around them. Daniel gave the man a long rifle and pointed to a place where there’s small windows to fight the Indians. The man looked around the area with amazement in his heart as he saw the big gates to the fort closed and the arrows flying over the walls at them with its fiery fury. Thankfully they built the fort by a river, but couldn’t get to it just outside the fort because of the Indians.

Daniel Boone ordered him to fight with the Indians, but before he could obey the silent, loud command, he had to explore the place where he was: he was in the center of the fort in the bright, blue sky with no hope of rain to quench the wrath of the fiery darts. Clouds were in the sky waiting their orders from the sun, but nothing was said to them to give these people much needed rain. The man looked around the main square of the fort; men and women were running in and out of their wooden houses with animals hides over their huge windows while blasts from the men’s long rifles send a charge of fear and courage within the heart of this man. Daniel Boone was still smiling, but was impatient; for he had a people to help and save and this man wasn’t doing anything. He asked this modern-day nobleman about how to use the rifle, and he had no clue how to use it. Daniel Boone took the rifle and showed him as carefully as possible how to load and use the gun and the man listened to every word like a newborn child listening to their mother. The man smiled when he received the rifle back; he told Boone that he’ll do the best that he could with it, and the brave explorer left him to his business.

The man took the gun and the balls that were given to him by Boone and went slowly but surely toward the edge of the wall. As he was walking, he was observing every situation within the fort: blacksmiths making weapons, women searching for salt and food to feed the poor men, and Daniel Boone giving stately commands to men who follow the man into battle. This was something the man hoped for all of his life, and it was finally here: to be a part of history. The Shawnee were relentless in their battle skills upon the people in the fort, but the pioneers had courage and a spirit that’s unspeakable and unique to America: the American Spirit of braving the unknown. So, the man went to the wall and noticed the tiny windows with no glass: he was wondering how he could fit a rifle to fire at the Indians. He peaked out it finding savage men in paint and hides around their waist using their bows and arrows with skill that even Henry the fifth would be proud of. The man looked at an Indian straight in the eye, and wondered what drove the Indians to attack this fort and make war against it. Then, he remembered history from his class; for the Indians were commanded by the British to fight against the colonists in order to get scalped hairs for profit, so that’s what the Shawnee were doing. The man was dismayed at the thought, and wondered why men had to fight against men, but this was for survival: Indians only cared about profits—sounds like modern America.

He carefully placed the long rifle through the window after loading it with a ball as was instructed by Boone. He fired with every ounce of his being, and hoped to not hit anyone, but the Indians didn’t care if they hit or missed, but wanted to make the people in the fort surrender. Men in pioneer gear went into the room where the man was, and fired out the windows near him as though they didn’t hear anything that this man was saying or doing: he seemed to be invisible to them. He returned the rifle to his bosom and loaded it again—which took a while. Then he did again as he did the first time and fired outside the fort hoping to miss, but instead he was hoping to survive like everyone else here. The pioneers all around him were anxious as the Indians were taunting them in their own language hoping that they’ll give up, but everyone in the fort was filled with courage, and the man couldn’t help but feel the excitement and the bravery that overwhelmed the masses within the fort. He fired again with determination to end this fight, and return to peace once again. This was his moment of glory: to visit history first hand with all its fancies and follies. This was his time of conquest over every doubt and criticism that the imps and goblins pressed within his mind.

He looked down on the long rifle, and heard the shouts and cries of the Shawnee and the pioneers in brutal combat. Day turned to night, but no end in sight and the man peaked through the window to the stars in their disheartening brightness wondering when this siege will end. Suddenly, there was a loud silence going all around him: no battle, no fear, no nothing—just peace. This was new, and amazingly old to the pioneers: either the Indians had nothing left to fight or the pioneers had given up, or the Indians had given up the siege. The man was curious and wanted to know what’s going on, so he placed the rifle next to his bosom, stood up, and sneaked outside the room to see what’s going on. The loud, silent night haunted him because there was no peace within the fort and outside the fort—especially for his anxious heart. He searched the empty square for any signs of life—even a snoring cricket—but to no avail. Was everyone dead? Was he dead? Was this just a dream? The imps and goblins would know.

He sneaked around the fort hoping for a whisper of hope: a glimmer of truth. He saw a shadow of a man in the distant darkness looking to get through the gate of the fort, but no one was awake to help him to open the gate. So the man ran quietly to the gate to help the shadow man in question. He asked the tall stranger about what he was doing at the gate in the middle of the night, and he told him he was searching for salt for the fort. The man was curious about this: why the need for salt? Then, he remembered that it was used as a preservative for the food. He asked the shadow man if they were low on food, and he said that they had deer and other animals ready for food, but no salt. The man looked steadfastly at the stranger, and observed him up and down: he was wearing fur on his head and pioneer clothing and seemed to be very tall. The man looked and guessed with a loud, silent whisper that he was Daniel Boone. The stranger was surprised by this sudden revelation, and stepped outside the shadows into the moonlight to see that it was indeed true. The man looked at him and they both smiled like soul brothers, and he helped open the gate to let Boone out to hunt for his gain while the Indians slept. Boone had his long rifle with him.

After the gate was closed, the man went back to explore the fort in the dead of night while everyone slept, but he seemed to be invisible to the visible snores and slumbers of the fort. He felt relieved to see the peace return again. Then all of a sudden, he heard a gun fire and men speaking in their Indian tongue talking outside. It seemed like everything was calm, and everyone within and without the fort were alright, but then the man looked up into the bright sky and arrows fueled with fire filled the night sky: they were under attack again. The man screamed the alert, but it seemed like no one was listening; the battle had began and the pioneers were nowhere to be found. The man ran from house to house to sound the alert like Paul Revere on the midnight ride. He heard men and women getting themselves up out of their beds, and the men clinched to their long rifles. Everyone got out of their beds, went to their posts, and started fighting back. Some of the men had water pistols to quench the fires caused by the Indians: a novel invention of the time, and this made the man marvel. He went back to his post and fired once again through the tiny window against the Indians who were threatening their lives.

He soon realized that he wasn’t a pioneer that lived in the 18th century, but someone who lived in the 21st century that was curious about life back in ancient Kentucky. He didn’t know how he was going to get home; he heard men shouting in the battle and the firing of the long rifles, which seemed to disappear from his hands. He felt naked and bare, and felt something strange was happening. He saw the night and the warriors fighting among themselves, but he seemed to be helpless. He tried to touch the pioneer next to him, but seemed to have gone through him: this was surely a dream. He got back up and ran outside watching the chaos of the siege and battle. He remembered where he found Boone’s long rifle in the safety of the glass case, so he ran into that building to find where it was. He was hurrying very slowly to find it. He didn’t know if Daniel Boone took it or not. He went inside the building where the cases were, and it was as steady and secure as a long rifle should be. He looked at the case as before, and heard a voice from within him or outside him or somewhere next to him saying that the fort was closing soon. He looked around the room to see a woman in pioneer attire addressing him.

This was strange, was he in the 21th century again? He shook the cobwebs out of his mind, and asked what year it was. When she said the present year in the 21st century, he was relieved and thanked her for her answer. He was finally back in the present time with an adventure under his belt, and a lifetime of experiences to explore in writing. He took one last look at the rifle, and left the room without any problems at all: no wars, no siege, no fires or inaccurate weapons. No surprises from the imps and goblins in his mind. The man opened the eyes of his imagination while looking at the remaining houses and other features of the fort. At long last, it was 5 pm and everyone needed to leave. He had fun on his exploration of history, and it was time to come home and relive another story of the past at a different time and place. For now, he needed to rest at the comfort of his own bed, and drink good drinks and eat good food in order to be awake for his next adventure in the sands of time. He was a curious explorer like Daniel Boone before him, and when he went out of the fort he saw a man smiling at him as he went out of the fort. He was tall and wearing a fur cap with pioneers clothing: was this Daniel Boone? The man didn’t know if it was the real Daniel Boone or an actor playing him. He just went into his own car, and went home to another adventure.