The Legend of Sleep Hollow

Most people have a favorite myth or legend that they have heard in their lifetime.  I grew up with a mother that LOVED Halloween, so my attention was drawn to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at a very young age.  I am still waiting for an acceptable big screen version to surface since the Disney animated version (narrated by "The Moon Crooner" himself, Bing Crosby) stopped being scary about a year ago (ha!) and Tim Burton's attempt was just... well.  Anyway, I'm talking to you, Warner Brothers.  2017's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman, and Jessica Chastain as Katrina Van Tassel would dazzle audiences nation wide.  This needs to happen.  Regardless of whether or not Warner Brothers wants to do that movie, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was always a favorite.  I think that imaginations of the tale reached an all-time low on a dark knight in Lewiston, ID when I was in late elementary school (maybe early Jr. High...)

I remember that my whole family had gone down to Lewiston from Moscow, but I do not remember specifically what brought us down there.  It may have been that we were just visiting our, uh, cousins, The Stellmons (I'll attempt to explain our close relationship with the Stellmons in a future post).  I may not remember exactly why we were down there, but I do remember some pretty vivid details of what happened.  I think the memory sticks out so boldly in my mind because it was the first time that I can recall being included in the activities of the older group of cousins.  They were heading out to play some night games and somehow my cousin, Carver, and I were invited to come along.  I remember being ecstatic and I am sure that Carver was as well.  The games progressed as you would expect night games to go.  We played various forms of tag and a few variations of some hide-and-seek games.  As always with the Stellmons there were plenty of moments of humor, but Carver and I took center stage as we headed back to the cars to return home.

Now, Carver was born with a condition (I cannot at this time remember what it is called) that hinders his ability to bend his knees and elbows.  Despite this, Carver Stellmon is one of the best little league third basemen I have ever seen.  Carver and I were always close and so, in situations that perhaps required a little more speed, Carver would jump on my back and off I would go (I don't give Carver nearly enough credit for my later successes in track and field).  Generally when I would run around with Carver on my back he would treat me like a human.  I honestly can't tell you what made him change his mind on this occasion, but he did.  Carver jumped up on my back and off we went across the field toward the cars.  We apparently wanted to be the first ones there despite the fact that neither of us could drive.  As I galloped out in front of the group Carver suddenly yelled, "The headless horseman rides again!" and then he spurred me in the legs with his heels as he would a horse.  

Now, (sigh) horses and humans are built differently.  While spurring a horse might compel the horse to run faster, spurring a human just interferes with the normal running motion of his or her legs.  All it took was one swift kick and I started to stumble. Stumbling while carrying another human being on your back is a lot different than stumbling all by yourself. As I sit and recall the event I am forced to conclude that Carver must have been leaning back as best he could all while pulling on my throat to try to stabilize me. The reason for coming to this conclusion is that I remember being parallel to the ground in a state of "perpetual falling" for approximately two hours. I flailed, balanced, lurched forward, flailed, balanced, brushed the cold grass with my hand and then crashed face-first into the ground. I am pretty sure that we found Carver some fifty feet away unconscious and danglingn from a tree. The headless horseman rides again indeed.