What If?

Ichabod Crane, oh, Ichabod Crane the young, affable, sage, new schoolmaster of Terry Town they said. They all liked him; they all adored him, his singing, his teaching, everything, despite his abhorrent face. And as for me I was okay with him; he was not at all irascible and soon target for my practical jokes. I really had no problem with him until he tried to steal my Katrina`s heart away.

 He was her singing master, you see; and used that as an excuse to visit her at her father`s house. He visited her almost everyday and at the beginning I believed it, that he was only there to help her with her singing lessons. But as he started going more and more frequently, as other farmers started seeing them under the great elm, I realized his intentions. I wouldn`t let him take her, I told myself, I would just scare him off like I had done with all my other rivals. His courtships towards Katrina and her responses would not leave me despondent.

So, when she invited us to her father`s party on Halloween night I was sure to come. I planned to win Katrina over that night, you see. Ichabod it turned out was a fine dancer and had Katrina in his arms all night. So, as I was unable to show her my charms, I generated another plan, a much more ambitious plan. The residents of Terry Town, you see, were extremely superstitious and Ichabod was the most superstitious of them all. The residents all believe in witchcraft and magic and because of this the town is full of interminable legends and horror stories.

So, when Old Baltus Van Tassel, Katrina`s father, called upon all of his guests and asked them to tell their best horror stories I told about the most famous tale of Terry Town, The Headless Horseman. The story tells about a warrior that lost his head during the revolutionary war and now haunts the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in search of someone with a head to chop off. He carries a pumpkin full of fire carved as a head. I also told about my own encounter with the horseman how I had seen him by the graveyard while coming home in the middle of the night, how I had galloped through the bridge where he had halted and disappeared.

After the story telling, the party broke off and we all left for our homes Ichabod stayed behind and I hid in Sleepy Hollow`s haunted cemetery. A while later I finally heard Ichabod galloping slowly in his horse. The forest animals sounds reverberated through the trees and I could just feel Ichabod`s fear growing, feeling that something was amiss, and started to prepare myself for the ultimate prank. I sunk my head in to my suit leaving a small space for me to see grabbed a carved pumpkin I had stolen from Katrina`s house and mounted my horse. As he emerged through the trees I waited quietly until he was in front of me and started to chaise him. He desperately tried for his old horse to gallop faster and he tugged at its reins in a tremulous manner. I followed him as fast as I could, lit pumpkin in hand, impelling my horse forward. I persecuted him until the bridge where he fell of his old horse. I threw the pumpkin in his direction but made sure it did not hit him and galloped of rapidly hoping I had scared him enough to leave town.

The next day the town`s residents found his hat on the ground near the bridge pieces of pumpkin next to it. No one knows whatever happened to Ichabod Crane, some say he is living in another town, others say he was taken by the Headless Horseman, I do not know what happened to Ichabod, all I know is that he was alive when I left. And as for Katrina and I, we are married now and share a profound love for each other but I will always wonder what if Ichabod was still here.