Plantation Mansion™
 (copyright © 2012 by Towne Square America™)

With the way this white stallion, Reason, has positioned himself, you are easily able to hop right on to his back.  You feel a sensation underneath you and look down to see that the most amazing saddle has materialized under you for a perfect fit. And, in your hands there are now reins ...

Reason rises upwards and then rears up, moving his front legs in the air. You quickly get the idea of just how much horse power you are riding on. Reason then sets down his front hooves and gallops off away from Plantation Mansion™. you think you are ready for just about any kind of adventure. It doesn’t take long for you to immediately start rethinking all of that!

As Reason starts moving, faster and faster, rippling heat waves rise upward all around you. And, then everything in your field of vision (or at least what you thought you saw) all melts into a chrome like surface reflecting moments from you entire life. Just as buildings made of glass walls reflect the world around them, what you now see are countless reflections and images of YOU from throughout your life. This is also much like a “house of mirrors” in a Fun House, only here the “reflections” are vignettes from your life. There is the aroma from so many holiday gatherings when the house was filled with food cooking and people talking. You see your friends - from so many different points in your life. You see those people who are now gone. So many lost moments are here that seemed to have been gone forever. There, off in the distance, you see yourself looking into this monitor, with furrowed brow, reading these very words, reflecting on so much of what you now see in the theater of your mind ... amidst the “play of words.” And, here you are, moving through memories and time on this incredible, amazing, magical horse called, “Reason,” while reflecting all around you in 360 degree vivid and vibrant, lifelike colors ... is each and every moment.

Then all of what you are seeing disappears, replaced by a blurred, obscure landscape as Reason is now approaching a speed that can only be described as “EXCESSIVELY ZOOMING!” Racing past perforated shadows of a dampened eyelash at twilight, you can now see accidenting oddities and indentations which are curiously normal and also incongruous. The exaggerated look of what dominates your line of sight doesn’t really seem absurd at all, even though proper proportions have been replaced by a stretched-out-of-shape set of circumstances. The far off sounds of birds screeching shatter an uncanny silence. You aren’t quite sure, but you think you heard thunder, too. The quick onset of a thick mist obscures everything below knee level (not that you can see that much anyway).

Then everything goes black just as Reason rears upward for some unexplained circumstance. You can’t see anything but feel like you are falling backwards. Then nothingness sets in.

For the longest time you are enveloped in the totality of darkness.

Then you open your eyes.

You are afoot having been thrown from your horse, Reason. It had all happened so fast. Hitting the ground with a paralyzing thud, you had landed flat on your back. You raised your head just enough to look up through the swirling vapors of the mist to see the surreal vision of Reason looming above you.  This white stallion was now ever so much larger as his shape blotted out almost everything else. You look into the whites of his eyes, and then his saddle falls away to reveal black markings which had been hidden. Rearing his hooves high in the air, with puffs of frozen breath bursting outward from his flaring nostrils, Reason is now about to come down on top of you!  You squeeze your eyes shut, grit your teeth, turn your head away, cover your eyes with both arms crossed above the bridge of your nose, and hold your breath.

You wait, expecting to be crushed by Reason. Nothing happens. You had expected to be pulverized instantly from the impact of those two black hooves. As you open one eye you can see Reason had turned and was prancing away from you, blending into an opaque, menacing fog which is consuming everything along with nightfall. Trees and shadows darker than death dissolve into the dusk and darkness.

The prospect of being lost in the dark didn't scare you as much as you thought it would. You can’t imagine what could have caused Reason to first throw you and then act so strangely ... especially after him inviting you for a ride. You are sore and felt stabbing PAIN throughout your body as you cautiously stand up. "Damned horse," you say just as you realize your right foot is throbbing. Reason must have crushed it somehow. The chill of night doesn't seem to bother you much at all. It is your foot that is the problem. The burden of having to carry that heavy saddle does trouble you, especially now that you are limping so badly. Thinking about those black markings where the saddle had been makes you realize there was something odd, yet quite familiar about them. The fact that they can move to position themselves into words and messages doesn’t quite seem so strange any longer.

Just as you attempt to pick up the cumbrous saddle, the loudest sounds of thunder you’ve ever heard rumble out of nowhere from behind you. The sky then flickered with quick, stabbing strokes of lightening. This is all happening behind you. The thunder becomes so deafening and the ground rumbles and shakes almost knocking your feet out from underneath you.

You are midway into turning around, looking for the bolts of lightening, when you spot Reason galloping directly at you. It hadn't been thunder shaking the ground so violently at all. The roaring sound came from this stallion’s monster hooves pounding and shredding the ground. You don’t even have time to let out a peep as the steed clobbers into you full force. You hear your bones snapping and cracking at the same time intense pain exploded everywhere inside of you. Mouth wide open, but incapable of uttering the slightest whimper, you topple backwards like a marionette whose life supporting strings had all just been severed. You only remember seeing Reason's wild, mad, flashing eyes as he charged over you. And, those black markings where the saddle had been, well, you couldn't quite make them out, but there was a pattern of some sort to them. Then everything went blank as you plunged into a black emptiness, choking and gasping for air.

The thought of being dead crosses your mind because things remain so still and dark for what seems like the longest time. There isn't a sound or a breath of air for what seems like something beyond forever. Then you can see, quite clearly, that the black markings on Reason’s side had these words, “Could it have all been a dream?”

You open your eyes to see that you are standing in front of the horse stables. The stables are all white, vintage 1920s architecture, complete with weathervanes atop each building. The weathervanes have a prancing horse that spins with the North, South, East, and West pointers. You look around and think about which way to go next.

Here are your options now ...

Head over to the Mansion’s garage?

Head over to the fountain area?

Go to the Plantation Mansion™ front porch?

Far off in the distance, beyond the fountain  and way past the Croquet area, it looks like ancient ruins. You could swear they weren’t there the last time you looked, but, sure enough, they are definitely there and it would be quite interesting to explore that area.

Time to decide ...