Guest Author: Linda Clark
Quite a number of years ago, I was driving my mother to check on some timber land that she had inherited from her family. It was in a very remote northwest Arkansas area, that backs up to the Quachita National Forest, stretching from Arkansas into Oklahoma. It was customary, when I visited her from Texas, that I would drive her to the property to ensure its condition and to determine, if its trees were ready for harvest. Arkansas pine had long been valued by builders, as the trees grow very straight and tall, making them good for framing.
My mother had prepared a lunch for us and it was our plan to picnic at a modest park across the highway from her land. The park provided a beautiful view of the valley below. We were satisfied that all was in order on her land so we drove the short distance to the dirt road that we knew led up to the park. Driving in, I sensed movement and rustling in the brush along the road, but, thought nothing of it, knowing that there were highway crews, who sometimes visited the park. Also, I was aware that the woods were full of animals. I carried my shotgun in the trunk and in those years was a fairly good shot, so I was confident that would be sufficient protection, if needed.
As we approached, where we intended to enjoy our lunch, a man on horseback appeared from the side of the hill, that provided the beautiful view of the valley we had hoped to enjoy. He was a handsome man, whose age I guessed to be in his mid-thrties. He was wearing a hat with a brim, very well-groomed and wearing very nice clothing. The best way I can describe him is the way I thought of him to myself, "He looked like a Ralph Lauren ad in a magazine." His horse was beautiful and very well cared-for as well. Mother and I sat stunned in the car as the odds of seeing someone like him in the "wilds of Arkansas" are close to a million to one! He smiled in a very agreeable manner as he guided his horse to the car, where my mother and I sat totally stunned! I said hello and asked him from where he had come. He gave a very lame explanation that he had come from the Washington, DC area. I recall thinking to myself, "there is no way." He was very clean-shaven and had no bed roll or anything to suggest this could be true. We exchanged a few pleasantries, which I cannot even recall, but, my memory is he spoke with a European accent. I asked him what was his destination and he responded, "Washington State." This encounter seened so irregular that I looked at my mother and said, "We should leave." She silently nodded in agreement. We bid him goodbye and slowly and carefully departed the park. As we drove away, he and his horse crossed the ditch leading to the highway, as we waved goodbye. I silently drove away with neither my mother nor I saying a word on the drive home.
A number of years passed and it became time to move my mother to Texas as her years and subsequent decline required more care. It was my custom to visit her often at the assisted living residence, where she resided. One afternoon as were on the facility patio, visiting on rocking chairs, I began to recognize her memory was fading. I recalled the man on the beautiful horse, approaching us on the mountain that day and I asked her, if she remembered him well and she said, "Yes, he did not look like any of us." Neither she nor I said anything else about the encounter that we had shared those many years ago. I have always wondered, if we both had the same thoughts about the potential threat we may have faced that day from the sounds we heard in the brush. I have maintained all these many years since, that perhaps he was as an angel dispatched by God to watch over us with the horseman's presence to protect us from some harm. It has remained most unusual and unexpected. I remain convinced there is no other explanation!
