Unexpected

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It wasn't what I expected. It couldn't be. It had to be a sham, a fake, a fraud. I couldn't believe that the thing staring back at me from the mirror was really me. 

I knew there were problems with the time jump process, and that it was almost impossible to arrive looking exactly the same as you left. I understood and was prepared to arrive 300 years in the future as a man rather than a woman. I fully expected that I might not be a particularly attractive example of either manhood or womanhood. I knew and accepted all of this.

I hadn't expected that I would arrive as a horse.

I can't even conceive how that may have happened. Hominid and equid are so genetically dissimilar, the occurrence of one turning into the other should not be remotely possible. Yet here I am. How on earth am I going to go about my business with four legs and a tail? How am I going to communicate with other humans? And how am I going to get out of this damnable time machine without opposable thumbs?

Oh well, I may as well try at least. Okay, uh huh. Yep that's it. Almost got it. Gosh, horse lips are much more flexible than I would have thought. I can only assume that equines must need mobile lips for grazing on meadow grasses. Yes, yes, OK, that's done it!

Dear God in heaven. This is not what I expected.

I step forward on to the soft ground and stop to stare in wonder. Acres of grasslands as far as I can see. Crystalline blue skies with nary a cloud. The air feels so clean and crisp, smells so fragrant. A warm breeze blows my mane and forelock gently about my neck and ears. I feel strong and centred.

Have I gone to heaven?

I hear murmuring and turn to see five other horses coming toward me. They greet me in ecstatic voices, trumpeting with joy and dancing with happiness to see me. I am shocked that they recognise me yet at once ridiculously happy and enormously overwhelmed. If I were my human self, I would be blushing with pleasure.

I have come home! Home to a future and a form that I never could have predicted. This was most unexpected.