If Wishes Were Horses...

The day she found the wishing well everything changed.

That was what she always thought. That if her life could have been divided into Before and After that would have been the point. But truthfully, if she had ever thought more deeply about it, the day she found the abandoned house in the forest was when everything changed. Or even before that, the day the previous occupant of the house died everything changed. 

But that had been a long time before she was even born so for her, it didn't really mean much. 

And even before that, the day the Keepers of the Spring had built the well, that had been when everything had changed. 

Or was it when the Spring itself came to the knowledge of those that lived above ground, was that when everything changed?

Or was it when those that lived above the ground came to be? Because the Spring had always been. At least as far as they knew. And we are all only concerned with things we know. The unknown is never even considered. It's not part of our stories.

Except it is. 

But the day she found the wishing well she felt like that was the moment everything changed. 

When she inserted the stone key into the notch on the side of the well and the stairs leading down into its depths were revealed. When she found the stacks and stacks of pennies that had been used for making wishes. She knew then that everything would be different. 

She had been wrong in how it would be different. 

Her first thought, that there were thousands of dollars in the well had fallen to the side when she realized that thousands of pennies was not actually very many dollars. A hundred dollars worth of pennies more or less. It was more work to clear the coins out than she had gained in raw dollars. When she got to the bottom of the well there were some older coins that she thought would be worth something to the rare coin collectors. But by the time she reached those her life's direction had already shifted.

It was the first handful of pennies she brought back to the shed that had done it. She was still thinking that it would be life changing. The access to that much money. Just there for her to take. Imagining the things she would buy, the lifestyle she could have. No more worries at all. Just the lap of luxury for her. The shoe had not yet dropped as to how many pennies would be needed for that to come true. But as she started to count she noticed things out of the corner of her eye. 

Flashing lights, she thought at first it must be sunshine reflecting off of the coins. But that didn't make sense, she was inside, under a canopy of trees. She had leaned away from the table she had placed the coins on and noticed the flashes again. As she realized what she was seeing her brain tried to convince her that it was not possible. But it was possible. Because it was happening. 

She moved one penny out from the pile so it stood alone, the flashes of light stopped, they settled into words. Projecting on the wall behind the desk. "I wish I had a puppy." and then written under that the name Belinda Jones.

She knew Belinda. She lived in the house down the street from her. She was 9, and her brother had terrible allergies and asthma. Poor Belinda was never going to get that puppy. Or at least not as long as she lived at home. But she might be able to get her a stuffed animal. That would be something sweet for her, and maybe make her think her wish had come true. She had liked Belinda after all.

And if she had stuck with the easy wishes. The ones the children made things might have been different. But the next penny, well the next penny was different. 

"I wish I hadn't stolen the money." Peter Carom

Peter Carom was the bishop in the local parish. 

What money had he stolen? From whom? And what would he do not to be found out? 

And that was when her life changed. 

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride. 

It sounded better than if wishes were blackmail then grifters would thrive.

But it was the day her whole life changed.