A Strange Universe

A Strange Universe
I walked carefully through the woods on a path worn through the trees by the many wild horses that roamed the area. Although I had been through the area many times, I was still mindful of where I was going.

I would have been just fine except for becoming distracted by the flight of a large black bird being chased by two smaller ones. 'Nest robber,' I thought as I peered through the tree canopy trying to see what happened to the birds. My foot caught on a root and I tumbled to the ground. Everything went black for a moment.

I struggled to regain my sight and found myself in unfamiliar territory. Was I lost? I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Nothing at all was familiar to me! In fact, the trees had a strange orange glow to them.

"Are you alright?" a voice behind me made me turn suddenly. Looking up from where I sat, I saw an old man wearing an orange hat who was barely three feet tall.

"I think I'm lost," I answered.

He gave me a weird look. "You can't be. You are right there."

This made no sense to me and I stood to my feet. My eyes suddenly blurred, and I rubbed them with my knuckles. When I reopened my eyes, the old fellow had disappeared.

I looked around. The woods I knew so well was back. The hat the guy was wearing lay on the forest floor, but he was nowhere around.
Picking up the hat, I walked back to the campfire where my friends were gathered for an early supper.

"Hey," shouted Joe. "Where did you get that strange hat?"

"You aren't going to believe this," was all I said as I tossed the hat into the campfire.
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