Prince Ali

by Victoria Hardesty

  “Been thinkin’ about it,” Calvin said. “How ‘bout we do like last time.”

  “Got any ideas where we can find a couple with nobody watchin’? We get work from lots of these ranches around here,” Danny said thoughtfully.

  “That Swallows Day Parade is next weekend in Capistrano. There’ll be hundreds of them there,” Calvin suggested. “You wanna go to a parade?” Calvin grinned and scratched, swatting a fly away with his other hand. “If we can put somethin’ together in the next coupla days, I can borrow gas money from someone at the bar. Ya know, the Drop Inn? We just have to promise them a real good time in exchange for the loan. Hey, we can invite them to your party!” Calvin chuckled.

  “Well, we got nothin’ better to do and we’re getting’ low on drinks and coffee,” grinned Danny. “Let’s take a drive up to Capistrano and check it out.”

  And that’s exactly what they did. Calvin and Danny spent enough time in San Juan Capistrano to find the parade route, the staging area for livestock, and the on and off ramps for the freeway. They confirmed the times for the parade, the awards ceremony in the park and the street faire. They talked to a few locals at the Swallows Inn for good measure. Calvin puzzled over the timing carefully. They were going to try pulling this one off in broad daylight with lots of potential witnesses. He knew he had to get it just right.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Prince Ali and Becky walked around the staging area looking at the other exhibitors while they looked for their place in line. Becky loved the restored antique carriages and wagons. She talked to many other parade participants as they looked for their own spot. Ali attracted a lot of attention. His costume was so different. He and Becky were a standout among the old western themed exhibitors.

  This year, as Grand Marshall, Prince Ali was placed about the middle of the parade. He and Becky were right behind a Conestoga wagon drawn by four large oxen. They would walk the parade route just in front of a buckboard drawn by a four-hitch of Hinnies. Two Eagle Scouts would walk in front of him carrying a banner with his name and title.

  As the buckboard moved into position behind Prince Ali, Becky noticed the strange looking “horses” hitched to it and asked the driver about them. Ali and Becky stood in their place backward during the conversation. Ali observed the pretty little mare on the right front side of the wagon. He stretched his neck just a little higher and pricked his ears a bit more forward. His nostrils opened just a bit more so he could catch the scent of her. He lifted his tail a tiny bit higher the longer Becky talked with the driver, who turned out to be the owner of the wagon and all four Hinnies. When the pretty little mare looked at him, his heart thumped in his chest and he froze in his tracks, afraid to breathe.

  “These are Hinnies. They are what you get when you breed a male horse to a female donkey,” the driver, who introduced himself as Chuck, explained to Becky. “They look more like a horse but have longer ears. They have regular manes and tails, like a horse instead of a donkey, but they still have a few donkey or mule traits. Mules are what you get when you breed a female horse to a male donkey.”

  “Oh, that explains it,” thought Ali. “She’s pretty but I thought there was something different about her. It’s her ears! Bet she can hear for fifty miles with them.”

  Gloria, Chuck’s wife went on to explain, “This group has been together for three years now, ever since Fiona, the one up front on the right was born. This is Fiona’s first parade and she’s a little nervous. We put her with her older sisters. They’re experienced pulling a wagon and will help teach her.”

  “This is Ali’s first time in a parade too. He’s done a lot of stuff and made a bunch of personal appearances but never so close to home before. My mom’s the one who’s nervous about us,” laughed Becky. Stroking Ali’s neck she said, “He’s such a good boy. I know he’s going to do great.”

  Becky, Chuck and Gloria continued their relaxed chatter about Hinnies and Arabian horses while the parade committee volunteers hurried the entries into position. The energy level went up a lot. Most of the participants were ready to go. The noise level increased.

  A beautiful Appaloosa horse with his rider in a mountain man costume walked toward Ali and stopped. The rider was waiting to move up with his group and had to let another entry pass first. Ali’s neck snapped around when he saw the horse. The horse was white with brown spots all over his body. “Wow! Look at those crazy pajamas,” Ali said under his breath.

  The Appaloosa horse snorted in distain. “Hey, Pretty Boy! Who do you think you are, Mr. Hollywood? These are not pajamas! This is my coat. In my circles I’m considered extremely handsome.”

  “Oh, beg your pardon!” Ali answered. “I think you are handsome! I’ve just never seen a horse with spots like yours before. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Sorry I snapped at you,” the Appaloosa said. “Guess I shouldn’t get so excited.” His rider moved them down the line at last.

  Ali laughed to himself. He remembered that night in January when he was only a few days old. Becky, then eight, came to the barn and brought a pair of her own pink zebra stripped pajamas. She managed to get them on him before Mom found them in the stall with Ali’s mother looking on curiously.

  “What are you doing?” Ali remembered Mom asking Becky. It looked to him like Mom was trying hard not to laugh.

  “Mommy, Ali might get cold. I brought him a pair of my pajamas to keep him warm.”

  Mom patiently explained how Ali had a complete fur coat on and his mother with him to keep him warm. Ali sensed she was struggling hard not to burst out laughing as she and Becky removed the pajamas from his tiny body.

  Prince Ali looked calm on the outside but his heart was pounding with excitement. His Becky was riding him. He had no idea where they were going but he knew it was going to be fun. There would be lots of new things to see like that pretty long-eared Hinnie and that spotted horse too.

  Caroline had no trouble finding Walter on the porch of the El Adobe Restaurant. He had two seats for them across the table from a veterinarian he’d just met. Connor McGrew was a large animal veterinarian in the Ramona area in northern San Diego County. He and his sister Darlene, also his assistant, came up for the festivities. Both were animal lovers and especially loved the horses.

  After introductions, Darlene continued her conversation with Walter. “Did you hear about the horse theft in Orange Park Acres recently? A woman had her fifteen year old horse taken during the night and didn’t hear a thing. She got up to feed him the next morning and found him gone. She was devastated. She’d had him since he was born. She got lucky, though. She made a splash in the Orange County newspapers. I think it may have even been on TV so lots of people were looking for the horse. He turned up on a blackmarket horse trader’s property.”

  “Are you serious?” Caroline asked. “Did they catch the thief or was the horse trader the thief?”

  “The guy had a bill of sale for the horse. He paid three hundred dollars for a champion dressage horse worth thousands! The police took the bill of sale. Turns out the name and address on it were phony. All they have is a description of the guy from the trader. He told them he never got a good look at the guy’s truck or horse trailer. Yeah, right!”

  Conner interjected “We’ve had a few of those down in our area too, but none recently. The last one looked like a pair of creeps. Sometime during the night they cut part of a fence, walked into a private pasture and took two of the best horses. Our younger brother, John, is a deputy sheriff. He worked that case. They found where the truck and trailer were parked, where the horses were loaded and they had two sets of boot tracks at the scene. Sadly, the horses never showed up anywhere. They were just gone. I felt so sorry for my client on that case. The mare was their best producer and the gelding was a multi-champion cutting horse.”

  “That subject is scary for me. Let’s talk about something a little happier. Did Walter tell you about our horse being the Grand Marshall in this parade?” Carolin
e asked the McGrews.

  “He most certainly did!” Conner grinned at Caroline. “I’m pretty sure I saw your horse on TV when he subbed in for the mascot at the Colorado Mavericks football game. He’s one handsome cuss and he sure moves pretty. We can’t wait to see him.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  At eleven o’clock a.m., two Eagle Scouts marched down Ortega Highway toward Del Obispo Avenue. They carried the banner for the Swallows Day Parade.

  The theme for this year’s parade was “How the West Was Fun.” The first entry was a large group of rodeo clowns. They had painted faces and crazy red, white and blue costumes. Some wore barrels held up by suspenders. They did all kinds of silly things. The crowds down the parade route cheered and jeered as they passed by. The louder the crowd got, the crazier the clowns acted. There were three carts pulled by goats following the clowns on foot. Face painted clowns drove the carts dangling carrots in front of the goats’ noses. The clowns in the carts threw hard wrapped candies to the children along the parade route as they went by. Behind the clowns was the first of many school bands.

  Equestrian groups in Western and Early California attire moved between bands and strolling mariachi groups. Walking entries of “Soiled Doves” sashayed down the street with their “Cowboys.” There were several Color Guards from military and police units. Draft horses or mules pulled floats. Miniature horses pulled carts. Individual and family groups of equestrians moved west on Ortega Highway to Del Obispo. The parade turned north on Del Obispo to Camino Capistrano. Then everyone turned east on Camino Capistrano to the finish of the parade route. El Mercado, the street faire, was near the end point.

  El Mercado would start up right after the parade. Many vendors set up booths with items for sale, food and plenty to drink. Streets in town would remain blocked off after the parade because of the people walking through the street faire.

  Prince Ali and Becky were the only ones in the parade not wearing some kind of Western costume. Ali strode down the parade route proudly, looking to his left and right, making eye contact with spectators, especially the children, along the route. He kept pace with the Eagle Scouts in front of him. He knew he was looking good. This was fun! He was a ham in the first place. All the attention was exactly what he loved and he had his best friend along for the ride too. What could be better?

  Fiona and her sisters followed Ali down the parade route. Ali knew Fiona was nervous. The sound of her hooves against the asphalt was more tentative than her companions at first. As the parade moved along, she was getting better and more relaxed, her stride more purposeful.

  A two-year-old child along the route lost her bright red Happy Birthday balloon. It drifted across the road in front of Fiona. It touched the pavement almost beneath her front feet. It exploded! The child screamed and began to wail. Fiona froze. She stopped in her tracks for a heartbeat, then screamed out in fear and began to shake. She scrabbled backward away from the noisy thing. Her shoes slipped on the pavement. She slammed into Sally, hitched behind her.

  That caught Sally off guard. The impact drove her backward. She crashed into the buckboard. The buckboard jolted backward several feet. When Fiona threw herself in reverse she dragged Peggy, hitched beside her. Peggy was slammed backward. Her rear rammed Missy. That shoved Missy into the buckboard. The impact sent the buckboard several more feet backward. The first jolt tossed the Boy Scouts in the back of the buckboard to the floor. The second jolt sent them crashing into the front of the wagon.

  Gloria hung on for dear life. Chuck hauled on the reins and hollered, “Whoa! Easy! Whoa! EASY! WHOA!” Gloria turned her head and saw the kids knocked about on the floorboards. She saw blood. Her heart raced.

  The Marine Corps Color Guard marched behind the buckboard. The explosion stopped them in their tracks. The Marines held onto their Palomino mustangs. They grabbed flags and held them to the flag poles to stop flapping that could cause further distraction.

  A Marine on the outside of the group spun his horse around and moved to the leader of the school band behind them. He asked them to stop the music until the horse situation was under control. The band passed the word backward person to person quickly. Everyone went silent, standing at attention. Word spread back from the band to every group behind them down the parade route. Every float, cart, carriage, walker, wagon and band stopped in silence. The spectators watching this went quiet from shock. They watched with their hearts in their throats.

  Fiona threw her head and brayed. Sweat poured down her neck and flanks. Her chest heaved. All four animals voiced their fear. They fed on each other’s fright. The four danced and scrambled on the asphalt to keep their footing. The sound of metal shoes scraping asphalt screeched through the still morning air.

  Fiona couldn’t move backward because of Sally behind her. She started jumping forward. When her metal shoes hit the asphalt, they slipped. She started to go down. All she wanted to do was run away from this thing that was going to kill her. She shook all over, tossed her head around and screamed in terror.

  Ali saw what happened and was momentarily startled by the exploding balloon himself. He turned and walked calmly back toward Fiona. Becky could not change his direction. She finally understood and went with him. Ali stood sideways in front of Fiona. His body became a granite wall she couldn’t get through. He blocked her. He reached around with his muzzle and touched the side of her face and neck. He nickered to her. Fiona stood shaking, sweating and ready to bolt.

  “Hey Beautiful, its okay! That thing is dead and can’t hurt you.” Ali was so calm and unruffled Fiona began to settle down. Her breathing slowed. Becky sat on Ali’s back and spoke to the Hinnies in a soothing voice, “Easy ladies. Everything’s all right. It was just a balloon. It can’t hurt you. Easy, Whoa…Easy girls,” Becky kept talking to the Hinnies in a soothing voice until the other three mares began to settle down. They stopped hopping around. “Beautiful Fiona, I know you want to run away from that thing, but you can’t do that. If you did, you could get hurt. Look around. There are many little people here that could get hurt too. It’s okay. I promise you. Calm down, catch your breath. I’m right here. I’ll look out for you.” Ali told her.

  When Fiona was calm enough, Ali found a piece of the red balloon lying in the street in front of her and stomped on it with his front foot. “See what I mean?” Ali said to her. “This thing is dead!” He kicked it and stomped it again. Ali looked at the thing under his foot then looked at Fiona. He looked back down at the rubber thing and up again at Fiona.

  She finally got it! She answered him at last. “Oh, thank you. I was so scared. I don’t want to get hurt and I don’t want to hurt anyone else either. I thought that thing was going to kill me! I can’t thank you enough, sir. Thank you for being my white horse in shining armor!” She and her stable-mates were consoled. Their breathing slowed to normal. They stopped sweating and stamping the pavement.

  During the ruckus, spectators on both sides of the road couldn’t turn their eyes away. They remained quiet, holding their breath. The mother and father of the child who lost her balloon took the sobbing child away from the area. The crowd parted to give them room.

  Chuck was blown away. He watched the interaction between Fiona and Ali. He knew positively Ali prevented a disaster. For a few seconds he was sure he had a four horse stampede on his hands. He thought his family, the scout troop, their buckboard and the four Hinnies were goners and maybe some of the spectators too. His wife was next to him on the seat. A couple of his own kids were in the back of the buckboard with the rest of their scout troop.

  He and Gloria saw news coverage of a wreck caused by a four-horse hitch like his bolting at a parade a few years back. The news report said the wagon was destroyed. Some of the horses and several of the spectators were seriously hurt. One person in the wagon died.

  Chuck had never seen an animal diffuse a situation like this. He had tears in his eyes. His hands were shaking as he held tightly to the four sets of reins. He leaned toward Gloria and s
he hugged him. She was shaking too.

  Gloria checked on the boys in the back of the buckboard. She saw two bloody noses and a few scrapes. None were seriously hurt. There might be a couple of black eyes in the morning. All the boys were shaken, her sons included. Her eyes welled up thinking of that old TV newscast. She reassured the boys. They got back to their seats on the hay bales. She handed out Kleenex to those bleeding and helped mop up the bloody noses.

  Fiona took two paces forward until she felt the tug of the harness on the breast piece then stopped. Sally moved forward the same two paces until she’d pulled the harness tight from the wagon. Fiona tightened up the rigging again and halted. Next to them Peggy and Missy also moved forward and tightened up the harness. All four stood and waited calmly.

  Ali resumed his place in the parade but he looked over his shoulder at Fiona. When he was certain she was alright, he turned back and faced forward with his neck up and arched like nothing ever happened. He waited for Becky to signal him onward.

  Fiona nickered to him, “We’re okay now. We’re ready. Thank you again!” All was right with the world. Everything froze in place for about ten seconds. Nothing moved, not a sound was heard but the slight squeak of harness leather as the hinnies drew their breaths.

  Chuck handed the reins to Gloria. He jumped down from the buckboard to check the rigging on the animals. He stroked and patted each one as he checked harnesses, breeching, saddles, breast collars and reins. He straightened those he found out of place. He smiled up at Gloria when he discovered no damage.

  “We’re good to go,” he said as he climbed back up and took the reins from Gloria. “We sure dodged a bullet that time.”