Horace Learns to Dance

Horace Learns to Dance
by
Robin Hall


One day Horace was curious about a funny smell in the morning breeze. He sneezed twice, almost fell over and scared the daylights out of that mean cat Phyllis when he barely missed stepping on her tail. The mice all laughed and Horace’ cow friends mooed in appreciation. It was the beginning of another day in Music Valley.

After some oats, water and blue cornflowers that were growing behind the barn Horace followed his nose to the funny smell. He came to a clearing with a broken down house and a hill covered with kudzu. Horace sniffed the kudzu, he was usually hungry and always on the lookout for a new snack but kudzu wasn’t snack food for zebra mules like Horace which was too bad since there was so much of it.

Then a strange thing happened over by a mound of the ever present weed. Bees came flying out of the middle of the hill. Lots of bees. Really lots of bees. They were everywhere. Horace stood still. He knew bees and had been stung a few times. Being curious has some drawbacks, he remembered.

Anyway, the bees didn’t notice him standing there. Horace was a zebra mule after all. Zebra’s stripes help them blend into the scenery so no one can see them, especially lions. The bees danced happily in the air. First one bee moved and swooped around. Then some more followed and finally the whole herd of bees were flying around. It was quite a sight.

The bees danced like that for 7 minutes then went back into the hill of kudzu. Horace walked home wondering about what he had seen. Dancing bees.

The next day, Horace was watching Flat TV at Miss Poppy’s house. A Gene Kelly movie was playing. There was singing all over the place, even in the rain. And lots of dancing. Horace was entranced.

Miss Poppy was dancing and singing too. She had memorized all the tunes and steps and was very good indeed. It was wonderful. There were lots of interesting people in the movie too, and one, Donald O’Connor, who looked strangely familiar as did Debbie Reynolds who looked a lot like Princess Leia from the Star Wars movies Miss Poppy and Horace watched last week.

This dancing was exciting and Horace was very curious as ever. He decided to study up on dancing. But where to go? Horace couldn’t type, so the internet was out. He couldn't’t go to the library either. He tried that one day and the librarian got quite upset and threw a copy of War and Peace at Horace. Luckily Horace ducked and the book landed on the steps by the door.

Hmmmmm. Horace thought and thought, which is what people, zebra mules and other curious beings do a lot of when they are stumped or just curious. Another thing lots of curious folks do when they are thinking, is to walk. Horace was fond of walking anyway and it was good exercise, so off he went.

First, Horace walked to the end of Music Valley. “I will start at the beginning,” Horace thought. He walked for miles and miles thinking and thinking about dancing. Horace hummed a bit when it started to rain, just like the movie. There were cornflowers everywhere and lots of little streams, so Horace didn’t have to worry about nourishment while he was thinking about dancing. He would hum, eat cornflowers and take drinks from whichever stream was near. He walked and walked and thought and thought. Dancing, what a concept!!

Later in the day Horace was passing a small house with another little building in the back. There was music and laughter. Horace investigated. “Horace, DI, Dancing Investigator, on the job,” he thought. The window on the little building was just about right for Horace to look inside. Over against the far wall there was a boom box where the music played. The teacher, as Horace guessed because she was just a bit taller and older looking, was wearing very tight fitting clothes as were the boys and girls. This was curious. Horace investigated some more.

They were all stretching and bouncing around and giggling. Then the teacher got their attention. Everyone got quiet and class began. There were lots of things where everyone just seemed to follow the teacher. Then the class paired off and danced together. Then everyone just danced alone. There was lots more giggling too. Some of the children were new and more than a few fell over or tripped. One stubbed his toe and cried while the teacher consoled him.

Then someone saw Horace and shouted. Everyone ran outside and Horace started to trot off but the teacher called his name. Horace stopped and turned around. He hadn’t noticed before but the teacher looked a lot like Miss Poppy. “Class,” Miss Betsy Jo Twilling Rose said, “this is Horace. He is a friend of my sister Poppy.” Most of the students came over and patted Horace gently, which he quite liked. Miss Betsy Jo brought out some sugar cubes for Horace and told him he could watch dancing anytime he wanted. Then she called the students back to class. Horace watched for a bit more then walked home as it was almost time for dinner.

On the way, his steps were just a little lighter it seemed. It was nice to have some new friends. He had met Miss Poppy’s sister, Betsy Jo and her class and had learned a step or two which he practiced after dinner while his cow friends mooed a tune for him. It was an excellent day. Horace went back to the school often just to be with his new friends and learn a few new steps.

“Curiosity,” Horace thought later that afternoon, “is a pretty good thing. I learned about dancing, met new people and had fun.” Horace knew he wouldn't’t be a great dancer like that Kelly fellow. He also knew that you can learn and do things just because they are fun. “Dancing is for everyone,” Horace thought. “And that’s the way of things here in Music Valley and everywhere. We can do lots of things that are fun even if we won’t ever be in the movies or win awards. Fun is its own reward.” Horace brayed softly with the cows for a while as he usually did each night. Then he went to sleep.

Another day on the farm at Music Valley came to a close. The sun set behind Mount High Note, the air stilled and quietly everyone went to sleep. Some, like Horace, had a smile on their face because they had learned something new and wonderful.