Horace the Zebra Mule

Horace the Zebra Mule
by
Robin Hall

Horace the zebra mule was very curious and in more than just the usual ways. First, Horace was a mule. That is pretty curious when you think about it. But Horace wasn’t just any mule, curious or not. No. Horace was a zebra mule. His dad was a zebra and his mom was a horse. But that’s another story.

OK, now being a zebra mule was curious indeed and Horace was no exception. But he was really curious, just like you and I are. Horace wanted to know about everything.

When he was very young, his folks knew he was curious. Horace was always wandering about looking for new things. He found mice quite entertaining and would watch them for hours doing mice stuff like eating wheat, digging tunnels in the hay and running into them when that mean cat, Phyllis, came into the barn. Horace kept his eyes open for Phyllis and warned the mice when she looked hungry. Horace was a very nice mule as well as being curious.

Horace liked to watch the cows too and he loved all that mooing. Horace frequently tried mooing but, well, it just wasn’t the same coming from a zebra mule and one or two of the cows would laugh out loud, but he didn’t mind.

Several of the nicer cows rather appreciated his attempts at being social and would moo loudly when Horace was near. Horace would sort of bray in tune. The sound was certainly unusual. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was melodical but it was fun for all. Some of the chickens would squawk a bit. No one was sure if all the noise bothered them or if they were just joining the chorus.

The geese definitely liked the barnyard choir and would fly up on Horace’ back while he paraded around and would honk at the passersby. The pigs were quite enthusiastic about the B Choir and lent their squealing voices as did the goats. However, Ben, the grey old dog didn’t seem to hear the music and just ambled off when the Barnyard Choir was in session.

Even Phyllis the mean cat had to admit the B Choir, as they had come to be known, was fun and she would snarl in tune on her better days which were relatively few.

One day Horace heard a lot of noise and wandered next door to see what all the ruckus was about. Workmen, well, one work man and one work woman, were installing satellite TV at Miss Poppy’s house. Horace watched the goings on for some time. Work was interesting to observe.

The workpeople were bickering a bit so Horace assumed they were married. First, they dug a square hole about 50 feet from the house, tamped the dirt, put in some rocks and tamped some more. Then they placed a pole and anchor in the rocks, made up some concrete and filled the hole with it.

They dug a small trench to the house while the concrete got hard, laid the cable in the trench and covered it up. Horace couldn’t even see where they had dug. The couple were very careful workers. Then they went into the living room to install the boxes and hook up the TV. A few minutes later they came outside, put the satellite dish up, aimed it a bit, took readings, went inside to make sure the whole thing worked. They finished off the concrete and then left.

Horace was quite interested by now. He had heard about TV but had never seen it. So he slowly wandered over to the window to look. Luckily the TV was on the other side of the room and it was a beauty. A fine 34" Sony KD-34XBR970 HDTV TV that probably cost Miss Poppy a bundle. The sound was excellent but Horace was disappointed because the picture was in black and white.

There were some people in Kansas. There was a tornado. Then the tornado stopped and the screen turned colorful. It was amazing, just like outside. Real life. Then there was a yellow brick road, lots of singing, a tin man, a talking lion, a funny scarecrow, a beautiful good witch, an ugly bad witch, lots of little people and a pretty girl. Well, Horace was amazed.

Then a funny thing happened. Miss Poppy walked back into the living room and saw Horace wathcing TV. At first he didn’t see her since the TV was so interesting and Horace was sort of singing along like he did with the B Choir.

Then Horace noticed Miss Poppy watching him. He got embarrassed and started to walk away, but Miss Poppy came after him. She said, “Horace, do you know what the TV movie was about?” Horace nodded. He couldn’t talk of course. Wouldn’t that be silly, a talking mule? But you know, I bet there are plenty of animals, and people too, who can’t talk but do understand a lot of things and we just don’t notice them.

“Well, I’ll be hornswaggled,” Miss Poppy chuckled. “I knew you were curious but this...Now Horace, not everyone will appreciate a curious zebra mule you know. You will have to be careful when you are out in the world. Special people, and animals I guess, are sometimes misunderstood. You watch out when you are away from your family and from me. Its a jungle out there.”

Horace nodded. Miss Poppy gave Horace some sugar and told him to come back any time and watch HDTV and he did. Often.

You know, being curious is fun and its a good way to learn. But like Miss Poppy said, you have to be careful out in the world and watch out for each other. Horace never forgot and he when he traveled around being curious and learning new things, Miss Poppy’s words stayed with him through many fine adventures in Music Valley.