The Mystery at the Calgary Stampede (2 page)

Benny was pleased with this plan. “Dinner
is
very important,” he said. “Let’s go!”

T
he next morning, Judy—who had told the
Aldens to call her “Aunt Judy”—got up early
to pack food and blankets. She was ready
to take the children to the parade while
Grandfather went to a business meeting.

Benny peeked in one of the food containers
and was excited to see chicken wings left over
from the celebration dinner the night before.

“I have a collection of cowboy hats,” Aunt
Judy told the Aldens. “You can each choose
one to wear.” She looked at Violet. “I have a
purple one for you. It’s my favorite, but I’ll
share it while you’re here.”

When the Aldens had picked out their
cowboy hats, they all headed out in Aunt
Judy’s minivan, picking up Daisy along the
way. Aunt Judy and Daisy lived in the city,
and downtown was only fifteen minutes away.

“Let’s find a spot on the corner of Fifth
Street and Ninth Avenue,” Aunt Judy said
once she found a parking space. “I want to
show you something.”

The streets were closed to traffic there,
and every corner of the intersection was filled
with people waiting for the parade. Aunt
Judy and Daisy chose a place to set out their
blankets on the edge of the curb.

“What’s all that?” asked Jessie, pointing
to a spot in the middle of the intersection
where the pavement was marked in large
numbered squares.

Daisy laughed. “
That
is horse poop bingo.”

“What?”
Benny’s mouth gaped open. The
pavement
did
look like a giant bingo card, but
without the B-I-N-G-O letters. They walked
over to the squares for a better look.

“I don’t see any horse poop,” Benny said.

“Not yet,” said Aunt Judy. “That will
come. Soon.”

The Aldens spotted a man with a bucket.
On the bucket was a sign:
Horse Poop Bingo.
Coins rattled in the bucket.

“Over here!” Aunt Judy called out to him.

She rummaged in her bag, and pulled out
five big coins. “These are nicknamed ‘toonies,’”
she told the Aldens. “Canadian
two
-nie dollar
coins! Each one is worth two dollars. Get it? I’ll
give one to each of you and Daisy. You choose
a number in a square where you think some
horse poop might end up…and if a horse poops
in that square, you can win some money. The
rest of the money goes to a charity.”

The man with the coin bucket gave Jessie a
piece of chalk to share and write their names
in the squares of their choice.

“I’m twelve, so I’ll pick the square with
that number,” said Jessie. Henry, Violet, and
Daisy each chose a square too.

Benny chose the square he was standing on.
Then the Aldens went back to their blankets
to wait for the parade to begin.

Benny stood on the curb and peered down
the street.

“I see bagpipes,” Benny called out. After
another few moments, he added, “And a band!”

Soon they could all see the Calgary
Stampede Show Band marching down the
street toward them.

Violet shivered in excitement. Behind the
band came a mint-green convertible with
the parade marshal sitting in back. Now the
parade had truly begun! The crowd cheered
and waved.

Henry looked up and noticed people
standing in the windows of all the downtown
office buildings; they were even on the
rooftops. The entire city and all its visitors
seemed to be celebrating together.

Next came a group riding beautiful,
chestnut-colored horses. “Maybe one will
poop in my square,” said Benny. He looked
for his square, but couldn’t see it with all the
people on the street.

Another marching band led by baton
twirlers went by, followed by Ukrainian
dancers, Greek dancers, and Hawaiian
dancers. A little girl doing an Irish dance
moved her feet faster than anything Benny
had ever seen. He almost forgot all about
the horse poop until a horse went by and
did just that, though not on one of the
Aldens’ squares. The crowd cheered as the
horse went past. Benny noticed that they
didn’t seem to care whose square was lucky.
Everyone was just happy the poop was on
a square.

A line of covered wagons went by. Daisy
recognized someone in one of the wagons.
“Look,” she said to the Aldens, “there’s
another Young Canadian.” She waved, and a
boy with black curly hair waved back. “His
name is Clay.”

Beside Clay was a little girl with black
braids. She wore a long, checkered pioneer
skirt and a bonnet. She waved too.

“Is that his little sister?” asked Violet.

“She is. She’s like his little shadow,” said
Daisy. The girl waved too.

The parade continued with more people
riding by on horseback. Even the mayor
rode a horse! He was followed by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police in fancy red jackets
clip-clopping past on their horses.

Violet watched the Calgary police officers
as they strolled up and down along the curbs.
They wore black cowboy hats with red bands
on them. She’d never seen a police cowboy hat
and thought they looked quite adventurous.
She also noticed all the different colored
cowboy hats in the crowd. She was hoping to
see purple cowboy boots but didn’t spot any.

One of the parade floats had a sign that
read
Cow Town Amateur Archives
in fancy
old-fashioned-looking letters. On the float
were a bookcase full of old books and boxes.
The boxes were labeled in big letters:
Old
Photos and Maps
read one. Others said
Letters
and Postcards
, and
Memorabilia
. A man in a
very big cowboy hat was kneeling over one
of the open boxes, looking as if he was busy
sorting through papers.

Daisy pointed to the back of the float,
which was decorated with dark green fabric
that looked like waves, and a low wall made up
of sandbags “That part of the float represents
the flood,” she told the Aldens. “Calgary had
a terrible flood a few years ago. So many
places were under water, and a lot of historical
items were ruined. Some things were rescued
before the flood reached them, and some
were damaged and needed to be restored. I
think that’s what this group does—finds and
preserves and stores old stuff so that we can
study it later.”

“What are
archives
?” asked Violet.

“Archives are very old things—historical
records like diaries and letters or even the old
Stampede posters you saw at the museum,”
said Aunt Judy.

Henry nudged Jessie and nodded toward
the float and the man with the large hat. “I
think that’s the man we saw at the museum
yesterday!”

Jessie squinted. “He does have a beard…
and that big hat sure looks familiar!”

The man looked up from the boxes to wave
to the parade spectators, and Henry was sure
he
was
the man from the museum!

When the last float had gone by, the
Aldens, Aunt Judy, and Daisy joined the
river of parade-goers heading toward the
fair. The streets were packed and hot, but
the crowd seemed friendly as if everyone
knew one another.

Benny grabbed Daisy’s hand, and she
smiled at him. “Welcome to the Calgary
Stampede,” she said. “The celebration has
now officially begun!”

Aunt Judy, Daisy, and the Aldens headed
to Stampede Park, where the grandstand,
rodeo arena, and many of the other Stampede
attractions were taking place. Daisy had
rehearsal with the Young Canadians before
the show that night, so Judy dropped her off
at the south gate to the park.

“We’ll be back in time for the show,” Aunt
Judy told Daisy. “Break a leg!” The Aldens
knew that meant “good luck.”

“I have my pin,” said Daisy. “That’s all
the luck I need.” She touched the pin on her
collar. “I really do feel lucky.”

Aunt Judy watched her niece disappear
through the gate. “She doesn’t really need the
pin for luck, you know,” she told the children.
“She has a full chuckwagon’s worth of talent.”

“I can’t wait to see her tonight!” Jessie said.

“I have a busy afternoon planned for us,”
said Aunt Judy. “First, we’ll take a drive along
the Bow River.”

“What about dinner?” asked Benny.

Aunt Judy chuckled. “I thought we could
go back to the food section of the midway,
and fill up on deep-fried pickled beans!”

Benny looked uncertain. He liked to think
he could try any sort of food, but deep-fried
pickled beans just did not sound good!

“I told you we had some very strange food
here,” Aunt Judy said. “How about we have
homemade macaroni and cheese with bacon
at my place instead?”

Benny nodded and grinned.

After an afternoon drive and dinner at Aunt
Judy’s, it was time to go back to Stampede
Park. Aunt Judy and the Aldens made their
way to the grandstand.

Jessie noticed the grandstand was starting
to fill with spectators as she and the others
followed Aunt Judy to the Young Canadians’
dressing rooms.

“This is one of the biggest mobile stages in
the world,” Aunt Judy explained. “During the
day, it’s parked just outside the rodeo arena.
The rodeo events and the chuckwagon races
are in the arena throughout the day, and then
at night the entire stage is pulled by a huge
tractor right into the middle of the arena.”

Henry and his siblings thought a stage that
could be pulled by a tractor sounded amazing.
“I can’t wait to see it,” he said.

They had reached the dressing room
entrance. “Good evening, Ms. Simon,” the
security guard said as he waved Aunt Judy
and the Aldens through. It seemed to Jessie
that Aunt Judy could go wherever she wanted.

The dressing room was loud and bright.
A group of girls was warming up with
singing exercises, and their warbly bird
sounds made Benny and Violet giggle.
Another group of teenagers were on their
toes dancing in circles.

“Look,” said Jessie, pointing toward the
mirrors. “There’s Daisy’s friend Clay from
the parade.”

Clay was sitting in front of a mirror,
putting gel in his hair, which was thick and
kept falling across his face. The gel didn’t
seem to be helping, and he got up to look
for something.

His little sister was sitting next to him. “I
told you to let Mom cut it,” she said to Clay.

“Daisy was right,” Henry told Jessie. “His
little sister does seem to follow him around
all the time.” They watched as the little girl,
who looked to be about five, stood up and
followed her big brother as he looked around
the dressing room.

Clay came to a stop in front of them. “You
haven’t seen a cowboy hat around here, have
you by any chance? I’ve got to cover this up.”
He pushed his fingers through his messy hair.

“I’ve seen a lot of cowboy hats.” Jessie
laughed. After all, in this city, cowboy hats
were everywhere!

A look came over Clay’s face. Jessie thought
maybe he’d suddenly remembered where his
hat was. He ran out of the room, bumping
into people in his rush. His little sister stayed
behind, looking confused.

“I wonder what that was about,” Violet
remarked.

Clay came running back a few moments
later, his hat on his head. “Whoa! Sorry,” he
said to the Aldens. “I didn’t mean to be rude.
I just remembered where I left my hat.” He
grinned and shook their hands. “I’m Clay.”

“And I’m Little Clay,” his little sister said.

“Do you have your own name?” asked
Jessie, smiling at the little girl.

“Yes,” she said. “But I like to be Little
Clay. I’m going to be a Young Canadian
too someday.”

At that moment a woman called to the
little girl from the doorway. “Honey!” she
said. “We need to go.”

“Oh, that’s my mom. Got to go!” Little
Clay danced over to her mom and they left.

Jessie turned back to Clay. She was going
to ask him where he’d found his hat.

But suddenly they heard a cry from the
lockers by the doorway. Everyone turned
to look.

“My pin!” shrieked Daisy. “Has anyone
seen my aunt’s pin? It’s gone!”

J
essie could tell that everyone in the dressing
room knew what Daisy was talking about.
She must have shown them all the pin.

“Don’t panic,” called out Aunt Judy. But
Daisy was already in tears.

Some of the other Young Canadians tried
to reassure her.

“I’m sure it will turn up,” one boy said.

“It has to be somewhere around here,” said
a girl in a bright blue sundress. She looked
close to tears herself.

A few more Young Canadians searched the
dressing tables, looked under costumes, and
checked the floor.

“Where did you last see it?” Henry asked.

Daisy wiped her eyes. “It was in my…”

Suddenly a voice boomed over the PA
system. “Young Canadians! Places in three
minutes!”