AATTA-14

Chapter 14

The First Calgary Stampede, 1912

The twins were still clasping hands as they lay on the dirt ground, looking up at wooden boards beneath the grandstand. They both let out a sigh of relief that they weren’t looking up at the mouth of a hungry dinosaur. Amazingly, their palms had completely healed and there wasn’t a trace of blood; the dinosaur tooth had also vanished. They were relieved to see that Jasper had made the trip with them, even though his fur was standing on end as if he’d stuck his tongue into a 200-amp electrical socket.

“Now,” Ray said, as the two of them stood up and dusted themselves off, “let’s hope we actually went back in time.”

They didn’t need to wonder for long; they heard an announcement that the royal party was entering the infield. This was followed by a thunderous applause. The twins quickly rushed over and peered through the boards into the arena. They saw the royal carriage approaching and it appeared that the twins were directly below the elegantly decorated royal box.

“I was so nervous about ending up as dinosaur food,” Roxy confessed, “that I forgot to mention that the Duke of Connaught, the governor general of Canada; his lovely wife, the duchess; and their beautiful daughter, Princess Patricia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, were at the Stampede on the day of the World Championship as well.”

“No kidding,” Ray said. “Wow, is that princess cute! She’s as cute as Prince William’s wife, Kate, who visited the Stampede in 2011, just after they got married.”

After the royal family disembarked from their carriages, other VIPs took their seats in the box as well. Some of the guests were Arthur Sifton, the premier of Alberta; George Bulyea, the lieutenant-governor; R.B. Bennett, representing the federal government in Ottawa; and Senator James Lougheed and his lovely wife, Belle, the official hostess of the royals.

The royal carriage has arrived.

Once they were all seated, Guy Weadick, the founder of the Calgary Stampede and master of ceremonies, announced that it was time to introduce the Stampede participants. The competitors then entered the infield from the east gate and proceeded to parade past the royal box. Hidden below, the twins had the second-best seat in the house.

As general manager of the Stampede, Guy Weadick led the procession, followed by H.C. McMullen and the famous Cowboy Band from Pendleton, Oregon, headed by Bandmaster Haines. Behind the band came over 200 of the finest riders ever assembled. The group consisted of cowboys and cowgirls from all over North America, including the Mexican vaqueros (cowboys in Spanish) who wore their distinctive dark suits with silver buttons and dark cowboy hats and aboriginals from all over southern Alberta.

The twins could hardly contain themselves when they saw their feisty red-headed great-great-grandmother, Leah, then only 19 years old, ride toward them. Her trick rope was in her right hand, which meant that her devastating horse accident hadn’t yet happened. Once all the participants had paraded in front of the grandstand, the nine cowgirls competing in the Calgary Stampede remained while everyone else left the infield.

William & Kate, The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge at The Stampede.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Guy continued, “it’s now time to give away the beautiful one of a kind diamond, donated by the D.E. Black Diamond Merchant Company, located on Eighth Avenue, downtown. This prize goes to the best-looking cowgirl in the Stampede! Princess Patricia has also graciously offered to judge the contest, with the help of a sweet, young, blond-haired, blue-eyed seven-year old girl, named Finley. Finley had presented the princess with a beautiful bouquet of pink roses when she and her family had arrived yesterday at the Canadian Pacific Railway train station”.

“But before we present the winner, if any one of the ladies in the grandstand can rope this here old grey mule at 25-feet distance, she would automatically qualify for the World Championship roping competition taking place this afternoon. She’d have a chance to win the diamond ring, too. Hurry up, there’s only enough time for three or four ladies to try.”

By the time Ray turned to his sister to suggest that she go for it, Roxy had already stepped out of their hiding place. Ray watched as she reappeared on the other side of the boards and was fourth in line for the attempt to qualify. The 14 other girls who ran up behind Roxy were too late and were asked to return to their seats.

Parading in front of the royal box.

As it turned out, all the women in front of Roxy were unable to lasso the old mule. “Wild Roping Roxy,” however, was so confident that she took a big step back from the 25-foot line in the dirt and perfectly executed the lasso. Guy was so impressed that, after he asked for Roxy’s name, he asked her what she could do for an encore.

Roxy gave Guy a mischievous smile and then turned and faced the VIPs. With a couple of quick twirls of her wrist and arm, she was able to lasso the astounded Duke and Duchess of Connaught from a distance of over 30 feet.

A hush fell over the crowd, since Roxy had just breached the security of the royal box. She was now more likely to end up in jail than to take part in the World Championship roping contest!

As soon as the three police officers left the box, to run toward her, Roxy started shouting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss each other. Kiss, kiss, kiss each other.”

Luckily for Roxy, all the other cowgirls joined in, followed by the entire audience. Just before the police officers grabbed Roxy’s rope, the duke planted a kiss on the duchess’s cheek, to the delight of the crowd, who gave the royal couple a standing ovation. Even the police officers could hardly contain their smiles and congratulated Roxy for making it into the Calgary Stampede. They still cautioned her, however, not to even think about pulling such a foolish stunt again. Roxy gave them her word. She later told Ray that she’d gotten the idea from watching Prince William and Kate’s wedding day, when they kissed from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after being prompted by the crowd.

A few minutes later, Princess Patricia and young Finley, dressed in her favourite purple dress and shoes, were about to stand up to announce the winner of the best-dressed cowgirl contest. Suddenly, a buffalo came galloping through the west entrance of the infield, with a woman frantically waving her hands in the air behind the cowboy in the saddle.

“Y’all, I’m here,” the woman declared, in a thick Texan drawl, “and that pretty little rock belongs to me!”

“Ladies and gentleman,” Guy announced, “please welcome Dan Carr, a unique cowboy from St. Pierre, North Dakota, riding his favourite buffalo, Chip. Behind him in the saddle is one of the world’s finest female saddle bronc riders, the one and only, fearless Tammy ‘Too Tall’ Taylor from Trinity, Texas!”

The crowd gave the cowgirl a rousing welcome and burst into applause when she leapt off the buffalo in full stride to join the other cowgirls in front of the royal box.

The moment Tammy jumped off the buffalo, Roxy could see why Guy had called her ‘Too Tall.’ The woman stood almost two metres tall. She wore a fire engine red Western shirt to match her red chaps, adding to her undoubtedly colourful and flamboyant personality. When the crowd had settled down, Guy asked the princess to announce the winner of the best-dressed cowgirl contest.

“Ladies and gentleman,” the princess began, “Finley and I have decided that we have a tie for the contest. Miss Tammy Taylor and the young lady dressed in pink who made my father kiss my mother.”

“Well,” Guy said with a perplexed expression, “how are we going to solve this?”

At that moment, the impatient corral director walked up to Guy, pointed to his watch, and made a suggestion that Guy shared with everyone over the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen, with the program running behind schedule, my corral director, Addison Day, has come up with a great idea as to who will win the diamond ring. We will have both Tammy and Roxy ride shotgun in the first stagecoach race, which starts in five minutes. Even though there are four, six-horse teams, the cowgirl riding the stagecoach that crosses the finish line first will get the diamond ring. What do you think, folks?”

The audience loved the idea and burst into thunderous applause.

“The teams have a standing start,” Guy continued, “then they have to do a figure eight around the two barrels, before darting off in the opposite direction. The first driver to cross the finish line in front of the grandstand wins the $250.00 cash prize!”

Ray approached Roxy and wished her good luck. Roxy then clambered up onto the navy blue stagecoach beside the 18-year-old driver. The young man was dressed in a blue shirt and bandana, and he introduced himself as Tommi.

“Hey Tommi, I’m Roxy. Let’s give ‘er heck!”

Minutes later, after the starting bell had rung, Roxy found herself holding on for dear life as the stagecoach darted down the dusty track at full speed. The red stagecoach that Tammy was on ended up winning by less than a horse head’s distance. Naturally, Roxy was deeply disappointed that Tammy was going to win the diamond ring.

But the matter wasn’t quite settled yet. Tom Three Persons, from the Blood First Nation, one of the top contenders for the Horse Riding with Saddle World Championships, demanded that Tammy return his red chaps. He’d apparently loaned them to her, and now that she’d won the ring, he had the finals of his event to prepare for. Princess Patricia overheard Tom and informed Guy Weadick. A moment later, Guy made the shocking announcement.

“Ladies and gentleman, I just talked to Princess Patricia, the final judge of this event. She has decided that due to the fact that Miss Taylor borrowed the red chaps from Tom Three Persons and didn’t own them herself, she is disqualified from the contest. Roxy, the runner-up, gets the beautiful diamond ring!”

The crowd approved of the decision and cheered loudly. Tammy was furious but calmed down when a representative from the H.M. Splane Company gave her and Roxy each a title to a residential lot in Calgary, as a prize for providing such great entertainment.

“Way to go!” Ray exclaimed, as he walked up to Roxy and gave his sister a high five.

“Thanks, Ray,” Roxy replied. “Hey, where’s Jasper?”

“He’s hiding under the grandstand, below the royal box. I’m sure he’ll be fine for now. You did really well, Roxy.”

Tom Three Persons – World Saddle Bronc Champion, 1912 Calgary Stampede.

“Yeah, but Tom Three Persons is the real hero,” Roxy said. “He was the only Canadian World Champion at the 1912 Stampede who rode Cyclone, a black brute of a horse, to a standstill. In fact, it was such a feat that the headlines on the front page of the Calgary Herald read: “Hail Tom Three Persons!”

“The only Canadian World Champion?” Ray said. “The 1912 Stampede isn’t over yet, and if we prevent Leah from having her hand crushed, she’s got a great chance of taking the title!”

“Good point, Ray,” Roxy agreed.

“One thing worries me, though,” he said.

Roxy tilted her head to one side and gave him a questioning look.

“It’s the dinosaur tooth we used to get here. We don’t know if it’s altered the time travel schedule. What if it zaps us back to the present before we can help Leah?”

Roxy knew he was right and felt a stab of fear in her heart. “Let’s track her down as fast as we can,” she said.