A Unicorn's Tale, Part 5

5.

     Somehow I escaped the pandemonium of the clearing and ended up in St. Petersburg. That happened to be a good thing for a little boy who had lost his mother in a crowd. He cried that he wanted his mommy, and I took him straight across the square. Unicorn magic is wonderful for finding lost things. Did I tell you about how I found a bride’s wedding cake? Never mind.
     I could not find anyone else in that latitude who needed a ride, so I bounced on over to Italy and ran the tilted streets of Torino for a while. I ended up taking a sunburned tourist to the hotel lobby he had just vacated. He said he’d vacated; as it turns out he was trying to get into the suite of an ex-girlfriend. I watched her fist make contact with the underside of his jaw.
      Believe me, I bounced out of there, quick.

     And then I picked up a second second passenger – I wasn’t sure if the last one would count – at a small tavern in the Alps. She had personal business. I won’t discuss her.
     The last passenger ended up being in a sunny plaza in Morocco. I can’t tell you how I got there because I’m not quite sure myself. As the old woman climbed onto my back on her way to visit her sister I happened to turn my head and see a small, dirty figure suddenly stand up and run towards me. I only noticed the ragged combat boots and loose hair before I kicked off the ground, up and away. I would return to that spot many times over the years. But that was later.
     I thought I did pretty well getting my passengers all situated in their new locations. Imagine my surprise when I returned to the clearing in Tokyo and all five of the other competitors were back.
     “Where were you, kid?” Mikey tossed his mane. Angry sparkles crackled from his clean coat.             “How long does it take to find three randoms and take them across the world?”
     “I don’t know, how long?” I said.
     “Don’t get wise with me. You know it only takes a minute, even after making them forget the ride. And you didn’t even dance. Right?”
     “No, but – ”
     “Even in my slowest races I’ve come up with a better time than you.”
     “How long did I take?”
     “You came in last, kid, dead last. Hey, now you didn’t take any kids. Did you?”
    “I took one,” I said.
     “Perfect. Just perfect. I get stuck with a soft-horned do-gooder. Look here, you’ve gotta take who you can take. Even if they’re not sure they want to ride a unicorn, you’ve got to persuade them. If they can see you, make them take a ride. Got that, kid? What has Larry been teaching you?”
     “He had me bounce over the Rose Bowl a couple of times.”
     “That’s no good. We’ve got to have you crossing cities, continents even.”
     “Is that going to help me?”
     “It’s going to help me.” Mikey looked at my horn ring then. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Four? You took four passengers? Did you not hear me specifically say three?”
     I told him I wasn’t sure one of them had counted.
     He seemed about to yell, but then his nostrils stopped flaring and he stopped twitching his tail. His jaw got even more crooked. “I wonder…”
     “Spartacus,” he said to the unicorn standing nearby, “take his passenger counter and go find all four passengers. Make them forget.”
     And then his mane flipped as he twisted his head towards me and said, “Do me a favor and go find Larry.”
     “I don’t know where he is,” I said.
     “I told you to go find him, so go find him.” He stomped his hoof on the ground once. Within a few seconds he was back. “He’s on the Miamono Tower, Floor Thirty-Seven, Room 3706.”
     “How did you do that?” I asked Mikey.
     “Magic. Wow, kid, you really don’t know anything. I told him I’d talk to him later. We’ll map out a training schedule for you so you learn what you’re supposed to do. Okay? Okay. Get going.”
      He noticed me still standing with a hanging tail. Suddenly he was nice. “Oh, right, rookie, you don’t know how to get there. Here’s what you do.”

Read the Sixth Part