" THE PONDEROSA MESS "
By:
Lynne G.
Seven year old Little Joe Cartwright had been trying so very hard to be a good boy for his Papa, Ben Cartwright, and for the most part he was a good boy. There were times though when he just couldn't help it and no matter how hard he tried, he got into mischief.
One of the things that seemed to get this very active little boy into the most trouble was his messy bedroom. The room looked like a tornado had gone through it. The little boy did clean up his room weekly, but it would only stay clean for a few hours, and never for a full day.
One day while Little Joe was at school, Hop Sing was going into Little Joe's room to hang up the little boy's clean shirts in the closet, and when he opened the door to the child's room, he stopped and looked at the mess all over the floor. " That room only got cleaned yesterday. Why little boy like messy room?" Hop Sing said outloud as he entered THE PONDEROSA MESS, as the family sometimes referred to the room as.
As Hop Sing was carefully walking towards the closet, he suddenly tripped and fell forward. He wasn't hurt, but he was very angry and very loud Chinese yelling could be heard all through the house. Hop Sing stood up, picked up the shirts that had landed on the floor, and he carefully continued walking towards the closet. Once the shirts had been hung up in the closet, the mumbling Hop Sing quickly fled THE PONDEROSA MESS.
As Ben, Adam and Hoss walked through the front door, they were met by a loudly mumbling and upset Hop Sing. " Hop Sing, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?" Ben asked. " Little boy's room BIG MESS ! No can find floor. Look like tornado hit room!" Hop Sing shouted in English before he started mumbling in Chinese again. Both Adam and Hoss looked at each other and smiled. Ben just shook his head and said, "It was clean for almost one day."
When Little Joe got home from school he took Tony into the barn, where he unsaddled him, rubbed him down and fed him. Then he walked towards the house.
As Little Joe walked through the front door, he was met by an upset Hop Sing, who was still mumbling in Chinese. " But Hop Sing, it was clean yesterday..." Little Joe started to say before Ben interrupted him. " Joseph, why is your room all messed up again? You only cleaned it yesterday. NOW, I want you to go up to your room and clean it AGAIN!" Ben told his youngest son.
" Papa, I clean it once a week, not everyday. Sides, it has that lived in look," Little Joe explained as he tried to look as innocent as possible, while looking at Ben with his big puppy dog eyes. " Joseph, I don't want you to come out of that room until it is cleaned up. Now, get going!" Ben said. Little Joe stood there thinking, when he got a big smile on his face. " Hey Papa, does that mean I dunt gotta do my chores, or go ta school? Cuz ya said not ta come out of my room till I was done. So if'n I dunt clean my room, no chores or school then?" Little Joe said trying to confuse Ben.
Adam and Hoss started to laugh at what their baby brother had just said. Little Joe stood there with a very silly grin on his face, while he was looking at the look on Ben's face at what he had just said. Ben turned around and glared at Adam and Hoss, which made Little Joe start to giggle. Ben turned back to looked at his little imp and he said, " Joseph, let me explain this to you. FIRST, you will clean up your room, then you WILL do your CHORES !! NOW GET GOING !" As Little Joe turned to run up the stairs, Ben gave him a quick swat to his little bottom.
Everytime Little Joe cleaned up his room, Ben would come to see how it looked, and he was always pleased at what he saw. The only thing Ben didn't do was to look under Little Joe's bed, and the little boy knew that, so that is where he hid things.
" I dunt like my room so clean, cuz I can't find nuffin' now. At least when it's all messy, I know where everythin' is," Little Joe said as he looked around at his clean room. So he pulled everything back out from under his bed, and he quickly found his soldiers. " I bet ya soldiers never have ta clean up yer rooms. It just ain't fair. It's my room and I like it all messy," Little Joe told his teddy bear, Brownie, who was sitting on the boy's very large rocking horse.
A few weeks later while Little Joe was cleaning up his room AGAIN, he suddenly said, " so that's where I put them cookies, I've lookin' for, under my bed. Now I member why I put em under there, cuz Hoss was lookin' fer cookies ta eat, so I hid mine." Little Joe looked at the plate of cookies, picked one cookie up and took a bite out of it. " Hey, they still taste good too. I'll have ta do that more often."
As he continued to look at the treasures from under the bed, he said, " Now, why did I put Hop Sing's pot under that pile of stuff fer? It ain't got nuffin' in it and it's clean too. I guess I'll just have ta sneak it ta the kitchen some how."
" Boy all this cleaning is really makin' me hungry," Little Joe said outloud as he left his room and headed down the stairs. Ben looked up from his newspaper and he saw his little son coming down the stairs. " Are you finished in your room?" Ben asked. " Uh, nope, not yet. I got hungry from ALL that cleaning. I feel so weak from workin' so HARD !" Little Joe said as he put his small hand over his eyes, making like he was going to pass out, and he hoped that Ben would let him stay down stairs.
Ben was having a hard time not laughing at his little imp's acting ability. Adam and Hoss who had been playing checkers looked over at their little brother and they started to laugh.
" Joseph, you had a sandwich an hour ago. I don't think you will starve to death while cleaning your room. Now, go back up and finish cleaning THAT room !" Ben said. Little Joe looked at Ben, then over at his two big brothers, then back over to Ben. " Papa, how come Adam and Hoss dunt gotta go and clean up their rooms?" asked the youngster. " Cuz little brother, we keep our rooms CLEAN, that's why!" Hoss said as he laughed.
" Ya know, a BIG wind storm could just happen ta go into yer rooms and make a BIG MESS !" Little Joe told his his brothers. " Don't even think about that little brother !" Adam warned. " Joseph, if a wind storm just happened to OPEN the doors to your brothers rooms, then a certain little boy would have to go and clean those two rooms also. NOW, get back to your room!" Ben told the boy. " THAT AIN'T FAIR !!! I AIN'T NO WIND STORM !! I'M ME !! A POOR PICKED ON LITTLE BOY !!!!!!! Little Joe shouted as he ran back up the stairs. Ben, Adam and Hoss sat there laughing at what their little imp had just said. " That boy says the silliest things," laughed Ben. " You can say that again Pa," both Adam and Hoss said, while still laughing.
One day after Little Joe had finished his chores, he climbed up to the hay loft to think about how he could make a mess in his brothers rooms. " There's gotta be somethin' I can do ta em," he thought to himself. After a few minutes he started giggle as he just thought of an idea for Adam's room. " Now all I gotta do is figure out how ta do it, and make a big mess in his room."
After dinner one evening, Little Joe asked if he could be excused so he could go to his room and finish up his homework. " Joseph, you haven't finished your dinner yet," Ben said. " I'm all filled up Papa," the boy said as he patted his stomach. " Ok son, you may be excused," Ben told the youngster. " Thanks Papa," Little Joe answered, as he got up from the table.
Once he was in his room, he took out his math paper that he had already finished, and he laid it on his desk. Then he snuck out of his room and off to Adam's room so he could loosen up Adam's book shelves.
He closed the door to Adam's room after he had set up his plan and he hoped it would work. Then he quietly walked back to his room and closed the door. He stayed in his room for an hour and a half. Then he figured that he had been in there long enough, so he picked up his math paper and headed back down stairs to have Ben or Adam check to see if he had gotten all of the problems added up right.
" Adam, could ya look at my paper ta see if'n I gots all them problems right, please?" asked the little boy. " Sure little buddy. I'd be happy too," Adam said as he started to check the problems. Little Joe was hoping that he got them all correct.
" Very good Little Joe. They're all correct," Adam said as he handed the paper back to his little brother. " WOW, I gotts em all right ? Thanks Adam !" a surprised Little Joe shouted. " Hey Papa, I gotts my homework all right !" an excited Little Joe told Ben. " That' wonderful son. I'm very proud of you," Ben told his son as he gave the boy a big hug.
Ben went back to his newspaper, while Adam started reading his book again. Hoss and Little Joe were now having a game of checkers, when suddenly there was a loud crashing sound coming from upstairs.
" WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ?" shouted Ben as he jumped up. Adam, Hoss and Little Joe all stood up. " Papa, its gotta be bad men !" Little Joe said. " What that noise?" shouted Hop Sing as he came out of the kitchen. " Dunt know !" Hoss said. Ben and Adam grabbed their guns out of their holsters and started towards the stairs. " Hoss, you keep Little Joe down stairs," Ben told Hoss. " Sure Pa," Hoss answered. Little Joe was having a hard time not laughing at the sight of Ben and Adam sneaking up the stairs.
Once Ben and Adam were upstairs, they knew they would have to look in everyroom. One by one, they opened each closed door to each room. So far they hadn't seen what had crashed. When they got to Adam's room, they slowly opened the door while Ben held a lamp. " Oh geez ! Just look at this mess. Why would my bookshelves collapse like this?" Adam said to Ben as they both looked at the mess of books all over the floor.
" WHAT'S GOING ON UP THERE PA ?" shouted Hoss. Ben shouted back that Adam's bookshelves had collapsed. Both Hoss and Little Joe started to laugh. " I bet that's a big mess. Just think Hoss, big brother gots ta clean up his room," Little Joe said as he was giggling loudly.
Hoss just looked at his little brother and he began to wonder if the boy might have something to do with the bookshelves suddenly collapsing. Na, dun't know how he could have, cuz he was here with us," Hoss thought to himself.
Adam and
Ben looked at the collapsed shelves to see if they could figure out why the
shelves would suddenly collapse. " There's
got to be a reason that it collapsed, but nothing seems broken. It could
have been that the top shelf came loose, and when it collapsed all the weight
from the books and shelf landing on the other shelves, caused all of them to
collapse," Adam said. After all that did seem
logical to him. " You could be right
about that son. Do you need any help with getting the shelves back
up?" Ben asked. "
" Pa, does Adam need any help up there?" Hoss asked. " No. He said he didn't," Ben told Hoss. " Just think, big brothers gotta clean his room," Little Joe said as he started to giggle again.
Ben watched his young son, and he took a good look at the boy's face, and he could see mischief written all over that sweet face. " Joseph, did you have..." Ben didn't finish his question as he thought more about the book shelves, and too, that Little Joe was down stairs with them when the shelves collapsed. " Papa, what do ya mean, did I have what?" asked Little Joe trying to act innocent as he knew what Ben was thinking. " Oh, nothing son. Just forget it," Ben said as walked back over to his chair and sat down. Little Joe finally let a breath go. He hadn't realized that he had been holding his breath. Hop Sing came out of the kitchen to find out what had crashed upstairs. Ben told him what had happened, which made Hop Sing wonder how something like that could have happened. He looked at Little Joe, but he too realized that the little boy was down stairs when the crash was heard.
Several days later, Ben had offered to take Little Joe's clean clothes up to the boy's room for Hop Sing, since he was heading up to his own room to get a book. " Thank you Mr. Cartlight," Hop Sing said as he handed Ben Little Joe's clean clothes. " You are very welcome Hop Sing," Ben answered back.
After Ben had put some of the clothes in his son's chest of drawers, he walked over to the closet to hang up the clean shirts. As soon as he had opened the closet door, large piles of things tumbled out and on to the floor, catching Ben by surprise as he jumped backwards so he wouldn't be hit by falling items.
" JOSEPH !!" shouted Ben as his voice seemed to shake the house. Little Joe had just walked in the front door as Ben shouted his name. Hop Sing looked down at Little Joe, and asked, " what you do now?" Little Joe knew why Ben was shouting his name. He just stood there and looked at the floor instead of Hop Sing. " I dunt do nuffin'," the boy softly said. " JOSEPH-GET UP HERE NOW !!!!!!!!
" If you do nothing, why your father yelling for you?" Hop Sing asked as he continued to look at the little boy. Little Joe just looked up at Hop Sing and he shrugged his shoulders. Hop Sing began to mumble as he headed back to the kitchen. " JOSEPH !!!"
Little Joe walked up the stairs as slow as he could. " JOSEPH !!!" He was trying to think of something fast to do or say, so Ben would be distracted from the HORRORS OF THE CLOSET. The boy now had a plan in his mind and he hoped it would work as good as his idea for the collapse of Adam's bookshelves.
As he was by the open door to his room, he suddenly collasped to the floor and he didn't move. When Ben saw his son collapse, he ran right over to the fallen boy. " Little Joe, Little Joe !" cried Ben as he kneeled down next to his son. Little Joe still didn't move as he was much too nervous to move a muscle.
" Joseph, please son open your eyes," begged Ben. He checked his son's pulse and he relieved to find it nice and strong. Ben picked up child and carried him over to his bed and he laid the child down on the bed. He then ran out to the hall and yelled for Hop Sing. " HOP SING PLEASE BRING SOME COOL WATER AND A WASHCLOTH UP HERE FAST !" Little Joe opened his eyes when he heard Ben shout for for Hop Sing. Then when he heard Ben coming back to his room he closed his eyes again, and he still didn't move.
Ben sat down on the edge of the bed and he kept trying to get his son to open his eyes as Hop Sing hurried into the room, with cool water and a washcloth. " What happened to little boy?" asked a concerned Hop Sing. " I don't know Hop Sing. He just collapsed in the hall," Ben said as he put the cool wet cloth on Little Joe's forehead. " Please baby open your eyes," Ben said over and over as he bathed his son's face. Hop Sing continued to look at Little Joe, trying to figure out what happened to the little boy. The boy was rather pale looking.
Little Joe wasn't sure what he should do now. He felt very guilty at this trick he had just pulled on Ben. He decided that he should move his head, which he started to do and he moaned some too. " That a boy, come on sweetheart open your eyes now baby," Ben said as he ran his fingers through the boy's soft thick curly hair.
As Little Joe slowly opened his eyes, he very softly said, " Papa." " Yes son, I'm here sweetheart. How do you feel?" asked a very concerned Ben. " Papa, I'm kinda tired," Little Joe said. " Little Joe, what happened? Why did you pass out?" Ben asked. " I..I..I dunno. Everythin' just went black. I..I'm sorry sorry about my closet Papa," Little Joe said, trying to sound weak. " That's alright son. Don't worry about that now. The important thing right now is you. Would you like a drink of water?" Ben asked. " Yes please," the boy replied. Hop Sing poured a glass of water and handed it to Ben. " Thanks Hop Sing. OK son, I'm going to lift up your head now, so you can get a drink. Just drink slowly, and I'll hold the glass for you," Ben told his son. Little Joe took small sips of the cool water. " Thanks Papa. That was good," Little Joe softly said.
About that time Adam and Hoss had returned home, and they wondered where everyone was. " Pa, Hop Sing !" Hoss called out. Upon hearing Hoss calling for them, Hop Sing walked out into the hall and shouted that he and Ben were with Little Joe in his room. Both Adam and Hoss ran up the stairs to their little brother's room.
" Pa, what happened to him?" asked a concerned Hoss. " I don't know for sure, but he passed out in the hall a few minutes ago," Ben told them. Adam and Hoss noticed the big mess by the closet and Adam asked what happened by the closet. Ben told them what had happened when he opened the closet door. They both shook their heads and looked at their little brother again.
" Hey Punkin, ya alright now?" asked Hoss. " I'm fine Hoss," Little Joe replied. " Pa would you like me to go and get Dr. Martin?" Adam asked. " No, I don't think so, not yet. Let's just keep an eye on Little Joe and make sure he's alright. Thanks for asking Adam," Ben said. " Papa, I'm fine now. I'll clean up my room now," Little Joe said as he tried to get up off his bed. " No son, I just want you to rest now," Ben told his son as he gently pushed the boy back down on the bed. " Papa, can't I rest down stairs with all of you please? I dunt wanna be alone up here," the boy quietly asked. " Alright, but let me carry you down the stairs," Ben suggested as he picked up his little son. This was going better than Little Joe had imagined.
Once they were all down stairs Ben laid Little Joe down on the sattee and covered him up. Little Joe thought to himself, " how am I gonna get out of this now?" He closed his eyes and quickly fell aleep.
About an hour later Ben noticed that Little Joe was still sleeping, but he knew he needed to wake him up or he wouldn't be sleepy at bedtime. " Little Joe, wake up now son. It's almost time for dinner," Ben softly said as he very gently shook the child's shoulder. Little Joe slowly opened his eyes, and yawned. " Hi papa," he said. " Hi sweetheart. How do you feel?" asked a still concerned Ben. Little Joe took a deep breath and said, " I feel much better now papa. I guess I just needed a nap." " I'm very happy to hear that son. Why don't you go and get washed up for dinner now, but don't get up too fast. If you start to feel dizzy, just sit down again," Ben told his little son. " OK, I will Papa, but really, I do feel better," the boy said.
Little Joe got up slowly and walked towards the kitchen to wash his face and hands. Ben watched his son carefully to make sure he seemed alright. When the boy got into the kitchen, Hop Sing asked him how he felt. " I feel much better Hop Sing. Papa wants me ta get washed up fer dinner now," Little Joe said. " Here let Hop Sing help little boy," Hop Sing told the boy as he took Little Joe over to the kitchen sink. He got the washcloth wet, and he washed off the boy's face and hand. " All clean now," Hop Sing said. " Thank you Hop Sing," Little Joe said to Hop Sing.
When Adam and Hoss came back in the house, they both asked their little brother if he felt better. " Yes, I feel better now," the replied. " That's good to hear. Don't want you being sick little buddy," Adam told the youngster.
Little Joe ate most of his dinner that night as he was hungry, since he didn't have his usual after school snack that day. After dinner, Adam and Hoss told him that they would do his chores for him, because they wanted him just to rest. When they came back in later that evening, Adam sat down to read his book, while Hoss and Little Joe played some checkers.
When Little Joe went to bed for the night, he laid there in his warm bed and thought about the joke he had pulled on his family, and that had really started to bother him. " I guess I should have been punished fer hidin' stuff in my closet, but I hate when Papa gets mad at me. So I s'pose I really should keep my room cleaner. Yup, I'll clean it up tomorrow, but I ain't sorry I messed with old Adam's bookshelves though. Heck no, he deserved it fer always makin' fun of me and my messy room. I'll show him that my room can be, and will be just as neat and clean as his room is," Little Joe said quietly to himself.
From then on, Little Joe's room stayed fairly clean, but there were times when he just couldn't help himself and THE PONDEROSA MESS would return for a day or two. Ben was proud of his young son for the way the boy had been trying to keep his room neat and clean. " There's hope for that boy yet," Ben said as smiled and he thought about the THE PONDEROSA MESS.
Little Joe's family never did find out that he was repsonable for the collapse of Adam's bookshelves or for the joke he had pulled on them when he 'passed out' in the hall.
THE END