No Happy Ending
A poor, bedraggled
little thing
he was.
Thin, pale and undersized. Little
Petey
Conway was seven years old but
you wouldn't know it by looking at
him. He
lived in a dirty, rundown
house with only
beans, bread, coffee and vegetable
soup to
keep him alive. His mother
was a drunk and his father was in
jail.
Thanks to Hoss
Cartwright, the
Sheriff Coffee rode up Ponderosa way
one day in spring with this little
ragamuffin in tow and dropped him
right into Hoss'
lap.He had temporary custody of the
tyke
while his mother still in the
throws of alcoholism got back on her
feet
working for the doc over in
Genoa. Last time Hoss
saw her she had but one dress.
Small, thin
with stringy hair and sloe
eyes; she beat Hoss on the chest
with her
little fists
screaming in a raspy voice "I hate
you!
I hate you!" That voice still
rang in Hoss' ears the day that
Petey Conway
came to stay.
"Poor little mite," Hoss shook his
head at the sight of the sad eyed
little urchin. But at least for now
the boy
had a decent home, would go
to school and play with kids his own
age.
The weeks of springtime
turned into
the heat of summer and Petey
Conway was getting along just fine.
Thanks
to Hop Sing's mastery of
cuisine and Hoss' encouragement the
little
fellow started putting on
weight from eating healthy foods.
Sometimes
he would run barefoot
through the yard or just play with
the toys
Hoss made him...
The day promised to be a fine one
with
bright sun and a gentle, gusty
breeze coming off the mountain.
Petey
thought it would be a grand day to
fly a kite. "Now where do you
suppose a
feller could get a kite around
here?" Hoss asked Petey rolling his
eyes. He kneeled down to the little
boy's level "You know something,
when I
was a young'un Hop Sing made the
best kites in the whole of
Hop Sing to help us out?"
Petey's
face lit up bright as day.
"Yeah! We could make a kite and fly
it
just like Ben Franklin! What are
we waiting for?"
Hoss held the little boys tiny hand
in his
strong fist and ambled nonchalantly
to the
kitchen where Hop Sing was
busy cleaning the kitchen tools. He
pretended not to notice the Big Man
sidling up to ask a favor. Hoss
pressed his
long finger to his pursed
lips "If we ask Hop Sing politely,
he'll go along...just as long as we
don't make too much of a mess, you
reckon?" He winked at the tyke's
widening eyes.
Hoss cleared his throat as
Hop Sing
kept his mind on his work. A sly
smile crept over the Oriental man's
lips but
he didn't look up.
"Hmm...hmmm...Hop Sing?" Hoss
began
"Hop Sing very busy. What are you
doing
with boy in kitchen? Make
mischief and Hop Sing clean mess."
"No, no. We've got something
important
in mind, Hop Sing and we need
your help."
The little one was wide eyed
with
anticipation
"How's about, we'll how's about you
help us make a box kite?" Hoss
narrowed his eyes at Hop Sing who's
hands
never stopped working. Then
suddenly the cooking master turned
with a
huge grin on his face "All
light"...
Hop Sing scurried about getting
together the
brown paper, string and
cloth for the tail. Hoss turned his
eyes to
the fruit bowl and cookie
jar and hastily wrapped up a few
molasses
cookies and grabbed up an
orange and apple then stuffed the
kid's pockets.
"What you do?" the cook asked
suspiciously Hoss looked at the little man
dead pan "The kid needs balast to
anchor the kite!"
All afternoon little Petey ran about
flying
the kite. He thought he was
in heaven.
Hoss wished that the summer would
never end
but he knew in his heart
Petey
could never stay...
Late in summer she came back. Petey
couldn't
understand why they
couldn't live together on the
Ponderosa. He
was so happy there and his
Ma would be too.
"You lied to me! You lied!" Petey
cried shaking his little fist at Hoss
"This is a good place for my Ma and
me.
I don't wanna go away!"
Hoss swallowed hard and kneeled down
to
stroke the little boy's hair.
"I'm sorry, son. You gotta go with
your
Mama. She needs you, Petey."
Hoss drew himself up slowly. He held
the
boy's face gently in his hands
as tears splashed the little one's
cheeks.
Suddenly, Petey kicked Hoss' shin as
hard as
he could and ran away...
Hoss looked after him with a sinking
heart
as the boy and his moter
drove away in the buggy. The Big Man
watched
sadly as the buggy became
smaller and faded away as if it were
a
ghost.
Blue Velvet