HOSS AND
HIS NEW FRIEND
By: Ryan A.
It was an unusually warm day
for the end of April, the sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze, through
the open wind in the school house birds could be heard singing. The signs of spring were all around, the
sweet smell of fresh blooming flowers, filled the air, everything that 12 year
old Hoss Cartwright loved about the outdoors was beckoning him to come out and
join them.
He sat in his seat in the
school house staring out the window, daydreaming about all he would do over the
weekend. He was suddenly startled back
to the present by the sound of wood hitting wood. He looked up to see Miss Jones standing over
him, and her wooden pointer resting on his desk where she had just cracked it
down to get his attention.
“Eric Cartwright this is the
third time today that I have found you not paying attention. Now young man there is one hour remaining of
the school day and then you will be dismissed for the weekend. I except your undivided attention for that
hour, or I am afraid that I will be sending a note home to your father. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Ma’am Miss Jones you
will have my full attention.”
There was no way that Hoss
wanted a note going home to his father.
And with Miss Jones calling him by his given name Eric instead of Hoss
he knew that she meant it. Pa had
already warned him that he was on thin ice.
With the nice weather over the past week, Hoss’s attention was on the
great outdoors that he loved so much and not on the chores Pa had given him or
his school work and Pa’s patience with him was about warn out too. Hoss had big plans for Saturday afternoon
with his friends, and he did not need to be put on restriction, it would spoil
everything.
“Ok class you can go out for a 15 recess, but
in an orderly and quiet fashion please.”
Once outside Hoss went
directly to the outhouse. As he was
coming out in spied something moving in the grass, he went to take a closer
look. There just escaping under a rock
was a large garter snake.
“Hey fellow how are you
doing? Ain’t you just the cutest think I
ever did see?”
Hoss looked around to see if
anyone was watching he decided right then and there that he was going to take
the snake home as his new pet. He gently
picked up the critter and carefully made his way to the school house. Once inside he opened his oversized lunch
pail and deposited the snake there.
“You will be just fine there
until I can get you home Slither, then I will gets you a good place to call
home. The only thing is I have to figure
out a way to keep you secret. Pa won’t
cotton to me having no snake in the house.”
Hoss walks back to the school
house when he sees Miss Jones yelling at the kids to come back in.
“Hoss wait a minute son. What did you put in your lunch pale” Oh by the
way where is Little Joe?” Says Miss
Jones.
“He couldn’t come to school
today because he ain’t feeling good. Oh
it is a snake for Little Joe and his science project that he is doing. Pa knows about it too. He has to bring it in to school for a
grade.” Replies Hoss.
“Thank you Hoss.” Says Miss Jones
“Your welcome.” Hoss says back to her.
Hoss walks into the house and
Pa asked Hoss if he had a good day.
“Yes I did and how was your
day Pa?”
“Great son.”
Hoss walks into his room
thanking God that Pa didn’t notice Hoss took his lunch pale up in the room with
him. He hears someone coming up the
stairs and Joe walks into the room and startles Hoss.
“What are you doing
Hoss?” Asked Little Joe who is 6.
“Oh nothing just cleaning out
my lunch pale.”
“Hoss, Joe time for dinner
Hop Sing has cooked all day.” Pa yells.
Hoss and Little Joe race down
the stairs and sit down ready to eat like they haven’t eaten for days.
“Man am I starving.” Says Joe.
“Me too.” Hoss says.
Hoss looks at Hop Sing while
he brings in the food and licks his lips.
Hop Sing gives Hoss his plate and Hoss starts to gobble down his
food. Hoss takes a sip of milk and goes back
to eating. Joe gets out of his seat and
goes upstairs to take a shower. Hoss
finishes up and gets his pajamas ready for when Little Joe gets out of the
shower.
“Little Joe hurry up I need
to gets in too.” Hoss screams.
“I’m a coming Hoss.” Little Joe replies back in a stiff voice.
Pa comes running up the
stairs to see what all the racket was about.
“Hoss be nice to your little
brother or I will have to put you in timeout little boy.” Says
“Ok, sorry
Little Joe gets out of the
shower and Hoss jumps in. No later than
Hoss got into the shower and Joe comes running back into the bathroom.
“Hoss what are you doing with
a snake in this house?” Screams Joe.
“I brung it home because it
looked like it was sick and I don’t want Pa to know.” Hoss says as he steps out of the shower.
Little Joe went in his room
and laid down on the bed watching TV.
Hoss finally comes in after about 5 minutes and looks at the TV. Pa comes up the stairs and into the boys room.
“Little Joe and Hoss it is
time for bed.” Says
“Oh Pa can’t we stay up just
a tad bit longer?” They both replied to
Adam who is 18 walks into the
front door and comes up to the boy’s room to say goodnight. Pa says goodnight
and Pa went to leave the room with Adam. Hoss and Little Joe yell for Adam to
come back into the room alone.
“What is it you guys?” Adam said.
“Look what Hoss brung
home.” Little Joe said.
“Hoss why did you bring that
snake into the house? You know that Pa will
have a fit with that snake being in here.”
Says Adam.
“No he ain’t. Pa won’t find out.” Hoss replies as he looks at Adam with the
puppy dog look.
“Hoss, Little Joe it is time
for bed we will talk in the morning.”
Adam said.
Adam leaves the room and Hoss
forgot to tell Adam not to tell Pa that he brung home a snake. The next morning Pa yells for them to come
down for breakfast. Hoss and Little Joe
went to go wake up Adam who is still sleeping at
“Adam wake up time for
breakfast.” Yells Hoss and Little Joe at
the same time. As they sat there and
shook Adam until he fell out of the bed.
Pa comes running up the stairs because he heard a big thump from above him. He comes into Adam’s room to find that Little
Joe and Hoss were on top of Adam playing with him.
“Hoss, Little Joe, Adam quit
messing around and get down in the kitchen for breakfast. You don’t want your food to get cold now do
you?” Pa says as he turns around and
walks down the stairs shaking his head.
Hoss, Little Joe and Adam
come down to the kitchen and start to eat and they all say good morning to Hop
Sing. Adam gets done first like always
and goes upstairs to change and brush his teeth. Hoss is the second person done goes up stairs
waiting for Adam to get out of the bathroom.
Adam who is shaving now is still in the bathroom for 10 minutes so Hoss
goes into his room and gets dressed.
Hoss comes back out and sees that Adam is almost done and waits for him
to finish up. Hoss runs into the
bathroom and brushes his teeth. He runs
down to go outside and Little Joe just got done eating and says bye to everyone
and tells his Pa that he is going out with Adam.
“Hoss, Adam wait for me.”
Yells Little Joe as he runs up stairs to get changed.
Little Joe comes running back
down the stairs and goes for the door when Pa grabs him and tells him to go
brush his teeth. In the mean while Hoss
and Adam are outside saddling up the horses.
Little Joe runs outside and jumps into the carriage.
“Be careful Little Joe before
you hurt the horse from jumping.” Adam
says.
Adam and Hoss get into the
carriage and they set off.
“Where are we going
Adam?” Asked Hoss and Joe.
“We are going to the store to
pick up some food for the weekend. We
need more food for next week.” Adam
replies back to the both of them.
“Adam can you buy me
something at the store with your money?”
Asked Hoss.
“Like what Hoss?” Adam replied
“Oh something for
Slither. I need to get him a water bowl
and some wood shavings to put in his cage.”
Hoss said to Adam in a low voice.
“Pa is sooner or later gunna
find out you now that right Hoss? But
because your are my little brother and I love you yes I will buy you that stuff
but when Pa finds out and tells you to get rid of it don’t come running to me
saying that he told you to get rid of it because I am not going to say anything
about it ok?” Adam said to Hoss as he
kept an eye on the dirt road.
“Ok Adam but you know that Pa
will not find out about Slither.” Hoss
said to Adam.
They come to the store and
they all get out of the carriage. Hoss
and Joe run into the store to say hello to Mr. Rogers.
“Hello Hoss and Little Joe
where is your Pa?” asked Mr. Rogers.
“Oh he is at home. Joe said.
“Well then who are you here
with then?” Mr. Rogers asked.
“We are here with Adam.” Hoss said back to Mr. Rogers.
Hoss and Little Joe run back
to Adam as he is picking out veggies and food to bring back home to
“Adam, Mr. Rogers want to
talk to you.” Hoss told Adam.
Adam walks up to the register
and sees Mr. Rogers handling another customer.
“Hello Adam how are you doing
this morning?” asked Mr. Rogers.
“I am doing fine and how
about you?” Adam said.
“Excellent.” Mr. Rogers
replied.
Hoss comes running up to the register
with a water bowl and Little Joe is right behind him with a bag of wood
shavings. Hoss hands the stuff to Adam
so he can put the water bowl and wood shavings up on the counter so Mr. Rogers
can ring up the stuff.
“What are these for
Adam?” asked Mr. Rogers.
“Oh those are for my friend
Alex he wanted me to pick some stuff up for his pet snake Slither.” Adam replied.
“Does your father know about
this Adam?” Mr. Rogers asked.
“Yes he is the one that let
me take the boys out to get the stuff and he wanted me to pick up some food for
the house while Pa is at the ranch cleaning up the stalls and cleaning the
house.” Adam replied back to Mr. Rogers
as he looks at Little Joe and Hoss and winks his eye.
“Thank you Mr. Rogers.” Adam said to Mr. Rogers as he yelled for the
two kids to come outside and hop onto the carriage.
Adam puts the stuff into the
back of the carriage and they all hop up on top and Adam grabs the reins and
sits back for a two hour ride back home with the boys.
“Hoss, Little Joe we’re home
help me unload the stuff but whatever you do, don’t let Pa see the stuff for
the snake or Pa will have a royal fit.”
Adam said as he looked at the boys as they yawned for they had just woke
up.
Hoss brings the stuff for
Slither as Little Joe attracts Pa away from Hoss. Hoss runs up the stairs and throws the stuff
into Little Joe’s room and runs back down the stairs and gives his father a
huge hug as if nothing was going on.
“Hoss why did you run up the
stairs and run back down the stairs?”
asked Pa as he grabs Hoss and pats his back.
“Oh Pa I had to really go to
the bathroom really bad and I decided to use the croc pot and I couldn’t hold
it I was going to go in my pants. I
didn’t want to go in my pants because you would of yelled at me.” said Hoss as he looked at his father
with a pale and tired looking face.
Little Joe goes upstairs with
Hoss and gets ready for dinner. Hoss
runs down the stairs and sits at the dinner table along with Little Joe. Adam comes down about five minutes after Hoss
and Little Joe sit down. Hop Sing brings
the food in and gives Hoss his plate and he starts to eat. Little Joe gets his plate and he starts to
eat and along with the others.
“Little Joe, Hoss mind your
manners.” Pa said as he stuck a spoonful
of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
“Ok.” Hoss replied back to his father with a frown
on his face.
“Little Joe and what is your
answer?” asked
“Oh ok.” Little Joe said to his father.
Little Joe finishes up and goes
into his room to get ready for bed. He
comes back down to say goodnight to Adam and his Pa as Hoss is coming up the
stairs to go get ready also.
Hoss jumps into his bed and
pulls the covers up to his chest and goes to sleep. Later on Little Joe comes on in and pulls
down the bed and hops into it and does the same thing Hoss did.
“Good night Hoss.” Little Joe said.
“Good night Little Joe I will
see you in the morning.” Hoss replied as
he turns over the other side of the bed.
“Get up guys time to eat
breakfast” Pa said as he shuts the door behind himself as he goes down the
stairs to eat breakfast.
Hoss and Little Joe get
dressed and come racing down the stairs and they both sit down and eat their
food.
“Hey Adam are you going
anywhere yet today?” asked Hoss.
“Yea in about two hours I
have to go get some feed for the horses.”
Adam replied as he goes up the stairs to get ready to go and wash up.
“Well can we come with
you? We will be good and help you with
the food into the carriage.” Little Joe
said as he looked at Adam.
“Well ok as long as you guys
be good. If you don’t be good I will
take you guys back home and you will be grounded for a whole week.” Adam said.
Hoss and Little Joe run to
the carriage with Adam right behind them and they all jump up onto the
carriage. Adam grabs the reins and they
left.
“How long is the ride
Adam?” asked Little Joe.
“Oh about one hour,
why?” Adam replied back to Little Joe.
“Just wondering because I am
very tired.” Little Joe said as he yawned.
“Then go to bed and I will
wake you up when we get there.” said
Adam.
“Little Joe, Hoss wake up
we’re there.” Adam said.
Little Joe and Hoss both get
up and go into the store with Adam. Adam
grabs five bags of fifty pounds each of Dumor feed and Hoss grabs one of them
and the sales clerk grabs two while Adam has two too. Adam sets them on the floor by the register
and so does the sales clerk and Hoss.
“Man those are heavy.” Hoss said under his breath.
The sales clerk rings them up
and says that they are fifteen dollars.
Adam pulls out a twenty dollar bill and the clerk gives him back a five
dollar bill and the clerk told Adam goodbye.
Hoss grabs one of the bags and the clerk helps Adam carry the rest out
and they throw them into the carriage while Little Joe and Hoss jumps in the
carriage.
“Ok guys we are heading home
for lunch.” Adam said to the boys.
“Good because I am really
hungry.” said Little Joe as he rubs his
tummy.
“Me too.” said Hoss as he looks at Adam.
They pull up into the front
of the house and they all jump out of the carriage and run into the house. Adam look at the clock and it says
“This looks really
good.” Hoss said as he grabs his sand
which and takes a bite out of it.
Pa goes up stairs to make
Hoss’s and Little Joe’s bed when he walks in the room he sees a ball python in
a tank. Pa runs down the stairs and
asked Hoss and Little Joe to come into the family room because they need to
have a little talk.
“Ok which one of you brung
home a snake and didn’t tell me?” Pa
said as he does the one eyebrow thing.
“I did.” Little Joe said as he started to cry.
“Why did you bring it into my
house? You know you are not allowed to
have a snake so why did you?” Pa said as
he raises his voice a little bit.
“Because it looked very sick and
I wanted to bring it home to take care of it because I didn’t want it to be
stepped on at school or die.” said
Little Joe as he wipes a tear from his left cheek.
“Well we will keep it to see
how it does but who is going to pay for the feed?” inquired Pa as he looks at Little Joe and
Hoss with a smirk on his face.
“Oh Pa don’t worry about that
Hoss and I have it covered.” Little Joe
said as he looks at Hoss.
Pa then thinks of another
question to ask the boys to see if they are lying.
“Hoss does Miss Jones know
anything about this? And if you lie to me you will be grounded and you will go
back to Miss Jones and tell her the truth and you will also be doing yard work
for two weeks strait and you will do after school until supper and all day on
the weekends.” Pa said.
“Oh yes she saw me put it in
my lunch pale and she asked me what I was doing with that snake and I told her
that I was going to bring for Little Joe to do a science project and I told her
that you knew about it and she believed me.”
Hoss said as he started to cry.
“Well since you told me the
truth but you lied to Miss Jones you are grounded for two days instead of a
week and you will talk to Miss Jones and she will do whatever she wants to do
with you but if she wants me to ground you for more days then I will have to do
so you better hope that she lets you off easy this time but you are to never do
it again. Do you understand me
son?” said
Hoss and Little Joe go
upstairs to get ready for dinner. They
no sooner come down and sit at the dinner table and start eating. This time Little Joe is eating nice and
minding his manners.
“Ok kids it’s time for bed
you both have school tomorrow.” Pa said
as he walks both of them up stairs to tuck them in.
“Guys time to get up it is
breakfast time then I will take you kids to school because I have to go into
town anyway for some stuff to pick up for Pa.”
Adam said as he brings the kids down stairs for breakfast.
They eat up and they grab
their lunch pales and head outside to go into the carriage.
“Bye Adam.” said Hoss and Little Joe as they walk into
the school house door.
“Hello Hoss, Little Joe. How was your weekend?” Miss Jones said to Hoss and Little Joe as she
gets some paper work out for the school kids.
“Not to good.” said Hoss.
“Mine was fine.” said Little
Joe.
“How come your weekend wasn’t
good Hoss?” said Miss Jones as she sits
down in her desk chair.
“Well Friday I had lied to
you saying that Pa knew about Slither but he really never did, I just wanted to
bring it home as a pet. He grounded me
for two days because I had told him the truth because he found the snake in his
cage when he had walked in our room to make our beds but he told me that I
should tell you what was going on and if you want me to be grounded for more
days then he will ground me for more but he said that you might even let me go
this time.” said Hoss and he sniffles.
“Well I am shocked but I
guess I will let you go this time but if you lie to me one more time I will
make you do some school work like weeding the garden.” said Miss Jones as she makes an angry face at
Hoss.
“Class dismissed.” said Miss Jones as she sits back down in her
seat and sighs.
“How was it son?” Pa asked Hoss.
“Oh she let me off easy this
time but if I lie again she will make me do some school work like weed the
garden.” Hoss said.
“Ok well get up there and
clean out his cage and I guess we can keep him.” said Pa as he shakes his head thinking oh no!
“YIPPEE.” yelled Hoss as he runs upstairs.
“Time for dinner kids.” said
“Ok father we will be down in
a minute.” They both said at the same
time.
“Hey Little Joe did you hear
Pa, we get to keep the snake.” said Hoss
as he smiles at Little Joe.
THE END