The following three stories emerged from a couple of fun exercises. I just enjoyed the storylines so much that I
decided to make them short stories.
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BETWEEN BREAD AND BROTHERS
By: Tessa
“Dadburn your onery hide, Joe!” Hoss growled at his brother as he was beaten in checkers for the third time in a row. “You cheated.”
The big man stood up from his seat on the fireplace hearth. He put his hands into his pockets and started to pace. His face was usually graced with sparkling blue eyes and soft dimples around an upturned smile. But today was different. Hoss felt frustration and his usual facial features were replaced with furrowed brows and an unhappy mouth. He glanced at both of his brothers and couldn’t understand how they could sit so still and not seem irritated by anything.
Joe defended himself, “I didn’t cheat. You’re just a bad player.” The smile on his face indicated that he knew Hoss wasn’t really mad. Hoss was only feeling the frustration that all three Cartwright boys were feeling. “Adam, do I cheat?” Joe begged to get his brother’s support.
Adam glanced at Joe over the top of his book, but ignored the comment. He had his own battle with boredom going on and so far, he was winning the struggle with his new book. Adam turned another page keeping his eyes on the words. He acted as if others weren’t present in the room with him.
Hoss wasn’t going to let this drop. “Oh yeah, go cry on Adam’s shoulder. I outta throw you out the door into a cold, deep pile of that snow out there.” Hoss paced back and forth and gave Joe one of his looks trying to get Joe to take him serious. His forehead had deep, serious wrinkles.
The expression and threat only drew a giggle from Joe. Joe found his boredom subside from Hoss’s unintended actions of humor.
When Hoss reached the blue chair that Adam was in, Hoss directed his bad mood at him. “Look at you. You sit there reading all those books and not saying a word. Why are you so quiet?” Hoss gave Adam the same look that he gave Joe. His big towering frame was slightly bent forward towards Adam.
Adam had been very content in the chair and kept to himself while he read. He was in one of his favorite positions where he crossed his right leg over his left knee. His right elbow rested on the arm of the chair and his head was slightly slumped over and rested on his right fist. Adam’s dark eyes rolled upward to look at Hoss’s face. He had no choice now, but to answer his brother’s comment. He bought his leg to the floor. He cleared his throat and then gave his answer in a calm voice. “I’m always reading and I’m always quiet when I read. Now, what exactly is your problem?”
Hoss lightly kicked one of Adam’s books that had been lying
on the floor. His hands remained buried
in his pockets. “Ah…I don’t know,
Adam. I reckon I’m just tired of being
cooped up inside the house for so long.
I wanna go to
Joe agreed, “I’d love to go to
The snow was piled high outside. It snowed for about seven days straight and made all activity outside impossible until the snow melted a little. None of the boys expected the short, but heavy storm that left some late winter chores undone.
At first the brothers thought the effects of the storm would be in their favor. They could sleep in if they wanted and just do whatever enjoyment they felt like at the time. But after a couple of days, being inside all the time made those prized, luxurious moments lose their excitement. Their confinement turned them into women. All three tried to busy themselves by cleaning the house, Adam looked over the Ponderosa books for the umpteenth time, Joe twice cleaned every rifle in the house, and Hoss just made himself busy in every way he could.
The boys played checkers with each other, then switched to chess, and then back to checkers. Hop Sing’s uncooked beans became the ante in their nightly poker games. Hoss and Joe tried to out-wrestle each other in arm wrestling with the obvious results. And Adam reread three of his books, after he read his new book one time.
Ben and Hop Sing left for a short trip to
Adam put his book down and was now strumming his guitar while he watched an impatient Hoss still pacing the floor. Joe sat on the settee with his elbow on his knee and his chin resting in the palm of his hand. He stared straight into the fireplace trying to think of something new to do. The room was quiet with only the sounds of the guitar and the grandfather clock ticking.
Then the familiar sparkle was back in Hoss’s eyes. He had come up with an idea. “I’m hungry,” he announced. If activities didn’t take care of boredom, then he figured that food would. At least, it would help time go by with satisfying results.
“You’re always hungry,” Joe answered.
“I ain’t kiddin’, Joe. I’m hungry for somethin’ hot and good,” Hoss protested. He headed for the kitchen. “You two can stay put. I’m gonna make somethin’.”
Adam stopped playing his guitar and looked at Joe. He put a smirk on his face as he addressed Joe. “I swear. If he cooks up any of those mesquite beans, I’ll kill ‘im.”
Joe giggled as he headed for the kitchen. Adam put his guitar down and was right on Joe’s heels. As they approached the kitchen, the sound of a metal pan bumping another metal pan could be heard. Then there was the clank of a utensil hitting the floor.
When Adam and Joe entered the kitchen, there was Hoss completely ignoring them, as he was busy getting the things he would need for his mysterious cooking idea. Adam and Joe watched him in curiosity.
After a few moments, Joe asked, “Hoss…what’s on the menu?” He smiled.
Hoss stood up and faced his brothers. A huge grin was across his face. His blue eyes were bright, “I’m gonna make a loaf of bread just like Hop Sing makes.”
“A loaf of bread?” Adam cautiously questioned.
“Yeah! Bread. Remember that good, hot smell when Hop Sing makes bread?” Hoss asked.
Joe closed his eyes and took a deep breath pretending he was breathing in the aroma of fresh, hot bread. “And that butter melting all over it.” Joe turned to look at Adam and elbowed him. “Sometimes that butter runs down my fingers and I have to lick it off.”
“And, don’t forget the honey.” Adam commented as he rubbed his open palms together. His mouth watered, “I’m in on this.” As he grabbed a nearby apron and tied it around his waist, he proclaimed. “I’ll lead this engineering project.”
Hoss scrunched up his face at his older brother. “Engineering project? Adam, this is just making bread. You know, one little loaf?”
Adam defended his comment. “I know it’s just one loaf But as usual, the two of you will somehow turn it into a project that needs a drawing. So as the oldest and most experienced in the house, I’ll take charge. I plan to keep it simple.”
Joe looked at Adam for a moment and then stated. “Come on, let’s get started. Hop Sing does this all the time and I’m drooling for some hot bread.”
Adam began by rolling up his sleeves. “Joe you get some flour. We know we need flour and lots of it.” Then Adam’s engineering mind came to a stop and a confused look came upon his face. “Flour…uh…what else?” He looked at Hoss.
Hoss’s eyebrows wrinkled again and his eyes narrowed. He was in deep thought after Adam’s comment. “Well, I reckon there’s some eggs and milk. Ya know? Ya gotta make it into a dough and can’t do that unless you put in some juice.”
“Yeah! You’re both right,” Joe agreed.
Hoss was surprised by Joe’s confidence. “You sit in here and watch Hop Sing bake bread?”
“No. But I’m just using Adam’s logic. It sounds right. Am I right, Adam?” Joe waited with hope on his face that Adam would answer in the affirmative.
“I think that’s a good educated guess. I mean, what else would you use?” Adam answered.
Hoss chuckled at Adam, “Yeah, thanks, educated brother. But I reckon I didn’t think that far ahead. I just thought about some good, hot bread.” Hoss responded. He had hoped this bread baking idea would be a lot easier than it sounded.
Joe took the initiative and pulled the lid off of the flour barrel. He scooped out two big heaps of flour. The scoop was so full that some flour spilled onto his hand. He put both scoops onto a large towel that Adam had placed on top the table.
All three stared at the two piles of flour. No one said a word, but their looks said that none of them thought it was enough. Without being told what to do, Joe took out three more big scoops of flour. The three stood in silence again and stared at the flour as if words might form in the white piles that told them they were doing a good job.
“Yeah, yeah, Joe. That looks good.” Hoss cheered his brother on. “That looks like a good size loaf of bread. You think, Adam?” Hoss asked. He felt they were off to a good start.
“Sure, Hoss. That’s about what I’d get out of the barrel.” Adam said trying to sound confident, but he didn’t have a clue.
“Ah,” Joe expressed. “I think we should put it into a bowl or something.”
Hoss smiled, “You two are putting too much thinking into this. It ain’t that hard.”
Mr. Engineer scratched his head and stared down at the flour. “A bowl, of course, a bowl. What else would we put it in? Then we can add the milk and eggs.” Adam couldn’t help but think to himself that it was a good thing he was here.
Hoss began to put the flour into a bowl, but the bowl was too small. Some of the flour began to spill over the edges back onto the table. Then Hoss went to the cupboard and pulled out a large roasting pan. He began to put all of the flour into the pan.
“Hoss!” Adam said, his eyebrows shooting up to the top of his forehead. “Maybe we have too much flour. You think?” Adam hovered over the table with his hands on his hips.
“Naw…bread’s mostly flour and we certainly don’t want to make any puny loaf. I’m hungry.” For the first time, Hoss was ready to move forward just like an eager soldier wanting to lead the troop. “I reckon if we got too much flour, then it’d just be a little dry and we can put more butter on it.”
Joe agreed, “Makes sense.”
“You’re right, Hoss. I should have thought of that.” Adam said with white flour getting all over his black clothes.
Joe had the eggs and the pitcher of milk. “Now, how many eggs, Adam, and how much milk?” Joe was glad to let these decisions be made by his brother. Joe could decide on ways to break a barn sour horse and didn’t need any help shoeing one, either. But this was bread and that was a different subject.
“I’m not sure.” Adam gave in and let his brothers see his lack of knowledge. “I guess a few eggs and enough milk to make it wet.” Adam looked pleased with his answer.
Joe quizzed him, “You guess? I thought you were gonna be the Engineer on this project? Now you say you guess.”
Adam rushed to defend himself. “Joe, I know cattle and horses. This is bread. It can’t be that hard to figure out. Just add them.”
“Yeah…good idea.” Hoss put in his vote.
“Alright. Let’s just do it. When I’ve popped into the kitchen and Hop Sing is doing something with flour, he never seems to make anything a big decision,” Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest.
While Joe poured milk and then broke about four eggs into the pan, he proclaimed. “I’m proud of us. Look how great we all work together.” Joe beamed.
Adam began to laugh. “He’s right. This helping each other is a better idea than just one of us making the bread. Remember Joe’s cake, Hoss?”
Joe gave his older brother a defensive look and wished this didn’t come up.
“Yeah,” Hoss gave a chuckle at Adam’s comment. He put his massive hands into the mixture and began to mix it up. Adam and Joe watched intently. Soon Hoss’s tongue came out and covered his upper lip as if it helped him to concentrate.
“Joe, add some more milk. It’s too thick.” Adam gave out his order. “You think it’s too thick, Hoss?”
“Yeah, Joe, more milk,” Hoss echoed Adam.
“I don’t think so, Adam. Bread’s supposed to be thick. Maybe some more eggs.” Joe gave his opinion. The flour seemed to begin to turn into dough. “I’ll put in some more eggs, though.”
Joe broke five more eggs into the mixture as Hoss kept up his mixing. The mixture became a little loose, so the boys put in some more flour. Each time they added something, they all hovered over the mixture like doctors over a patient.
Hoss mixed the huge mixture with it all the way up to his elbows. Adam continued reminiscing about Joe’s cooking mishap around their father’s birthday a couple of years earlier. Joe had been determined to make his father a cake.
Adam crossed his arms as he addressed Joe. “I remember Hoss took all the blame because
he didn’t want you to be embarrassed in front of
“I remember I wanted Pa to have a special cake.” Joe’s face wrinkled remembering how he felt.
“Oh, it was special, Joe. Real special,” Hoss interjected.
Adam continued, “I’ll bet the cake would have been fine, but the problem came up when he put icing on the cake before he put it into the oven.”
“Joe?” Hoss giggled. “How do you icing a cake before it gets baked?”
Joe blushed a little as the memories rushed to him. “Trust me, brother. It wasn’t easy. It just made sense at the time. I mean, Hop Sing’s cakes always had icing on them when they were set on the table. So, I just figured.”
Adam interjected, “I don’t think the two of you had Pa fooled. And I must admit that Hoss did a good job at trying to take the blame for the mess and smell in the kitchen.”
Hoss laughed out loud. “Yeah, but neither of us paid any attention to the flour and icing on Joe’s cheek that gave him away. I can’t believe I thought Pa would buy my story.”
Adam’s dimples were deep as his laugh matched Hoss’s. “Then I rushed to the kitchen and threw the cake into the pig pen before Pa could see the disaster that Joe created.”
Joe’s giggle was fast and loud at the images in his mind. “But none of the pigs would eat it. It just sat there in the mud.”
“They did try to wallow in it.” Adam offered.
“Dadburn our
Joe laughed at Hoss and then directed his comment to Adam. “Sisters! Adam, the poor things would think they’d have to run a bread factory. Our brother, Hoss, forgets how much food he eats.”
The three brothers howled in laughter. When Adam was able to control his laughter, he offered Hoss a thought. “See Hoss, when the two of you get into trouble, you two coming running to me for help and I have to bail you out.” Adam said matter-of-factly. “Sisters can’t help you in that way.”
“I reckon so, Adam. I wouldn’t have as much fun in the kitchen with sisters as I do you two. I guess I gotta thank Pa after all.” Hoss agreed.
Adam finally thought it looked good enough. “O.K. Hoss. Now, I know Hop Sing puts it onto the floured cloth and…uh…you know, does this with his fingers.” Adam said while moving his fingers in the air to show Hoss how Hop Sing kneads.
Hoss dumped the bread onto the table and the three brothers stared at their cooking project. “You think we’re missing something?”.
“Sugar…that’s what we need sugar. The dough is still too wet.” Joe grinned real big. If prizes were given out, he’s win first place. He knew the answer.
“We don’t want sweet bread, Joe.” Hoss disagreed.
“Joe’s right, Hoss. I’ve seen Hop Sing put some sugar into our bread. That’s what we need more than more flour. I’m sure of it.” Adam tried so hard to look like he knew what he was talking about.
Joe went over and got a cup of sugar and put it into the mixture. Hoss pushed it around on the floured cloth. The boys all began to smile. The mixture began to take on a look of dough. Just like Hop Sing’s.
“Joe, you butter the inside of the pan. Adam, is the oven ready?” Hoss knew this labor would soon be over.
Hoss took globs of dough and put it into the pan that was large enough to hold a 25-pound turkey and lots of vegetables. He shaped it like a loaf. It was so big that it almost touched the sides of the pan. It didn’t matter. All three Cartwrights looked proud of their accomplishment.
“Boy, I can’t wait. Hot butter-melting bread.” Hoss exclaimed.
Adam scratched his head. “It’s kind a big, Hoss.”
“Yeah, that’s Okay, Adam. I’m hungry enough that you two will be lucky to get some.” Hoss answered.
The mixture was so heavy in the pan that it took two of them to pick the pan up and put it into the oven. Then they all went into the great room, still dirty with flour on them, but they sat down happy to wait for the bread.
Tick, tick, tick…the grandfather clock sounded as an hour and a half passed. Adam was back in his blue chair with his legs crossed. He strummed again on his guitar. White flour still adorned his black shirt and pants. Joe set on the settee thumping his fingers on the material. He too had flour on his shirt and face. Hoss had cleaned himself up since he had his hands had been in the dough. He paced along the front of the fireplace while he glanced up at the clock on occasion.
Tick, tick, tick.
Finally, Hoss asked, “Hey, Adam?”
“What?” Adam answered.
“It’s been a long time and it don’t smell like it does when Hop Sing makes bread.” Hoss answered back. “How long we gotta wait?”
“I don’t know. I never thought about it.” Adam said. He stopped his playing. But before he could say anything further, Joe got up from the settee and went to the kitchen. His older brothers were right behind him.
They pulled the door down and two of them removed the pan from the oven with towels so they wouldn’t get burned. The pan was as heavy as it was when they put it into the oven.
All three stared at it. It just sat in the pan and didn’t look much like bread. Adam then took a large kitchen knife and tried to push it into the loaf. The blade of the knife flexed, but didn’t go into the bread. He made several stabs at it with none of the attempts penetrating the crust.
“It’s kind of hard, Hoss.” Joe said disappointed.
“Dadburn it. I bet we can’t eat it.” Hoss joined Joe in his disappointment.
“Eat it?” Adam added. “I’m afraid not. But we could throw it at a deer and kill it for dinner. At least, we know how to cook meat.”