BASEBALL AND
APPLE-SAUCE
By: Heidi
At the yard
of the Ponderosa ranch of the Cartwright family stood a big appletree who was
in full blossom. Of course the best eater of the family, Hoss, had discovered this.
But he wasn't the only one. The others too saw this. To prevent that Hoss would
eat all apples alone the loyal Chinese cook Hop Sing stepped in.
At a
beautiful morning the cook was alone at home with the Cartwright twin. Also famous and infamous as
Mitch and Pam Cartwright. just like their father Adam they were very sly and
sneaky in their behaviour.
“Twin, you
get apples from tree. Put them in basket and bring basket to Hop Sing. Hop Sing
makes apple-sauce of apples for supper”, the cook said to his little helpers.
Pam and
Mitch looked at each other and nodded.
“How must
we get them out?”, asked Mitch.
“May at
every way. As long as Mr. Hoss does not eat them”, said the cook.
“Come sis,
we are gonna play baseball”, said Mitch.
They left
the kitchen.
“You go and
get the basket, then I come right away with a few hard balls and my bat and our
gloves ”, said Mitch.
So said, so
done.
A moment
later the twin was near the appletree. Their dog Cody was there too.
“Pam, you
pitch the ball to me and I hit him to an apple. When the apple falls we put him
into the basket. When I have hit three apples out of the tree you may hit and I
pitch. Cody, you bring the ball back time and time again”, said Mitch.
He threw
the glove of his sister to her and rolled the balls to her.
The idea
of Mitch had effect because by
“Hop Sing,
here are the apples. May we help?”, Pam asked by entrance.
“Twin have
done enough. You must get father and Uncles after lunch”, said Hop Sing.
Mitch asked
smiling, “They must peel the apples, mustn't they ?”
Hop Sing
answered laughing, “Indeed. and twin supervise at them.”
“That will
be a laugh”, Pam said laughing.
“For us yes
but not for them”, her brother reacted.
After lunch Pam
and Mitch went to the herd where their grandpa, father and Uncles were.
“Boys, we get
company”, Ben said, the owner of the ranch and father of Adam, Hoss and Little
Joe.
He stopped
his grandchildren and suspected something about the reason of their arrival.
Mitch explaine dit all and Ben played the game along.
“Boys, you
must go home at once. Hop Sing needs you”, said the rancher. The brothers
looked amazed at each other.
“Or there
will be no supper for you. Hop Sing said that”, said Pam.
Hoss had
gone away as first. Followed by his younger brother. The eldest Cartwright boy
Adam looked at his offspring and didn't trust it. Though he didn't say anything
and he went after his brothers.
“Grandpa,
we see you at home”, Mitch said and he went with his sister home too.
Arrived at
home the brothers got a nasty surprise. On the porch Hop Sing was already
waiting with the basket apples, peeling knives and a pan for the peeled apples.
“Cartwright
brothers exactly in time for peeling chore”, said the cook.
The
brothers dismounted and walked to the porch.
“Apples
peel neat and thin and remove cores. Then apples put in pan”, they got to hear.
With
reluctance and grumbling the brothers went to work.
Mitch and
Pam came home and saw their father and brothers at work. The twin dismounted
and walked to them.
Hoss looked
at them and said warning, “We will get you somehow!”
“Thanks to
us we have something delicious to eat tonight”, reacted Pam.
“May I ask
how you got those apples out? You haven't climbed in like I have forbidden it,
have you ?”, Adam asked worried.
“No, we
haven't climbed in. We are not like that. We have spoken to the apples and
asked them polite if they wanted to come down. So they did ”, answered Mitch.
He winked
at Pam and she at him.
“Tell that
to the horsemarines”, said Little Joe.
“We can't
do that because we don't have horsemarinese. That's why we tell you”, his
nephew answered.
He and Pam
went to sit with them and watched laughing.
When all
apples were peeled and worked Hoss carried the pan to the kitchen.
“Mr. Hoss
out of kitchen”, Hop Sing said directly.
He went
straight away.
Outside at
the yard Mitch asked, “Shall we play baseball before we eat?”
“That is good.
Go and get your gear”, said Adam.
The twin
ran inside to get their gear.
“Make sure
that they get very tired so that they go to bed early this evening. They are
far too annoying to me”, Adam said to his brothers.
Hoss and
Little Joe promised that.
A moment
later the yard of the Ponderosa had changed into a baseball field. Hoss was the
catcher, Little Joe the outfielder and Adam played for pitcher. On turns Mitch
and Pam were at bat. To the annoying of Hoss the children hit every ball away
before he could catch it.
“Dadburnit,
Those two have been practising in hitting and pitching this morning”, he said
indignant.
“Nonsense.
They just have a lot of basball talent”, answered Adam.
His
brothers couldn't deny that.
During
supper the Cartwrights looked amazed at the new dish that Hop Sing had put on
the table. Ben checked the contents of the bowl and called his cook with him.
“Hop Sing,
what is this?”, he asked.
“Hop Sing
made apple-sauce from apples picked by twin”, answered the cook.
“Kids, out
with it: how have you picked those apples?”, asked Adam.
“On turns
we pitched a ball to each other and the one with the bat hit the ball against
an apple so that it fell”, answered Pam.
“Pam, was
this your idea?”, asked Hoss.
“No, Mitch
came with it”, she answered.
“We should
have known. After all they are the children of our big brother. That's why they
were in such a good shape this afternoon”, sighted Little Joe.
The
apple-sauce was tasted very well and that's why nobody was angry at the new
baseballmethod of the Cartwright twin.