Joe's Wedding
By
Grammagoose
But, Pa, Mrs. Bell is real nice and she makes good cookies. I think you should marry her and bring her here to live." Little Joe continued to plead his case, sure that his idea was the best one he ever had.
It is time you were asleep. Perhaps in another twenty years, I'll think about it." A small smile broke through Ben's serious face.
Twenty years! That's forever and ever. You can't wait that long, Pa. Gosh, in twenty years; I'll be, umm, umm. I'll be 27 years old! I'll be so old that, gosh, I'll even be older than Adam!".
As Ben reached to turn down the light, Little Joe shot forward. "I got it! I got it, Pa! I'll marry Mrs. Bell! Do you think she'll wait that long, Pa?"
Joe's worried face made Ben almost laugh out loud. But he replied, as seriously as he could, "Well, young man, I have always heard that true love waits. Maybe you should talk to her about it tomorrow. Now, to sleep, and no more talking!"
Little Joe smiled contentedly as he
settled back down on his bed. "Night-night,
Ben Cartwright silently watched his son from the bedroom door, shaking his head at the constant wonder of Little Joe's big ideas. "Good night, son."
Breakfast came early the next morning. Ben sat with Hoss, his older son, and discussed the chores that needed to be completed that morning. Hoss was a big boy, 13 years old, and his appetite matched his size.
"Can I please have some more flapjacks, Pa?" Hoss' large, clear blue eyes looked pleadingly toward his father.
"Of course, Hoss, but save a couple for your brother. Where is he, anyway? He knows we have to leave early today."
"Awe,
Ben scowled at Hoss. "You need to think twice about calling your brother that. Your new nickname for Joe, really gets him riled."
"Ya' mean, Shortshanks? Ya' gotta admit, Pa, it does pretty much describe that lil' punkin'."
"Hoss, do you know any reason that little punkin' may be so preoccupied with marriage?" Ben asked.
Hoss
raised his eyebrows and twisted his mouth as he tried to think of an answer for
his father. "Gee, I don't know,
"Hmm, quiet. Here he comes." Ben motioned to the child now descending the wooden staircase.
Hoss turned to watch Little Joe. He missed Adam, too, but felt lucky to have a little brother to keep him company.
Joe looked the part of a very sleepy boy.
His curly brown hair was tousled and stray locks fell into his eyes. His
beltless pants hung low on his hips and his unbuttoned shirt was half on and
half off. His arms held his scruffy brown boots. Joe's first stop was by his
father's side. He dropped his boots with a thud. Then he climbed onto Ben's lap
and yawned. "Mornin'
Hoss smiled as he had his mouth full of flapjacks.
Ben gave Joe a gentle hug and pushed the hair out of his eyes. "Good morning young man. Did you sleep well?" Ben enjoyed the morning sleepiness of his youngest as this was a time Joe seemed to enjoy cuddling.
"Yeah," sighed Little Joe.
"Good, now why don't you sit in your chair and eat up some flapjacks. I managed to save you a couple before your brother, here, ate them all up." Ben smiled as he helped his youngest straighten his clothing and finish buttoning his shirt.
Joe made a face at Hoss. "You better not eat all the food."
"Ahh, Joe, you know Hop Sing wouldn't let me do that. He would just keep makin' flapjacks till we were all filt up. Ain't that right, Pa?"
Ben smiled kindly as he thought about
their friend and housekeeper, Hop Sing. The small man from
Joe proceeded to pick at his food and Hoss watched intently. "Whatever you don't want, little brother, I can finish for you," Hoss suggested.
Ben intervened, "Hoss, go get the wagon hitched up and finish those chores we were talking about."
"
When Hoss was gone, Ben turned his attention to Little Joe. "Son, I want you to eat all your breakfast. You need to gain back some of that weight you lost when you were sick and you'll have a busy day at Mrs. Bell's. You don't want to be hungry, do you?"
Suddenly Joe remembered what he was going to do, today, and his mood lightened. "Pa, you know how I call Mrs. Bell, Grammagoose?"
"Yes, son," replied Ben as he sipped his coffee.
"Well, if she is Grammagoose, do you think I will be Grampagoose when we get married?"
Ben fought hard to not spurt out the coffee still in his mouth. Swallowing carefully, he looked down at his son and in a serious tone of voice he said, "Joseph, I guess that is the way it would be. That is, if she agrees to marry you in twenty years. Remember, that's a long time and she may find another suitor before then. Son, you may even find someone else."
Joe furrowed his brow, "Oh no,
The ride to town went quickly as Little Joe chattered on about the issues of importance in his world. "Do you think there will be another letter from Adam? I told him to write to me every day." Joe looked up at his father with questioning eyes.
"I hope there is a letter from Adam", Ben replied. He thought about his oldest son and how much he was missed. He never realized how he depended on the boy. The trip into town was something Adam would probably have taken care of. It was just a matter of picking up supplies, paying a few invoices and getting the week's payroll from the bank. These were chores that Ben had often relied on Adam to complete. Hoss, though very dependable, wasn't mature enough, yet, to do these things on his own.
"Joseph, when we get to town, I am going to drop you off at Mrs. Bell's house so you can do your chores for her. Then, Hoss and I are going to run a few errands. When we are done, I will come back to get you and then we will all go to the International Hotel for lunch. Do you understand?" Ben waited for an answer.
"Sure,
"You love them gooses, don't you, Shortshanks?" Hoss got a mischievous grin and turned to face his little brother. "I can give ya' a goose."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Shortshanks." Then Hoss reached for his brother's backside in an attempt to give him a little "goose".
"Quit it, Hoss! That ain't funny. And quit callin' me that name." Joe's quick temper suddenly found him off the seat, pummeling Hoss in the belly.
Hoss just laughed. "I was just funnin' ya', Joe."
"BOYS! Stop it right now. I don't want any fighting." As Ben shouted, he put the reins into his left hand and pulled Joe back onto the seat of the wagon. "Now settle down."
Hoss stopped laughing, but had to ask. "What makes you so mad 'bout bein' called that "word", Little Joe? It don't mean nuthin'. Just means you're kinda' small, that's all. "
Joe sat back with his arms across his chest and a scowl on his face. "Well, I'm tired of always bein' small and anyways, what's a Shortshanks?"
Ben looked down at his son and replied, "Well, the "shank" is the part of the leg that goes from your knee to your ankle. And if you check, you will see that your leg is much shorter than Hoss' leg. So you see, Hoss is just calling you short."
"But I don't like bein' called short."
Joe sat in silent anger, considering what his father had said. He noticed that he had his legs crossed in front of himself, on the seat. He knew that he sat like that because he could never reach his feet to the floor of the wagon. Then he looked at the legs of his biggest brother. Indeed, those legs reached the floor, just the same as Pa's did. Joe had always been shorter than everyone in the family, but until now, he had not put much thought towards it.
"Pa, am I always gonna' be short? I wish I could be tall." Joe rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on the palms of his hands.
"Of course not, Joseph. You are growing taller every day! Don't you remember how we mark your height on the kitchen door? Every time we do it, you get a little taller, don't you?" Ben put his right arm around Joe's shoulders and gave him a hug.
"Hoss, you can call me Shortshanks, I guess. Just don't do it too much, okay?"
"It's a deal, Joe."
Hoss squeezed Joe in a bear hug and caused his brother to squeal, "Let me go!"
A short time later, the wagon pulled up in front of Mrs. Bell's cottage. The small wood framed house looked like a picture card. It was painted a light yellow with blue trim and had a white picket fence all around. Beautiful purple and blue flowers bordered the neatly kept green grass.
As soon as the wagon stopped, Joe scrambled across his brother to get to the ground. "Hold on a minute, boy. I'll help you get down." Hoss assisted his brother down to the ground.
Joe made a dissatisfied groan. "I can
do it. Go on,
"Thank you kindly, Joseph. But I think I'll just wait right here, till I see Mrs. Bell." Ben was aware that this was one place where Joe felt at home and had no older brothers or father telling him what to do. But he wasn't about to just leave his son without knowing that an adult would be supervising.
At that moment, Mrs. Bell appeared on the porch and called out to the visitors. "Yoo-hoo! Hello, Ben. Hello, Hoss. Won't you come in for a cup of tea?"
Ben and Hoss waved. "Oh,
thank-you very much ma'am. But Hoss and I have some errands to run.
Joseph is here to help you. I'll be picking him up about
By this time, Carol Bell had walked the distance from the porch to the wagon. Her long graying hair was tied up on the back of her head in a bun. Her blue and white checked dress was crisp and clean. And she smelled like fresh apple pie.
Hoss caught the odor and began to beg to stay with Joe. But Ben was quick and started the wagon forward, before he lost the only helper he had.
Joe waved good-bye as the wagon disappeared down the dusty lane. Then he turned to face the love of his life. "Grammagoose, I sure missed you!" Joe threw his arms around Mrs. Bell.
Mrs. Bell was a little surprised at the greeting, although she had also come to know and love this little boy. For the last year, Joseph came two days a week to help with chores and to care for the dozen geese that lived in the pond behind her house. In fact, it was the geese that had brought them together. Joe's father had brought a baby goose to live with her gaggle. The goose had lost its mother and Joe had helped to raise it. But wild animals on the Ponderosa had forced Ben to bring the animal to her house. Joe had missed his goose very much, so arrangements were made to allow the child to do chores for Mrs. Bell two days a week, after school. It was an arrangement that worked well for both Joe and Mrs. Bell.
"Well, my friend, what would you like to do first? Shall we go visit the geese?" Mrs. Bell knew that would be Joe's first wish.
"Oh, yeah. Come on, let's go!" Joe ran ahead, around the side of the house
Carol Bell hurried to catch up. "I have a surprise for you, Little Joe!"
But Joe didn't hear her as he was already down by the pond. He started to count the birds, but something caught his attention. There were two small geese following behind one of the bigger geese. In fact they were following behind his own goose, Baby. He watched in quiet amazement as Baby neared the edge of the pond and walked on shore, followed closely by a smaller gray goose and a smaller white goose.
By this time, Mrs. Bell had caught up. "Well, what do you think, Little Joe? Your baby goose is a mommy. She had her baby's about a month ago. I guess it has been a long time since your last visit."
Joe was still speechless, an unusual state for the boy. Suddenly, he felt a bite on his backside. "Ouch!" Joe turned around quickly and found his old foe, Boggle Goose. Boggle had his head low to the ground and he hissed in his menacing way.
"Quit it, you dumb goose. It's just me, Joe." Joe raised his arms in a threatening gesture that he hoped would make the hostile bird back down.
Mrs. Bell chuckled. "My, my, Joseph, it seems that Boggle has forgotten who you are. He's also being a little more protective, because those new baby geese are his children. He doesn't want you to hurt them."
"Well, I ain't gonna' hurt 'em. Go away goose." Joe stood his ground and soon Boggle calmed down.
"Where did the babies come from? How come Boggle is their father?" Joe looked perplexed as he sat down on the ground, hoping that Baby would bring her children close.
Mrs. Bell considered the question. She knew that Little Joe lived on a ranch with lots of animals. Surly he knew that it took two to make babies.
She began hesitatingly, "Well, Joseph, they came from eggs, just like chickens come from eggs."
"Baby had some eggs?" questioned the boy.
"Yes, she did. She made a soft nest in the tall grasses over there by the tree. Then she laid her eggs in the nest and sat on them. She sat there for a whole month! I know Boggle is the father because he stayed by her and protected her every day. She couldn't leave her eggs, because they would get cold and die. So all day and all night, she sat and sat. Then, finally, one day I came to the pond to toss some bread and there they were! Little balls of fluffy yellow and black down were peeking their heads out from under Baby. But they ate and grew and ate and grew and now they are almost the size of their parents."
Joe sat silently, listening to all that his friend had to say. "Did my Baby goose marry Boggle?"
Carol Bell smiled as she thought about the question. "Well, I guess you could say that. It was sort of a "Goose Wedding". I think I know the day it happened. They were chasing each other around the pond and honking very loudly. Yes, now that I think about it, that was the day!"
Joe smiled at the thought. "I wish I could have seen the babies when they were really little."
"I heard you were sick, Little Joe. You missed almost the whole last month of school, didn't you? How are you feeling?"
"I wasn't very sick, but my Pa made me stay home. I had to stay in bed for a really long time. It was so boring. I even missed doing schoolwork. But I'm all better, now. See?" Joe smiled a big grin for Mrs. Bell.
"You look very healthy, Little Joe. And I see your new tooth is coming in and you have lost the other one! My, my. Why don't we go inside and have some cookies! I just made a batch of your favorite, oatmeal!"
Joe looked over at Baby goose. Her children still had not come close enough to touch. "I love your cookies alot! But after I have some, I want to feed the geese, okay?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me. Come on." Mrs. Bell took hold of Joe's hand and together they walked the short distance to her home.
Joe sipped his glass of milk and munched his cookies. They were still warm and soft. He thought about Hoss and how jealous he would be if he knew about the cookies.
"I've been making some apple pies. I wanted to use up the leftover apples from last year's crop. Do you think I could send one home with you? Asked Mrs. Bell.
Joe smiled with a milk mustache. "I'm sure my really big brother would like that very much, ma'am!"
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Should I get the door, Mrs. Bell?" asked Little Joe.
"Wait, it sounds like somebody I know and I think I can guess what she wants." Mrs. Bell began to hunt through her pantry.
"Here, Joseph, why don't you give this to her?" Mrs. Bell handed Little Joe a big bunch of lettuce.
Scrunching up his nose, Joe replied, "Who would want a bunch of 'ole lettuce?"
"Why don't you find out?" responded Mrs. Bell.
So Joe got up and skipped to the back door. At first he didn't see anything, but then he heard the knock again. Looking down, he saw a most amazing site. One of Baby's children, the little gray goose, was knocking her beak on the door.
"Look, Grammagoose! This gray goose is knockin' on the door!"
"Well open the door up and give her what she wants. Careful, don't let her inside, though." Mrs. Bell smiled at the excitement of the young child.
Joe slipped outside the door and sat on the step. He watched as the small gray goose ate up every little scrap of lettuce.
"You sure are a pretty goose. Do you have a name? Can I call you, Pepper? And then I can call your brother Salt, 'cause he's all white, like salt. First I have to ask Grammagoose, okay?"
Once the lettuce was gone, Pepper wandered off to be near the other geese and Joe went back inside.
"Grammagoose, Grammagoose, can I call her Pepper and can I call the other one, Salt? Please, you know, 'cause they're gray and white- like salt and pepper." Joe bounced up and down in excitement.
"Those are perfect names, Little Joe. From now on, they will be known as Salt and Pepper. Now, why don't we go out to the barn and I'll help you get started on your chores." Mrs. Bell extended her hand and Little Joe happily took it.
As they worked, Joe remembered the important question he was going to ask Mrs. Bell. He wasn't sure what to say, as he had never asked someone to marry him before. Every few minutes, he would stop what he was doing and watch Mrs. Bell.
"Joseph, are you all right? If you're getting tired, I think we should stop so you can go rest." Mrs. Bell was worried because Little Joe had just recovered from a long illness.
"Huh? Me? I ain't tired." And Joe began raking hay with a vengeance. He certainly didn't want anyone telling his Pa that he might be sick. He had had enough of being stuck in bed to last a lifetime.
"Then, is there something bothering you? You look worried."
"Well, hum, there is something I wanted to ask you." Joe took a deep breath and put down his rake. Mustering up all his courage, he blurted it out, "Will you marry me? I mean, not right now. But can you wait for awhile? Could you wait for about twenty years? My Pa said that if you love somebody, you could wait a long time. And you don't have to worry, 'cause my Pa will let us stay at my house. But my brothers are nosey, so we can put locks on everything. Do you think so?"
Carol Bell had never been so surprised. She looked over at the little boy, whom she had grown to care so much about. His face was so serious.
"Come on, Little Joe, let's sit on this bale of hay." Carol put her arm around the child and led him to sit down. "Little Joe, that is the nicest marriage proposal I have ever had." Looking into his bright hazel-green eyes, she wished so much that the boy was older. "Joe, some day you are going to marry a very lucky woman. If I weren't already promised to someone else, I would gladly wait twenty years for you. Do you remember Mr. Peters, the man who makes leather belts and holsters?"
Joe nodded his head, feeling a little sad.
"Well, Mr. Peters and I are going to get married next Saturday. We are going to have a wedding, right here at my house. I was going to tell you about it, but we have had so much catching up to do, I almost forgot!"
Joe's eyes began to fill with tears. "But Mrs. Bell, you won't need me anymore 'cause Mr. Peters will do all your goose chores."
"Oh, that's not true. I will still need you very much. Mr. Peters has lots of work to do at his shop. He won't have time to do all the important chores that you do for me."
"Then I can still come to your house?" asked the sad eyed child, as he wiped the escaping tears from his cheek with the back of his hand.
"Most definitely. And, I have something else to ask of you. When Mr. Peters and I get married, we are going to need someone to carry our rings for us. That person would be called the ring bearer and his job would be a very important part of the wedding ceremony. Do you think you could do that?"
"You want me to be a ring bear? I could do that and I can growl real good. I always wanted to be a grizzly bear!" Joe was beginning to cheer up. This sounded like fun.
Mrs. Bell was perplexed. "Joseph, a ring bearer does not need to growl. He just carries the wedding rings on a small, soft pillow. No bears."
Joe was also confused. "Well, I can be a ring bear who doesn't growl. But I can if you want. GRRRRR, GRRRRR!" Joe did his best imitation of a bear, including dangerous claws and sharp teeth.
"Shhhh, Joe. The geese may hear you and they will be very scared."
"I forgot." Joe grimaced as he thought of how scared the geese would be if they heard a bear.
"I can't wait to tell Pa and Hoss!"
True to his word, Ben Cartwright pulled
the now loaded wagon in front of Mrs. Bell's house just before
As soon as he saw his father, Joe shot out of his chair and ran to him. "Pa! Pa! Guess what?"
Ben hopped down from the wagon and scooped Little Joe up in his arms as the child ran into him. "What, Little Joe? What's so exciting?"
"
"Slow down, son. You need to take time to breath", Ben said.
"But Pa, I'm gonna be a ring bear. Is that okay? I hope so, 'cause Mrs. Bell needs me real bad. Because you know why? 'Cause she's gonna get married and you know what? She's gonna marry Mr. Peters." Joe smiled smugly, feeling proud of all the important news he had just conveyed.
Ben laughed and slipped Little Joe back to the ground. Keeping a hand on the top of his son's head, he walked up to the porch. "Congratulations, Carol! That's wonderful news. When is this very special event going to take place?"
"Next Saturday. I hope you don't mind that I already talked to Joe about being the ring bearer, but I didn't think you would mind. I would love for you and Hoss to come, as well."
"We wouldn't miss it for the world, would we Hoss?" Hoss had left the wagon and now stood next to his father.
"I love weddin's Mrs. Bell." Hoss beamed with delight.
"You just love weddin' cakes, Hoss," teased Little Joe.
"That reminds me, Ben. I have an apple pie for you to take home. I'll go get it," said Mrs. Bell.
After Mrs. Bell and Ben discussed the details of the upcoming wedding on Saturday, The Cartwrights bid her farewell and headed for the International Hotel to have lunch. Three letters had arrived from Adam and Ben and the boys each read the letter that was addressed to them as they ate their lunch. Little Joe could hardly wait to get home and write his own letter back to Adam and tell him all the exciting news.
When Saturday came, Ben hitched the buggy, which they only took for special occasions. The wedding day of Mrs. Bell and Mr. Peters was indeed a special occasion. All three were dressed up in their Sunday best. Hoss and Little Joe could hardly stand the string ties, but were warned to keep them in place till after the wedding ceremony. Ben had thought that his youngest would be extremely active today, but for some reason he was unusually quiet.
"Are you feeling okay, Little Joe?" Ben asked.
"I'm fine,
"Dang, Joe. You're so gosh darn quiet. Cat got your tongue or somethin'?" asked Hoss.
"I'm just quiet, that's all. I'm thinkin'. Can't a feller think?" replied Little Joe, a bit grumpily.
"Joseph, are you nervous about being the ring bearer?" Ben asked quietly.
Sighing, Little Joe nodded his head and said, "I guess I'm a little bit scared. Why doesn't she want me to growl?"
Ben considered this question and not knowing how to answer, he just replied, "I don't know."
Hoss laughed. "She don't want you to be a bear, Joe. She wants you to be a bearer. Somebody who carries the rings."
Joe looked up at Hoss. He was perplexed. "But a bear's 'sposed to growl."
Ben finally caught on and added, "Joseph, just do what Mrs. Bell asks. After all, it is her wedding. Do that and everything will be fine. You'll see."
"'Kay." Joe slouched down in the seat. He sure hoped he could do this the right way and make Mrs. Bell happy.
There were only ten minutes to spare before the wedding was to start, when the Cartwrights pulled into Carol Bell's yard.
"Ben! I'm so glad to see you!" Mrs. Bell exclaimed as she grabbed Ben by the arm and pulled him over to the side of her porch. Ben quickly snatched Little Joe's hand and brought him along.
"Where is Hoss?", Carol asked as she looked around with a worried expression on her face.
"Now calm down, ma'am. He's just putting up the horses. He'll be here directly." Ben tried to talk as soothingly as possible. He had seen women on the day of their wedding and he knew how excitable they could be.
>Mrs. Bell took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry Ben. I guess I'm just a little nervous. Let me look at my favorite boy. "Oh my! Don't you look just perfect." As she looked at the small boy, she thought of his recent proposal and wished she could wait twenty years.
Joe grinned. He knew he looked good. His brown suit, new brown hat and shiny boots made him look much older than his present age of seven. He even felt a little bit taller.
"Now, Joseph. I want you to go inside the house and stand next to Amanda. She is the flower girl and she will walk from the door to the other side of the room with you. Here is the pillow with the rings. Be very careful with these. All you have to do is carry them and when the minister asks for the rings, you just step forward. Okay?"
Little Joe nodded his head although he wasn't sure what the woman had told him. All he heard was that he had to stand next to Amanda and walk someplace with her. He couldn't believe his ears.
"B-but, Mrs. Bell." Joe tried to speak, but Carol Bell was off to tend to some other wedding business before he could tell her.
"Pa! Did you hear her? I can't do this.
I can't walk with Amanda. She's a girl,
Ben rubbed the temples of his forehead. "Son, you made a promise to be the ring bearer and that is what you need to do. Now, on with it. March." With that, Ben pushed his youngest son into the house.
By now most of the guests had arrived. Joe
looked around nervously. He spotted Amanda and reluctantly walked over to her.
He wished he knew what it was that he was supposed to do. But all he remembered
was that he and Amanda were to do something together. Oh well, he thought. I'll
just do whatever Amanda does.
"Little Joe! You are so handsome." Amanda smiled at her friend.
Both of her front teeth were missing and all Joe could think was, Amanda, you look silly. He glanced over at his father and Hoss and decided not to say that. Instead, he smiled and said, "You look pretty, Amanda." Then he turned his head to one side and made a face, not quite believing he had actually said that to a girl.
The music began and Amanda started to walk forward. Joe did not move.
"Come on, Joe. That means we gotta' walk over to where Mrs. Bell and Mr. Peters are standing." With that, Amanda grabbed Joe's left hand and pulled him along. Luckily the rings were tied to the top of the pillow as he had it tucked under his right arm. Some of the guests chuckled. Joe walked along, with Amanda, smiling at all the people. There was his teacher, Miss Knackenhorst, Sheriff Roy Coffee, and even Doctor Martin. When he saw Pa and Hoss, he wanted to wave, but both his arms were busy.
Once they were to the front, Amanda let go of Joe's hand, the music stopped and the minister began to talk. Joe looked up at the tall man and hoped this wasn't going to be as boring as church.
Unfortunately, the minister did seem to have a lot to say. Joe fidgeted as he tried to get comfortable. Even Amanda started to look around. Then the minister said something and it got very quiet. Everyone had his head bowed down. That's when Joe heard the knock. He knew right away who it was. He looked around and decided that nobody would notice if he left for just a minute. So, tucking the pillow under one arm, he slipped away to the nearby kitchen. He wasn't sure where to find the lettuce, so he opened the back door of the house to tell the goose.
"Sorry, Pepper. We're havin' a weddin' in here. Come back later."
The little goose looked up at Joe with sad eyes.
The boy hesitated, then decided to let the goose inside. He opened the door wider and stepped back. To his surprise, all the other geese were standing nearby and soon all fourteen geese strolled into the house. They walked quietly as they looked all around the kitchen. Joe smiled and whispered to himself, "Of course, this is what's missing. How can Grammagoose get married without the gooses?"
He rushed past the geese and back to the living room, hoping he hadn't missed his part with the rings. Luckily, the prayer was just ending and it seemed that no one had noticed his absence. Nobody except, Amanda, that is.
"Little Joe. You're not supposed to go anyplace." Amanda scolded in a whispering voice.
Joe gave her a sneer. "I came back, didn't I?"
The minister cleared his throat and the children looked up at him. They were rewarded with a very stern look.
Finally, Joe heard the part about the rings and stepped forward with the pillow. Mrs. Bell smiled appreciatively, glad that the rings were still attached with ribbons.
As Joe stepped back next to Amanda, he began to wonder what happened to the geese.
Only a few more minutes passed and the minister said, "You may kiss the bride." It was
at that moment, the geese found their way into the living room from the side door leading to the kitchen.
"Wa, wa, wa…." They talked to each other as they waddled across the floor. All the guests gasped with surprise. Nobody was more surprised than Mrs. Bell.
When all fourteen of the little critters filed into the room, it became very crowded. Some of the guests were frightened, having had only bad experiences with geese. Some the guests laughed, including Miss Knackenhorst. One elderly lady fainted. Luckily Doctor Martin was there to tend to her. Ben, Hoss and Roy tried to usher the geese out the front door. Joe giggled and watched the whole event with delight.
Finally, all the big birds found their way out the front door and the guests began to settle down.
The minister didn't know what to say, as everyone looked to him for the ending of the ceremony. "Well, folks, that sure was exciting." He laughed and so did everyone else. "Now, may I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Peters. May their lives be filled with love and joy and may they always have wonderful friends like you."
Everyone laughed and hugged one another. By this time, Ben had hauled Little Joe over to the side of the room. He tried to remain calm, though inside he was steaming. "Joseph, I think you owe an apology to your friend, Grammagoose. I can't believe you let those animals in here."
Joe was genuinely surprised. "B-but Pa, the gooses wanted to come to the wedding."
>Ben shook his head in exasperation as he pulled Little Joe along by the arm to meet with the, now, Mrs. Peters. When he got to her, he pushed Joe forward and said, "Go on. Tell her."
Joe looked at his feet, feeling very scared. Then he looked up at his friend. "I-I'm s-sorry, Grammagoose. Pepper was knockin' at the door and then they all wanted to come in. S-sorry."
Carol knelt down so she could look at the boy, eye to eye. "Joseph, don't be sorry. That was the biggest surprise I ever had. Believe it or not, I loved seeing all the geese come marching through the living room. It was the perfect ending to our wedding."
"Really?"
"Really."
Joe looked up at his father. "Pa, Grammagoose isn't mad at me. She liked the gooses."
>Carol Peters stood up and looked at Ben Cartwright. "Ben, don't be angry with Joseph. It was an innocent mistake. And it did make the wedding special, didn't it?"
Ben had to laugh. "Yes, it certainly did liven things up a bit!"
After that, the wedding reception went smoothly. The guests ate and ate. Everyone wanted to meet the geese and Joe was more than happy to introduce each little feathered bird. Most of the people were surprised that the animals had names and that Joe knew which one was which. Hoss ate lots of wedding cake along with the other goodies Grammagoose had prepared.
Finally, it was time for everyone to go home. Hoss and Joe settled into the buggy and Ben took the reins. The long ride home lulled Joe to sleep. When they got home, Hoss put the buggy away and Ben carried his youngest up to bed. He thought about the events of the day. "Well, young man, I wonder what your wedding day will be like." He smiled and let go a quiet chuckle. "I hope I have at least twenty years to find out."