AHELPING HAND
By
Lynne C
Rating: This story contains references to a child being beaten
`Jest you wait until I get ma hands on that dadblamed little brother
of mine,' thought Hoss, as he rather cautiously raised his head, and
hoped that it would remain on top of his shoulders. `This has gotta be
his doin'. Ain't no one else in this house foolhardy enough to be
responsible fer this mess.'
Hoss couldn't believe what he'd walked into.
The young man had spent the day doing his chores on the ranch, and
hadn't been back to the house, since breakfast. He was looking forward
to enjoying a superb meal, cooked by Hop Sing, so when he walked into
the main room, the last thing he was expecting, was to have to duck
down, in order to avoid being hit by a flying piece of crockery. Each
time he tried to raise his head up, in order to see who was doing the
throwing, another piece would come perilously close to his person,
along with several items of cutlery, and a vase, containing a bunch of
flowers.
Eventually, the onslaught appeared to be over, and Hoss felt it was
safe to stand up.
"What in tarnation is goin' on, here?"
Hoss still could not see who was responsible for the flying objects,
but Joe appeared from the kitchen, with a bandage around his head.
"Are you okay, Hoss?" asked the fifteen year old. "I wanted
to come
and help you, but Hop Sing was bandaging my head, so I couldn't."
"I'm all right, but cain't say the same fer the house. What's bin
goin
on, little brother? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's only a small cut, but you know how Hop Sing likes to fuss?
Have you seen Billy?"
"Sure glad to hear it ain't nothin' serious, shortshanks, but ya still
ain't told me what's bin happenin', and who's Billy?"
"Billy's the one who has made all this mess," Joe said. "I
brought him
home with me, after school, and when Hop Sing said he had to take a
bath, well, he got a bit upset."
"I sure ain't that keen on bathin' myself, but I don't smash up the
house, when it's suggested. But why was Hop Sing gettin' a friend of
yours to take a bath? We don't usually get our guests to do that. No
wonder Billy got mad, it was a bit rude of Hop Sing, sure enough."
Joe giggled at that remark.
"Yeah, I guess it does sound a bit rude, but Billy's not just here
to
have dinner with us. His Pa treats him real bad, Hoss, and he came to
school late today. Miss Jones just told him to go and sit down, as
he's often late, and she didn't pay him no mind, but I've got to be
quite good friends with him, and I could tell he was hurting. He
wouldn't say what the problem was, at first, but when school was over,
I talked with him, again, and that's when he showed me his back.
Honestly, Hoss, it made me wanna cry, it was so badly cut and bruised.
His Pa had taken a razor strop to him; it was a horrible sight. I
couldn't believe that anyone would hurt a child like that, and Billy's
only nine. No one deserves to be beaten that bad, do they?" and Joe's
eyes began to fill up with tears.
Hoss was immediately sorry for all the bad thoughts he'd been having
towards Joe, and he crossed the room to give his little brother a hug.
"Of course they shouldn't, punkin."
When Joe calmed down, he was able to continue with his story.
"Billy's Pa drinks a lot, and when he's drunk, he just lashes out
at
Billy; poor kid doesn't even have to have done anything wrong. He's
warned Billy not to tell anyone about the beatings. He told him that
Billy would be taken away to a school for bad boys, and he'd never be
able to go back home again. Despite what his Pa does to him, Billy
still loves him, and he was scared, so told no one, except for me, and
I only found out, when we went swimming one day. I saw some old scars
on his back and asked him about them. He said his Pa had been real
angry with him, one time, and had hit him, but it only happened once.
But when I got to know him better, I found out it was happening quite
a lot. He was in such a bad way, today, so I persuaded him to come
home with me. I just told Hop Sing that Billy was having some problems
at home and I'd said he could stay with us, for a few days. Hop Sing
took one look at the state of him, and said he wasn't sitting down at
our supper table, until he'd had a bath, and a change of clothes.
Billy was scared to have the bath, in case Hop Sing saw his back, and
so he refused. Well, you know how excitable Hop Sing can be? He
started yelling, in Chinese, and Billy got even more scared and
started throwing things around, trying to keep Hop Sing from getting
hold of him. When I tried to sort it out, I got hit with a cup. Then,
you must've come in, and Billy started throwing things at you, too. I
know I should've asked Pa first, but I just couldn't let Billy go back
to his Pa."
"You did the right thing, shortshanks," said Hoss. "The
most important
thing, now, is to find Billy and reassure him that no one's gonna hurt
him, or send him away."
"I'm here," said a small voice, and Billy came out, from under
the
table. "I'm sorry, mister; I was scared and I thought you was gonna
send me to that bad boys home, cos I hurt your brother."
"It's okay, big shorty," said Hoss, reaching out and ruffling
the
boy's hair. "Joe's explained everything and there's no need fer ya
to
be afraid. I'm sure your back will feel a mite better, after a nice
soak in the tub, and we'll get ya some fresh duds ta put on, then we
can eat. Hop Sing makes a darn good supper, and you'll love it, that
is if there's enough plates left, to eat it off."
Joe took Billy out to the wash house and Hoss was in the middle of
cleaning up the main room, when Adam and Ben returned home. The big
man quickly explained what had been going on and he, too, felt tears
filling his eyes, when he told his father and brother how the little
boy had been beaten.
"It jest ain't right, Pa, and Little Joe had no choice, but to bring
the boy home with him."
"I agree, son," said Ben. "However, I doubt if Billy's father
would
see it the same way, as we do. He could say we'd kidnapped his son,
and demand that we return him."
"You wouldn't though, would ya, Pa?" said Hoss. "There's
no tellin'
what he'd do to that boy, once he knew that Billy had told us about
the beatings."
"Pa might not have any choice in the matter," said Adam. "As
much as
it pains me to say it, that brute has the law on his side, and he is
well within his rights to insist we send back his son."
"Well, I ain't gonna let that happen, law or no law," said Hoss.
"There's no way I'm lettin' that man hurt that little boy, agin. I
think I need ta go and have a word with Nate Jackson."
Ben and Adam tried to talk Hoss out of it, but the young man could be
just as stubborn as the rest of the family, when a child's wellbeing
was at stake, and he was determined to go. In the end, Ben agreed, but
told Hoss he was only to tell Jackson where Billy was, and explain why
Joe had taken the boy to the Ponderosa.
"Hopefully, if he's in the state that he's usually in, whenever I
see
him in town, he won't be able to make too much fuss about it," said
Ben. "At least it might give us a bit of time to see if there isn't
something we can do, to help the boy."
Hoss rode out to the rather run down shack, in which Billy and his
father had taken up residence, a few weeks earlier. Jackson was
extremely drunk and had not even noticed that his son wasn't there. No
one, except Hoss and Nate Jackson, knew exactly what was said, that
evening, but Jackson did not try to get his son back from the Ponderosa.
Billy stayed with the Cartwrights, for a couple of weeks, until
Sheriff Coffee was able to trace an aunt of Billy's, and she wired
Roy, to say that she would come and collect the boy.
However, Billy didn't have to stay with her that long, as once Nate
realised that he was likely to lose his son, unless he sorted himself
out, the man began to do just that. He wasn't really a bad man, but
the loss of his wife and little girl, from typhoid, had affected him,
greatly, and he looked for solace in a whisky bottle. Then, once in a
drunken state, he became angry with Billy, as the boy was still alive,
while his wife and daughter were dead. Not that he wanted Billy to be
dead, as well, but in his confused mind, he just had to lash out at
someone, and Billy was a handy target.
With Hoss' help, Nate gave up drinking, and Billy was able to return
to live with his father. Joe was glad to have his little friend back
at school, with him, and Billy never forgot the kindness of the
Cartwright family, especially Little Joe's big brother, Hoss.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
June 18th 2005