You're not my brother
by
Lynne C.

The young man stood in Cass' general store and stared, defiantly, at
the proprietor.

"I don't wish to be rude, sir, but I AM Adam Cartwright! Why won't you
believe me?"

"I don't believe you, because I have known the Cartwright family for
nigh on twenty years, and Adam Cartwright doesn't look anything like
you," said Will Cass. "For a start, he doesn't have blue eyes, and
he's older and bigger than you are."

"Well, yes, I know he is," said Adam. "I'm sorry for confusing you, as
I guess I should've known that you would know Adam."

"You're darn right that you shouldn't have tried to confuse me, young
man. I've been around far too long, and I've probably heard all the
excuses and lies, known to man, while I've been standing behind this
counter. So, if you thought you were gonna get anything outta me, by
lying to me about who you are, you were very wrong."

"That wasn't my intention, sir. The Adam Cartwright you know is a
cousin of mine, well I assume that's how we are related, but I am also
called Adam Cartwright. When my Uncle Ben wrote to my Ma and Pa and
told them the news of Adam's birth, they both said they liked the name
and if they ever had a son, they would call him Adam, too."

"Your cousin?" said Will.

"Yes, at least I think we are cousins, I'm not that sure how it all
works. His father and mine are cousins."

"Oh," said Will, calming down, a bit. "A cousin, eh? Well, I suppose
that's possible, but how come you've never been here to visit them,
before?"

"Mainly because of the distance, I guess. You see, my father settled
in Boston, and has never had any reason to come this far west, but I
think I'm a bit like Uncle Ben, and I wanted to see something of the
world. My father said if I got out this way, I should look up this
branch of the family."

"Well I'm sure Ben and the boys will be mighty pleased to see you,
young fella, and in the meantime, is there anything I can get you?"

"I've just got off the stage and I was hoping to find somewhere to
stay and then rent a horse, tomorrow, to ride out to the ranch. I also
need to buy a few things, as my supplies have run rather low."

"It's only just over an hours ride out to the ranch, from here, so you
don't need to stay in town," said Will. "And if you go and see Lafe,
at the livery stable, I am sure he will loan you a good mount. As to
the supplies, what did you need?"

"Some shaving gear and a change of clothes, as I left Placerville in a
bit of a hurry, and didn't have time to collect my stuff, from the hotel."

"I'm happy to sell you what you need, son, but I'm sure that once you
get out to the Ponderosa, the boys will be able to help you out.
Little Joe's about your size and they have plenty of razors between them."

"I'm sure they do, but I don't wanna turn up looking like the poor
relation, even though I am, in comparison to them."

Before Adam rode out to the ranch, he took a bath, had a shave and
changed into his new clothes. Then he went along to the livery stable
and introduced himself to Lafe.

"How do you do, sir? The name's Adam Cartwright and I would like to
rent a horse from you, so that I can ride out to the Ponderosa."

"I don't know what your game is, mister," said Lafe. "But I do know
that you sure ain't Adam Cartwright. I've known that young man for
many a long year, and you ain't him. So, iffen you think you can
hornswaggle me into lending you a horse, by saying you're Adam, you've
come to the wrong place."

Adam sighed and pulled on his ear lobe, a trait, which he shared with
his namesake, whenever they were anxious or disturbed by something.

"I've already been through this, with Mr Cass, over at the
mercantile," said Adam. "I am a cousin of the Adam you know, and I
have come all the way from Boston to meet him and the rest of the
family. I have money to pay for renting the horse, so I am not trying
to hornswaggle you, in any way."

When Lafe heard that the young man had money, he, too, relaxed a bit.

"That's okay, iffen you're kin to the Cartwrights then I guess I can
add the hire of the horse to their monthly account. Take the one in
the far stall, on the left, and there's a saddle on the stand up
there, too."

"Thanks, mister, I'll return it just as soon as I can."

"I'm sure Ben will fix you up with a Cartwright mount, for the time
you are here, and will send a hand in with this one, tomorrow."

Now that Adam was rested and cleaned up, he was ready to head out for
the ranch. As he was riding past the schoolhouse, he heard someone
call out, "Hey, Cartwright, wait for me."

He turned around, to see who could possibly know him, way out here,
and realised that the voice was hailing a young boy, who was behind
him, riding on a pinto.

"Okay, I'm waiting," said the boy, to his friend, Mitch. "But I
mustn't be late, else Adam'll have my hide. He warned me that I'd
better be home on time, today, cos Pa's due back and Adam wants all
the chores done, so that the place looks at its best."

The two boys rode alongside Adam and were about to overtake him, but
he spoke to them, and so that kept them at his side.

"Did I hear that you are called Cartwright?" said Adam, to the boy on
the pinto.

"Yeah, I am, Joe Cartwright to be precise," said Joe. "Why do you want
to know?"

"Because I'm Adam Cartwright," said Adam.

Joe started to laugh and it took him a while to stop, enough, to
enable him to speak, again.

"Well, mister, I don't know who you are, but I do know who you're not,
and you sure ain't Adam Cartwright. He's my brother and as I've known
him for fifteen years, I think I know what he looks like, and it isn't
you."

Now it was Adam's turn to laugh.

"Oh, I know I'm not your brother, Adam, but I am your cousin, Adam
Cartwright. I've come all the way from Boston to meet you. Ever since
I've arrived in town, all I've heard is that I'm not Adam Cartwright,
but if your brother was to show up in Boston, he would be the one
being told he wasn't Adam."

"My cousin, huh? How come?"

"Your grandfather, Joseph, and my grandfather, Ben, were brothers. So,
that makes your Pa and my Pa cousins and us cousins, a few times removed."

"Oh, well, in that case, welcome cousin," said Joe. "This is my best
friend, Mitch. This is gonna be fun, introducing Adam to Adam."

Once Mitch left them, at the turn off to his home, Joe started asking
Adam a bit about his family and the things he liked doing.

"I am the eldest of three and have two sisters called Mary and Sara. I
went to college and studied law, intending to join my father's
practice, but when I graduated I wasn't ready to just start working. I
wanted to see more of the country of my birth and so decided to go
travelling. My father wasn't too happy about it, after spending a
fortune on getting me educated, but he let me go with his blessing, on
the understanding that I paid my own way. Therefore, no matter what
happens, I can't call on him to bail me out. Just a few days ago, in
Placerville, I got myself in a pretty tight spot, but I managed to get
away, with my hide intact."

"Please tell me how you did that," said Joe. "I'm always getting into
tight spots, and I very rarely get away with my hide in one piece."

"Well, this particular incident involved me and a married woman, so I
don't think it's quite the kind of thing that a young fella like you
would get mixed up with. You see, I met this young lady, on the stage,
and we spent quite a lot of the journey, chatting. At no time did she
tell me she was married, in fact she said she was a widow. When we got
to Placerville, we had a meal, and well, one thing led to another and
we ended up spending the night together. The next morning, we were
woken up by someone hammering on the door. Then someone started
shouting and Jenny, that was the lady's name, told me it was her
husband. Turns out she'd left him, but he'd come after her. I heard
him say that if he found her with another man, he was going to kill
him, and at that point, I decided it might be a good idea, if I left.
So I climbed out of the bedroom window, and went down the fire escape.
There was a stage about to leave, for Virginia City, so I just got on
it and I ended up leaving all my gear in my room."

"What about the woman? Do you think her husband hurt her, after you
left?" said Joe.

"I did feel a bit bad about that, you know, running off and leaving
her to face the music, but she was in the wrong, when she told me she
was a widow. I mean, I wouldn't have done what we did, if I'd known
she had a husband still alive. Anyway, there was a man on the Virginia
City stage, who'd been on the one to Placerville with Jenny and me,
and he told me that she often did that, picked up a young fella and
spent the night with him, and then her husband would turn up. Often
the young man would get beaten up and robbed, so at least I got away
without that happening to me. I had my wallet in the pocket of the
pants I was wearing, and so all I lost was a couple of changes of
clothes and my shaving stuff, so it wasn't too bad."

"Oh well, in that case, I guess it was okay to leave her."

"Yeah, I think it was. Now, why don't you tell me about the Ponderosa
branch of the Cartwright family?"

"Not much to tell, really," said Joe. "You probably already know that
Pa's been married three times and he had a son by each of his wives?"
Adam nodded. "Adam's mother was called Elizabeth, Hoss' was Inger and
mine was Marie. After Elizabeth died, Pa and Adam headed out west and
met Inger. She was killed in an Indian attack, when Hoss was just a
small baby. They finally got here and settled on the Ponderosa and
then Pa went to New Orleans and met my Ma. They got married and came
back here and I was born. I wasn't quite five when she was killed,
falling from a horse. So Pa's pretty much raised us all, on his own,
well, with the help of Hop Sing. He's our cook, but in fact he does
just about everything for us, including saving us from Pa's wrath,
whenever he can, although he's got a pretty fierce temper of his own.
I'm still at school, but in my last year, and Adam and Hoss help Pa
run the ranch. One more thing, when we get to the house, please let me
make the introductions," and Adam agreed.

As they rode into the yard of the Ponderosa ranch house, Adam came out
of the house to greet them, although Joe strongly suspected that it
was really to yell at him, because he was late. However, once Adam saw
that they had a guest, he changed from angry, big brother, into
congenial host.

"Hi, Adam, sorry I'm late, but I got delayed, bringing our guest out
here. Adam Cartwright, I would like you to meet Adam Cartwright."

Adam looked rather stunned, and was about to ask Joe if he'd been out
in the sun, too long. But before he could say anything, Adam
dismounted and went over to shake his cousin's hand.

"It's true, Adam, I am called Adam Cartwright, Joe isn't joshing you.
We are related and I was named after you. My father and yours are
cousins and when your Pa wrote to mine and told him that you had been
born, my folks liked the name and decided to use it for their son, me."

EPILOGUE

Adam got on well with all of the Cartwrights, and even Hop Sing
accepted him as part of the family. Although he'd had a college
education, like Adam, he was more like Joe, in that he was full of fun
and often pulled practical jokes on the rest of the family. The young
man enjoyed his time on the ranch, but after a couple of months, was
ready to head for home and to take his place in his father's law firm.
Later, when Adam decided to go travelling, for a while, he paid a
visit to Boston, and caught up with his namesake and the rest of that
branch of the Cartwright family.

THE END

Little Joe forever
Lynne
July 24th 2006

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