THE GOOD SAMARITAN
by
Lynne C.
"Well, you see, ma'am, it was like this. My little brother asked me ta meet him here, said it was real important and he couldn't wait, so I hot footed over here, jest as fast as I could. And, now I'm here, the little scamp's nowhere ta be found."
"I really cannot see why any of that would be remotely interesting to me, or would explain your rather, er, unkempt appearance," said the young woman, sniffing disapprovingly.
"Well, like I said, ma'am, I was in such an all fired rush that I never stopped to tidy myself up, and pullin' steers outta mud holes, ain't exactly a clean job. I wouldn't normally come inta town lookin' like this, but I got the message, so I came, quick smart. Mind you, I now think that the dadblamed varmint's hoodwinked me, yet agin. When I git my hands on him, that boy ain't gonna be sittin' right, fer days ta come."
"Now, now, sir, I can understand you being angry if, indeed, your little brother has played a trick on you, but violence isn’t the answer. Children need to be raised with love and understanding."
"May I ask you somethin', ma'am? Do you have any kids of your own, or any younger brothers?"
"Well, no, I don't, but I don't think that means that I know nothing, sir."
"Mebbe not, ma'am, but if you hadta spend time with my little brother, suffice it ta say you'd be ready to tan his hide, afore the week was out, mark ma words."
"I don't think I would be, sir, but, of course, I can't prove that, can I?"
"How about if you came and stayed out at the Ponderosa, fer, say a week, then you could see what I mean. Heck, what am I sayin'? You don't know me from a mess of turnip greens, why on earth would you go along with that idea?"
"As a matter of fact, I do have the time and I'd love to come and stay at your ranch and meet your little brother."
Eventually, Little Joe arrived in town and feigned innocence when Hoss demanded to know why he'd sent a man out to where Hoss was working, with the message that Joe was in trouble.
"I never did, Hoss, I've been in school, all day," protested the twelve year old. "Must've been someone's idea of a joke."
"Yeah, must've bin, and iffen I find out it was yours, then I'm gonna do some poundin' on your sorry little hide.”
Hoss explained that Caroline Henry was going to be staying with them, for a week.
"Just cos Pa's away, don't mean you havta act like you've got no manners, young 'un. I expect ya to behave yourself while Miss Henry is stayin' with us and I'm sure Adam will say the same thing."
Joe rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Don't I always?"
Hoss decided not to answer that, and after hiring a buggy, from the livery stable, the three of them made their way out to the ranch. Adam was rather surprised to meet Miss Henry, but welcomed her, graciously.
During the time that she stayed with them, Joe tried every trick he could
think of, to anger or upset Caroline, but through it all, she never seemed
to be anymore than mildly bothered. The first night he placed a spider in
her bed, it was rather a large one, but harmless. Caroline didn't even mention
it, although Joe knew she had found it,
as it was in his room, in a glass jar, when he came home from school, the
next day.
He sprinkled some itching powder in her bath salts and poured molasses in
her underwear drawer, but nothing provoked much of a reaction and so he
gave up.
He did try, for as long as he could, to get away with some appalling manners, at the dining table, but Adam soon put a stop to that.
"If you don't stop making that disgusting noise as you eat, Joe, I am going to insist that you eat outside with the pigs."
"Hey brother, that's an insult ta the hogs," said Hoss. "They have better manners than Little Joe does, sure enough."
"You have a point there," said Adam.
The week finally came to an end and Caroline was in her room, packing up
her belongings. As she did so, Joe knocked on her door.
"Come in," she said, and smiled when Joe entered the room.
"I'll be sorry to see you go, Caroline, it's been fun having you here," said the boy.
"I managed to prove your brother wrong, too, although we did cheat,
a bit, as I was never going to get angry with you, was I? So it didn't matter
what you did," replied Caroline. "You know, when I stepped off
that early morning stage and found out that Will had been delayed and that
I had no money and no where to stay, I didn't
know what I was going to do. You saying that you'd fix it for me to stay
here, was such a relief, I can never repay you."
"That's okay, Caroline," and he giggled. "We sure fooled those brothers of mine, didn't we? Having you come out here, to prove you could deal with a practical joker, without getting mad, was a great idea of mine, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was," said Caroline, laughing, too, as Joe's giggle was infectious. "But I do feel a bit bad about duping Adam and Hoss, as they have been so nice to me."
"'Aw, don't worry, they'd have helped you, anyway, I expect, but this way was more fun."
Unbeknown to Joe and Caroline, Adam and Hoss were listening outside the
door, so learned all about their little brother's scheme. Their immediate
reaction was to charge in the room and confront him, but, as they thought
about it, they had to admit that
it had been rather clever of the boy.
As they hitched up the buggy, they discussed what Joe had done.
"Got to hand it to the kid," said Adam. "Certainly was a clever plan, to get you to be the one to invite her here, Hoss."
"Yeah, and we can't really be angry with him, fer helpin' out a gal in need, can we?"
"No, we can't, after all, we'd probably have done the same."
"Yup, we probably would've done."
Hoss drove Caroline into town and Joe rode along with them, as he was going
to school. Caroline asked to be dropped off at the stage depot and was extremely
relieved to find that, this time, her husband, Will, was there, to meet
her.
She introduced Hoss and Joe, to Will, and he thanked them for helping out his wife. Then the two of them headed off for the hotel, where they were going to spend the night, before catching the morning stage to San Francisco.
"Nice couple, ain't they?" said Hoss, to Joe. "You best git on ta school, young 'un."
"Yeah, they are," said Joe. "Okay, see you at home."
'I guess Good Samaritans come in all shapes and sizes, even irritating little brother size,' thought Hoss, as he drove back to the ranch.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
September 25th 2006