WHY WAS I BLESSED WITH LITTLE BROTHERS?
by
Lynne C.
Eighteen-year-old Adam Cartwright couldn't believe what he was
seeing, when he picked up the gun he had been cleaning, earlier that
afternoon.
The eldest son of Ben Cartwright, of the Ponderosa ranch, was
usually a lot more careful about where he left his gun. But this had
been an emergency and he'd run outside, leaving the gun, which
wasn't loaded, on the table in front of the large fireplace, which
dominated the main room of the Cartwright's large, comfortable
house. Ben had built the house, for his family, which consisted of a
wife, two sons and Hop Sing, their faithful cook, housekeeper and
friend.
There was now no wife; Marie having been killed falling off a horse,
six months earlier, but there was a third son, Little Joe, who was
five years old. And right now, although Adam loved both his
brothers, very much, he was wondering why he'd been blessed with
them, as he was sure that the sabotage to his gun was the work of
Little Joe.
The emergency was that Hoss, Adam's middle brother, had fallen out
of a tree, while climbing, out in the yard, with his friend James.
Ben was out with the men, checking on the cattle, and Adam had been
left to take care of his brothers, and now both of them had caused
him grief.
Fortunately, despite all the yelling that twelve-year-old Hoss did,
as he hit the ground, when Adam checked him over, he couldn't find
any broken bones.
"You've been very lucky, brother," said Adam, as he helped Hoss
into
the house. "It appears that you've only sprained your ankle."
"Still hurts a heck of a lot, Adam," said Hoss, as Adam eased
the
boy's boot off and Hop Sing came scurrying through from the kitchen,
with a bowl of water.
"Soak foot in here," instructed the cook. "I have put some
herbs in
water, will bring down swelling."
"Thanks, Hop Sing," said Hoss, lowering his foot into the
water. "Any chance I could have a bit more of that pie, which was
left over from lunch? I feel a mite shook up and I think a snack
might put me right."
"Adam's right," said James. "You were real lucky, but you
bounced
when you landed, Hoss. Being a bit bigger than most people probably
saved you from breaking something."
"Boy may be right," said Hop Sing. "Don't worry, Mistah
Adam, Hoss
will be fine."
Having worked for the family since before Little Joe was born, Hop
Sing knew the way that the boys reacted to things, very well. He
could tell that Adam held himself responsible for Hoss' accident, as
he was in charge of the boys while Ben was away from the house.
Hoss could see this, too, and said, "It's okay, Adam. Pa said me and
James could climb the trees, so he won't be mad with you, cos I
fell. It was jest an accident."
Adam smiled at Hoss, once again marveling at what a kind hearted boy
his brother was, worrying about his feelings, even when he was in
pain.
"I'm okay, Hoss, you just do as Hop Sing tells you and I'm sure that
ankle will soon heal. Now then, I must find Joe, who seems to be
missing."
"I'll take care of Hoss, Mistah Adam," said Hop Sing. "You
find
Little Joe, before he get into mischief, or your fatha get back and
wonders where little boy is."
Adam ran upstairs and into Joe's bedroom, but the little boy wasn't
there. He then checked their father's room, but still found no sign
of Joe.
"Joe," called out Adam, as he walked along the corridor, which
led
to the stairs. "Where are you, little brother?"
Adam returned to the main room and said, "He knows I'm gonna be
angry with him, so he's gone into hiding."
"Why are you angry with him Adam?" asked Hoss. "What's he done?"
"Only stuffed the barrel of my gun with gumdrops, that's all,"
said
Adam.
"Gumdrops!" exclaimed Hoss. "Those were mine, dadburn his
ornery
hide. Pa bought me gumdrops and Joe jelly beans and he ate all his,
on the way back from town, but I saved some of mine, cos I was gonna
share 'em with James, when he came over ta play. After we'd bin
outside ta see who could climb the highest tree, we was gonna come
in and have our gumdrops and play a few games of checkers. Why did
ya let him have 'em, Adam?"
"I am sorry, Hoss, but Joe told me they were his. I didn't know he'd
had jellybeans and you'd had gumdrops, did I? I didn't come into
town with you and Pa, this morning. Joe came in from the yard and
said you were climbing trees and you wouldn't let him play with you.
I said that was because Pa had told you not to let Joe climb,
because he was too small. That made him mad and he ran off into the
kitchen, but was soon back, with the gumdrops. I was cleaning my gun
and so wasn't paying that much attention to what he was doing. Then,
when I heard you yelling, I left the gun on the table and ran out to
see what was the matter. When I came back to the gun, I found that
the barrel was full of gumdrops and there's no sign of Joe."
Suddenly, a little voice could be heard coming out from under the
dining table.
"I hid 'em in the gun, cos when I knew Hoss was coming in, I didn't
want him knowing I'd got his candy," said Joe.
"Joe, get out from under that table, right now," commanded Adam,
using the voice that Joe knew he had to obey, as it sounded very
much like Papa when he was cross.
The little boy did as he was told and was soon standing in front of
his big brother, with his little hands behind his back, covering his
bottom, just in case Adam was going to carry on being like Papa and
give him a few swats, for taking Hoss' candy.
"Sorry 'bout your gun, Adam and 'bout your candy, Hoss. I didn't eat
much of it, most of it is in the gun."
"I cain't eat it, iffen it's bin stuffed in a gun barrel," said
Hoss. "It's gonna taste of metal, ain't it, Adam?"
"Probably," said Adam. "I really am sorry, Hoss. I would
never have
let Joe have the gum drops, had I known they were yours."
"That's okay, Adam, I know it ain't your fault, it's all Little
Joe's, and iffen I didn't have ma foot stuck in a bowl of water, I'd
be poundin' on his hide, right about now."
"Papa wouldn't let you do that, Hoss," said an indignant Little
Joe. "He says you're not to pound on me, cos I's only lickle."
"But he said I could pound on you," said Adam. "Pa said
that if you
were naughty, then I could punish you in the same way he would."
The little boy looked up at his brother, with tears in his eyes.
"But you're not gonna, are you, Adam?" said Joe, hopefully.
Adam had no intention of doing so, even though his father had given
him permission to, but he kept Joe sweating, a bit, before answering
him.
"No, I'm not going to, that will be up to Pa when he gets home. In
the meantime, I am going to try and remove the gum drops from my
gun."
It took some doing, but, eventually Adam managed to clear his gun of
the candy, but, as Hoss feared, it was inedible.
When Ben returned home and found Hoss on the settee, with his ankle
bandaged, naturally his first concern was to find out what had
happened to his middle son.
Once he was satisfied that the boy wasn't badly hurt, he turned his
attention to Joe. Ben guessed something was amiss, as the little boy
hadn't run into his father's arms, as he usually did, when Ben
arrived home.
Adam quickly explained to their father what Joe had done and Ben sat
down, in his favourite armchair, and placed Joe on his lap.
He gave the boy a lecture, first on the dangers of touching a gun,
and then on taking something that wasn't his.
"When Adam ran outside to help Hoss, you shouldn't have picked up
Adam's gun, and you know that," said Ben. "And you also knew that
those gum drops were Hoss' and so it was wrong of you to let Adam
think they were yours. The next time that Papa takes you and Hoss
into town, you won't be having any candy and Hoss will be allowed to
have two lots, for missing out this time. And if I ever catch you
touching a gun, again, you are going to be taking a trip over my
knee, is that understood?"
"Yes, Papa, I understand," said Joe.
"And I think you also owe both Adam and Hoss an apology, for what
you did."
"Sorry, Hoss, sorry, Adam," said Joe, before burying his face
in the
front of his father's shirt and shedding some tears, as he hated
having everyone cross with him.
However, both of his older brothers soon forgave him, as neither of
them could find it in their hearts to be cross with their baby
brother, for long.
While Hoss was laid up with his bad ankle, Little Joe did all he
could to help his brother, by fetching and carrying for him, and he
kept his promise to Adam and never put candy into his gun, again.
THE END
Little Joe forever
May 25th 2007