THE BEST MAN WINS
Lynne Coulson
It was the last act in the first half of the show that Ben had
organised, to raise funds for the children of dead and injured miners.
The whole evening had been a terrific success. Every ticket for the
event had been sold and the raffle and tombola had raised even more
money for the fund.
Not all the money had been counted, yet, but Ben was confident that
they had exceeded their expectations and so he was in a particularly
good mood.
All four Cartwrights stood up and clapped along to the merry song,
which one of their esteemed guests was ending the first part of the
show with.
Both Hoss and Adam were taken with the young soprano. She wasn't
exactly famous, yet, but there was no doubt in both Adam and Hoss'
minds, that she was going to be, as she was extremely talented and
very pretty, too.
Adam was certain that she only had eyes for him; he was thinking
`She's looking at me, but then who else would she be looking at? I've
got to be the best looking man in this room. As soon as the show is
over, I am going to ask her to join me for an intimate post show supper.'
However, Hoss was also interested in her, and was thinking, `My, she
sure looks fine. I know I'm far from being the most handsome fella
here in this hall, but I doubt iffen she'd find anyone who would love
her, more, or care for her, better than I would.'
Joe had enjoyed the show, so far, but he wasn't as keen on this type
of music, as his father and brothers were. However, he was fascinated
as to how his Pa was able to clap his hands as fast as he was doing.
`How does he move his hands so fast?' Suddenly an idea sprung to life,
in his fertile mind. `Of course, it's because of all the times he's
tanned my hide. His hands are now so supple, they can move like
lightning.'
Ben was happy that the show was proceeding so well, and he wanted the
participators to know how much he appreciated all their hard work, so
he stood up and clapped along, enthusiastically, but in truth he was
in a lot of pain. `These new boots are killing my feet. Why did I have
to be so vain as to wear them, today, before I'd had a proper chance
to break them in? I know that my old ones didn't look so good with
this suit, but I doubt if anyone else would have noticed. Maybe if I
clap my hands really fast and loud, it will blot out the pain in my feet.'
Once the song was over, Miss Amelia Trevington took a bow and then
left the stage. She had been aware of the attentive glances she'd been
getting from the Cartwright brothers, and was looking forward to
seeing what was going to happen, during the interval of the concert.
`I have a feeling that I might receive more than one invitation for
supper,' she thought to herself.
Meanwhile, out in the theatre, Adam and Hoss were preparing to go
around, backstage, and ask Amelia to supper.
As they both headed off, in the same direction, they looked at each
other, but said nothing. It never occurred to Adam that Hoss might be
planning to ask Amelia out, too. Not that Hoss didn't go out with
girls, but Adam and his bigger, younger brother had never been
interested in the same girl. Adam tended to go for the more
intelligent young woman, one who was carving out her own career, such
as the lovely Miss Trevington, whereas Hoss preferred the kind of girl
who was an expert in the kitchen and enjoyed the more homely kind of
pursuits, such as needlework, quilting and keeping house for a husband
and a tribe of kids.
They arrived backstage and realised, then, that they were going to the
same place.
"What are you doing here?" they said, simultaneously.
"Well, I'm going to ask Miss Trevington to join me for a late supper,
after the show," said Adam.
"Snap!" said Hoss. "I'm gonna do the same thing."
Hoss knocked on the dressing room door, and both boys were
flabbergasted when their father answered the knock.
"Hello boys, have you come to congratulate Miss Trevington on her
wonderful performance?"
"Well, no, not exactly, not that it wasn't a great performance, but
actually I've come to ask her something," said Adam, who was quicker
with his reply than Hoss was.
"Yeah, me, too," said Hoss.
"You best hurry up then, boys, as we will need to be back in our
seats, in a few minutes. Oh, and by the way, I won't be riding back to
the ranch with you, after the show, as Miss Trevington has kindly
agreed to have a late supper with me, so will you two make sure that
Joe gets back home at a reasonable hour?"
"Sure thing, Pa," said Hoss, and he turned around, in preparation
to
return to his seat.
"Hoss, I thought you wanted to speak to Miss Trevington," said Ben.
"No rush, Pa, it'll keep," said Hoss, and Adam followed his brother
down the corridor.
"Adam, didn't you want to talk to her, too?"
Adam stopped and looked over at his father.
"Like Hoss said, it can wait. We'll see you back at the seats, okay?"
"All right, boys, I won't be long," said Ben, and he went back
into
the dressing room.
"What was that all about, Ben?" asked Amelia, as her dresser
restyled
her hair for her next number in the show.
"Well, my dear, I suspect that my two older sons were going to ask
you
to join them for supper, but when they discovered that I had beaten
them to it, they decided not to ask."
"Oh dear, I do hope that me having supper with you is not going to
cause trouble out at the ranch," said Amelia. "I am flattered
that all
of you, well, apart from Little Joe, and I wouldn't expect him to be
interested in me, would want to spend time in my company."
"Oh, don't you worry about that," said Ben "We're a very
close family
and the boys will understand. After all, if they liked you enough to
want to ask you out, then they can hardly be angry, or surprised, that
I like you, too. I'll call round, to collect you, as soon as the show
is over, but I will have to make a slight detour before we go and eat.
You see, I am wearing a new pair of boots that I only collected from
the boot maker, just before the show began, and so I haven't had the
chance to wear them in, and they are killing me. So, I need to go over
to the sheriff's office and change into my old boots, which I left
there. I trust that will be all right by you?"
"Of course it is, Ben. I wouldn't want you being in pain all evening."
"Thank you, Miss Trevington. Well, I best go and take my seat for
the
rest of the show. I'll see you later."
"I'm looking forward to it, Ben, and please call me Amelia."
"Very well, Amelia," said Ben, smiling at her.
The second half of the show went off as well as the first half did,
and as the curtain went down, at the end of the evening's
entertainment, a member of the audience stood up and announced that
they should give Ben a rousing three cheers for all of his efforts in
producing such a terrific concert.
The three Cartwright boys cheered louder than anyone else, as they
too, were proud of what their father had achieved. And even though Ben
had thwarted Adam and Hoss' plans to escort the lovely Amelia to
supper, neither of them could feel anger towards their father, as they
both loved him too much for that.
The one thing that did bother them, though, was that once Ben had left
with Amelia, they went to round up their baby brother, only to
discover that he, too, had managed to find a date for after the show.
One of the girls from the choir had agreed to have a late supper with
Little Joe. And as their father had insisted on them escorting Joe
back to the ranch, it meant that the two of them ended up eating
together, while waiting for Joe to finish his date.
"Here we are, aged thirty and twenty four, two of the most eligible
bachelors in the territory, and we're eating in a romantic, candlelit
setting, with each other," said Adam.
"Well, you booked this table and it seemed a bit of a waste not ta
use
it," said Hoss, raising his glass to his brother. "Cheers, Adam."
Hoss wasn't half as bothered as Adam was, that their father was dining
out with the girl that they both liked.
"It's better this way, Adam, cos iffen she'd had ta choose between
the
two of us, then you would've bin most put out, when she'd chosen me,
but it ain't so bad losin' out ta Pa."
"Who says she would have picked you over me?" said Adam, getting
angry
at the thought.
Hoss started laughing.
"Aw, come on, Adam, you're so easy ta tease. I dunno which of us she
would've chosen, maybe neither of us, seein' as how she prefers older
men, but at least we didn't havta find out, did we? Drink up, as we
might as well enjoy ourselves while we wait fer Little Joe."
Adam calmed down, and joined in the laughter with Hoss.
"Yes, I guess you're right, it is better this way. Cheers, brother,"
and Adam raised his glass and then downed the contents.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
July 21st 2007