HOW TO IMPRESS A LADY
Written by Lynne Coulson

Adam and Joe had been on a routine sweep of the fences on the north
eastern side of the Ponderosa and had found nothing untoward. However,
just as they were about to head back to the house, for supper, they
came across a wagon, which had lost a wheel.

The wagon was not on their property, but was on the public road, which
ran alongside their boundary fence.

Joe was riding a short distance ahead of Adam, and so he got to the
wagon, first.

"Hi there, do you need a hand?" asked Joe, of the man who was bending
over, inspecting the wheel.

The man stood up and looked over at Joe.

"Howdy, young fella," he said. "The name's Gates, Pete Gates. We're on
our way to Carson City and the wheel hit a nasty rut in the road.
Thanks for the offer. I could use a hand, as I'm not that good at
fixing wheels."

"Well, I'm an expert," said Joe. "My Pa owns a ranch, in fact I'm
standing on it, and we're always fixing wagons."

"We?" said Pete.

"Yeah, me and my brothers," said Joe. "Here comes my eldest brother now."

Adam rode up to join Joe and dismounted from Sport.

"This is Mr Gates," said Joe, to Adam. "His wagon has lost a wheel, so
I said we'd give him a hand."

"How do you do, Mr Gates," said Adam, reaching over the fence to shake
hands with the man. "Of course we will help you," and Adam glared at
Joe, as he said this.

Joe knew that Adam had a date that night and so Adam was in a hurry to
get back to the house, in order to bathe and change, before he went
out. Mending the wagon was going to delay them, but now that Joe had
offered, Adam felt obliged to help.

The brothers climbed over the fence and squatted down, in order to
take a closer look at the damage.

"It doesn't seem to be too bad," said Adam, standing up, and
addressing Mr Gates. "I don't think it will take that long to repair."

As they were talking, Joe noticed that there was someone stepping out
of the back of the covered wagon. He was very pleased when he saw that
it was a young woman. Even the fact that she was wearing a rather ill
fitting pair of jeans and a shirt, which was obviously her father's,
didn't detract from the fact that she had a very nice figure.

`Wow,' thought Joe. `Things are looking up around here.'

The sixteen year old had only just started to work full time on the
ranch, but already fancied himself as a bit of a ladies' man. Mind
you, it wasn't just false modesty, as the boy was very popular with
the young women in town, being that he was so cute and extremely good
looking.

Joe stepped forward, and would have tripped over the wheel, which was
lying in the road, if Adam hadn't caught hold of him.

"Thanks, brother," he said, and Adam smiled at him.

"You're welcome, Joe, and it was in my best interest to stop you
falling over, or else you might have hurt yourself and then I would've
been left with doing your chores for as long as you were laid up."

Joe recovered quickly, and, ignoring Adam's comment, said, "Good
afternoon, ma'am. The name's Joe Cartwright and I stopped to help you
mend your wagon."

The young woman, who was seventeen, smiled sweetly at Joe and said,
"Why Joe, that is so kind of you. Papa wasn't sure he was going to be
able to do it, all alone. My name is Celia and my father and I are
going to take over a general store in Carson City. Do you live locally?"

"Yes, indeed I do," said Joe. "I own a ranch, and that's part of it,
over there," he said, waving at the expanse of land, behind him.

"You own a ranch?" gasped Celia. "And you only being so young, that's
wonderful."

At that moment, Adam came up behind Joe, and said, "Excuse us, young
lady, but my little brother and I need to get this wheel fixed, so
that we can all be on our way. Come on, Little Joe, and give me a hand."

Celia followed the two of them round to the axle and she said, "Little
Joe? Why did he call you that? You're not that little."

"It's the curse of being the youngest of the family, plus my other
brother Hoss is huge, so next to him anyone looks little," explained Joe.

"Our brother Hoss is a big man," said Adam. "And he has a big
appetite, so if we don't get home in time for supper, he's liable to
eat our share, as well as his own."

"Pa won't let him, Adam," said Joe. "He knows we're coming home for
supper."

"So, when you said you owned a ranch, you didn't really mean you,
personally," said Celia, with a toss of her long, black hair.

"Well, no, not exactly," said Joe, grinning at her, disarmingly. "I
meant that our family did, but it amounts to the same."

"No, it doesn't," argued Celia. "I mean I'm gonna be working in my
Papa's store in Carson City, but I don't own the business, he does."

"Well, whatever," said Joe. "The fact remains if Pa didn't have us to
help run the place, it wouldn't be as successful as it is."

"Okay Joe, that's enough bragging. Put your weight behind this lever
and let's get this wagon lifted off the ground, so Mr Gates can slip
the wheel back in place," said Adam.

"I'm better at the putting back, rather than the lifting," said Joe,
once more allowing his gaze to rest upon the lovely Celia, who was
braiding her hair and tying it with green ribbons, which matched her eyes.

Joe was brought out of his reverie by a sharp swat to his backside,

"Come on now, little brother, do as you're told," said Adam, getting
rather cross with the way that Joe was flirting with the girl, as it
was delaying them from fixing the wheel, and it was cutting into his
bath time.

"Ouch, there was no need for you to do that, Adam," yelled Joe,
rubbing at his behind, but it did make him move a bit faster.

Celia laughed at the injured expression on Joe's face.

"Yeah, come on Little Joe, hop to it," she said, grinning at him.

Joe glared at the girl, but as he did so, she winked at him, and he
couldn't help but smile at her.

The boys soon had the wheel repaired and Mr Gates shook both their
hands, thanking them profusely.

"Any time you boys are in Carson City, please call in my store and
I'll give you a soda, on the house," he said.

"That's very kind of you, Mr Gates," said Adam. "There is no need, but
we will certainly drop by, the next time we are over that way, and see
how you are settling in."

Joe was now talking to Celia, and seemed reluctant to leave her side.

"Joe, time for us to leave," said Adam.

And to Mr Gates, he said, "You should just about have enough time to
get to Carson, before it goes dark."

"Oh, I doubt that, big brother," said Joe, coming over to join Adam.
"I think it would be a lot more sensible if Mr Gates and Celia came
back to the ranch with us. They could join us for supper, stop the
night, and go on to Carson in the morning. That way they will arrive
fresh and rested and ready to move in."

"Oh, could we, Papa?" said Celia, who was just as anxious to spend
time with Joe, as he was with her.

"Well, I suppose we could," said Pete, looking at Adam.

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea," said Adam. "I suppose it is
getting a bit late. Okay, climb aboard the wagon and follow us along
the fence line, and I'll show you the way to get onto Ponderosa land."

"I'll ride with Celia, Adam, if you can lead Cochise for me," said
Joe, and before Adam could answer, Joe was up on the wagon seat, sat
next to the girl.

Adam looked over at Mr Gates and smiled.

"My young brother is rather eager, at times," he said.

"Oh, that's all right," said Pete. "I'm used to it, as my daughter
always attracts the attention of young men, wherever we go."

"Well, she is very pretty," said Adam.

"Thank you, Mr Cartwright," said Pete. "Well, I think she is, but then
I am her father, so maybe just a bit biased."

Mr Gates joined Joe and Celia on the wagon seat, and they were soon on
their way.

As they rode along, Joe told Celia about his life on the ranch and
about his father and other brother.

"Hoss is the best, he's not all grumpy, like ole sobersides over
there," he said, pointing at Adam. "When we work together, we have a
lot of fun."

"Adam looks like he could be fun, too," said Celia.

"He can be, if he takes the time to lighten up, a bit, but most of the
time he's too darned serious. He's always worrying about the ranch and
whether we're making enough profit. I reckon that life's too short to
worry about such things."

Pete heard what Joe said, and remarked, "But if your brother was the
same as you and didn't worry, then you could end up making a loss and
that wouldn't be good, as you'd have nothing to live on."

"Well, I don't reckon that's likely to happen," said Joe. "The ranch
is doing pretty well; it's just that Adam is a born worrier."

Just before they got to the ranch, Joe whispered something to Celia
and the girl's eyes lit up.

"I'd love to, Joe, I'll work on Papa," she whispered back.

They were soon at the Ponderosa and once Mr Gates brought the wagon to
a halt, Joe jumped down and then helped Celia alight.

"Thank you, Joe," she said, and her hand lingered a bit longer in his,
than was absolutely necessary, leaving Joe with a frisson of
excitement tingling down his spine.

Ben was happy to welcome Pete and Celia into their house.

"Welcome to the Ponderosa, and you are more than welcome to stay the
night. The road to Carson is a pretty good one, but if you are
unfamiliar with the area, it's not good to have to travel at night."

Hop Sing showed their guests to their rooms and Joe and Adam went to
get cleaned up, before supper.

Adam returned to the main room, before Joe, who was taking extra care
of his appearance, as he wanted to impress Celia.

When he joined his father and brother, downstairs, he went over to
them and jutted out his chin, in their direction.

"Do you think I need a shave?" he asked.

Ben gently patted his youngest on the boy's smooth cheek, and Adam
tried to stifle a laugh.

"No, son, I don't think you need a shave," said Ben, only too aware
that all this was in aid of the young girl, who had travelled back to
the ranch with his boys.

"Well, I was looking in the mirror and I thought I could see a few
hairs, sprouting," continued Joe, who couldn't wait to start shaving.

"I don't think you need to worry, just yet, Joe," said Adam.

"Where's Hoss, Pa?" asked Joe.

"Oh, I had some papers that needed taking into town, so he offered to
deliver them and then he said he would stay there, have supper at
Daisy's Café and meet you, Adam, at the dance. It seemed a waste of
time, him riding home and then back into town, an hour or two later."

"Oh good, that way I'll get a decent meal, then," said Joe. "I'm fed
up always having to wrastle with big brother, in order to get enough
on my plate."

"Aw, you're so hard done to, aren't you?" said Adam, reaching out and
ruffling up Joe's hair.

Joe was not impressed.

"Thanks a lot, Adam. I've just spent ages, upstairs, getting my hair
just right and now you've messed it up."

Joe adjusted his hair, just as Pete and Celia came down the stairs.
They had both changed clothes, but Celia had made the most difference
to her appearance. She was now wearing a beautiful pale green dress,
and it was obviously one she had purchased in a store, not a hand made
one. Her hair was piled up on her head and she had swapped her boots
for some very pretty evening shoes.

As she came alongside Joe, who took her arm, to lead her to the table,
she whispered, "Papa said yes."

They all sat down at the table and began to eat the excellent meal
prepared by Hop Sing. Pete told them how he and his daughter, after
the death of his wife, decided to try their luck in another town.

"I heard that the population in the west was expanding, almost daily,
and so saw the need for a general store," he explained.

"You are right," said Ben. "The population is getting bigger and we do
all need supplies, so I am sure you will make a success of your new
enterprise."

"Thank you, Mr Cartwright," said Pete.

As they ate, Joe brought up the subject of the dance in town, that night.

"I know I wasn't planning to go," said Joe, failing to mention that
the reason he wasn't going was because he was on restriction for
breaking his curfew, the week before. "But as Celia is only going to
be here for one evening, I thought it would be neighbourly of me to
offer to escort her to the dance. After all, some of the people who
will be going are likely to use the store, so she would be able to
meet some of her future customers."

Joe looked over at Ben with what the family called his puppy dog look,
and Ben knew that he was going to have to capitulate, as to refuse
would put Joe in an embarrassing situation and he wasn't the kind of
man who liked to humiliate his children.

"Very well, son, if it's all right with Mr Gates, you can escort Celia
to the dance, but you are to drive into town with Adam, and return
with him. And Adam, I would be grateful if you would keep a close eye
on your little brother during the evening. Not that I can't trust him,
exactly," said Ben, anxious to alleviate Pete's possible fears. "But
it's just that I think Joe is still a little young to be attending an
evening social gathering, without one of his brothers, or myself, to
watch over him."

"I quite agree, Mr Cartwright," said Pete. "Celia asked me, when we
were upstairs, if she could go, and I only agreed, as I knew that Adam
was going to be there, and he seems like a very sensible and
dependable young man."

"Oh, he is, Mr Gates, and your daughter will be perfectly safe," said Ben.

Joe smiled at his father, and mouthed `thanks' at him.

The only one who was not happy with the arrangement was Adam, who had
been looking forward to an evening off from babysitting his little
brother. However, he couldn't say much; with Celia and her father both
sitting at the table, beaming at him, so he managed to smile back at them.

Actually, it turned out to be a better night than Adam had feared and
all three brothers enjoyed being with their dates. Joe managed to stay
out of trouble and Adam's date was very impressed that he was prepared
to keep an eye on his little brother.

"It just goes to show what a caring man you are, Adam, to be so
concerned about Little Joe," she said, gazing adoringly into his eyes.

So all was well with the Cartwright brothers, and once Celia was
settled in at the store in Carson, Joe visited her and took her out,
on several occasions.

"Whew, when you're hot, you're hot," said Little Joe, smiling at his
family, and they just had to smile back, because Joe's smile was
infectious.

THE END

Little Joe forever
Lynne
October 1st 2007

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