LEAP YEAR
by
Lynne C.
It was Friday night at the Ponderosa and Hoss and Adam had both had
baths and were now in Adam's room, putting the final touches to their
appearances, before heading off to town.
Adam said, "Is that little brother of ours still in the bath?"
"Nope," said Hoss. "Usually he's hammerin' on the door,
yellin' at me
ta git out, so's he can have his turn in the tub, but I ain't seen him
since supper."
"Odd," said Adam. "He's normally standing here, pinching
my cologne,
and preening himself him the mirror."
Hoss chuckled.
"Yeah, and tellin' us that there ain't no point us goin' ta town,
cos
all the gals are gonna be dancin' with him."
Adam also laughed.
"Yes, that sounds about right."
By the time the two of them were ready to leave, there was still no
sign of Little Joe, and so, after calling and searching, for several
minutes, the two older Cartwright boys left, without their little brother.
Ben, too, wondered where his youngest boy was; the eighteen year old
rarely missed the chance to go out for an evening in town.
He was even more worried when he discovered that Joe's horse was still
in the barn, as it meant the boy was in the house, somewhere.
'So why isn't he answering me?' thought Ben.
Eventually, Ben was ready to go to bed, and he made his way to his
room, still worrying about where Little Joe had gone.
There had been several young women calling at the house, throughout
the evening, and he'd had to tell each one that he really didn't know
where Joe was, much to their disappointment.
Ben got into bed, just before midnight, hoping that wherever he was,
his son was okay.
Suddenly, Ben heard his wardrobe door click open. He sat up in bed
and, from the moonlight, shining in through his window, he could just
make out the shadowy form of .....................
"JOSEPH! What in thunderation are you doing hiding in my wardrobe?"
"Oh, hi Pa," said Joe, treating his father to his million dollar
grin.
"Sorry about that, but I had to hide away until it was past midnight."
"And may I be so bold as to ask why?"
Joe sat down on the bed.
"Cos if any of those gals had caught up with me, before midnight,
they
would've asked me to marry 'em, and I don't wanna get married, yet,
but I also don't wanna upset anyone's feelings. So, I thought it best
to hideout for the night. But now it's after twelve, and I'm safe, so
goodnight, Pa," and Joe left his father's room.
"Goodnight, son," said Pa, as there really wasn't anything more
that
he could say.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
February 29th 2008