Summary: Adam recalls his first meeting with an old friend. A WHB for “The Ride”

Rating K+ / Word count: 1340

 

Toby

To most people he wasn’t anything special, but to me—all those year ago, he was everything . . .

Six-year-old Adam Cartwright slowly stirred from his slumber when his baby brother’s cries began to fill the wagon. Adam pulled the blanket over his head in an attempt to ignore the loud wailing, but that only worked for a few minutes before a more irritating problem presented itself.

“Hoss, did you do it again?” he moaned.

Hoss’s answer was a high pitched scream as he flailed his angry fists. Adam threw his blanket aside, and maneuvering his way through the crowded wagon, slipped past the smelly infant and outside. He stood shivering for a moment then crossed quickly toward the dying embers of last night’s fire. There was still some warmth coming from inside the circle of stones and he stood close, hopping from one foot to the other.

“Pa?” he shouted into the crisp morning air, but the only answer was the drop of a dead branch some distance away.

He called one more time, and when he was sure his pa was nowhere near, he picked up a large stick and began to stir the fire. Very carefully, just the way he’d seen his pa do so many times; he added wood until the fire was blazing once again. There was no time to admire his efforts though, as his neglected baby brother was nearing hysterics.

Adam ran back to the wagon and climbed inside. He quickly pulled on his boots and a sweater and then grabbed one of Hoss’s shawls. The baby’s screams were near deafening, but he ignored them as he jumped down once again. Running to the fire, he placed the shawl on the ground and then ran back for Hoss. It took a few minutes of struggling to get the chunky baby out, and despite Adam’s best efforts, Hoss ended up with a long scrape across his forehead.

Adam had thought the baby was yelling before, but now the scratch combined with the cool outdoor temperatures, had risen his screeching to new heights. Adam laid Hoss on the shawl and tried to decide what he should do first. Hoss was nowhere near walking yet, but he was very adept at rolling over—usually straight into trouble, and it took all of Adam’s efforts to get the unhappy baby to be still. Finally, Hoss stopped struggling and Adam set himself to the unpleasant task of removing the soiled diaper. With a sigh of determination and a wrinkled nose the young boy reached for the first diaper pin, but was nearly startled out of his wits when someone spoke from behind him.

“Looks like you could use some help, young fella.”

Adam whirled around to face the stranger. The man wasn’t as tall as his pa, and much more stout. Adam studied him for a moment before coming to the conclusion that this man with his scruffy beard and a twinkle in his eyes was not an enemy.

“You know anything about babies?” The boy asked.

The man looked startled for a moment, but then chuckled. “Enough to get by I suppose. Why don’t you let me take a look?”

Adam gladly stepped aside and let the older man take over. Adam figured Hoss must have been as surprised to see the man as he’d been because the baby’s eyes got real big and he quit his hollering. In no time at all the man had Hoss clean as a whistle, and he grunted as he lifted the chubby baby. A moment later, the mountainside was filled with the sound of baby laughter as the man tickled Hoss’s tummy with his beard. Adam smiled as his brother giggled, but kindly suggested that they get Hoss something to eat before he got grumpy again.

“I’ll see to that,” the man said and then handed the baby to Adam.

Hoss was still giggling as Adam sat down near the fire. “You like that prickle, don’t you?” Adam cooed.

Hoss gurgled and bubbled in response, and this time Adam laughed. The man returned quickly with some crackers which, even with only a few teeth, the baby made short work of.

“Well tarnation, I never did see a little fellow eat so fast. No wonder he’s done bloat up so much.”

Adam was quick to come to his brother’s defense. “He’s just a strong healthy boy. That’s what pa says.”

Hoss agreed with a smack of his lips and then reached out for more. The man shook his head in disbelief, but he kept on delivering the crackers until Hoss was satisfied.

“Well, boy,” the man said when Hoss’s eyelids began to droop, “Where’s your pa gone and got to?”

Adam shrugged and pulled his brother a little closer. “He’s probably just huntin’ or . . . somethin’.” Adam grew quiet as his thoughts turned to his pa. Everything had been going so good. For a little while, he’d had a family—one with a ma, a pa, and a baby brother, but in one short afternoon all of that had changed. Now, most of the time he and his little brother were alone. His pa was constantly in search of water, or food, or shelter, and even when he was there things weren’t the same. Adam didn’t know how much longer he could take seeing his father’s drawn face and sad eyes.

The man pulled Adam out of his dark thoughts a moment later, when he sat beside him and put an arm across his slight shoulders. “There now,” he said. “It don’t take a sleuth to figure out somethin’s botherin’ ya. Why don’t you tell old Toby about your troubles?”

Adam looked up at the man. His eyes were kind, his tone was sincere, and his grip was strong when a few moments later, the young boy crumpled into his arms. Adam wasn’t used to talking to anyone other than his pa, but that day, he poured out his heart to Toby. The man listened without interrupting, and when Adam was once again calm, he offered him a large checkered handkerchief. Adam blew his nose loudly which for some reason delighted his baby brother. Hoss’s giggles started Adam laughing and soon Toby joined in.

“All right,” Toby said after he’d caught his breath. “What we need is some real food. Tell you what. I’ve got some beans and cornbread on my dray back over yonder. Got an ornery old mule watchin’ over it. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Adam watched the man walk off, and then kept Hoss amused with the handkerchief while they waited. After what seemed a long time, Adam heard a couple of shots. He stood up quickly, nearly causing Hoss to topple over. He was debating whether or not to follow the sound of the shots when he heard the bray of a mule, followed a moment later by Toby. The man was leading his rickety ensemble into the camp site. In his left hand he carried a rusty rifle and in the other, two large black birds.

“We’re gonna have a regular feast boy,” he said, waving the birds in the air. “Came upon a whole murder of crows on the way over, and I got two for the price of one bullet.”

Adam danced around the fire in celebration and then helped to pluck and clean the birds.

Adam figured it was the smell of the food that brought his father back a short time later. Ben had been taken aback at first when he’d seen the stranger in their camp, but Toby was as quick to make friends with men as he was with boys, and later that night, the man took all of Adam’s earlier sorrows, fears, and grief, and turned them into hope when, for the first time in months, Adam heard his father laugh.

. . . Most people wouldn’t understand why it was so important for me to bring Toby’s killers to justice. He was just one little old man, but to me, he was worth risking everything.