Summary:  Adam’s son Garrett finds that he has some experiences much like his father had as a youth, and Adam can help him with those because of it. The story follows the Never Too Late To Say You’re Sorry story, and has the same OCs.  

WC =15,282  rating = T

Virginia Series:

Never too Late to Say You’re Sorry
Like Father, Like Son

Like Father, Like Son

Chapter 1

On the Ponderosa, everyone was settling in to a routine. On the fourth day of school, Adam met Ben in town as they both had some banking business to do. They decided to spend the rest of the afternoon together, and then went to the school to pick up the boys. The boys were riding their horses to school, but they were not expected to make the ride unsupervised. Someone went with them in the morning and then again met them in the afternoon. As the two boys walked out of school, Adam noted that Garrett was walking slowly with his head down, and Josh kept looking back to check on him. Adam had been smiling, but that ended quickly as he dismounted and went to his son. He had been surprised all week that Garrett didn’t seem to want to go to school but had assumed it was probably because it was taking some time for him to get used to a new teacher.

“Garrett, what’s wrong? Look at me. What is wrong?”

Garrett kept his head down but answered. “I got an F on my writing. I have to do it over tonight and write a note of apology to the teacher for lying. Father, I didn’t lie, but the teacher said I did.”

Adam leaned down then and pulled his son to him. He heard the crying even though Garrett was trying to hide it.

“Uncle Adam, he switched Garrett too. He said he didn’t want no smart aleck lying boys in his school.”

“Garrett, why did he think you were lying?” With that question, Garrett threw his arms around Adam’s neck and began sobbing. Josh had to answer for him.

“Garrett wrote that paper that said he had lived in some other countries like Brazil and Cuba. He wrote that you built a three-story cottage in Rhode Island with a ballroom on the third floor and a big fountain in the vestibule. He told him about us being kidnapped and how you and Uncle Hoss rescued us.”

“But that’s all true.”

“He said no rancher’s son with daydreams and an imagination was going to put one over on him. He got real mad. I tried to say something, but he said I’d just get the same if I said any more. Everybody’s afraid of him. He switched two boys yesterday because he said they looked at girls the wrong way. I don’t know what that means, but today nobody wanted to look at a girl. He switches a couple of boys every day for something. He ain’t switched me yet, but I bet it’s gonna be my turn soon.”

As Adam stood then, Ben knew he better intervene. “Adam, you stay here with your son. I’ll go talk with him and get to the bottom of this. If you go in there now, I may have to explain to Virginia why you’re in jail. Now take care of Garrett.” Adam took a moment but finally acquiesced. He knew he wanted to do bodily harm to that schoolteacher and doubted that he could avoid doing it if the man said one negative thing about his son. Instead, Adam waited with Garrett and Josh while Ben strode to the schoolhouse. About fifteen minutes later, Ben stormed out of the schoolhouse and asked Adam to escort both boys home.

“I’m going back into town. There will be an emergency meeting of the school board. I want school canceled for tomorrow.”

“What did he say?”

“He said no ignorant rancher had the right to tell him how to teach school, and would I please get out of his school because I was making the place smell like cattle.”

Adam couldn’t help it. The corners of his mouth turned up just a little. “Don’t go back in there. I don’t want to have to explain to the family how our father ended up in jail.”

Ben had to smile. He had forced himself to leave that schoolhouse before he did exactly what he had been afraid Adam would do. “I’ll get the meeting called. Would you be willing to present the case for firing the teacher?”

“More than pleased. Josh and Garrett can fill me in on what’s been happening. We’ll be ready to take him down tomorrow.” Josh and Garrett cheered. Adam smiled and looked to the schoolhouse and saw the teacher locking up the building. “Looks like he’s leaving early. I believe his contract specifies that he be in the school from eight until five.”

Word spread rapidly through the town that school had been cancelled for the next day, and that there was an emergency meeting of the school board on Friday morning. The teacher was told to be at the school at eight as required by his contract. The school board planned to meet him there. As Adam rode home with the boys, they met a few others on the road and told them what Ben was requesting. Everyone they told smiled at the news. The next morning, Hoss and Jessamine as well as Virginia went to the meeting. Josh and Garrett were to be there as witnesses, and Adam was presenting the case for firing the teacher. Ben was a member of the school board and sat with the other members waiting for everyone to arrive. Sheriff Roy Coffee was there in an official capacity to make sure order was kept with the large crowd in attendance. Most could not fit inside and waited outside the open windows where they could hear the proceedings.

Once the board president called the emergency meeting to order, Adam had some questions for the teacher. “Parlez-vous français?”

“What?”

“So you cannot speak French.” To verify his claim, Adam addressed Garrett. “Le paysan ignorant ne peut pas parler français?” Garrett smiled at that and replied affirmatively in French. Then Adam added another query to the teacher. “Hablas español?” When the teacher couldn’t answer again, Adam once more addressed his son. “Una vez más se demuestra que es ignorante.” Garrett grinned. Then Adam asked the teacher what would happen if he mixed sulfur with water.

“You would have sulfuric acid.” The teacher looked smug.

Next Adam asked Garrett what you would get if you mixed sulfur with water.

“At ordinary temperatures and conditions, you would get water that smelled like sulfur. It smells terrible but is generally safe to drink as long as the sulfur concentration is not too high.”

The next question to the teacher was very basic. “What do you get when you mix saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal?” There were snickers in the room as it was clear the teacher didn’t know. Adam asked how many on the school board knew that answer but asked that they only raise their hands if they knew. Everyone raised a hand. Adam looked over at Josh. “Josh, do you know the answer?”

“Yes, sir, that makes black powder, or gunpowder.”

“What famous American author began his writing career here in the west, and specifically here in Virginia City?”

The teacher was losing confidence but thought he knew this one. “There are no famous writers from Virginia City.”

Adam didn’t even respond to that answer, but instead, he began a summation of his arguments for the school board. “So, I may not speak French and Spanish fluently, but I can communicate effectively. The teacher is completely ignorant of two major languages, French and Spanish, and he cannot answer even the most simple chemistry questions. He cannot answer a basic history question when everyone in this room knows the answer. Mark Twain worked here at the Territorial Enterprise as Samuel Clemens. He knows less than a nine-year-old boy and an eleven-year old boy. Should I go on, or does the teacher deserve the punishment he has doled out to his students in his first week here? My father tried to talk to him on the fourth day of school when we learned of what we consider his unacceptable attitude and practices. My father didn’t want me to talk with him considering what the results of that conversation might have been.” There were a lot of snickers at that comment. “It almost happened anyway when the teacher told my father that no ignorant ranchers were going to tell him how to teach school.” There were angry looks but also a few snickers in the room at that comment too because most knew the teacher would likely have been pummeled rather thoroughly if he had said that to any rancher other than Ben Cartwright. “Now that was after he punished my son for lying for saying that I designed a cottage in Rhode Island that was three stories high with a ballroom on the third floor and a fountain in the vestibule. My son said that we had lived for a time in France, Brazil, and Cuba as well as in Boston where I had originally gone to college and which this man has not done. He said my son and Josh were lying about being kidnapped although most of the people in town read all about that in the newspaper accounts or heard it when the men were on trial. His misplaced pride in his supposed superiority to everyone here blinded him to the truth. Is there anyone here who believes my son was lying when he made those claims? Is there anyone on the school board who thinks that this man is qualified to teach children? Do you believe that he misrepresented himself when he applied for this position?”

“You have no right to speak about me that way. I am a certified teacher.”

“That only means you completed the eighth grade and passed the test that said you had enough information to teach. It says nothing about your ability to do so.”

It didn’t take long for the school board to fire the teacher, and then begin a discussion on how to replace him at such short notice. As the man walked to the door in shock but very angry, he was confronted by Adam who spoke softly.

“If I see you walking on the streets of Virginia City, know that I will repay you measure for measure for what you did to my son. If you ever see me in any other city, it would be best for your continued health, if you made sure that I did not see you. Is that clear enough for you?”

“You are thug and a danger to society.”

“I’m certainly a danger to you. Remember that the next time you see me.”

As the former teacher exited the schoolhouse, he was pelted with small clumps of dirt and sod by some of his former students. He ran to get away which had the crowd laughing at his gangly legs pumping as fast as they could as he ran. He found his bags sitting on the sidewalk outside the boardinghouse where he had been staying. There was a ticket for the stage to Reno. Sheriff Coffee walked up to him as he was looking at the ticket.

“I suggest you use that ticket. Folks around here ain’t likely to forgive what you done to the boys this week. They’re probably wondering if there’s something in you that makes you want to see boys hurting. You best be on that stage when it leaves. Oh, and I’ll be filing a report with the state of Nevada. Don’t try to get another teaching job here. Your certification is being revoked.”

“Isn’t there any forgiveness in these people?”

“There might a been ifn you said you was sorry and that you was wrong. Instead you took on Adam and Ben Cartwright. That’s a combination I wouldn’t ever want to face. So take your bags there and leave. I ain’t gonna tell you again.”

The school board had a temporary solution with Abigail Meyers, Jessamine Cartwright, and Barbara Scott volunteering to work together at the school until a permanent replacement could be hired. School was to reopen on Monday. The three ladies stayed at the school to work out a schedule for who would teach what as everyone else returned to their normal daily activities. Ben rode home with Josh. Adam and Hoss waited at the school with their sons until the ladies had worked out the details. Virginia excused herself to sit in the carriage and nurse Rose. Garrett waited with his father.

“Hoss, this works out well for us. Jessamine can take the carriage and escort the boys to school and home again on the days she’ll be teaching.”

“Well, that’s fine, but it better not be for too long.”

“Why?” Except the look on Hoss’ face gave it away. “Big brother, you work fast.”

“We kinda had a head start.”

“Ah, good luck explaining that to Pa.”

“Oh, the way he forgave you for everything, I figure this is a piece of cake.”

“Oh, yeah, and when were you planning on telling him?”

“Well, you see, I thought maybe you could tell him. Adam, you just got a way with words. The way you burned that school teacher in just a few minutes, you could certainly talk to Pa about this one little thing.”

“Hoss, you should tell him.”

“C’mon, Adam. You can use that line you used when we was talking last year. It ain’t never too late to say you’re sorry. Pa’s gotta know that I’m real sorry about this. Course I ain’t really, but he don’t need to know that.”

“Hoss, stop. You need to tell Pa. The sooner the better too.”

“Dagnabit, I was hoping I could get you to do it. I gotta live in the same house with him, you know. It could be a little cool there for a while.”

“It will be fine. Pa will understand.”

“But Adam, what ifn he don’t?”

“Ask him why there was only seven months between his wedding anniversary and Joe’s birthday.”

“I always figured that Joe was born the next year, and I always heard he was born early.” Adam’s grin told Hoss that wasn’t the case. “Aha, well, I can forgive him. And then he can forgive me. It’s never too late to say you’re sorry, is it?”

“No, it never is. Now I need to go talk to my son and make sure he understands that he doesn’t get to decide who the next teacher is and perhaps a little talk about how he should have told me what was happening instead of trying to handle it himself.”

“Like father, like son. Seems to me I’ve heard a few stories of you as a boy about his age when you shoulda asked for help, but you went ahead and tried to handle it yourself.”

“It might be best if you don’t go repeating those stories to my son. This is going to be difficult enough as it is.”

Hoss did his crooked little amused smile and pointed behind Adam. Adam knew who was there before he turned around. The talk with Garrett was going to be more difficult than he had anticipated.

“Why don’t you want Uncle Hoss telling me about you when you were my age?”

“Well, I’ll tell you one story to show that I had to learn the same lesson you need to learn. By the time I was your age, I was working on the ranch with the regular hands. The younger hands always get some hazing from the older ones, and I did too even if I was the son of the owner. One of the hands, Purtel, took it too far. He did things to me that were dangerous.”

“Like what?”

“He put a burr under my saddle blanket so that when I mounted up, the horse bucked me off. He emptied my canteen so that I didn’t have any water on a hot day. The other hands said I should have remembered to fill my canteen and wouldn’t give me any water to teach me a lesson. By the time I got back that night, I had some heat stroke. I was in bed for two days because I was so sick, but I still didn’t tell Pa what the man was doing to me. He told me that I could have killed myself by forgetting to fill my canteen. It all came to a head when Purtel cut my cinch. He had loosened it one day, but that wasn’t enough for him because when I went to mount up, the saddle slid halfway down the horse’s side, so I had to tighten the cinch again. No he cut it most of the way through the next time. I was herding some cattle back to the herd when it let loose as I pulled my horse to a stop. I flew off that horse and luckily managed to roll instead of breaking my neck. Pa saw what happened and rode to me as fast as he could pulling me up onto his horse. The cattle we had back then were pretty wild, and one of them would likely have charged me if I stayed on foot. Pa wanted to know what happened, and as soon as we looked at the saddle, we knew. He asked who would have done such a thing, and I told him. I couldn’t lie to him with him looking me right in the eye. He fired the man on the spot even though it left us short-handed. The hands we had then were a pretty rough bunch, but even they knew Purtel had crossed the line more than once. I learned that I could handle things only to a point, but when it got dangerous or way out of line, I needed my father.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Father. I’ll tell you right away in the future.”

Chapter 2

Walking with Josh, Garrett was as dejected as he could imagine being. With his head hanging down, he held a handkerchief to his nose that was still bleeding a little. Josh put a hand on his shoulder to try to tell him it wasn’t so terrible, but for Garrett, it was because it was another day at school, and another day of hearing all sorts of taunts from the other boys whenever they thought the teacher couldn’t hear them. Recess and lunchtime were becoming times to dread. Garrett could fight well, and the other boys respected that so they always came after him with four or five so that he could not win. It was also their strategy to wait until after school for an opportunity to challenge his fists on those days when Josh was delayed. The new schoolmaster did not like Josh’s habit of writing by mixing printed letters with his cursive ones and made him stay after frequently for extra tutelage in penmanship.

Losing fights and having to hear so many insults on a daily basis however were not the biggest concerns for Garrett. What he worried about most was the reaction he would get when he got home. His father had warned him after the last fighting incident, that one week of grounding was likely to be a month if he did not stop fighting with his schoolmates. Garrett knew his mother would look at him with that sorrowful look she had when she was disappointed in him. She had seen her give his father the same look and melt him, so he knew he had no likelihood of being able to overcome his great shame when she looked at him like that. If his father couldn’t take it, he knew he couldn’t.

“Garrett, maybe you oughta tell your pa what the boys been doing to ya. I know I couldn’t take being called names like that every day. I’d fight too.”

“Father says I should be able to use my words and avoid fights. But, Josh, I get so mad, I can’t think of what to say to them. They make me so angry.” Then Garrett had to make an admission. Josh was like a brother to him, and he knew that Josh wouldn’t laugh or make fun of him. “Josh, are the things they say about me the same as what you and everyone else thinks?”

Josh paused because there was some truth in what Garrett was thinking, but he didn’t want him to think he was being critical. He had a difficult time thinking about how to say it diplomatically. However Garrett took his silence as agreement and dropped his head even more.

“Josh, I don’t know how to be something different than I am.”

“Garrett, I don’t think you oughta be something you ain’t. It’s just that you do talk different than the rest of us out here, and you always wear clean, neat clothes. You never talk back to the teacher and don’t even make fun of him behind his back. I know it’s because your pa says you gotta show respect, but you see, it makes you even more different than the others. My Pa says that he got picked on a lot at school too.”

“Uncle Hoss? Weren’t they afraid to pick on him?”

“Well, when he was young, I guess he was big, but there were still older boys who were bigger. He says they picked on him a lot until your pa set em straight.”

“What did my father do?”

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you, but he threatened that he would beat em up, I guess. Then they was so afraid of what Uncle Adam would do that they let my Pa alone mostly. When my Pa got older and bigger, then there wasn’t nobody gonna pick on him unless he let em.”

“My father was a fighter like that? Did Grandfather get angry with him?”

“I guess he did. My Pa said that Grandpa told Uncle Adam that he had no right to do what he did, but Uncle Adam said he would do it no matter what happened to him because nobody was gonna hurt his little brother and get away with it.”

“Father talked to Grandfather that way? And he wasn’t even a man yet?”

“I guess so. I never really thought about it that way. I bet that was some sight to see. I bet Grandpa’s eyebrows went so low they were almost laying on his cheeks.”

“Those eyebrows of his are scary, aren’t they? Father says you can tell how upset our Grandfather is by how low the eyebrows go. I’ve learned to watch Father’s too. He raises one when he has a question, but I can tell if he’s upset too just by how he raises it. Sometimes I learn more about what he’s thinking by watching him instead of just listening.”

“Does he know that?”

“Yes, he does. He says that Mother does that too and can tell what he is thinking without him saying a word. I don’t think he likes it sometimes though especially when he is angry or upset.” “I guess I wouldn’t like somebody knowing what’s in my mind when I’m mad sometimes too especially when that Jimmy Dale starts mouthing off like he does.”

“Why? What are you thinking?”

“Well, today at lunch when he was teasing you only it was real mean, I had a picture in my head of me lifting him up by the back of his longjohns and hanging him up on the coat rack out of the way.”

Garrett started laughing but got a serious look back quickly as he realized how close to home he was and close to another scolding by his father too. Josh wished him well and rode off to the main house where he and his family lived with their grandfather. Adam and his family lived in their home that wasn’t far from the main house but ‘far enough’ as his father said. Garrett wasn’t entirely sure what ‘far enough’ meant but was starting to get an idea about that. His father valued privacy and liked to handle things on his own. Garrett hoped he might think that his son ought to have some of those same opportunities. He was wrong.

“Garrett, I will not tolerate you fighting at school.”

“It was after school and off school grounds.”

“Watch your tone, young man.” Suddenly Adam was transported back about thirty years and hearing that from his father. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand Garrett’s predicament and sympathize with it, he wanted so much to do something about it and couldn’t. He could hear the frustration that his son had too.

“What would you have me do, Father, run away and give them evidence that I am a coward and that I would act like a girl?”

“No, of course not, but I thought that you would be intelligent enough to outsmart them.”

“They’re like a pack of wolves. They track me down and attack as a group. Josh told me that you helped Uncle Hoss when he was young and getting picked on at school. Why can’t anybody help me?”

“Son, I wish I could. I remember that situation very well. Your Uncle Hoss was big for his age but not nearly big enough to take on boys twice his age. He didn’t have the skills nor the strength for it yet. I have to admit I threatened those boys. I did to them what they had been doing to Hoss. With a pistol on my hip and standing taller than any of them by half a foot, I threatened them. Your grandfather did not approve. He was ready to give me a tanning for what I did.”

“Did he?”

“No, but perhaps he should have for my insolence. I told him that sometimes boys don’t learn from their fathers. Sometimes they learn from other boys who teach them to respect them.”

“Would you consider doing the same thing for me that you did for Uncle Hoss?”

“Do you think that would make them respect you and leave you alone?”

“No, but Father, how can I do that? How can I get them to respect me?”

“Somehow you have to outsmart the pack. You need to take on the leader and bring him down to size. Now I am not encouraging you to fight him, but I am saying that if you get into a situation where you must defend yourself against him, I want you to do whatever you need to do. Is that clear?”

“No, it isn’t at all clear.”

“Think about it. I won’t increase your punishment because I can see how troubled you are by this and because you need to take time to think about how to handle it. I don’t want you angry with me when you should be thinking about a solution.”

“I’m not angry at you, Father. I am frustrated. Why won’t you simply tell me what to do?”

“Because I can’t always be there to tell you what to do. You outsmarted those kidnappers without my help. I am so proud of you for doing that. Now you have another problem. You need to think it through, analyze it, and determine what you need to do.”

“What if you don’t like the way I decide to do that?”

“It’s always a chance you have to take, isn’t it. Do you always think about how I’ll react when you decide to do something?”

“No, I do what I think is right, but you don’t always agree with me.”

“That’s right. And we’ll talk about that more once you decide how you want to handle this.”

“Will you tell Mother?”

“No.” Garrett’s momentary relief was short. “You’ll tell her and don’t leave anything out.”

Nursing Rose, Virginia told Garrett he didn’t need to tell her if he had talked it over with his father. “While I’m nursing Rose, I don’t want to talk about anything unpleasant. It only upsets her when she knows I’m upset. Was the talk with your father enough?”

“Yes, Mother, Father talked to me a lot. Now I would like to go to my room and think about it, if that is all right with you.”

In his room, Garrett got out a pad of paper and started drawing. He had step one of his plan already clear in his mind. Step two was going to be a bit trickier but he would talk with Josh about the wording as he rode to school. Step three he had to hope would be enough to settle this or the school year was going to be unpleasant. In the morning, he got his pony and rode out to wait for Josh who seldom was there first at their rendezvous so that they could ride to school together. He showed Josh what he had done, and Josh could not contain his laughter.

“What you gonna do with em?”

“I thought I would make gifts of them to the girls who are our age. I do expect that there may be some laughter. That ought to stir him up when he discovers the source of the merriment.”

Once at school, Garrett carried out his plan. By lunchtime, Jimmy walked up to where he was sitting with Josh calmly eating his lunch. Jimmy threw drawings at his feet.

“Did you do these, you boot licker?”

Scattered on the ground were drawings of Jimmy hanging from the coat rack by the back of his longjohns. Another showed him as the head of a jackass braying loudly. The third showed him in a skirt with skinny legs, a long ponytail, and lady’s slippers on his feet.

“I did. I must have done a very good job too if you recognized yourself so easily. I do think the jackass is the best rendition of you.”

“You girl-dressing minnow.”

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“You’re so pretty, or should I say she, is as pretty as a speckled pup. Cartwrong, you’re about as welcome here as a rattlesnake at a church picnic.”

“Very original. I think you’ve used every one of those at least a dozen times. Do you have anything new?” Speaking calmly and softly, Garrett was making everyone be quiet when he talked so that they could hear him.

Jimmy on the other hand was getting louder and louder in his frustration. “You’re so skinny, you could take a bath in a shotgun barrel. There, now you got anything?”

“Let me see, Jimmy is so stupid he couldn’t teach a hen to cluck or a pig to snort. He has about as much brains as a turtle has feathers, and he would have to study to be a half-wit. How’s that?”

“When I’m done with you, there won’t be enough left of you to snore.”

“You going to do what you always do and only fight me after school when you have three others to help you. If I’m so skinny and girly, why are you afraid of me?”

“I’m not afraid of you. I just don’t want to mess up my clothes with your slime.”

“I think everyone here might believe that if you ever fought me alone just once.”

“Them skinny fists of yours might just stick right in me if I ever let you get close.”

“Is that what you’re afraid about or are you worried that I might win a fight with you and show everyone what you actually are?”

“Oh, yeah, and I suppose you know what I am.”

“I think that I do. You’re a bully because you’re a coward.”

“That’s a load of pig shit and you know it.”

“Then fight me after school. Alone!”

“All right, I will.” The problem with that was that Jimmy was afraid of fighting Garrett alone. He had seen the boy fight once before and knew Garrett had skills that he did not. At the end of the school day, he thought he had a solution.

“Garrett, I forgot that I gotta get right on home today cause my Pa has some work I have to help him with. I guess we’ll have to have that fight tomorrow.”

“We could do that or we could call a truce.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll stop drawing pictures of you if you stop calling me names.”

“I guess we could do that. I don’t like those pictures, and I guess beating you up wouldn’t stop you, would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“All right then, we got a deal. If you don’t draw no more pictures of me, then I won’t beat you up and I won’t call you names neither.”

Ignoring the double negative and following Josh’ advice, Garrett stuck out his hand after spitting in it. Jimmy hesitated a moment and then did the same. The deal was struck. Garrett was sure that there would be no more fights. That evening as he explained what he had done and why, Adam and Virginia were impressed, but Adam had a question.

“Would you have fought him if your plan had not worked out the way you intended?”

“Yes, Father, I would have. Would you have done the same to the boys who were picking on Uncle Hoss when he was a boy?”

“I don’t know. Probably I would have.”

Smiling, Garrett sat down. He had been so nervous to tell his parents what he had done that he had stood for the whole conversation. Finally he could relax.

“But if you fight again at school, there will be consequences.”

Just when he was relaxing, Adam had to throw that warning in there. Garrett sat up straight. “Yes, Father, I understand. I have another question. Why do girls like boys like Jimmy?”

“Girls your age, I presume. Perhaps your mother can help with this. I never had a problem with girls liking me.”

Garrett was surprised at that. “Were you like Jimmy then?”

“No, but my father’s lessons to me didn’t stop me from fighting. So the girls saw that in me. As I got older and learned to use words as weapons and managed to avoid far more fights than I got into, the older girls liked that. I guess knowing that I would fight if I had to fight, but that I would avoid it if I could was as impressive.” Looking at Virginia, Adam could see the small grin that was threatening to show, but that she was holding back because of their son.

“Garrett, young girls like the attention of the boys who tease and fight and do other things to show off to impress them. I’m guessing that there were girls around to watch the fights you’ve been in?” Garrett nodded. “As young girls become young ladies, they are more impressed by courteous and thoughtful young men whose behavior shows that they can love another deeply because they are not so in love with themselves. Your time will come, son, and sooner than you may think now.”

“But the Harvest Dance is coming up, and Josh and lots of the boys are asking girls to go with them to the dance. I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re a bit young to ask a girl to attend a dance with you. For this year, why don’t you let the girls know that you would like to dance with them? Many boys don’t dance well. I’m thinking you may find that you have many young ladies who would enjoy a turn around the dance floor with you especially once they realize that you will not trample their feet nor stumble through the steps.”

“Thank you, Father. I’ll do that.”

Chapter 3

“Now, Josh, I done told ya. Garrett ain’t coming with us cause he’s too young to be shooting. Besides, even if he was old enough, Adam’s too busy right now to come with us, and I ain’t taking on two of you learning to shoot at the same time. I value my hide too much for that.”

Hoss wanted to take his son on a hunting trip. He needed to get out of the house. With his wife well on her way to bearing a child and her swollen stomach giving silent testimony to that, he couldn’t avoid the frowns he got from his father. Everyone seemed to know that the baby was due to arrive sooner than their nine month anniversary, and even though that kind of thing was fairly common in the west, Ben Cartwright didn’t approve of his family following such standards. Hoss had been unable to say what Adam had told him to say so he faced his father’s self-righteous pronouncements all too often at least that was what was in his mind. Now he had a son who was making things a bit more difficult too.

“Couldn’t Garrett use snares or catch fish or something. Maybe he could use that bow and the arrows in that quiver that you have hanging up in the stable.”

“Well, he don’t know how to use a bow and arrow either, now does he? And Ifn I’m busy teaching you to shoot, I won’t be able to be teaching him how to do a snare or fish now could I?”

“I guess so, but he’s going to be real disappointed. We do almost everything together, and it seems so unfair that he can’t do this with me.”

“Now, you two are close, but you ain’t brothers. He’s gotta listen to what Adam wants for him just like you gotta listen to me. You ain’t always gonna be treated the same cause you got different pa’s and different ma’s.”

“Well, I think you could at least ask Uncle Adam about it. Don’t ya want him to come with us too? I’ve heard all these stories about what a good hunter he was, but I’ve never seen him go hunting at all.”

“Oh, your Uncle Adam is a good hunter. Heck, one time he shot an antelope and didn’t even leave a bullet hole in him.”

“Pa, that’s impossible if he shot him.”

“Well, ya see we’d been hunting for a couple of days. Now we brought some food from home but it was gone. We thought that we’d have something to eat from hunting by then. Now Adam was a mite angry with Joe because of that.”

“What did Uncle Joe do?”

“Well, Adam had a line on a big antelope the first day we was there. He was waiting for him to walk out just a foot or two more and we woulda had antelope meat for the rest of the trip. Just thinking about it makes me hungry. Well Joe come pounding out of the cabin yelling that breakfast was ready. That big ole buck antelope took off running into the brush so fast that Adam never got a shot off. Well Joe asks him why he didn’t shoot. I thought steam was gonna come out of his ears. He went inside and grabbed half the bacon and a biscuit that Hop Sing had sent along, and we didn’t see him for the next couple of hours. Well Joe got to feeling bad about it all so he went out to find Adam and apologize for scaring off that big buck antelope. Joe saw Adam leaning up against a tree, and you know how your Uncle Adam leans on nearly anything that’s around. So Joe yells out to Adam to get his attention so he can say he’s sorry, right. Well Adam had a bead on that big ole buck antelope again. Joe’s yelling made him run off again. Adam was fit to be tied, let me tell you. Well anyway, we was getting hungry after a few days of that, and Adam tells me to keep Joe with me and to keep him quiet. We went out looking for something to shoot for dinner. There was a smaller antelope that Adam spotted almost right away. He moved up a hill real slow like so he could get a spot where he could lay down, you know, so he could have a steady shot. Wouldn’t ya know that just about the time Adam’s ready to shoot, Joe falls partway down the hill. Well we heard a shot and I looked the way Adam had been aiming. I saw an antelope running and then after about a hundred yards, it keeled right over.”

“So Uncle Adam shot it even though it was running away?”

“Yessiree, he did. He said he had a clear shot so he took it. We headed on down there to get that antelope, and when we got there, there was no blood trail. We looked that antelope over again and again and there was no bullet hole. Joe said Adam musta scared it to death. Well we had to gut it out and carve it up so we could eat some and smoke some. Adam said we’d made a stew too and hold that for the next day. I did the cutting and when I got inside that antelope, it was a mess and the heart had a bullet hole in it. I pulled it out and cut it open, and there was Adam’s bullet.”

“Pa, you’re joshing me. It had to have a bullet hole in it if there was a bullet in the heart.”

“Now, Josh, that antelope was running away when Adam shot it and it didn’t have a bullet hole but there was a bullet in it. Now think about that a minute.”

Josh frowned and then grinned. “He shot it there?”

“Yup, we been telling folks for years that Adam can put a bullet right up your behind neat as can be so they better not mess with him.”

“Can I tell Garrett that story, Pa?”

“You go right ahead. Ain’t nothing wrong with the story, and maybe it’ll get my brother to start thinking on taking a hunting trip with us. That’s the only way that Garrett gets to go along now, ya hear me?”

Nodding in agreement to that, Josh ran to his pony to ride over to see Garrett and tell him that story. Once he got to Adam’s house, he couldn’t wait to tell Garrett his father had told him giving both boys a good chance to laugh. Once Garrett heard it and recovered from the laughter, he wanted to tell his mother but then thought better of that. He wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear a hunting story. Garrett did want to ask his father if the two of them could go with his Uncle Hoss and Josh. He walked into the house to see his father sitting with his arm around his mother. He was getting to an age where their showing affection to each other made him a bit uncomfortable, but he walked over to talk to his father anyway because it was important. He asked, and watched as his father looked at his mother. He assumed that was a good sign because that was what his father did when he wanted to know if his mother was in agreement. They seemed to be able to communicate that kind of thing without talking.

“Garrett’s mature enough to understand the dangers of a hunting trip. He needs to know about life out here and what he might need to do.” Adam smiled at Virginia pleased that she seemed to be in agreement.

“Go. You delivered the plans to McGillivary and you know what a fussbudget he is. He’ll be looking those plans over for a week at least before he makes a decision. It’s about time that you and Garrett got to do something together and going with Hoss and Josh should make it just about perfect for you. I know you’ll take good care of him.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll go stay with your father and Jessamine. She and I can work on some things for the nursery there, and your father loves having Rose visit. He hasn’t had that much time to dote on his granddaughter.”

“All right. Garrett, go talk to your Uncle Hoss so we can start making some plans. Find out when he wants to leave, where we’ll be going, and how long he wants to stay out.” As Garrett headed out to do just that, Adam leaned over and kissed Virginia with passion plunging his tongue into her mouth and taking her breath away.

“Wow, going hunting makes you quite the passionate man.”

“No, thinking about being without you for the next five days or so makes me a passionate man. Now, we’ve got some time right now. Garrett is busy. Rose is sleeping. How about showing me how much you’re going to miss me while I’m gone, and I’ll do the same for you?”

“That sounds like a wonderful plan, my sweet husband.” Adam stood and pulled her up to stand beside him before he swept her off her feet to carry her to their bedroom. When Garrett came back with the answers about an hour later, the bedroom door was still closed. He shook his head and went to his room to pack according to what his Uncle Hoss had told him.

“It sounds like Garrett is back. What do you think he thinks when we’re in our bedroom in the middle of the day?”

“I think he thinks that his parents love each other very much, and that he wishes they wouldn’t show him how much.”

“Really? Adam, maybe we should be more circumspect in what we do?”

“No, I remember when I was about that age and Pa and Marie would disappear off to their bedroom. I thought it was disgusting at the time, but it set a good example. A husband and wife should take time for each other when they can. Garrett will have a different attitude about this when he’s older. He’s just at that age when he’s beginning to know about how a man and a woman get along, and probably finds it fascinating and revolting at the same time.”

“Speaking from experience in one of those like father, like son thoughts?”

“Always. Now, let’s snuggle a little before Rose decides she wants your attention.”

The next morning, Adam and Garrett were late in meeting Hoss and Josh. Hoss noted that Adam had shaved so he had a fairly good idea why Adam was late. The disgusted look on Garrett’s face when Hoss mentioned something only confirmed his suspicion. Hoss slapped Adam on the shoulder and told him that because he was last, he got to lead the pack horse for the day. Hoss got a scowl for that.

“Was it worth it, older brother?”

Grinning then, Adam regained his jovial mood. “It’s always worth it, Hoss. Let’s get going so we can be set up for hunting by late afternoon. It can be the best time to get a deer for dinner, and I bet you wouldn’t mind some venison for dinner.”

“How did you convince Virginia to let you take Garrett on a hunting trip? He’s pretty young to be doing this.”

“It wasn’t difficult. I used the same line I used on Pa when I took you along for the first time. Hoss needs to learn about how to survive out here. She was inclined to let him go before I said a word though. This will be good for him.”

“You’re thinking the boys at school might be a bit impressed that he’s already been on a hunting trip?”

“Not just the boys. He’s getting interested in the girls, and something that makes him seem a bit more grown up should help his status with them too.”

“You know, I just don’t remember it being so complicated when I was that age.”

“There were hardly any people here then. We all had to be nice to each other most of the time. If we weren’t, we would have been very lonely.”

Hoss nodded and continued the ride more quietly as they did their best to make good time. The rest of the day went very well. Adam managed to shoot a deer as planned so they had a venison dinner. Hoss showed the boys how to smoke some of the meat, and Adam showed them how they would dry some of it too for jerky. They had huge steaks for dinner and fixed a large pot of stew for the next day. The plan for the following day was to teach the boys about tracking, and on the following day, teach them to make snares. Josh already had done some of that so mostly that would be a learning day for Garrett. It was on that third day that things went wrong.

“Come quick! Pa says you need to come quick and bring some bandages.”

“Who got hurt?”

“Garrett. Uncle Adam, I’m so sorry. It was an accident. I never would have hurt Garrett on purpose. I didn’t know he was there.”

Josh had been carving a spear for spearing fish. He had hardened the tip in the fireplace and was waiting for his father to show him how to get fish that way when he decided to see how far he could throw the spear. He aimed at a tree, but missed and it flew into the bushes behind the tree. There was a scream and then moaning. Josh had run there and found that Garrett had been doing his business there and the spear had caught him in the thigh. Hoss was soon there and applied pressure to the wound and sent Josh to get Adam and bandages. They got Garrett bandaged up, and Adam carried him to the line cabin letting him use the bed there. As Garrett reclined, he was pale and shaking. Adam sat beside him alternately rubbing his chest and hugging him until he warmed up and calmed down. Once that happened, Adam did his best to lighten the mood.

“Good thing you had your pants down. It was a clean wound that way and all we had to do was wash it a bit and bandage you up. It won’t hardly even leave a scar.”

“Papa, you won’t tell anyone that I had my pants down when I got hurt, will you? Not even Mama?”

Adam noted how Garrett had reverted to the Papa and Mama he had used as a child until some friends of his had said that was only how a baby talked. He had been formal since then. “No, you can be assured that I will never tell anyone that. Now, I do like it when you call me Papa. You can call me that any time you wish.”

“I thought that was how babies talked.”

“No, it’s just a more familiar and warmer way to speak to your father. I like it. Now we do have one more thing to discuss and that’s how you’re going to talk to Josh about this. He feels terrible. Hoss has him outside. He’s afraid to even come in here because he thinks you won’t forgive him.”

“I’ll forgive him. He didn’t do it on purpose.”

“No, but he did something he shouldn’t have done and you got hurt. He feels very badly about that. I’m afraid I yelled at him when I saw you. I told him to get away from you because he had done enough. I’ll have to apologize for that.”

“Shouldn’t he be the one apologizing? He’s the one who did something stupid, and he could have killed me.”

“Hoss hurt me once in a situation somewhat similar to that. He was in a fight in a saloon, and I, not very wisely, decided to try to stop him. I went up behind him, and he swung to push me away without probably even knowing it was me. When he swung, he hit me in the throat. It started to swell making it very hard to breathe. Joe was there and screamed at Hoss to stop fighting and help. He turned around and suddenly realized that the man he had pushed away was me and that he had hurt me seriously in the process. I know he never meant to hurt me and never meant to hit anyone in the throat, but all I could do at that point was gasp and try to get in enough air to breathe. He was the one who knelt beside me and got me to calm down enough so that I could get enough air. The doctor was there soon after and sedated me so that I wouldn’t make it worse by panicking.”

“Papa, you panicked?”

“Son, there is hardly a feeling as desperate as being fully conscious and unable to breathe. For a time there, I thought I was dying. Hoss did too. He felt terrible.”

“What did you do?”

“When I woke up, I wanted to yell at Hoss and tell him exactly what I thought about him. Well I couldn’t because I could hardly talk. It was one of those times that I should have been grateful that I was hurt the way I was. If I had said what I was thinking, I could have ruined the relationship with my brother.”

“What did you do then?”

“Pa talked to me a lot about forgiveness. Finally I asked for Hoss although I didn’t have much of a voice. I guess Pa mostly read my lips and understood. When Hoss got there, I took his hand and squeezed it before I pointed to the checkerboard letting him know I wanted him to spend some time with me. I couldn’t say what was on my mind for a few days, but we finally did talk about it.”

“You and Uncle Hoss seem really close.”

“We are, and it’s a lot like how you and Josh are close. How you handle what comes next is very important to your relationship with Josh. Do you know what you can do?”

When Josh walked in with Hoss, his head was down. Garrett called out to him. “You better be ready to lose some checkers games because I can’t do much more for the next couple of days.”

Josh smiled and got out the checkerboard. “You know you don’t always win.”

“Well I win most of the time.”

“You can be a real pain in the behind.”

Hoss looked over at Adam. “You told him about the time I hit you in the throat, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. It’s too good a story not to use.”

“Did you tell him what a pain in the ass you were before you forgave me for that.”

“Nope. I just used the part of the story I wanted to tell.”

“You can still be a horse’s behind sometimes.”

Chapter 4

By the time Adam and Hoss returned home with their sons, Garrett was walking with only a slight limp. Of course Virginia noticed immediately so Adam had to explain. The look he got said a lot more than the few words she said. After the cool reception, Adam took his family home where he heard a bit about how he should act if he wanted to take Garrett on a hunting trip so he wouldn’t get hurt. Josh worried even more how he would be received by his grandfather when Ben learned how careless and foolish Josh had been to try throwing that spear especially when he wasn’t sure where the other members of the hunting party were. It wasn’t as bad as he had feared. Ben sat him down and talked about some of his experiences hunting.

“I had an old friend visit here once, and he couldn’t wait to tell me about all of his hunting experiences. He wanted to go bird hunting, so we did. Any bird breaking and going to the right was his. Any bird breaking to the left was mine. The idea was that we would be safe that way. Well we didn’t flush any birds for several hours.”

“Pa, see, that’s why we need a dog. Buck flushes birds all the time.”

With a bit of an exasperated look at Hoss for interrupting, Ben continued with the story. “Soon after we complained that we thought we would never see a bird, a large sage grouse flushed right in front of us and flew just a few feet off the ground until it disappeared into some scrub brush.”

“Did you shoot it, grandpa?”

“No, Josh, I never fired a shot. I’ll tell you the same thing I told my friend who was yelling to me to shoot. I turned when the bird made cover. He asked why I didn’t shoot. I told him I didn’t want to hit any of the cattle who were standing no more than fifty yards away grazing. He looked then and for the first time saw those cows. I never went hunting with him again. I was afraid of being shot. Always know what is behind your shot because you could miss. You didn’t know what was behind that tree you were aiming at. You know what the worst result of that could have been, don’t you?”

“Yes, Pa and Uncle Adam made that real clear. Pa’s got me doing extra chores for a week to help me remember too. Did your friend ever shoot a cow or something by accident?”

“Yes, unfortunately, he didn’t learn his lesson here. I heard some years later that he was hunting with a friend and swung around to shoot a bird but ended up shooting his friend in the shoulder and neck with birdshot at close range.”

“Ow, I bet that hurt.”

“More than that. The man was disfigured of course, and some months later developed an infection in his damaged jaw. He died. I knew that could easily have been me because I hunted with a man who was not careful about safety.”

“I’ll be real careful, Grandpa. I never want to hurt someone especially someone who’s so close to me hurt like that by me.”

About that time, Joe arrived wondering how the hunt had gone. Hoss filled him in on what had happened, and then Joe had to add to the conversation. Ben tried to stop him but it was out before he had a chance.

“Did you tell him about the time Adam shot me by accident when we were hunting that wolf?” Joe saw the scowl from his father and turned to Hoss who had a similar expression. It dawned on him then that the lesson they had been trying to teach wouldn’t be as good now that he had introduced that story. Of course, they had to tell the story Josh then, and he asked if Garrett knew what his father had done.

“Josh, I don’t know if my son has told his son about that incident. I know he carries a lot of guilt about it so it’s hard to know if he ever told anyone else.”

Josh couldn’t keep a secret any better than his father. Within days, Garrett had gotten him to tell him the story about how his father had shot his Uncle Joe when the two of them were hunting a wolf. Both Josh and Garrett decided that they needed to spend some time with their Uncle Joe who seemed to have stories to tell that their fathers were hoping to keep secret. They found that their Uncle Joe had wonderful stories to tell not only about their fathers but also about some of the things he had done.

At school, the other boys were impressed with the stories too. They laughed about how Adam had shot the antelope without leaving a bullet hole, but they openly questioned Garrett about his injury. When he appeared at school still with a slight limp, some had to ask why and Garrett was ready for them.

“A spear got me. I was in some brush and it came through and stabbed me in the leg.”

“Who threw it? Indians?”

“I didn’t see who threw it. I was in the bushes. Uncle Hoss and my Papa came quick and washed it out and bandaged it up. It hurt some but not too bad.”

“Josh, is he telling the truth.”

“Course he is. You all know his pa would kill him if he ever caught him lying.”

The boys were suitably impressed and wished their fathers might decide to take them on a hunting trip, although most hoped never to get a spear in the leg. Josh asked Garrett about that as they rode home that day.

“Isn’t it lying to make people think something when you know they’re wrong?”

“I can’t help what they thought, but I hope Papa never finds out what we told them.”

“We? You were the one who told the story.”

“Yes, but you were the one who said I didn’t lie. So I guess we should do what Uncle Joe said. He said what our fathers don’t know can’t hurt us.”

“Yeah, Uncle Joe is right smart about things like that. Let’s go see what he’s doing and if he has more stories for us.”

The two boys hurried to find Uncle Joe who was unpacking fireworks when they arrived at the main house. They helped him with packing the fireworks away until the big dance. As the dance approached, many preparations were underway, and not the least of them were by the two boys who decided that they had learned quite a lot in a short time from their uncle who was planning the fireworks show for the big celebration. Joe warned everyone to stay out of the meadow before the dance so that no one would accidentally set off any fireworks. Meanwhile the boys were helping to set up tables for all the food and beverages. Horse troughs were filled to capacity to water the horses that would bring the guests. By the middle of the afternoon when guests began arriving, all was ready for them.

Things went well at first until Hoss came out carrying the big cake Hop Sing had made for the party. He set it on the end of a table and when he let go, the table top tipped toward him. He tried desperately to grab the cake platter but got all cake instead. Laughter broke out all around seeing Hoss standing there with cake all over him and each hand holding a large piece of frosted cake.

“Hoss, you just couldn’t wait?” Adam was chortling as he liked to do when he saw something funny. Hoss didn’t think it was all that funny and threw two handfuls of cake at Adam hitting him with both. That got Joe cackling, and as Adam walked to the house to clean up, he pushed his brother into a water trough. Alice was going to go help Joe, but Hoss decided he should do it because he was already a mess. He reached back to stop Alice from going to help and put his sticky cake encrusted hand right over one of her breasts. What he had grabbed seemed very soft and round as he turned to her hoping and willing that he had not done what he had done, but there was a perfect large handprint over her breast where he had reached to stop her forward momentum. Hoss turned red as can be then as there were gasps from the crowd that soon turned to raucous laughter by the men in attendance. There hadn’t been such an entertaining dance at the Ponderosa for years. Alice was red with embarrassment too and rushed into the house followed by Virginia and Jessamine. Hoss and Joe moved quickly to the washroom to clean up only to be met by Adam who was coming out with a towel wiping his face and damp shirt. Joe punched him once on the chin staggering his older brother who had not expected that. Ben was there to grab his arm before he could retaliate.

“What in tarnation is going on here? I went to get a little peace and quiet in the stable, and I come back out to chaos.”

Glowering at the washroom door, Adam filled his father in on what he knew. Soon Virginia was back outside and she told Ben the rest of the story.

“Where were you, Pa? You’ve hardly spent any time with our guests.”

“Someone sent a note to Clementine Hawkins telling her to spend as much time with me as possible at the dance. It had flowers with it. She thinks I sent the note, and I’ve had to move fast to keep ahead of her.” Ben was glowering at the washroom door too thinking that he had a good idea who had sent that note.

“Oh, my Benjamin, there you are. Now let’s let the young people clean up this ghastly mess, and you and I can have that dance you promised.”

Hop Sing was already muttering and fussing around the downed table wondering what kind of dessert he could possibly produce in such a short time to replace the cake. Hoss had changed clothing and Joe went quickly to his house to get dry clothing. The three brothers stayed away from each other for the rest of the dance. Things calmed down and people got over teasing the brothers for what had happened, and it seemed the dance would be a success despite the loss of the cake and the ensuing mishaps until there were screams from the necessary.

Several young ladies and a few not so young decided that it was time to visit the necessary and walked together. Once there, they demurred to the oldest lady who went first. As she closed the door to the necessary, she began screaming. Two of the younger women moved to pull the door open but it was held fast. In a panic, the woman inside fumbled with the door latch as the rattlers rattles shook and made her wet her pantaloons. Finally stumbling from the necessary, the other ladies did their best to soothe her even as men started arriving. Someone had rigged a rattler’s rattles to a string tied to the necessary door. When it was pulled closed, it shook the rattles. Opening the door dropped it again so it rattled more. The boys in attendance couldn’t wait to get inside to see what had been done, but the adults were incensed. It took quite a bit of talking for Ben and his sons to convince their guests that they had not done it although even the family was a bit suspicious of Joe.

“But, I would never do that knowing that my wife could have been the one to go in there and be scared out of her mind. I didn’t do it.”

That did take care of most of the doubt, but Joe got a few withering glances from the women as he left for they were not entirely convinced of his innocence. Once the rattles were removed and the necessary checked over, the ladies were able to use it, and Jessamine had some clean clothing for the lady who needed it. That seemed to be the end of the shenanigans until the fireworks show. Joe checked all of the larger fireworks to be sure no one had tampered with them. Because of how the party had gone so far, he wanted to be sure that the fireworks show would be so spectacular that people would forget about all of the unpleasantness of the earlier parts of the party. All went rather well with lots of ooohs and ahhhs for the show until the display of the small fireworks toppled just as Joe lit the fuse to set them off. Fireworks shot out in all directions as people scattered screaming and cursing to their horses and carriages and escaped the party before any more damage could be done. Hoss, Joe, and Adam led the hands out with wet burlap sacks to put out all the tiny fires started by the fireworks and trudged back to the house only to be met by the stern countenance of their father.

“I want to know who is responsible for this fiasco we attempted to call a party, and I want to know now!”

Adam was the first to defend himself and his brothers. “Pa, you can’t believe that any of us had anything to do with these pranks.”

“Pranks? Had anything to do with these pranks? These were not pranks. These were deliberate acts of sabotage. I want to know who is responsible, and I want to know now.”

“Pa, ifn we knew, we’d tell ya. Have you forgotten that we were the ones who got caught up in the first one?”

“Yeah, Pa, Hoss is right. We may have pulled a few pranks in our younger days, but we were smart enough not to be the victims of our own jokes.”

“Jokes? Pranks? I’m going inside for a brandy. Then I’m going to bed. You three can take care of the cleanup out here.” With that, Ben stormed into the house.

The ladies waited inside for the cleanup to be completed. Once it was done, Adam and Joe took their families home. Hoss sighed deeply. He had to live in the same house with their father. At moments like this, he envied Adam and Joe their separate houses.

In the morning, Hoss went in to wake Josh to get his help to do chores. Sitting on the table next to Josh’ bed were two bolts and a wooden piece with two holes in it. Hoss knew then what had happened to the table that was supposed to hold the cake. Josh woke up to an angry father. He found sitting to be uncomfortable at breakfast, and regretted his actions even more when he realized that by the time he finished the month of extra chores, it would be nearing winter. He was paying a steep price for his few moments of fun.

At Adam’s home, a similar scenario played out. After a late night, Garrett was sleeping in so Adam went to wake him. He moved to hand Garrett his clothing, and a length of primer cord fell out of his pocket.

“What’s this, Garrett? It looks like the cord that Joe was using for the fireworks.”

Garrett couldn’t lie to his father especially upon awakening and being confronted with evidence. Adam noticed too the paper on Garrett’s table with words that had a distinct slant to the left as if written by Joe.

“Garrett, why were you practicing writing left-handed?”

And then Adam knew just as Hoss knew. Their sons had followed Joe’s example instead of theirs. Garrett found himself with a lot of work to do for the next month. What hurt even more was the lecture he got from his father, and then his mother told him how disappointed she was in him. He and Josh rarely saw each other except in school for the next month. School was the source of the rest of their problems. The other boys wanted to know all about the pranks. Garrett and Josh thought that telling the boys was the only fun they were likely to have for a month without realizing that it would mean even more problems for them. The boys told their families and soon the whole town seemed to know what Garrett and Josh had done. They got disapproving comments and stern looks from any number of people whenever they were in town. Soon, they only went to town to go to church and then hoped to leave as quickly as possible. Adam and Hoss smiled about it when the boys weren’t around. Adam was glad to see Garrett acting more like a boy and Hoss liked that Josh had shown some initiative even if neither father was likely to tell their sons that. Sometimes a father had to let his son learn from others too. They just hoped that Joe was done telling stories to the two.

Chapter 5

Winter was long and hard in the high Sierras. Many days, people were trapped in their homes and going to school actually seemed like a treat to boys confined to their homes with only their parents and little sisters for company got to feeling some very strong cabin fever. Josh had the advantage of his grandfather for company, but Garrett was beginning to chafe at only his parents for company. He got irritated that he couldn’t win a chess match with his father and hardly ever won against his mother who had been playing chess much longer than he had. Even if she wasn’t of his father’s skill level, she played well enough to beat him about three times to every win he had. In addition, his parents both insisted that he do school work even when there was no likelihood that he would be attending school for days at a time. He longed for a chance to play checkers with Josh and having a chance at winning at least half of the time. Even against his Uncle Hoss and Grandfather Ben, he won nearly as often as he lost. He thought his little sister was getting an inordinate amount of attention from his parents. She was walking and getting trained to do her business in a little pot. He rolled his eyes every time his mother brought up his toilet training experience. He couldn’t remember it at all and would have preferred his parents would forget all about it too.

By late February, Josh was suffering from the same feelings as his little sister Kathy was born and became the center of attention in the house. Everyone wanted to see the newest arrival, hold her, and marvel over her beautiful blond hair and blue eyes. Of course all those comparisons of Katherine Inger Cartwright to Josh only made him feel self-conscious. The lack of attention he received was new for him too, and his resentment grew.

As spring neared, and school was again a daily trek each week, Josh and Garrett began to make some plans for adventures. Unfortunately every one of their plans was vetoed by one or both sets of parents. Feeling that they were old enough to camp out on their own never got any parental support. Arguing that they would be a big help in the spring roundup and then the cattle drive was met with even stronger negative reactions. They wanted rifles to use for target practice and rabbit hunting and were told they were too young for that too. During a warm spell in spring, and frustrated at the negative reactions as well as resentful of the lack of attention, the two boys hatched a scheme they were sure would work. They told their teacher that they would miss Friday at school because they were needed for ranch work. It happened so often that students were needed to work that they simply informed their teacher when that would be the situation. Even though Josh and Garrett had never been required to miss school to work, they were getting older so the teacher thought perhaps their families had changed their attitude about having the boys help out.

On Friday morning, the two boys took their lunches and met as usual for the ride to school but after only half a mile, they veered off to the lake for a day of fun and fishing. They knew they wouldn’t be able to bring home any fish they caught so they planned to eat them for lunch if they got any. It didn’t matter to either one of them if they caught any fish. What they wanted was some autonomy and a chance to have some fun. They found the water was too cold even for wading, but they skipped rocks, climbed boulders, and threw rocks into the water from high above the lake. They had no luck fishing so as the day grew warmer, they decided to climb to a rock ledge they could see protruding over the water and shielded from the sun by a pile of boulders behind it. The day was going so well they could not imagine that there would be any kind of trouble.

“Josh, remember to take your lunch up there with you. I’ll be right behind you. We can throw some rocks and have lunch.”

“Garrett, you don’t need to lug any rocks up here. There’s already a pile of ’em. I can see from here that we’ll have plenty.”

Josh kept climbing. His strong arms and legs let him climb well but Garrett was soon right beside him because of his long legs and agility. The two pulled themselves over the edge of the ledge at the same time. Garrett took the rock he had carried up there and flung it as far out over the water as he could and was gratified by the geyser the rock sent up when it hit the water. His smile froze though when he heard the rattles. He had heard that sound only once before and that was from the rattler rattles that he and Josh had hung in the necessary at the fall harvest dance party. This time it had a much more ominous sound to it. He turned slowly to see Josh frozen and staring at a large rattler he had disturbed.

“Don’t move, Josh. You know your pa said not to move if we ever got too close to one. I’ll get a rock and kill it if I can. As soon as I drop the rock on it, you jump back. That way even if I don’t kill it, you’ll be out of range.”

Garrett was impressed that Josh could stay so still and quiet in the face of the large rattler. He edged to the pile of rocks and pulled one that seemed big enough and raised it over his head ready to throw it down on the snake.

“Get ready to jump back, Josh. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

Garrett’s aim was dead on striking the snake in the head and smashing it down onto the ledge. Proud of himself for his accuracy, Garrett looked at the outcome of his brave deed a moment longer before turning his attention to his cousin. What he saw scared him more than he had ever been scared in his life. Josh was sitting but was pale and sweating. He was holding his right arm with his left. The impression to the snakebite was clearly visible on the right forearm. In a shaky voice, Josh spoke to Garrett without looking at him. Both sets of eyes could only stare at the bite on Josh’ right forearm.

“He got me before you killed him. He got me when I bent down to get a rock to throw. I didn’t see him until it was too late. I guess I surprised him. Garrett, am I gonna die?”

Galvanized into action by Josh’ plaintive question, Garrett stripped off his belt. He knelt by Josh’ side and gently pushed him to lie down. Then he wrapped the belt around Josh’ upper arm and pulled it tight wrapping it around several more times before securing it. “Josh, that’s the best I can do for a tourniquet right now. In about fifteen minutes, you need to loosen it and then tighten it up again. By then, I hope help will be on its way. Can you do it?”

“Don’t leave, Garrett. Don’t leave me here to die alone.”

“Josh, remember your pa told us not to panic if we ever got bit. He said that we can survive a bite, but we gotta stay calm. Now I’m riding for help. You lay there and breathe slow and easy. Can you do that?”

In a shaky voice, Josh said he could. Garrett patted him on the shoulder and with one look at the dead snake, he moved to the edge of the ledge and began the climb down. He tightened the cinch on his horse and rode as fast as he dared to get help. He saw some hands moving cattle and raced over to them. He was relieved to see his father was with them. Adam was surprised and then a bit angry to see his son riding toward him from the lake. It only took a few seconds for him to guess that he had skipped school that day. He was ready to blast his son for his disobedience until he saw the pale face and the fear in his son’s eyes.

“Papa, Josh got bit by a rattler. I put on a tourniquet, but then I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s up on a ledge by the lake. I can show you.”

Quickly dispatching one hand to find Hoss and another to town to get the doctor, Adam turned to ride to the lake with his son. Sport was faster so Adam rode ahead thinking that he knew where Josh was. As soon as he cleared the trees near the lake, Adam saw Josh’ pony and knew he had the right spot. He made sure he had what he thought he needed and began the climb to the ledge. When Garrett arrived, he took care of his father’s horse and his before climbing up to see if he could help. He heard his father’s voice long before he reached the edge of the ledge. His father was talking to Josh almost harshly and telling him that his father was likely going to tan him when he found out what he had done.

“By the time you recover from this snakebite, you might wish you hadn’t. I think your father has a mighty big hand and a big wallop for a boy’s behind when he breaks the rules as much as you and Garrett did today.”

In a shaky voice but sounding a bit more confident than he was earlier, Josh asked a question. “Is Garrett gonna get a tanning too?”

“Yes, this is one of those rare times when I think the lesson may need that kind of forceful reminder. You have to know that your father and I hate to have to do that. I can still remember the tannings I got as a boy. We thought we would never do that to our sons, but there are times when you two do something so dangerous that it needs a forceful reminder not to do anything like that again.”

“Yes, Uncle Adam, I understand.”

“I’m not gonna die then, am I?”

“No, of course not. Would I talk to you this way if you were going to die? Now take deep calming breaths and stay still until your father gets here.” Garrett climbed over the edge of the ledge. He had thought to bring a canteen with him and silently handed it to his father who had Josh resting across his lap with his right forearm laying well below his body.

“Garrett, I need you to loosen that tourniquet once more. I don’t know how long it’s been but we can’t let it on there too long. We’ll count off for the next one.” Garrett loosened the tourniquet and then pulled it tight when his father told him to do that. In a calm voice, Adam explained then what he was doing and why.

“Now a rattler puts enough poison in its target to kill it, but usually that’s only a rabbit or some other unfortunate small animal. Right now, that poison is in Josh’s forearm. We have to let a little at a time into his body because his arm has to have some blood supply. I’m holding him up on my lap so that he can relax and let his arm dangle. That way we’re using gravity to keep that poison in his arm and not rushing into his body. I bet your arm hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”

Josh nodded and closed his eyes resting his head against his uncle’s chest as Adam cradled him. Soon they heard noise down below, and Garrett stood to yell to Hoss and show him where they were. Jessamine and Ben arrived in the buckboard shortly after Hoss began climbing up to the ledge.

“Garrett, as soon as Hoss gets up here, you climb down and tell Pa and Jessamine what happened and what we’re doing. Tell them that Hoss and I will get Josh down to them. Hopefully the doctor will be at the house by the time we get there.”

Hoss came over the side of the ledge then and knelt by his son as Garrett climbed down following his father’s instructions.

“Hoss, we’re about five minutes away from loosening the tourniquet. Let’s wait for that, and then we’ll have fifteen to twenty minutes to get him down from here before we have to do it again. Between the two of us, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Seeing tears in Hoss’ eyes, Adam knew he needed to shift his brother’s mood for Josh’ sake. “Hoss, I told Josh that he’s gonna get a tanning for this. Garrett going to get one too. This stunt was just too dangerous for us to let it go. Right?”

“What, huh?” Seeing Adam’s face then as he looked up from his son, Hoss caught on. “Yessirree bob, this is gonna be the worst tanning he ever got in his life, dadburnit. Josh, I can’t believe the two of you skipped school and came out to play at the lake.”

“Hoss, that’s not the worst part.”

“It ain’t?”

“Nope, I saw fishing poles, and they didn’t even save any fish for you.”

“You’re kidding me? Not even for his own Pa?”

Josh didn’t understand what they were doing, but it was working. “Pa, we didn’t catch any. Pa, I swear, ifn we woulda caught some, we woulda brought some to ya.”

“Now, how could you do that, Josh, without letting me know you played hooky today?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, Pa, but we really didn’t catch any. I only had the lunch that Hop Sing made for me. I didn’t eat it yet. You can have it if you want it.”

“No, we’ll just loosen up that tourniquet now, and then we’ll get you down from here.”

Adam’s strategy had worked. Josh had calmed down and no longer was thinking that he might die. That calm demeanor was going to do as much as anything else to make that actually come true. Within a short time, Adam and Hoss had gotten Josh down from the ledge and laid him in the back of the buckboard in Hoss’ arms this time with Jessamine at his side ready to loosen the tourniquet as needed. Ben climbed into the seat and drove the wagon back to the house. Adam and Garrett watched them go and then took care of the horses leading Hoss’ horse and Josh’ pony back to the stable. By then, Doctor Paul Martin arrived and headed into the house to see his patient.

The following Monday, Adam escorted Garrett to school and spoke to the teacher about Josh who wouldn’t be in school probably for at least another week. Adam got assignments for him to do and left. Garrett found sitting still not too comfortable especially after the ride in. The other boys wanted to know what happened so Garrett told them including his admonition that they should never do anything like it because it was a dangerous thing to do especially with no adult knowing where they were.
“I was lucky to find help so soon. Josh could have died if I didn’t. I’m never doing anything that stupid ever again.”

In the schoolhouse, the teacher delayed calling the students in for the start of lessons. He thought they were learning a good one outside as he listened at the window to the story that Garrett told. The teacher decided that the boy had a talent for storytelling and he could imagine the looks on the other boys’ faces as Garrett told about the wound and everything that had to be done to help Josh. At least for a while, there would be no more skipping school.

On the Ponderosa a short time later, Adam delivered the schoolwork to Josh. Hoss said that Josh wanted to talk with Adam so he went up the stairs to see his nephew. Josh was still pale but the pain must have diminished considerably because he looked more relaxed than he had been. He smiled when his uncle came into the room and thanked him for saving his life.

“I know now what you were doing. I was so panicky that I was making things worse. I really did think that I was gonna die until you started talking with me. Then when you told me Pa was gonna tan me, I figured I must be gonna live cause that was the only way I was getting a tanning. Thank you.”

“I thought I knew how you felt. I got shot in the gut once. We were surrounded by Apache and I foolishly tried to get some water. I looked at my belly and saw that wound and assumed I would die. Little Joe came rushing out to help me. I told him to go back because I was dying and he shouldn’t risk his life. He told me to “Shut up! I have enough to do without listening to your stupid talk.” Well, I decided I must be going to live because Little Joe would never talk that way to me if I was dying. I thought he might even cry if he thought I was dying. Right then and there, I decided to live. It hurt a lot and I couldn’t do much of anything for weeks even after an Army doctor took over my care, but Little Joe’s words were what pulled me through. Words can be powerful.”

Hoss decided that Josh had suffered enough and learned enough that he could skip the tanning even if Adam had said he would tan his son. But Hoss warned Josh that if he ever did anything so stupid again, he would get double.

“Pa, I think I’ve learned a lot this past year.”

“What have you learned?”

“Well, I learned that pranks should be funny and not mean. I learned that parents teach you a lot if you give them a chance. And most of all, I learned that I should listen to Uncle Adam’s ideas about stuff and not to Uncle Joe’s stories.”

“You got that right, son. It took me a long time to learn that last lesson. Did I ever tell you about the time your Uncle Joe got me to bring an elephant home to the Ponderosa? Or the time he thought he knew how I could win a flapjack contest?”

Intent on checking on his grandson, Ben had come up to stand in the doorway. “Or about the time Joe convinced you that it was a good idea to rob a bank!”

There was a lot of time to talk until Josh was healthy again. Adam and Garrett were there to visit often. Lessons had been learned and fathers and sons had developed a great deal of respect for each other.

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Family