Summary:  This is June’s Chaps and Spurs Challenge.  Once again, Little Joe finds himself facing the music. Hoss and Adam are amused by the current situation, although Ben thinks it is no laughing matter.  Sometimes, the Cartwrights can dig a very deep hole without using a shovel.

Rating K+    Number of Words:   1,798

No Shovel Needed

“Pa, I didn’t mean to do my chores today,” Joe said looking up at his father.  The young man was in trouble, again, for not completing his chores by dinner.  To add fuel to the fire, the smell of the liquor he consumed earlier wafted through the room, causing his older brothers to smile behind their hands.

“Joseph, you said you didn’t intend to do your chores?  That’s not helping your situation here, son.”  Ben was confused by his son’s confession.

“I mean, I wasn’t going to do them anyway, so why are you going to tan me for not getting them done by dinner?” Joe asked as he swayed slightly.   The youngster’s logic was muddled by the strong drink he and his friends shared just before he came home.

“Little Brother, what on earth are you saying?” Hoss asked incredulously.  “You ain’t helping yourself none here.”

“I’m saying that when I woke up this morning, I decided I wasn’t going to do my chores.  I knew when I left for school that I was going to meet Seth and Mitch for some fishing and I wouldn’t be able to do them at all,” Joe said.

“Joseph, did you ask me if you could go fishing after school?”

“No sir,” Joe answered looking at Adam.

“Don’t look at me kid.  You didn’t ask me either,” Adam said folding his arms across his chest and pinching the bridge of his nose.  He could not contain the chuckle that rolled quietly through his chest.  Adam cleared his throat to try to cover the wayward laugh.

“Pa, you said I was in trouble for not doing my chores, right?”

“Yes, son you are.  You have been drinking, and now you’re in trouble for not coming home after school today.”

“I can’t be in trouble for not coming home after school ‘cause I didn’t go to school.  That just doesn’t make any sense, Pa.  Adam, I think you might wanna get Doc out here to check Pa out.  He’s not making any sense at all,” Joe said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.  This didn’t help with his balance and he stumbled slightly before finding support against the arm of the settee.

“I don’t need a doctor, Joseph,” Ben shouted as his face visibly colored with anger.  “This one can be so exasperating at times,” Ben thought to himself.  “I must be getting to old to be a father.  Joseph was out drinking with his friends today, ditched school, and did not complete his chores.  Where did I go wrong?”

“I think you do.  You know when I have a fever, Pa, my face turns red like that.  Adam, you may wanna check his forehead to see if it’s hot.  I ain’t tall enough to reach him, yet and his forehead just seems to keep going further and further back.”

“Joseph Francis Cartwright, there is nothing wrong with me and my forehead is where it has always been.  You are in trouble on several counts boy.  The more you talk, the worse your situation gets.  Now get to the barn.  I’ll be there in a few minutes, after I calm down,” Ben shouted, his booming, bass voice filled the room; rattling the windows with its power and volume.

“Adam, you really need to have Dr. Paul take a look at him.  Pa ain’t looking to good right now.  Why he’s about to blow his stack for nothing and he’s starting to look really fuzzy like.  I mean, he’s weaving back and forth like he’s about to just fall over,” Joe said speaking quietly to his brother and slurring his speech.  Ben heard every word, angering him further.

“Punkin, you’re the one weaving back and forth.  You’re about to hit the floor, boy,” Hoss said as he watched Joe nearly lose his balance.

“Get to the barn, boy,” Ben barked again and swatted his youngest on his seat.

“I’m going, I’m going.  You just take some time and try to calm down before you come out.  I wouldn’t want you to frighten the animals with that voice you’re using right now.  Why, you could stampede the cows way down in the south pasture if they heard ya hollering like that.”

“Joseph what has gotten into you?  Not going to school, not finishing your chores, and coming home drunk,” Ben asked.  “Get your little self to the barn before I tan you right in front of your brothers.”

“Little Brother, let me suggest something to ya before you go to the barn,” Hoss said.

“Sure, Hoss.  Should I put some hay in my pants like I did the last time Pa tanned me?” Joe laughed uncontrollably.

Rubbing the top of his head in confusion, Hoss took Joe by the shoulders and said, “Little Brother, if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop diggin’.”

“Hoss, is you sick, too? Did you catch what Pa’s got ’cause you ain’t makin’ sense neither?  I ain’t in a hole and I ain’t got a shovel,” Joe said as he left the house laughing and staggering in the general direction of the barn.  His inebriated condition forced him to stumble off the direct path to his destination.

“What has gotten into that boy?” Ben asked looking to his older sons for an answer.  “The two of you never behaved this way and now this little scamp . . . “

“Well Pa, the boy is kinda drunk and he don’t know what he’s saying right now,” Hoss said.  Ever the peacemaker, he tried to calm his father.

“A little drunk?  The boy’s only thirteen.  What on earth is he doing a little drunk?” Ben shouted.

“Pa, let’s stop talking about it and give you a chance to calm down before you go have your necessary little talking to with you baby boy,” Adam said smiling.  He could not control his amusement at his brother’s antics and his lack of fear in the face of his father’s anger.  The oldest brother cataloged this event, as it gave light to another aspect of Joe’s personality.  When drunk, this one loses all inhibition and fear.

Ben Cartwright waited a full hour before he went to deal with his wayward son.  Hoss and Adam tried to talk him into being lenient with their young sibling, but to no avail.  They laughed, mostly, as neither of them were brave enough to  have come home drunk after ditching school.  Giving his sons a warning glare, Ben pulled the door opened and headed for the barn.

Joseph’s backside would feel his father’s wrath and he most certainly would not repeat the day’s events again.  As he reached for the barn door, the frustrated father took a deep breath and pulled the door open. The light was dim and the coolness of the evening made the barn comfortable, creating a relaxing atmosphere.  Ben knew he and his son were about to disturb the peace and startle the animals living there.

Giving his eyes time to adjust, Ben visually scanned the barn in search of the youngster.  There, lying amidst fresh hay was his youngest son.  Joseph was sleeping peacefully, reminding Ben of the six year old who would hide in the barn when he mourned for his mother.  Many times, the father carried Joseph back to the house and put him to bed, wiping the tears from his baby’s face before tucking him in.   Looking at the boy now, Ben could only smile as he saw in the slumbering young man the face of his beloved Marie; Joseph resembled her so much it hurt sometimes.

Leaning on the stall above his son’s sleeping form, Ben allowed himself to be transported to when the young man was just a boy.  After Adam left for college, Joe had a very hard time with the departure.  The boy was fearful his brother would not return; disappearing forever like his mother.  Ben would wake up in the morning with Joseph curled up beside him, sprawled across the foot of his bed or holding on to the front of his night shirt.  Horrible dreams pulled him from his slumber many nights as Joe would wake the house screaming in fear of something unknown to him.

Joseph’s antics kept him busy from the time he was born until this day.  The child he loved, cherished, and doted on from the moment he arrived in this world, was his saving grace.  The more Ben thought about this boy, innocently sleeping in the hay, the more he realized he would not punish him this time.  The liquor he drank would take care of that in due time.  Ben had stood in the barn, watching his sleeping child, and allowed his love and devotion to dig a hole from which there was no escape.  Entering the stall, the father lifted the slight, thirteen year old into his arms and kissed his forehead.  This caused Joe to stir and wrap his arms around his father’s neck.

“I love you, Papa,” Joe said through the haze of alcohol induced drowsiness.  It had been quite a while since Joe called him Papa and those four words were the final shovel full that hopelessly buried the father in a hole from which he would not exit.

“I love you too, Joseph.  Go back to sleep, son.  You will pay for this in the morning when you wake up.  I’ll be there to help you through it,” the father said as he embraced his child and carried him across the yard to the house.

Hoss opened the door to allow the pair entrance and Adam rose to assist his father. Ben shook his head when Adam reached out to take his sleeping brother from his father.

“I’ve got him, son.  Thank you.”

“What happened, Pa?  You were not gone long enough to take care of a good tanning?” Adam asked.

Walking quietly up the stairs, Ben turned and said, “Hoss, I should have taken the advice you gave your brother.  If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop diggin’.”  Patting Joe’s back and looking at the sleeping boy in his arms, Ben shook his head, smiled and turned again.  “Remember this, sometimes the holes we dig are not uncomfortable, not uncomfortable at all.”  Ben Cartwright shifted the slight weight of his burden and continued to the bedroom at the top of the stairs.

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Hoss Cartwright, Joe / Little Joe Cartwright