Summary:  My entry for the Camp In the Pines 2018, the story grew from a pinecone about wasps attacking a family member.  If you read it, you will find the ending familiar.  This story is a backstory for how that came to happen.  Hoss is the featured character, but all members of the family play roles in the stinging drama.

rating =T    word count = 6643

Wasps

My words were:   wrestler, Joe broke his wrist, a priceless ring, and upside down

Chapter 1

Storming into the house, Adam Cartwright showed his mood and his intent by his look, his walk, and that he hadn’t removed his chaps or his gunbelt at the door. He did take off his hat before standing at this father’s desk fuming with righteous indignation. Looking up, Ben had one guess and was fairly certain it was the correct one.

“You have another reason you would like to fire Luke?”

“I do, and I’d like to fire him today. I hope you’re not going to stop me again.”

“What happened this time?”

“It’s what happens repeatedly. He does one stupid thing after another. I’ve never worked with a boy who’s more irritating.”

“He ain’t a boy lessen’ you’re gonna say I am.” Hoss had followed Adam into the house and stood behind him.

Turning to face his younger and bigger brother, Adam looked at eighteen-year-old Hoss, and a small smile tugged at his lip. “I would never say that to you. You don’t act anything like him. You do your work and don’t cause trouble. You work at getting along with the men not stirring things up.”

“Aw, Adam, mostly Luke does too. It’s only with you he stirs things up. Maybe ya could try a mite harder to like him and treat him with some respect.”

That turned the conversation back to a more negative aspect as Adam’s temper was stirred up by that. “It started out that way, but at every turn, he does something to make that impossible.”

“Dadburnit, Adam, them’s just little jokes he does. You ain’t still upset he put flour in your hat the other day at roundup so’s when you put it on, you doused yourself in flour, are ya? Now that was funny.” While Adam clearly didn’t think it was by the dark look he had, Hoss saw their father couldn’t suppress a grin hearing that story for the first time. “See, Pa thinks it’s funny. I think maybe you’re the only one who don’t. When that flour come a floating down around you, I nearly split a gut laughing. Now if that happened to anybody else, you’d a bin laughin’ too.”

Nearly spitting out the words, Adam responded with venom. “Maybe it would be if it was the only thing, but it happens constantly to me and nobody else. Today he salted my canteen.”

A bit shocked by that, Hoss was quiet for a moment. Doing that to someone’s water supply while they were out working was crossing the line. “Ya shur he done it?”

“He was the one who couldn’t control himself laughing when I choked and sputtered and nearly retched up my lunch after I had a big chug of salt water. The others were concerned and wanted to know if I was sick. He was the one who said I wasn’t sick. Now how did he know that except if he was the one who salted my canteen?”

“Lordy, Adam, I’m sorry. I’ll have a talk with ‘im. Maybe he didn’t know how serious that was ta do.”

“Maybe he ought to call a halt to these pranks altogether. He acts like every day is April Fool’s day. It isn’t. He’s getting paid to work here not entertain himself.”

Deciding it was time to intervene, Ben moved to stand next to his oldest son and put a hand on his shoulder. He could feel the tension there. “Adam, could you excuse us, please? I’d like to talk to Hoss about this. Perhaps we can come up with a solution or at least a way to improve the situation. He knows Luke better than anyone, and if there’s a solution here, he’s the best to work it out. If he can’t, I’ll certainly support you in any decision you have to make.”

Although Adam was still angry and wanted to say more, he knew it was only venting and would do nothing to improve the situation so he agreed to his father’s request. His father’s soft voice asking him instead of ordering him helped as well as letting him know he would have his support if necessary. Walking outside to take care of his horse, he saw Luke with some of the men and had to wonder if there wasn’t something else he’d done. He was extra careful when he took Sport to the stable to care for him there.

In the house, Ben was as diplomatic as possible, but he knew too that he had to be firm about this situation, which seemed to have gone much too far even for the hijinks one might expect from eighteen-year-old young men. “Hoss, I know you said it was only little jokes, but I heard Adam say too that it only happened to him. Is that true?”

“Well, I guess mostly it is.”

“Now, mostly or is it true? If we had a hand who was being treated that way, what would we do about it?”

Dropping his head, Hoss could only sigh. He knew.

“It’s hazing. We don’t let the men do that to any hand here. Why should we let anyone do it to Adam? Now even if the jokes are funny, how would you feel if every one of them …” Ben amended that as Hoss raised his head to object “if almost every one of them was directed at you?”

“I guess I wouldn’t like it much.”

“You guess you wouldn’t like it much or would you hate it? I remember when you were about eleven or twelve and getting pretty big for your age, and some of the men started to have nicknames for you that you didn’t like. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah, I remember, and ya don’t hafta tell me who stepped in for me. Adam got in a fight with a couple of the men over that. You were mad at him for fighting ’bout it, but he said nobody was ever gonna call his brother names like that and get away with it. They never did neither.”

“Maybe it’s time you paid back that favor?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Luke and get him ta back off. He’s always upset with Adam though. He don’t like taking orders from him. I don’t rightly know why.”

“What about taking orders from me?”

Shrugging, Hoss didn’t want to answer that one but knew his father would persist until he did. “Well, he’s said some things ’bout that too. He don’t like taking orders from you neither.”

“Do you know why?”

Embarrassed to say that, Hoss simply put his head down and mumbled his answer. Ben got the message.

“If you don’t want to answer because it’s too personal or confidential, you should say that. Don’t mumble so I can’t understand.”

“Yessir, I will. I guess I think he told me kinda private like what he was thinking. It’s not right to share what a friend tells you like that, is it?”

“No, it’s not right to share if it was confidential unless it means harm to someone could come from it. You do know that if someone tells you confidentially that they’re going to do something wrong, you’re not bound by that? You should tell then.”

“Yessir, I know that. What he told me ain’t like that. It’s more about how he thinks on things.”

“Well, if how he thinks on things is going to continue to be a problem around here, then I am going to have to back Adam and fire Luke. I hope you can impress that upon him. His actions are not acceptable and they have to change.”

“Yessir, I will. I know Luke really does need this job so I’m pretty dadblamed shur he’ll do what he’s got ta do.”

“I hope so. He’s a big strong one, and I’d hate to lose him, but I won’t put up with one more prank. Is that clear?”

Knowing his father meant that, Hoss went to find Luke to talk with him. He found him with some of the young men talking and laughing at the corner of the bunkhouse. They greeted Hoss with some enthusiasm. Luke especially seemed happy to see him.

“Hoss, you should have seen your brother a little bit ago walking to the stable like he was worried we planted a keg of black powder in the yard. We got him spooked silly. It was great.”

“Ya, Luke, well, that’s some of what I got ta talk to you about. Did ya really salt Adam’s canteen today?”

“Sure did. You should have seen him hopping around coughing and sputtering like a chicken with its head cut off. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.”

“Luke, I ain’t so shur that’s funny. When a man’s working in the hot sun, he needs water. Ifn he don’t get any, he could get real sick. Men have died sometimes cause they got too hot and thirsty while working. It’s why we got a rule here ’bout everybody filling their canteens before heading out in the morning. We don’t want nobody to run out of water during the day.”

“Aw, he wasn’t gonna die of thirst. We all had water.”

“Did he drink any of it?”

At that, the other men got quiet, but Luke persisted.

“He could have if he wanted some.”

“Luke, you know a man’s got pride. Any man here wouldn’t ask another man for water after something like that happened. Any of you offer your canteens?” With eyes downcast, the men gave their answer. Only Luke continued to look defiant but wisely said nothing. “It’s what I thought. Listen, this has to be the last prank. One more, and somebody’s gonna get fired.”

“And I suppose that would be me.”

“Luke, you’re the one doing the pranks all the time.”

“Well, they’re funny.”

“Maybe, and if it was one time to one man, then I’d be laughing too. But we don’t let anybody here haze anyone, and I shur ain’t gonna say it’s all right to do it to my brother especially putting salt in a canteen. Now that ain’t funny at all. Now that’s the final word. No more pranks. Ya hear me?”
All of them got quiet as Adam exited the stable and walked to the house. His glower at them let them know he hadn’t forgotten what had happened. About that time, several of the men muttered that they made a mistake making him mad because they knew they were going to pay for it. Knowing that Ben Cartwright now knew all about it didn’t help because they liked their jobs, and now Luke had put those jobs at risk. They turned one by one and entered the bunkhouse fairly certain that the few moments of merriment they had gotten with Luke’s pranks hadn’t been worth it at all. The more experienced hands inside had heard it all and smirked at the young hands who were learning the hard way about how to get along on the Ponderosa. Those older hands were impressed too with the way Hoss had shown some real potential as a boss with how he had dealt with a touchy issue. He was only eighteen but had acted in a mature way handling the situation far better than many men his age would have. They knew Adam didn’t back down for anyone either.

Adam’s mettle had been shown several times but was especially illustrated for them earlier that month when Luke had decided to take a swing at Adam when he was delivering a reprimand, and Adam came back fighting. It was over quickly and surprisingly to many, Adam was the victor. It wasn’t what they expected at all because Luke was taller and about thirty pounds heavier. He was built more like Hoss than anyone. Luke and Hoss had staged many a wrestling match and Hoss had declared Luke the better wrestler. After the fight with Adam when Luke was sitting on his butt nursing a sore jaw, bleeding lip, and bloody nose, Hoss told him he shouldn’t have made Adam mad.

“Adam wrestled with me for years too so he knows how to wrestle a big man, and he knows never to let ya get a good hold on ‘im. But he learned a lot about wrestling from them Paiute too and can do some twists and turns I rightly can hardly follow sometimes. Then when he went east to college, he studied boxing. Plus, ya gotta figure, he’s been in a few more fights than we have too seeing as how he’s six years older. Last, he’s the most stubborn cuss I ever did know. He won’t give up for anything no matter what ya do ta ‘im. All in all, I wouldn’t want to fight him neither ‘specially when he’s mad.”

Besides being tough and strong, the two older Cartwright sons had learned a lot already about responsibility and leadership. The hands guessed though that Hoss was going to have more of a learning experience in dealing with Luke than he already had. The older hands thought of Luke as trouble waiting to happen and wouldn’t miss him when he got fired which seemed inevitable. It was only a matter of time before he went much too far in his pranks which may have been funny at first but now seemed more mean than anything. They heard a little more of the conversation between Hoss and Luke before the two moved out of earshot.

“Now, I didn’t appreciate you dressing me down in front of the other men like that, Hoss.”

“I’m sorry I done it that way, Luke, but ya made me mad laughing at my brother standing there with them others like ya was doing. Ya know he got sick out there, and you only thought it was funny. He didn’t have no water to drink out in the hot sun. That coulda bin dangerous.”

“He’s fine so what’s the problem?”

“Ya gotta think on what coulda happened. Ya got lucky nothing more serious happened.”

“I’d say your brother was lucky. I say, he’s always lucky.”

“He works for what he’s got. He always has. It ain’t luck.”

“You just don’t see it. He’s always been lucky and got everything he’s ever wanted just because of who he is. He should have somebody take him down a few notches every now and then to remind him of what it’s like for men like us.”

“Now, I don’t know why you say things like that. My brother didn’t have much when he was young. Pa brought him out here on a wagon after his ma died when he was born. He didn’t get to have a house or a place to live ’til they got here. There was times he didn’t even have enough ta eat.”

“Aw, did he tell you that sob story?” Luke mimicked someone crying as he made a sorry sad face.

“No, our Pa told me that. Adam don’t never try to make people feel sorry for ‘im. He jest does what he’s gotta do.”

“Like running off to school for four years and leaving you all alone here, you mean? Now that was a real nice thing to do, wasn’t it?”

“He didn’t run off. That was all planned. He learned things that help us here.”

“Sure, there are lots of things in books about branding cattle and building fences. Maybe he studied cattle drives and the like when he was in school. Listen, I’m smarter than he is, and I never went to school like that. I learned a lot without anyone helping me and without a rich father either. I’m smarter than anybody here.”

“I don’t know. My Pa’s pretty smart, and Adam’s real smart.”

“They’re not as smart as me. I’ll show you. You wait and see. I’ll prove it to you. First chance I get when we’re together, I’ll show you I’m smarter than he’ll ever be.”

“We’re still friends then?”

“Sure we are, Hoss. I like having a friend like you.”

It was only later that Hoss thought about what he meant by that. They had a plan to go fishing together on Saturday, and he guessed that might be a time to explore the answer to that question even if Little Joe would be there too. Wondering if Luke understood that he would have to bring his twelve-year-old brother along, Hoss worried what kinds of things Luke might say to him and began thinking about how to handle that too.

 

Chapter 2

As the family relaxed that evening, quiet prevailed. Still stewing over all that had happened, Adam preferred reading to talking knowing that if he started to vent, it would inevitably lead to a heated discussion. Not wanting to end the day that way, even though it was difficult to tamp down the anger inside, he read. Sitting across from him and doing his own reading, Ben appreciated Adam’s restraint knowing how difficult it was for him to hold back all that he wanted to say. However, Ben noted that Hoss seemed distracted too even as he occasionally glanced over at Adam. Guessing that Hoss was worried about what Adam was thinking, Ben thought he was probably upset too knowing his brother was upset. Once more, Hoss was caught in the middle unable to please both. This time, he was going to have to work it out for himself. Little Joe crowing about his prowess in checkers broke Ben’s line of reasoning about that.

“Ha, I won again. Hoss, that’s four games I won tonight. You only won two. I think I’ve got the championship.”

“I could still catch up.”

“Not if we want to get any sleep tonight.” Suddenly Little Joe stopped talking realizing he had said too much and probably reminded his father of the time. However, stopping wasn’t good enough.

“Now that you mention it, Little Joe, it’s time for you to go to bed, isn’t it? In fact, it was time about fifteen minutes ago.”

There was nothing Little Joe could do. He noted the smirk that both of his older brothers had and wanted to say something, but he’d already had an extra fifteen minutes so he decided that was good enough.

“Thanks, Pa, for letting me stay up later. That extra fifteen minutes was real nice and I got to play more checkers with Hoss that way.” With a triumphant look at his older brothers, Little Joe turned and hurried up the stairs not wanting to give them a chance to answer.

“It’s only three to two then ’cause you wasn’t ‘sposed to have that last game.”

“I still win.” With that, Little Joe disappeared around the corner upstairs.

None of them could help it as grins tugged at the corners of their mouths. Hoss decided that it was a good time for him to make an exit too before the conversation turned serious because he wasn’t ready for that and needed time to think before any more was said about Luke. One thing Luke had said continued to swirl in his mind. I like having a friend like you. He wondered what Luke had meant by that, and the thoughts he had about it were mostly negative as he couldn’t think of any positive way it could be taken based on things that Luke had said about other members of his family. He decided to ask him about that on Saturday when they had their scheduled fishing trip. With that settled in his mind, he was able to get to sleep.

Whether it was the warning or the men tamping down Luke’s enthusiasm for pranks, nothing happened for the rest of the week. Slowly Adam’s temper cooled although he looked with disdain at Luke whenever he saw him. Hoss guessed that wasn’t going to help the situation, but then the way Luke felt about Adam, it probably wasn’t going to make it any worse. As much as possible, Hoss stayed with Luke on the job for the next few days too making sure he stayed focused on the work. Whenever the conversation started to drift into areas that Hoss thought could lead to trouble, he steered it back to safer topics. Most of the men knew what he was doing to keep the lid on a powder keg so they cooperated with him on that. By Saturday, when he and Luke packed up what they needed for their fishing expedition, Hoss was feeling good about how things had gone. They had packed the saddlebags with Little Joe’s help, and it was a surprise to Hoss that Luke seemed to welcome Little Joe coming along.

“Hey, not a problem. I like having the two of you there because then I have more of an audience for things I got to say and to laugh at my jokes. This is going to be fun.”

Hearing that, Little Joe had smirked at Hoss who had warned him that Luke might not like the idea of him being there. Instead, he had been welcomed as if he was a friend as much as Hoss was. It relieved the worry Hoss had about the day so he could smile about that and head off to the lake with a light heart. At the lake, they secured the horses after Hoss warned Little Joe away from a low hanging wasp nest he had spotted.

“They don’t usually build their nests so low, but this one is and it’s active. I kin see some of them flying around right now. We’ll hobble the horses far enough away so these won’t be a problem.”

Then they spent some time skipping stones in shallow water and climbing the boulders to get a view of the lake instead of fishing. Luke told Hoss it was to help Little Joe burn off some of his extra energy so they could all relax and fish later, and Hoss had to admit that was a good idea. After about an hour and a half of the more strenuous activities, Luke announced it was fishing time and told Hoss to lead them to a good spot. After they didn’t catch anything there, Luke said it was lunchtime and time to take care of the horses so they headed back to where the horses were. After leading the horses to water and then putting them back to graze, they pulled the lunch from saddlebags and spread it out under a tree Luke picked out for its abundant shade spreading out a blanket roll they had brought along. As they relaxed there and had their lunch, Hoss finally was able to bring up the question that had been bothering him.

“Luke, you said the other day that you liked having a friend like me. I been wondering what ya meant by that.”

“You know, you don’t show off or try to be something you’re not. You don’t try to act like the smartest man around. By the way you talk, one would sometimes think you aren’t that smart at all.” Seeing Hoss looking a bit upset at that, Luke quickly amended his statement. “I know that’s not true, but I’ve heard Adam making fun of the way you talk.”

“Making fun of?”

“Well, he tells you how to say things correctly like he does with everybody always telling them what to do and how to do it. He likes to boss people around like only he knows the right way to do anything.”

Little Joe was warming to that conversation. “Yeah, he sure is bossy. I tell Hoss that all the time. I tell Adam too at least if I can run far enough and fast enough after I say it.”

“I understand that, Little Joe. That ornery brother of yours has a mean temper too. He can’t take a joke at all. Why one day, I put a little flour in his hat when he set it down at lunch during the roundup. Now any cowboy knows you never set your hat upside down. You would think somebody who’s supposed to be so smart would know that. Well when he put that hat on his head and the flour dropped all over him, everybody there laughed and laughed. But no, not him. He lost his temper like he does all the time. Man doesn’t know how to laugh.”

“Yeah, Hoss, our older brother doesn’t know how to laugh.”

“I don’t know Joe. What would you have done if that happened to you and everybody was laughin’ at ya?”

In front of Luke, Little Joe wasn’t going to admit that Hoss had a point so he simply shook his head like that argument was pointless. Luke wasn’t done though.

“I think I oughta come up with one last big prank to pull on him before he fires me.”

Little Joe was shocked. “Fire you? He can’t fire you. Pa won’t let him. Pa’s still the boss of the Ponderosa even if Adam went away to that cottage.”

Luke started laughing uproariously. “Hoss, he’s just like you.” And then laughed more.

Hoss chuckled a bit but was more understanding. “Little Joe, it’s a college not a cottage.”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant. I just slipped up a little.”

Not wanting to hurt the boy’s feelings, Luke decided to make fun of the whole situation. “Yes, I know how that is. I slipped up one day and complained how froggy it was outside. Can you picture that?”

They could and described it perfectly. Hoss had one then.

“Yeah, and last month, Doctor Martin and Miss Lucille were united in holy macaroni.”

With a few more examples, the three were having a great time when Adam rode up and changed the whole atmosphere. His stormy look and the way he stiffly walked toward them after dismounting and tying off Sport left them with no doubt that there was trouble coming.

“Little Joe, why don’t you go on down to the lake and play a bit. I have to talk with Luke.”

“I want to stay. I don’t want to go down to the lake.”

“It wasn’t a request. Go!”

“Luke’s right. You are way too bossy.” But Little Joe left and walked down to the shore of the lake as Luke and Hoss stood and waited to hear what Adam had to say.

“Adam, did Pa send you out here.”

“He did, but only after I promised to keep my temper under control and not do anything except pass on what he said. He wants to talk to Luke.”

“Is Pa gonna fire him?”

“He is.”

Standing defiantly, Luke looked over at Hoss. “I told you he’d find a reason to do it. I’ll go get my things and saddle up my horse.”

Watching him walk away, Hoss turned back to Adam. “What do you think he done?”

“It’s not only what I think he did. He walked away just now without even asking. He knows or he would have asked. Yesterday, he hung diamondback rattles in Sport’s stall. When I backed him out, it pulled strings that pulled them up and made them all rattle.” Hoss gasped a little. “Yeah, about what you’re thinking. I wasn’t ready for it when Sport reared up. Luckily, he likes me and I was able to calm him down without either of us being hurt much. I got a few bruises but nothing serious.”

“I’m real sorry. I thought he learned his lesson and was gonna stop. But that was yesterday. Why does Pa want to talk to him now? You only just told Pa today?”

“No, I told him yesterday, but he hadn’t done anything, and I couldn’t prove it was him so Pa wanted to wait and talk to you about it. You had already gone to town with the men so he cautioned me to wait. Today though, Cedric Taylor, the jeweler from Carson City came to the house. He said he had a ring that was valuable and a cowboy had come in to sell it. The cowboy did say he worked for us and said it was his mother’s ring. Because it was a valuable ring, Cedric was suspicious and wanted to be sure it didn’t belong to us.”

Hanging his head down, Hoss knew what the rest of the story was going to be and said it before Adam could. “He took your ma’s ring, didn’t he?” Looking up, he got his answer from Adam. “That’s a real lowdown dirty thing ta do.”

“It is. To me my mother’s ring is a priceless ring.”

“Ya, I got Ma’s too. Pa gave it to me like he gave your ma’s to you. I’d want ta kill anybody who took it.”

“I felt that way at first, but I have it back, and Pa’s going to fire him. It’s enough.”

“Maybe he ought to let Roy know.”

“No, he’s sending him off without his pay. We got the ring back.”

“I guess that settles it then.”

“Did he behave himself out here today?”

“More or less. He’s kind of bossy himself. He took charge of everything.”

“That’s probably the root of all the trouble. He doesn’t like taking orders from anyone.”

“Other than that, he was pretty easy to get along with. We were having a good time.”

“I guessed that when I rode up. I’m sorry to break up your day, but you and Little Joe can stay and have the afternoon.”

“Little Joe is probably going to be upset with you. He likes Luke and he won’t understand why he’s being fired.”

“Maybe you can explain it to him?”

“I think I can once Luke is gone. I’ll get him to understand. Trying to be funny ain’t cause to do the things Luke’s done. I feel bad ’bout it, but he did have his chances.”

“All right, he looks like he’s ready. I’ll ride back with him.”

Hoss was walking down to the shore of the lake when it seemed something terrible happened behind him. Even though he saw Little Joe laughing, he couldn’t reconcile that with the sounds Sport was making and then what he saw. Adam was fighting off hundreds of wasps attacking him. Off to the side, Luke stood and watched with a wide grin. His comment was delivered loudly and with venom before he began to laugh.

“Now, who’s so smart?”

As Luke nearly bent over with his laughter, Hoss didn’t know what to do until Adam ran toward him. Then he grabbed the blanket they had sat on for their lunch and threw it around his brother and manhandled him down to the lake where he plunged both of them into the water after telling Adam to take a deep breath and hold it. After a moment, he stood up and pulled Adam with him. Little Joe ran up the hillside swatting at a few stray wasps and then stood wondering what to do as he watched his two older brothers. When he saw Adam’s face, he began to cry and moved to walk down the hill but fell. Already, Adam’s eyes were swelling shut and other spots were swelling and distorting his face.

“Little Joe, you gotta go get our horses and saddle ’em up. Sport probably run off but I need our horses to get Adam home.”

Little Joe was crying and cradling his wrist as he sat a distance away from his older brothers. “I hurt my arm.”

As Little Joe continued to cry, Hoss raised his voice to a more forceful level.

“Little Joe, you gotta get our horses. Now I know you hurt your arm, but Adam’s hurting real bad, and he can’t see. Luke’s run off already. I need you to be strong. I know you can do it.”

That spurred the boy into action. As Hoss had said, Luke was long gone as was Sport who had indeed run off. Hoss helped Adam from the water and then helped him mount up on Cochise. Hoss helped Joe up on Chub and mounted up behind him taking the reins from Cochise to lead him.

“Adam, you hang on tight now, ya hear. I’ll git ya home, and Pa and Hop Sing will help ya.”

They found Sport about halfway back home, and Hoss helped Adam to switch from Little Joe’s horse to his own. With Adam severely incapacitated and Joe cradling an injured wrist, Hoss led both Cochise and Sport until they got home. When they arrived at the Ponderosa, Luke had already taken his things and left. Hop Sing luckily had remedies for stings although it would be a few days of intense discomfort for Adam. Little Joe’s broken wrist was splinted and he was assigned to bed for a day too.

Chapter 3

Lean at twenty-four, Adam Cartwright walked into the saloon and saw his younger brother nursing a whisky. Smiling slightly, he moved to the table where Hoss sat leaning over the glass with his eyes cast downward, and reached for that glass downing the brown liquid in two gulps.

“Hey, I paid for that.”

“You weren’t drinking it. I’ll buy you a few beers if you need something to drink. I needed that whisky more than you did.”

“Yeah, ‘spose you did.” Hoss noted that Adam’s face, neck, and hands were still marked by the red marks, residual swelling, and some bruising that he had gotten from all those wasp stings. It had been four days, but he was clearly still uncomfortable. Hoss didn’t begrudge him the whisky once he thought about it. “Does having a drink help?”

“I’ll let you know after I have another.” Crooking one finger at a saloon girl, Adam got a refill and asked her to leave the bottle and bring two beers. “Might make me feel a whole lot better. I might even forget what day it is.”

“You been doing that for the last couple of days.”

“Yes, but I’ll enjoy this medication much better. That laudanum is awful stuff.”

“Now if you drink all that and I drink more beer, we ain’t gonna be in any shape ta ride home tonight.”

“Didn’t figure we would. We’ll take a room tonight. Wake up in the morning and decide what to do.”

With a slight chuckle, Hoss had to ask. “Ya figure to know what day tomorrow is?”

“Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink.”

That made Hoss put his head down for a moment believing he was at fault for Adam suffering for the last few days and now wanting to drink himself drunk. “How’s Little Joe doing?”

“Worse than you and maybe a bit better than me. Little Joe broke his wrist, but worse, I think, is he broke his pride. He was sitting in the hay loft in the dark when I left.”

“You left him there?”

“Pa knew where he was and said he’d handle him. Yeah, sometimes you tell the day by the bottle you drink, and times when you’re alone, all you do is think. That’s where little brother is now. Too young to drink, but old enough now to think about things. Thinks what happened is his fault because he knew what Luke was going to do and thought it was funny. I guess he told him to go ahead and do it. Without any idea of how serious it could be, he didn’t warn me or tell you. Then he saw it all happen and didn’t and then couldn’t do anything to help. At that point, he knew Luke had crossed the line, and he had encouraged him. Then he saw me, and I must have looked pretty awful. It scared him too. So now he feels terrible about it. Pa will talk him through it.”

“Probably be hard for you to do it with you still looking the way you do.”

“Yeah, I’m a constant reminder of what happened. Pa knows how to handle him too.”

“Yah, he does.” Pausing for a moment, with sadness and pain clearly etched in his expressions, Hoss finally said what he needed to say. “Adam, I’m real sorry ’bout what happened.”

“I know you are. It wasn’t your fault. You picked a bad friend. Wasn’t the first time one of us did. Won’t be the last.”

“I never guessed he would tie off his fishing line to that low hanging wasp nest and then to Sport’s tail. It was only when he was laughing so much and yellin’ that he showed who was smarter that I knew. Only then, it was too late.”

“Luckily, in a week, this will only be a memory.”

“Why do men gotta be like that?”

“Don’t know. Guess they didn’t have Pa like we do.”

“Yeah, he makes a difference. He helped all of us be the men we are. I know Luke’s father was a cranky one, but his brother isn’t like Luke. He’s got a respectable job, a wife and kids, and people generally like him. How could two brothers turn out so different coming from the same place?”

Leaning back in the chair, Adam contemplated the glass of whisky in his hand. “You throw potatoes in boiling water and they get soft. You throw in an egg and it gets hard. Same situation but different results. People have choices to make, and some make the right ones.”

“And Luke made the wrong ones.”

There was nothing more to say on that subject so Adam quietly sipped his drink. “Hoss, I never thanked you for what you did out there by the lake.”

“I think you did.”

“If I did, I don’t remember doing it. It was probably when I was so relieved to have those darn things not stinging me any more. Now, it’s from my heart. Thank you. You showed some real strength of character out there, and you were everything I needed. I am most grateful.”

Pleased to have those words from his older brother, Hoss nodded in acknowledgement and poured him another drink. There were quite a few more drinks and a lot of talk until they had talked about every topic they could while they were still able to form coherent thoughts.

“This has been a great night. Reminds me of how things should be between us. You’re not only my older brother. You’re my best friend. I think I forgot that for a bit. There’s nothing more important to me than my family.”

“We’re always going to be stronger together.”

“You’re slurring your words though. We better get you to that room while you kin still walk.”

“Thanks. I paid for the bottle so be sure to bring it with us. I may need it later.”

“You gonna need anything else?”

“I doubt it. Pa and Hop Sing are like two mother hens. My saddlebags are bursting with things I might need later. So no, there’s nothing else we need to get.”

“Where are your saddlebags?”

“On my horse, silly.”

“Where’s your horse?”

Frowning for a moment, Adam pointed at the batwing doors. “Out there, somewhere.”

Grinning, Hoss offered an arm to help Adam stand. He refused at first until he realized he needed it. Then he grinned too and took the help that was offered. The brothers walked out of the saloon leaning on each other, the way it was supposed to be.

 

 

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