Summary:   I think the title says it all.

Word Count: 1,102  Rated: K

                                                        Hoss and the Fairies

Story Notes:

My contribution to the Chaps & Spurs challenge.

May’s words are:

• Fairies
• Furies
• Beastly
• Consort
• Indentured

Hoss and the Fairies

“I can’t believe this!” Adam raged, slapping the newspaper against his leg.

The action gained the attention of the other two Cartwrights in the room. Ben closed the book he was reading, and Joe’s head popped up, turning his attention from the gun he was cleaning to his eldest brother.

“What’s wrong, Adam?” Ben scrutinized his son; recognizing the flames of indignation burning in his eyes.

“This,” Adam said as he shook the paper in the air, expecting the others to know what he was alluding to.

“Uh, and what might this be, Big Brother?”

Staring at Joe as if he were daft, Adam suddenly realized he was the only one who could understand what he was ranting about.

“There’s an article in here about how immigrants are still coming over from Europe and other countries as indentured servants. It even goes on to say that some of the women, the better looking ones, are sold off to be a rich man’s consort.” Shaking his head in disgust he threw the paper onto the large, square table.

“I don’t get it, Adam, the north is always going on about the south and slavery, yet that’s happening right in their own backyard. How is it any different?” Joe looked Adam straight in the eye, waiting for an explanation.

Unable to maintain eye contact, Adam looked away and sighed. “It’s not Joe. They should both be abolished. The problem is, the immigrants come over thinking they only have to work for a specific amount of time, then their contract has been fulfilled and they’re free to do as they please. What they don’t realize is that their kind benefactors keep adding time for things that they need. They both need to be-“

Adam was interrupted when the front door almost flew off its hinges and Hoss came charging into the room.

“PA! Pa, you won’t believe it. Not in a million years,” Hoss yelled as he skidded to a thundering stop behind the settee.

“Hoss, what in tarnation do you think you’re doing?” Ben bellowed.

“Pa, you just gotta listen to me.” Hoss hurried around to stand in front of the fireplace in order to see each family member.

“Joe, Adam, it was amazin’. I never would of thought something like this was real.”

“What’s real? You ain’t makin’ any sense,” said Joe.

“Why don’t you slow down and start from the beginning,” Adam suggested.

“The fairies! I saw a whole parcel of ‘em down in Pine Hallow.”

“Fairies?” Joe repeated, his voice going up an octave or two at the unbelievable announcement his brother had just made.

Adam could only pinch the bridge of his nose and shake his head.

“You . . . You saw what?” Ben tried his best to keep a straight face, but the snorts he could hear coming from Joe as he tried to contain his giggles threatened his composure.

“Fairies, Pa,” Joe choked out and lost complete control; his high pitched cackle filled the room.

Unable to stand it any longer, Adam’s velvet-toned laughter joined in with his little brother’s. Seconds later Ben’s deep baritone was added to the mix.

“Dadburn it! I’m being serious.”

“Sure you are, Hoss. The next thing you’re going to tell us is that there are leprechauns running around the Ponderosa with a pot of gold,” snickered Joe.

“Hoss, were there—” Adam had to pause to catch his breath. “Were there furies too?”

“Huh?” asked Hoss with a scowl on his face.

“Furies.”

“What are furies, Adam?” Joe asked as he wiped tears of mirth from his face.

Knowing how his family would react to his explanation, Adam cleared his throat and began. “Furies are beastly things. They first came about in Greek and Roman mythology. They are usually described as three women who represent rage and anger; they’re determined to avenge unpunished criminals”

“Sounds like the mama’s, of all them Virginia City gals that Little Joe tinkers with,” joked Hoss.

Joe quickly glanced out of the corner of his eye to see his father’s reaction; the smile that was there made him relax a bit.

“Oh ha—ha, very funny, Hoss.”

“What? It’s true,” protested Hoss.

Joe started to rise from the settee, “Look here, Big Brother—”

Ben cleared his throat and caught the attention of his younger sons, who immediately simmered down.

“If you will, Adam, please continue.”

Adam’s family didn’t disappoint him. He knew that the furies would lead to some comment about Joe’s romantic habits. “Sure, Pa. They became the epitome of the concepts of vindictiveness and retribution, and represented the mental torments associated with a guilty conscience.” Adam paused, raised an eyebrow and smirked at his youngest brother.

“He’s got you there, Son,” joked Ben as he reached out and patted Joe on the knee.

“So were there?” Joe asked.

“Were there what?”

“What he just said.” He tipped his head towards their older brother to indicate who he was talking about.

“Huh?” Hoss had completely lost track of the conversation. “What angry mamas?”

“No, furies! Did you see furies and leprechauns in Pine Hollow along with your fairies?” Joe asked, biting his lip to try and stop the laughter from bubbling out again.

“Dadburn your ornery hide! One of these days, Joseph, I’m gonna pound you a good one!”

“Well—” Adam paused for the dramatic effect. “Did you see them?”

Ben saw the flush of anger start at his middle son’s neck and quickly crept all the way up to his hairline. He knew he needed to put a stop to the tom-foolery coming from his oldest and youngest sons.

“Adam, Joe, enough. Stop making fun of your brother. If he thinks he saw . . . Saw, um, leper—I mean fairies then that’s—”

He just couldn’t do it. The whole idea was so preposterous, it was actually hysterical. Failing to keep his composure, Ben wrapped his arm around his mid-section as he bent over laughing.

Joe was laughing so hard he actually fell off the settee, hitting his head on the square table.

“Ow . . . Fairies!” And he just laughed harder, drawing a mental picture of fairies flying around the hollow.

Adam’s whole persona fell away; he couldn’t help but add his deep belly laugh to that of his father and Joe’s.

Hoss glared at his family before turning around and stomping out the door. A loud, resounding crash resounded through the room as the door was slammed into its frame.

From the barn he could still hear the hyenas that were in the house.

“Dadburn them!”

Chapter End Notes:

Adam’s explanation of furies comes for wikipedia. Thanks, Cheaux, for supplying that for me.