Summary:  It’s almost Christmas Day, but ten year old Little Joe can’t wait and is desperate to find out what big brother Adam has bought him.  However, when he goes looking he finds a lot more than he bargained for.  

Rated: K+ (3,160 words)

An Undercover Christmas

 “Joe, no matter how many times you ask me, I am not going to tell you what I am buying you for Christmas,” said Adam, as his youngest brother picked up speed and broke into a run, in order to keep up with his long legged oldest sibling.

Adam was making his way from the barn to the house, at the end of a long day in the saddle. Not only had it been tiring, but it had also been freezing cold and all Adam wanted to do was get into a hot bath and soak away the day’s aches and pains, along with the grime.

“But I really need ta know,” went on Joe, now talking to his brother’s retreating back.

Adam turned around to face the ten year old and said, sternly, “No, Joe, you don’t need to know. You need to know what time school starts, so you’re not late and you need to know how to read and write, so that you can follow instructions and balance books, but you do not need to know what your present is. Nothing will be gained from you finding out now, instead of on Christmas Day.”

“Oh, something will be gained, brother, cos I won’t be pestering you, all the time, to know what you’ve got me. So, you’ll be happy and so will I, cos I will know.”

Adam sighed, deeply, and fought back the urge to throttle his baby brother.

“Well, I might not have bought you anything at all, because, as we all know, only good boys and girls get gifts and since I’ve been home from college I haven’t seen much evidence of you being good. But, and it’s a big but, if I have bought you something, then you will find out on Christmas Day, and not before, as that’s how it works. Now, if you will excuse me, I need a bath, and a hot cup of coffee, before supper,” and, this time, Adam made it to the bath house.

Joe had no time to reply, but was angry with Adam for not telling him what his present was. Since Adam had returned from college, after an absence of four years, the two brothers had found it hard to regain the closeness they had known before he left. Little Joe considered himself to be all grown up, now, and far removed from the 6 year old who had cried, pitifully, as his eighteen year old brother disappeared from view, on the stage that day.

‘I’m gonna find out, Adam, whether you want me to, or not,’ thought Joe, and he headed for the house.

When he entered the main room, he found that it was empty, and a sly grin spread across his face.

‘No time like the present,’ he thought, and ran up the stairs.

Knowing that Adam was likely to be in the bath for a good while, Joe decided that now was the ideal time to go and search his eldest brother’s bedroom.

It was a rule amongst the family that no one was to enter another person’s room, without permission, and so Joe quickly knocked on Hoss’ door, and then on his father’s, just to make absolutely sure that they were not in the house. Nobody answered the knocks, so Joe gently opened Adam’s bedroom door, and slipped inside.

The young boy loved his brother’s room and had often gone in there, when Adam was away at college, as it made him feel closer to his absent sibling. Ben hadn’t scolded Joe, the first couple of times he’d done this, as he understood how much the little boy was missing Adam, but after the second time he did tell Joe not to go into Adam’s room any more. Mostly, he did stay out, but there were a few more occasions when Joe sneaked in, fortunately without being caught.

As he entered this time, Joe looked around, in appreciation, at the tidiness of his brother’s room. Although he would never admit it, he was envious of Adam’s ability to keep his things in such an orderly fashion. Every time Joe attempted to tidy his own room, it never looked as good as Adam’s, and it very soon became untidy again.

Joe walked over to the armoire, as he felt this was the most likely place to hide a gift, and he opened the door.

“Ah, ha,” he said, out loud.

There were definitely some presents stashed away at the bottom of the armoire, and Joseph knelt down in order to examine them.

The first package that Joe pulled out was obviously an item of clothing, as it felt very soft.

‘I hope this isn’t my present,’ thought Joe. ‘Clothes are boring and I was hoping for a new bridle for Shadow.’

As Joe unwrapped the package, he quickly realised that this was not a gift for any member of the family. It was a garment that only a woman would wear. Being just ten and living in an all male household meant that Joe didn’t have any direct contact with a woman’s wardrobe, but he used to go with his mother when she visited her favourite dressmaker, Mademoiselle Babette, and he had seen similar items in her store.

‘Why has Adam got ladies undergarments in his armoire?’ thought Joe, and then he giggled. ‘Maybe he’s got a girlfriend and he wants to see her in this get up?’

Then he had another thought, which stopped him laughing. ‘Pa wouldn’t like Adam to be looking at a lady wearing only this. He doesn’t even like him looking at the saloon girls and they don’t wear much, but they do wear a bit more than this.’

Despite him being cross with his brother, on occasions, Joe didn’t want Adam to fall foul of their father’s anger, as he knew, to his own cost, how scary that could be. So, as he knelt on the floor, he tried to think of what he could do to protect his brother. He decided that the best thing to do was to take the offending article and hide it elsewhere. If Adam couldn’t find it, then he couldn’t give it to the lady and Ben wouldn’t get to hear about it. He stuffed the underwear down his shirt front and ran to his room, closing Adam’s armoire door and his bedroom door so that Adam wouldn’t know he’d been in there.

Once in his room, he placed the article in a drawer, covering it up with his own clothes, so that it couldn’t be seen.

He stayed in his room until he felt that his heart rate had returned to normal. It had been really scary being in Adam’s room and then finding such a garment, and it had affected him more than he first realised.

He suddenly became aware of someone coming up the stairs; it was Adam. He knocked on Joe’s door and when Joe told him to, he came in the room.

“Why are you hiding up here, little buddy? Are you sulking because I wouldn’t tell you what I’ve got you for Christmas? I didn’t mean to upset you, but I just think it’s nicer when you get a surprise, on the day.”

Joe smiled up at his brother.

“I’m not sulking, Adam, and now I’ve thought about it, I agree with you, a surprise is nicer,” said Joe.

“Well, Pa and Hoss are home, now, so shall we go down and have supper?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Joe, and the two brothers headed down the stairs.

For a couple of days, Joe forgot about the extra item in the drawer, in his room. But then, Hop Sing demanded that he tidied up his room.

“Little boy make lots of mess. Hop Sing not have time for cleaning up after bad boys who don’t put clothes away,” announced the cook, after supper, one evening.

“Joseph, how many times have we told you not to leave your room in a mess?” demanded Ben. “Hop Sing has enough to do, without you making extra work for him.”

“Sorry Pa, Hop Sing,” said Joe. “It’s Saturday tomorrow, so I will tidy it up, then, okay?”

“No, Joseph, you will go and do it, now,” said Ben.

“But Pa, it’s Friday and me and Hoss play checkers, cos I get to stay up a bit later,” replied Joe.

“Not tonight you don’t, young man, as your bedroom needs your attention,” said Ben. “So, you can go up to your room, now, tidy it up and then go to bed. And maybe, in future, you will not leave it in a mess.”

Joe knew there was no point arguing with his father, and so, with a muttered ‘Goodnight,’ he headed off up the stairs.

When he walked into the room, he could see that Hop Sing wasn’t exaggerating about the mess; it was pretty bad. Although he was annoyed about being sent upstairs so early in the evening , he did feel a bit guilty for having left his room in such a state, and he set to and started tidying it up. As he was putting his clothes away, in the drawers, he came across the ladies’ undergarment.

‘Oops,’ he thought. ‘I best get rid of this before anyone else finds it.’

He carried on clearing up the room and when he was finished, he had a fairly large pile of dirty clothes that needed taking down to the wash house. He tucked the garment in the middle of his clothes and went down the back stairs, in order to avoid the main room. After depositing the dirty laundry in the wash house, he went out to where Hop Sing disposed of the trash, and he threw the undergarment into one of the bins. He then returned to his room, before he was missed.

Ben was pleased with the way that Joe had knuckled down and cleaned up his room, when he came up to say goodnight to the boy.

“Good job, son, now please try and keep it like this,” he said, as he tucked Joe into his bed and gave him a kiss.

“I will, Pa, and please will you tell Hop Sing I’m real sorry about the mess,” said Joe.

“Of course I will, although you can tell him yourself, in the morning,” replied Ben.

Joe was mindful that it was getting ever closer to Christmas and so he really tried to stay out of trouble over the next few days. And he was doing very well, until Hop Sing went to dispose of some trash, and returned to the house carrying the aforementioned lady’s undergarment.

“Why was this in trash?” asked Hop Sing. “Which boy mixed this in with the makings for Hop Sing’s compost?”

The reaction to the item of clothing was a mixed one, in the Cartwright household.

Ben looked horrified, Hoss turned bright red, Adam jumped up out of his seat, and Joe tried to sneak out of the door through which Hop Sing had just come in.

“Stay right where you are, young man,” thundered Ben, and Joe did as he was told.

He fixed all three of his boys with a stern glare and just said one word, “Well?”

Hoss said nothing, for two reasons. Firstly, he was too embarrassed and secondly, he knew nothing about the history of the offending garment.

Adam was not so quiet.

“It’s mine,” he said.

Joe burst out laughing when Adam said that.

“And I’m sure you look real good in it, too, big brother,” he said, when he was able to speak.

“That’s enough out of you,” said Ben. “Carry on, Adam, as I trust there is going to be more to your story than just ‘it’s mine.’”

“Yes, Pa, there is. When I say that it’s mine that is not strictly true. It was bought by Ross as a gift for Delphine, but he asked if I would keep it at our house, until Christmas Eve, as he didn’t want her to find it. He said that she was like a small child, when it came to gifts, and if he tried to hide it in their home, she would surely find it, and he wanted it to be a surprise. He had to order it from the Sears catalogue and he had it sent to me. I put it in the bottom of my armoire and was going to give it to him after the church service on Christmas Eve. I most certainly didn’t throw it out with the trash. I’m not sure just how much it cost, but it wasn’t cheap, and now I am going to have to order another one for Delphine, to replace this one.”

Once Adam finished speaking, all eyes were trained on Joseph. The boy felt very uncomfortable and tried to look at anything in room rather than at any of his family.

Eventually he said, “Why are you all looking at me?”

“Because I am guessing that you are the one who knows all about this, Joseph,” said Ben. “Am I right?”

“And I am thinking the same thing,” said Adam, angrily. “Especially after you were so keen to find out what I had bought you for Christmas. Did you go snooping in my room?”

Joe realised that there was nothing else he could do, but confess.

“Yeah, I did go snooping and I’m real sorry that I did, cos I got it all wrong, and now I’ve messed up Delphine’s present and everyone’s mad with me.”

Hoss, who had said nothing, so far, could see that Joe was genuinely upset. And, as was often the case, he found himself feeling sorry for his baby brother, so wanted to help him.

“What did ya git wrong, little brother? Iffen it was an accident, I’m sure Pa and Adam’ll understand.”

Once again, Joe found it hard to look at his family, as he tried to explain.

“It was that day when you came home and you were real cold and you said you were gonna have a bath, Adam. I was trying to get ya to tell me what you’d bought me for Christmas, and you wouldn’t, so while you were in the bath house, I snuck in your room and tried to find my gift. I didn’t find it, but I did find that,” said Joe, pointing at the garment. “When I saw what it was, I was real worried, cos I thought you’d bought it to give to a girlfriend, and I knew Pa would be real mad with you, if you gave something like that to a girl. So, I thought the best thing to do, was to get rid of it. I hid it in my room, for a while, then I threw it out. I was just trying to help you, Adam, cos I didn’t want Pa being mad with you, especially at Christmas. I guess I’ll havta give you the money to buy a new one for Delphine, won’t I?”

As Joe told his story, Adam’s anger began to abate.

“I doubt if you have got enough money to buy another one, little buddy,” said Adam. “I am not happy that you went into my room when you know you are not supposed to, but I do admire your reasons for trying to get rid of Delphine’s present. You are absolutely right; Pa would have been really angry with me, if I had bought such an item for a girlfriend. It would have been totally inappropriate, and I thank you for wanting to protect me from Pa’s wrath. But, the fact remains that you went into my room, without my permission, and if you hadn’t done so, then none of this would have happened.”

“Adam is absolutely right, Joseph,” said Ben. “Your snooping has meant that Delphine now doesn’t have a present from her husband, and as Adam was asked to look after the gift, it is his responsibility to provide a replacement. That is going to be expensive and there is no guarantee that the new garment will arrive in time for Christmas. Therefore, I think it is up to Adam to decide what your punishment will be.”

Joe looked over at his oldest brother and waited for the axe to fall. Since Adam had returned from college, he had seemed far more serious, and less approachable, than the Adam that had left, four years earlier. He was also now a man, no longer a boy, like Joe and Hoss, and Joe was rather scared about what Adam would do to him.

“We have already established that Joe doesn’t have the money to buy a replacement present, so that means I will have to buy it. As Pa said, it was my responsibility to look after the gift for my friend, and as it has now been damaged, I have to get another one. So, I think that to pay me back, Joe should do some extra chores, just for me. Does that sound okay to you, Pa?”

“Yes, son, it sounds fine to me. What do you think, Joseph? It’s either that, or you don’t have any Christmas presents and we give the money we would have spent on you, to Adam, to pay for Delphine’s gift.”

“I’d rather do the chores, Pa,” said Joe. “And I am really sorry, Adam, for going in your room when I shouldn’t have done.”

Epilogue

Adam ordered another undergarment for Delphine and it arrived in time for Christmas.

Joe worked really hard for his big brother and Adam was very pleased with the way that Joe accepted the punishment and performed all the tasks asked of him. It showed him that his little brother was beginning to grow up. Mind you, the chores that Adam asked Joe to do were ones that the boy particularly enjoyed, as they mostly involved working with the horses. And spending time with his big brother was also no chore for Joe, as it enabled them to rebuild the closeness they had known, before Adam left for college.

Not only did Adam buy Joe a new bridle for Shadow; he bought him a new saddle, too.

And the Cartwright family had an especially good Christmas, now that Adam was back with them, after an absence of four years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL FROM THE CARTWRIGHTS OF THE PONDEROSA.

Little Joe forever

Lynne

December 2010

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.