Summary: A simple, late summer day quickly turns more complicated than any of the Cartwrights could have imagined potentially changing one Cartwright’s life forever.

Rating: PG

Word Count:  3466

 

When Winners Become Losers

As accustomed on a hot, late summer Saturday afternoon, Pa allowed us to make a stop in town to buy a cold beer at the Bucket of Blood Saloon. Of course, this was one of the highlights of my week and as soon as Pa said chores were done, I bolted into the barn to get Cochise ready for his trip. My brothers on the other hand, seemed to have other plans this week, leaving me to make the trip solo. It didn’t bother me none. How they could pass up a good drink when it was sweltering outside, was a mystery though.

In town, all was going smoothly for once. I ordered myself a beer and sat down at a poker table to try my luck today. I never seemed to win these games, but when I glanced down at my hand, I realized I might have a shot at winning the entire pot. I tried not to let my face give away my cards as bets were made and chips were thrown into the center of the table.

The guy across from me was Tom Medina and was the owner of a neighboring ranch. I felt his eyes boring into me as he tried to study my face. I never felt so vulnerable as I did at that moment. Adam always said to me growing up I had the best face when I’m lying as I used to get out of so much trouble. I never believed him as it felt like I landed in hot water many times with Pa. When Tom bypassed me and slid nearly 300 dollars into the center of the table, I began to think Adam might have been right about all that.

As we all started to show our cards, Tom showed five cards: four queen cards and a 10 card. He immediately figured he had won and started to pull the pot towards him, but I had yet to show mine. A grin grew on my face as I realized I won. Placing my cards face up on the table, I revealed five cards from 6 to 10 all in the diamond suit. A straight flush and the second-best hand in poker. I reached across the table to pull in my rightfully won winnings in my direction when I was harshly interrupted by Tom.

“How dare you! There’s no way you could have won! You never win at poker, and I always do! You must have cheated this time!”

“I did not cheat. I won fair and square. Every once in a while, we’re all lucky. Today was my day.”

I gathered up the last of the bills as Tom remained rooted to his spot, fuming. “You’ll pay for this Cartwright! Just you wait.”

I was used to threats and most were just that, threats. They never amounted to action and therefore all I did was tip my hat in his direction before leaving the saloon and making my way back over to Cochise to head home.

~~~~~~~~~~~

As I trotted into the courtyard, it was empty except for Hoss. He was bending over the back of the wagon which was piled high with several boxes of something.

I slid from my saddle and began to walk closer to where my brother was over by the wagon. “Hey, Hoss!”

Hoss was deep in concentration as he jumped nearly a mile in the air at my greeting. “Oh, hey there, little brother.” He then returned to tying down an old tarp over the back of the wagon.

“What’s going on here? You seem deep in concentration.”

“Oh, this? Just tyin’ down some dynamite Pa ordered for us.”

“Dynamite? What are you doing with dynamite?”

“Goin’ to be clearing some land over on the south end of the property in a couple of days. Older brother suggested dynamite to help clear it faster than using traditional methods. Pa liked the idea and bought us some.”

“Who-wee, you got to be careful so you don’t blow your own self up.”

“Don’t you worry about me none. Pa entrusted the care and delivery of the dynamite to me and I take this job very seriously. Besides, I got it from town to here without any problems.”

“Just be careful.” I slapped Hoss on the back with encouragement as I led Cochise past him and into the barn. Sure, I trusted my brother to be careful. But I also knew that it didn’t take much to cause a disaster.

The next day, Hoss, Adam, and Pa all decided a trip to town was necessary. Personally, I had no desire to go back to town. I didn’t want to risk running into Tom again. I bid them a safe journey and then looked for something to occupy my time.

There, sitting in a dark corner of the barn, was my well-used fishing rod. With the temperature outside continuing to soar, I doubted I would catch any fish. Still, it was a wonderful excuse to get away from the house and enjoy the beauty of the lake. Without further delay, I popped my head into the bunkhouse to let a couple of the hands know I was going to be gone most of the day and to keep an eye on the house for us. Receiving a nod in acknowledgment, I gathered my gear and was gone as quickly as Cochise’s muscular legs would take me.

Later that evening, we were all relaxing after supper. Hoss and I took up a game of checkers, while Adam and Pa went over some of the latest stories in the Territorial Enterprise. A knock on the door made us all look up from our activities.

Pa eased himself out of his red leather chair while saying more to himself than to one of us, “I wonder who this could be at this hour?”

I glanced over at Hoss sitting across from me and noted his matching quizzical look.

“Ah, hello Ben, boys. Sorry to bother you at this time of night.”

“No bother at all Roy. What brings you out here?”

“Well, you see, there’s been a report that the new bridge Tom Medina is constructing across one of his gullies has collapsed.”

“That’s awful Roy. I don’t see how that affects us, though.”

“I have multiple eyewitness accounts that claim they saw Joe out there this afternoon. Supposedly it’s been reported that he used some dynamite to blow up the bridge.”

Up until this point, my mind was focused back on the checker game, wondering if I could move a piece without Hoss noticing. However, when I heard my name and the accusation it was tied to, my attention was entirely on Roy.  “Now, Roy. You know I would never do anything like that.”

“Yes, yes, I do. That’s why I came out here to find out where you all were day.”

“I left the ranch.” I saw Roy’s eyes sadden a little, so I quickly continued. “I left the ranch to do some fishing. I didn’t catch anything, but I swear I was by the lake all afternoon.”

Roy turned his eyes to Pa and my brothers. “Can any of you confirm that’s where Joe was today?”

Pa shook his head. “No, all three of us went to town. We left Joe behind.”

“All right. What about the dynamite? That’s not something that is normally kept on hand for everyday use. Plus, it has to be specially ordered and even then, it’s carefully tracked with the serial numbers on the boxes. Unless we can tie that back to you, I don’t know how you could have done it.”

Pa turned a sorry look in my direction, and I knew I was doomed. “Funny, Roy. We just picked up an order of dynamite yesterday. We were going to use it clear some land next week.”

At this, Hoss hastily left the house without saying a word and headed towards the back of the barn. He returned moments later. “One or two of the cases is gone from the wagon, Pa.”

“I’m sorry Joe. There unfortunately were some deaths in that collapse, one of them being Tom’s senior foreman. All evidence is pointing to you right now and no one seems to be able to verify where you actually were today.” I opened my mouth to protest, only to be stopped as Roy put up his hand. “I’m going to have to take you to jail, at least until we can clear all this up.”

I looked up at Pa, who gave me a supportive nod. One glimpse in his eyes, though, showed a fiery determination. Determination to figure out what happened. Determination not to have his youngest son locked away in jail forever or worse. Determination to bring whoever is behind this plot to justice. I could do nothing more right now than to follow orders and to trust him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke early the next morning with a crick in my neck. It took me all of ten seconds to realize where I was and what had happened the night before. The rusty metal bedframe creaked as it shifted under my weight, and I rolled over on the thin mattress to put my back against the cold stone wall of the jail cell. Judging from the indigo sky outside the tiny window across from me, it would still be a few hours before breakfast was served. There was no way I was getting back to sleep now, so I did what most prisoners in my position do: mull over your thoughts.

It was funny how quickly things could change from good to bad. One moment I was enjoying Lake Tahoe relishing in my poker winnings from the day before, and the next I was getting hauled off to jail for some crime I was innocent of committing and clearly being framed.

But who would stoop so low as to claim I committed murder? Of course, the likely suspect is Tom. I did beat him in poker and he told me I would pay. The crime did occur on his land too. But there was the question of the dynamite. There’s no way he could have known we had some on the Ponderosa. I didn’t even know myself until I came home later that day and I live there!

No, this has to be a deeper plot than what’s on the surface. I just had to hope Pa and my attorney can get to the bottom of it quickly before I lose everything I know and love by spending the rest of my life in prison. However, with murder hanging over my head, my freedom might not be the only thing I lose; my life is on the line if this isn’t all sorted in a timely manner.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later, I joined my attorney in court. We had been going over all the finer details of my side of the case for the past several days. Unfortunately for me, we couldn’t come up with hard evidence that would point to me not doing the crime. Sure, we had my claim that Tom threatened me so to speak, but in the end, it was going to be his word against mine. We were going to have to mostly rely on testimonies that supported my stellar character and hoped that was enough for the judge.

It was a long day of people testifying on both sides. I don’t understand much about court cases, but even I knew that neither side was making progress towards winning. That was until the last man was called up to the witness booth for Tom.

His name was Frank Moses. He worked for my father, so when he stood up and started testifying for Tom, I was surprised. My attorney was just as surprised and when it was his turn to question him, he didn’t hold back on the difficult questions.

“Mr. Moses, you have a job in Virginia City, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where might that be?”

“Um…with Mr. Cartwright, sir.”

“This, Mr. Cartwright?” My attorney turned around to point in my direction.

“No, his father, Ben Cartwright.”

“So, you know Joe, then?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So let me get this straight, you work for Ben and know Joe, but you’re testifying against them as Mr. Medina’s witness?”

At that statement, Frank at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Y-yes.”

“Can you tell me and the judge then, how you know Mr. Medina?”

“We met in town last Saturday. We were both in the saloon enjoying a beer. Then we started talking.”

“Hush, Frank! Keep your mouth SHUT!”

Everyone in the courtroom looked in the direction of the irate outburst coming from no other than Tom himself. Luckily, the judge ordered Tom not to interfere with the case anymore or he would have to wait outside until it was over. However, it was too late for Frank. He quickly shut his mouth and clammed up when follow-up questions were asked.

“Now you said you were talking. Tell me, what was the topic of that conversation?”

Silence. The judge had to remind Frank he was obligated to respond to any questions being asked. Frank’s eyes darted over to where Tom was sitting before he responded. “Various ranch topics.”

That wasn’t a very helpful answer to us, but considering he did respond, my attorney didn’t have a good reason to keep questioning him about it. “Now tell me where you were on Sunday, the day the bridge collapsed?”

“In the Cartwright bunkhouse.” That was true, at least it was true for part of the day. I saw him there when I left to go fishing.

“And did you leave at all during the day?”

Silence filled the courtroom once again. This was odd and highly suspicious. It was a simple yes or no question, yet Frank couldn’t answer it. I turned around in my seat and caught my father’s eyes, silently telling him I needed to speak to him immediately after this trial. Whether he got the message or not, wasn’t clear to me. I spun back around as the judge once again demanded Frank to answer the question.

No sound came out of his mouth, just the tiniest of shakes of the head indicating he hadn’t left. Hitting a brick wall, my attorney returned to his seat next to me before the judge began to speak.

“This is a highly complicated trial. Based on what I heard today, I am unable to make a final decision. I will be forwarding this case up to a higher court and will be rounding up a jury to help process the facts and information. Be ready in a few weeks to continue this case.” With that, the judge banged his gavel on the wooden desk.

I glanced over to my attorney to see what his reaction was in this decision when the scene from behind him caught my attention. Tom had turned to look to where Frank was sitting behind him. As he turned back to the front, he had a look of guilt and fear plastered across his face. Frank looked just as worried, almost as if he was going to be sick. I turned to see if my father or family saw the exchange, but to my surprise, they had already left the courtroom.

As I felt Roy’s hand on my shoulder to take me back to the jail, I had no time to wonder where my family went or what those looks from Frank and Tom meant. I only hoped my father would show up soon so I can spill all my thoughts to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Much to my relief, I heard Pa come into the jailhouse nearly a half-hour later and ask Roy for permission to speak to me. Seconds later, Pa was entering the back of the jail where the cells were located and I eagerly approached the cell bars so I could talk to him without nosy ears possibly milling around outside overhearing.

“I’m glad you got my silent message to come to talk to me after the trial today. Look you got to talk to Frank. It’s odd he was so silent after Tom almost chewed his head off. I don’t know if you saw it, but he almost seemed sick at the end of the trial too. He’s obviously hiding something. Now, I don’t know what he’s hiding, but maybe if you talk to him, you can get him to open up. I wish I–”

“Hold on there, son. I agree with everything you’ve said so far and this is exactly what I was going to tell you. We know Frank almost better than anyone in this town. He’s been with us for almost 15 years. In that time, I’ve never known him to hurt anyone or get into trouble. If he is behind this scheme, he’s probably being forced into it and that’s likely from Tom.”

I nodded in agreement. “Please, just talk to him soon. You heard the judge. They’re going to be sending this case up the ranks with a jury and all. Without hard evidence on our side, it’s going to be hard to win. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail, or worse.” I felt tears begin to spring up in my eyes and couldn’t help as one fell down my right cheek.

Pa reached through the bars and held my face as best he could. “Don’t worry. I’ll find Frank and talk to him. We’ll get you out of here soon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

According to Pa, Frank confessed to what had happened after he told him that repercussions will be ten times worse if found guilty in a higher court. Frank had let it slip in town that he had helped Hoss load up some dynamite and that’s all the information Tom needed to complete the plan. He said that Tom coerced him into helping him by threatening his life. If he didn’t help Tom, he would ‘take him out’. Frank was to steal some of the dynamite to make it appear as if I used it instead. Frank said he was worried about how he was going to get some of it off the Ponderosa without anybody noticing when the golden moment presented itself when I told the hands I was leaving for the entire afternoon and that my father and brothers were in town. That provided ample time for Frank to transfer some of the dynamite over to Tom’s place and set up the string of unfortunate events.

With Frank’s confession, I was deemed an innocent person. That was enough for the sheriff to let me go. Since Frank was only an accessory to the crime by stealing the dynamite while Tom did the actual crime of blowing up his own bridge, he was let off with some community service. However, after what happened circulated around Virginia City, there was no way he could ever find a job in this town, or territory ever again.

As for Tom, I was awakened in my jail cell to the clattering of metal and profane words. He was thrown in the cell next to mine, the cell door banging shut, and the lock secured. Roy then moved over to my cell and did the exact opposite: unlocked my cell and pulled the door open gently. Relief washed over me as I took a step outside of the cell for the first time in over a week as a free man and it dawned on me that I just barely escaped being locked in jail forever or hung by my neck.

Pa’s warm face welcomed me as I entered the main room of the sheriff’s office. “Come on, son. It’s time to go home. Chores are piling up and I need you to check on some of those line shacks and fences in the far northwest portion of our property. It shouldn’t take you longer than a few weeks. Oh and make sure you bring some warm clothes and extra blankets. I heard the temperatures are starting to drop below freezing at night already in the higher country.”

All I could do was shake my head and offer up a smirk. Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. I might have won this trial that saved me my life, but it appears I lost in Pa’s ‘game’ of ranch chores.

 

The End

Author’s Note:

Written for the 2021 Ponderosa Paddlewheel Poker Tournament.   The game was Five Card Draw and the words and/or phrases I was dealt were:

Dynamite
Testify
Be silent
Lose
(Joker)