Summary: Hop Sing’s choice to stay with the Cartwrights is challenged by his first winter at the Ponderosa
Written for day 12 of the 2021 Advent Calendar.
Rating: G
Word Count: 1326

In Absentia Series:

In Absentia
Restitution
All Through the Night
Significance
Homesick

Bonanza
~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
* Day 12 *

Homesick

 Part 5 in Belle’s “In Absentia” universe

Burdened with his parcel of freshly baked bread and cookies, Hop Sing tread as carefully as possible on the snowy path from the ranch house to the bunkhouse.  Even so, he slid and stumbled, nearly falling several times. The path had been shoveled and swept clear daily since the snows had begun to fall. Consequently, there was a wall of snow on either side of the path a couple feet high.  Hop Sing couldn’t (wouldn’t) imagine how much higher the snow would get before the demon winter was over.

The sun was high overhead, glowing brightly in the brilliant blue sky, offering no warmth.  Instead, its beams reflected off the white landscape in a painful glare of light that brought streaming tears to his eyes.  Hop Sing had never particularly enjoyed Portland’s cold rains, but winter in the Sierra Nevada was downright frightening. He yearned for the more rational winter sun of his youth.

Finally, Hop Sing reached the bunkhouse with his parcel and dignity intact.  Jeb had been watching him through the window. As soon as Hop Sing got to the door, Jeb hustled him inside, relieving him of the parcel. Before he could object, Jeb and Shorty had hung his coat on a peg near the stove and seated him in an upholstered chair. Shorty had tucked a quilt from his bunk across Hop Sing’s lap while Jeb poured a cup of steaming coffee. It was all done with so cheerfully that he was happy to accept their hospitality.

As always when he was in the bunkhouse, Hop Sing was struck with its warmth and cheer.  Alongside the old upholstered chair, there was a rocking chair and two wooden chairs around a small table.  A large braided rug was underfoot and smaller versions were scattered around the room.  A generous cupboard held provisions and table ware. The curtains were parted to take advantage of the sun light.  When Hop Sing shifted in the chair, a sun beam fell across his eyes blinding him until Shorty twitched the curtain closed a bit.  When Hop Sing  shook his fist angrily, the ranch hands laughed kindly at the gesture.

“Not enjoying the winter?” Jeb asked him.  A loaf of warm bread was cut, and a slice, spread thick with butter, was offered and accepted.

“Nevada sun is treacherous,” Hop Sing complained.  “All light, no heat.”

Shorty chuckled. “Come summer time, there’ll be light and heat. You’ll be thinkin’ pretty fondly of the snow then.”

Hop Sing wasn’t ready to be comforted. “Maybe not stay ‘til summer. Maybe go back to China.”

Jeb shot a glance toward Shorrty.  “Of course, that’d be up to you. I know a family here that’d miss you terrible. You miss China a lot?”

He had to consider that question for a moment.  “Sometimes, miss very much.  Sometimes, not at all.  Good reasons to leave.  Honorable father, Hop Ling, and honorable mother in California.  Maybe better there with them.”

Hop Sing was ashamed.  He’d never voiced these feelings.  The Cartwrights had been good, even affectionate toward him.  It had been his choice to follow them to the Ponderosa after the showdown with Ezra Grady.  Could he make a home here?  He wasn’t at all sure. Perhaps these men could help him decide.

“You stayed here, with boys for seven years.  This was home, then?”

“No, not then,” Shorty answered. “Me and Jeb had worked lots of ranches,  moved around a lot, like all cowboys.  We was here the summer that Missus Cartwright died, thrown from her horse in the yard out there.”

“Bad time,” Jeb interrupted. “Ben took it real hard. Kinda lost himself for bit.”

Hop Sing understood – Mister Ben was a man with a big heart to wound.

“Anyways, Adam sorta stepped in and bossed the place ‘til Ben felt better.  Then, little sprout took a notion and wandered off from the ranch.  Ben snapped out of his grief, just like that. Organized the search and found Little Joe at Eagle’s Nest.”

“You gotta ask him to tell you about it, Hop Sing,” said Jeb. “It’s a good story.”

“Not long after, Ben took a notion to go up to Monterrey.  Can’t remember why.  We was the only ranch hands left here. Jeb’d hurt his back and wasn’t fit to ride out. When Mr. Cartwright asked us to stay ‘til he got back, it seemed like a good plan.”

“Except he didn’t come back.”

“Nope, didn’t come back”

“You stayed with boys?” Hop Sing confirmed.

“What kind of men would we be to leave Adam and two little ones here to fend for themselves?”

“Not much Christmas that year,” Jeb remarked.  “We moved into the big house to conserve fire wood and keep an eye on things.”

“Adam and me went and cut a little tree and drug it back to the house.”

“I whittled a few toys for Hoss and Joe. Nothin’ special.  Whistles and animals. We got by.”

“Jeb, remember when Cap Stoddard got here?  Woo, didn’t he stir up the dust?  Got things settled a bit. Put some food on the table and fixed it so the boys could make a go of the place.  Stayed a year, didn’t he?”

“Little more than a year, I recollect.”

Hop Sing would have to hear more about the remarkable Captain Stoddard another time.  At the moment, he had another puzzle to unravel.

“Why did you stay here, all these years?  Boys not your boys, ranch not your home.”

For the first time, Shorty seemed a bit riled. “These are good boys that didn’t deserve nothin’ that happened to ‘em.  If you’d a seen them, I know you wouldn’t have left them either.”

“Those young’uns don’t have a bitter bone in their bodies.” Jeb added,  “Lose their ma and pa in the same year?  Lots of kids would go wrong.  Not these three.  All those years they worked and made do. Tried to live up to the example their pa always set.  They done right by him, let me tell you.”

“Forgive me, please. I did not mean to give offense.”

“We know you didn’t mean nothin’, Hop Sing. Want some more coffee?”

“The Ponderosa is home as long as we’re needed. It’s been a good place for us, hasn’t it, Shorty?”

“Yep.  Long time past, we was thinkin’ of finding a little piece of land to work ourselves.  Doesn’t seem very important these days. Got more of a home and family here than we’d ever had in our lives.”

Hop Sing hid a smile.  He knew that Mister Ben held a deed to a pretty parcel of land that he would present at Christmas to these men.  They could take possession any time they were ready.

“Must go now. Many thanks for hospitality.”  The two kind men encouraged him to stay a bit, but Hop Sing was firm.  He had a great deal of work to do and a great deal to think about.

Bundled back into his coat, Jeb wrapped the scarf around Hop Sing’s head to shield his eyes from the glare.

“You still thinkin’ about going to California?”

“Much to think about. Many thanks. Come to big house for supper tonight. Have baked a pie and boys wish to play checkers with you.”

“Well, don’t that sound fine. We’ll be there.”

Hop Sing faced the icy path back to the ranch house with a lighter heart. He supposed he could become accustomed to this treacherous sun here in the mountains. He began planning an important letter to his father.  If Hop Sing was making a home in Nevada territory, perhaps his father could be persuaded to do the same.

The End
Merry Christmas

Character: Hop Sing

Prompt: Yearning for the sun

Link to Day 13 of the Bonanza Brand 2021 Advent Calendar: Snowball Fight! by rh2006fan