Summary:  Joe get’s a special birthday present

Rating:  K  (553 words)

Story Notes:

This story was part of the Chaps and Spurs April 2011 Challenge. No beta, so all grammar mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: Bonanza and its characters are created by David Dortort and originally aired on NBC. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. Other characters than the originals are the property of the author.

                                             The Gift

Today was THE day Joe Cartwright has waited for so long. His 18th birthday. Now he could go everywhere and not his stalwart brothers nor his father could drag him out of any saloon he wanted to go. Now he was a man.

Freedom, I’m coming, he thought with a smirk on his lips. But back to business; first the party at the Ponderosa and next weekend the real party at the Bucket of Blood with his friends and a few hands.

The party went very well. The whole evening Joe danced with the girls. After they all eat the food Hop Sing had cooked for this special day Joe opened the presents the folk has given him for his birthday. There were a few scarfs, gloves for the coming winter, a new knife and many other things.

One last gift were left and Joe went to open it. From the handwriting on the card he knew that this present came from Mrs. Willowby. This old woman is the widow of a former foreman of the Ponderosa. As kids Joe and Hoss went often to her house and also Mrs. Willowby helped at the ranch if Hop Sing went to one of his cousins to San Francisco.

Joe saw that the woman looked tensely at him as he unpacked his gift. At first he saw only the gray leather and as he unpacked further he saw that Mrs. Willowby got him new chaps. The old woman smiled at Joe and told him that she has done them in handwork. She wanted to give a special gift, she told Joe. In the background Joe could hear that his friends chuckled. A few bystander also began to grin.

Joe knew he needed to react to this birthday gift. He liked this new chaps, really. The leather was wonderful stitched. The only thing Joe disliked were the flowers on the chaps. This were the reason why his friends smirked behind there hands.

What should he do? He couldn’t tell this old woman that chaps with flowers were…in a way… they were … unmanly. But he was now a man. An internal conflict flow through him. He couldn’t wear chaps with flowers, could he? Joe saw the beaming smile on Mrs. Willowby’s face. A guilty conscience gnawed at his thoughts. He knew he needed to come to a decision.

“Mama Willowby, thank you so much for this wonderful chaps. It will be a honor to wear them.”

Joe took the old woman in his arms and gave her a big kiss on her cheek.

Later in the night Joe stood by his friends. They made comments about Joe’s new chaps. First he wanted to reprimand them but instead he said: “Nothing can disfigure a good looking man.”

With a laughter Joe went to the other guests.

The End

©April 2011, JoeC