Summary: Sometimes memories need something to hold them in.
Rating:  G  2,400 words

Written for the 2024 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar

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Bonanza
~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
* Day 9 *

A Catalogue of Memories

It was an annual tradition that Joe had taken part in for more years than he could remember. Every year, Will Cass would get his catalogues and every citizen of Virginia City and beyond would head into town to thumb through them and place their orders. Joe smiled to himself as he had once remarked that it was similar to children asking Santa Claus for their secret wishes and hoping they would appear on Christmas morning.

Of course, the last two years, it had been Will’s son, Edward, who placed the catalogues along the back counter and took careful note of each order and payment from each customer. Will had slowly eased out of the daily running of the mercantile and had finally handed over the reins after a nasty bout of pneumonia forced the issue for him. It was another changing of the guard for the town, and it took some getting used to for all of them. Will had been behind that counter every time Joe had stepped foot in the place for his entire life and then suddenly, one day, he wasn’t.

Edward had introduced a few changes to put his own mark on the business, including extending the catalogue range to several suppliers that his father had never favoured. Joe flipped the pages of the Wedgewood catalogue and noted the ones that matched his wife’s collection. He knew each piece that she had already as he had been the one to buy each of them. He had built the china cabinet that housed them. The times where she brought them out to use were reserved for special company or occasions, but he knew how much pleasure they brought her as she walked past them many times a day. Seeing the smile light up her face every Christmas morning was worth every penny.

“Which one are you thinking of this year?”

“Hmmm?” Joe looked up to see Edward leaning over the counter towards him.

“What will Grace be getting this year? You know I need to get the orders in soon if you want to get it in time for Christmas.”

“Yeah, I do.” Joe licked his lower lip as he went back to scanning the page. “I’m kind of leaning towards this one here.” He pointed at a delicate vase in the customary blue and white. Grace loved flowers and she would take every opportunity for fresh blooms around the house.

“Better put that away!” Edward whispered as he rushed towards the front door.

“Grace! How nice to see you today.”

Joe shoved the catalogue underneath another one and grabbed at the one on top and flipped it open before turning to greet his wife.

“Is it that time already? I didn’t think you’d be done so soon.”

Grace stifled a frown as she sat down on the stool by the counter. “Well Marcy seemed to be particularly efficient in getting jobs assigned so the meeting was a little shorter than we thought.”

Joe glanced across at Edward who seemed to have picked up on the same thing he had – what wasn’t being said. Marcy Dalton was the self-appointed head of the Christmas Pageant committee, and she had stepped on a few toes already with her “suggestions”. Of course, the fact she was the niece of the new bank manager had nothing to do with her sudden rise to power in the ladies’ circles. She was simply the best person to manage everything and clearly, her efficiency meant an early finish to the meeting. It had nothing to do with the fact that everyone was eager to leave before someone said something they shouldn’t and risked their husband’s loss of standing with the bank.

“So, what have you been doing this afternoon?” Grace noted the pile of papers behind Joe and reached out for the one in his hands. “Christmas shopping perhaps?”

As Joe leaned forward with the catalogue, he almost laughed as he saw that it was children’s books and toys.

Grace tapped at the cover. “Is there anything in here that you might like from Santa?”

Her innocent look quickly dissolved into laughter as Joe pointed out several things that would be more in line with Cassie’s six-year-old tastes than his.

“Of course, there’s …” Joe stopped mid-sentence as he stared at the page.

Grace leaned in to see what had his attention. “What is that?”

When Joe didn’t answer, she tried again. “What are you looking at?”

“It’s a toy balloon kit. It says that you can make your own balloon from rubber.”

Grace was usually well able to decipher any look that crossed her husband’s face, but this time she couldn’t quite make out what had caused him to pause, shake his head and quickly flip the pages before dropping the catalogue as if it were hot.

She chose not to speak but continued to observe his strange change of demeanor. Joe moved over to another shelf with some household items and picked up a few before turning back to his wife.

“Well, I guess we’d better get on the road if we want to get home before dark.”

“Of course.” Grace smiled at Edward before looping her arm through Joe’s. “Thank you, Edward, for keeping my husband out of mischief while he waited for me.”

“Any time.” Edward pretended to tip his hat as he turned to his next customer. “Don’t forget, Joe.”

“I won’t. Don’t want us going hungry! And thanks again, Edward.” Joe moved towards the door with Grace and flashed her a grin. “We need to get our order in for your Christmas baking. Can’t have you running out of flour for the pudding, now can we?”

“Have I ever let you miss out on plum pudding?” Grace knew she was being diverted from the real topic of conversation, but she waited until they were well on the way home before raising it again.

“What was it about that toy balloon that caught your attention?”

Joe looked up in surprise as he realised his wife hadn’t missed his reaction. It had caught him off guard as the wave of nostalgia melded with melancholy ploughed into him and he thought he’d covered it well. He almost smiled as he thought about the way his wife could read him like a book. Of course, she’d known him for over fifty years so it shouldn’t really have surprised him.

“Joe?” Grace nudged his arm as it seemed he wasn’t going to answer.

“Hoss.”

“Hoss had a toy balloon? That doesn’t seem like something he would have been interested in.”

“Not a toy one. A real one.”

“Hoss had a real balloon?”

Joe chuckled at the incredulous look on his wife’s face. “No, but he would have loved one.”

Grace waited as she watched him slide off into a memory.

“Pa had a friend who brought his balloon to the Ponderosa to run some experiments. Only it wasn’t quite what we thought.”

Joe stared at the back of the horse as he thought back to that day, so long ago.

“They had come to rob the bank to fund the major’s plans to build a fleet of balloons that could cross the Atlantic. The balloon was their means to escape. Only it didn’t go to plan for them.”

Grace waited once more as Joe seemed to wander off again.

“Where does Hoss fit into all this?”

“Hoss was fascinated with the whole thing, and he asked Major Cayley lots of questions about it all. For somebody who didn’t always pay much mind to science, well leastways not like Adam did, Hoss sure had a fascination with flying.”

Joe shook his head as if he were shaking off a pesky fly. A smile crept across his face, and he chuckled at another memory.  “He even tried it once with big ol’ wings made of wood and feathers and all glued together.”

“What? When did that happen?” Grace could not envisage the big man she remembered trying something so ridiculous.

“Well, there was this professor and his granddaughter who were staying up near Devil Wind Hill and the professor was trying to prove that he could fly. He got himself stuck in a tree and strained something and, well, Hoss being Hoss, he somehow volunteered to take the test flight off the cliff for him. He never would admit it, but I always thought it was because he was just trying to impress the professor’s pretty granddaughter.”

Grace stared at him, wondering for a moment if he was telling the truth or pulling her leg. It wouldn’t be the first time, and he could keep a straight face for quite a while before dissolving into laughter.

“Please tell me he didn’t actually go through with that!”

“Oh, he did! Just with a bit of help from me.”

“How on earth could you help him to fly?”

“By tripping over my own feet!” Joe laughed as he recalled that long ago crazy day.

“That makes no sense at all. Is this going to be another one of your tall tales?”

Joe held up a hand in mock defense. “Not at all. I promise you!” He crossed his heart as he grinned at her.

“The wind was picking up and Hoss stumbled over to an old wooden ladder. He said his sock was stuck on a nail and I got up to help him and the wind blew me so hard that I fell over my own feet. I landed on the end of the ladder, and it flipped up and launched Hoss into the air. He went over the edge, and he actually flew!”

Grace’s eyes narrowed as she searched her husband’s face for that telltale sign that he was about to burst out laughing. Only it didn’t come.

“The professor said that all he needed was a fulcrum big enough and he could make anybody fly. Of course, Hoss put it down to faith.”

“I think if God had meant for us to fly, we would have wings. Actual wings. Not wooden ones with feathers!”

“Well, after that, he didn’t much fancy the idea of doing it himself, but Hoss still loved the idea of flying and he was like a big kid when he was out there where the balloon was tethered. You know, it wasn’t often that Hoss got the better of me when it came to pranks, but he sure did with that one.”

Grace was very well aware of the many stories where Joe had convinced his kind and gullible older brother to take part in something. Over the years, Joe had relayed some of the stories many times over and they always brought laughter. Of course, time had softened many memories and embellished many others, but she had never heard anything about a balloon.

“How did he manage that?”

Joe grimaced as he recalled the day where he had been foolish enough to fall asleep in the balloon basket while he waited for the major and his men to commence their experiment.

“Well, Hoss arrived and thought he’d take the chance to give me a little … well … payback, I guess. He knew how much I hated heights, and he removed all the sand ballast bags and reeled me out, so the balloon started to lift off.”

Grace knew firsthand how much her husband had battled a fear of heights over the years, and she could well imagine how he would have reacted.

“Hoss thought it was hilarious when I woke up and I was thirty feet off the ground and still going up!”

For the remainder of the trip home, Joe regaled his wife with stories where he had bested either or both of his older brothers, but Grace couldn’t help but smile as she tried to imagine Hoss quietly releasing his sleeping brother into the air.

…………………………..

Marcy Dalton had taken every ounce of Christian charity that Grace possessed as the committee had sat through another round of planning for the annual Christmas festivities. Several of the women had quietly approached her to help bring the young woman down a peg or two, mainly because the Cartwrights held enough clout with the bank that they didn’t need to fear upsetting the bank manager. Grace had tried to be diplomatic and had even arranged to visit with Marcy, but it seemed she was bound and determined to leave her mark on her new home town, regardless of how much it was alienating everyone around her.

Grace had finally decided to take refuge in the mercantile and place her order for supplies. Edward’s wife saw her come in and knew exactly why the usually unflappable woman looked so flustered.

“Come and take a seat while I find you a cup of tea.” Rosey patted at a stool and Grace sank down onto it. “And then you can tell me all about it.”

The catalogues were neatly stacked at the side of the counter and Grace noted the one for children’s toys was on top. She flipped through until she found the picture of the toy balloon.

She sat and ran a finger around the picture for perhaps the tenth time. Grace wasn’t usually one for gifts that seemed frivolous, but there was something about the way Joe had been looking at the toy. The long ride home filled with memories of Hoss and their escapades together made her smile all over again.

Rosey arrived back with two cups of steaming tea and placed one in front of Grace.

“Is there still time to place an order for one of these?”

Rosey peered over at the page Grace was pointing to. “A toy balloon? Now that looks like something young Marcus would like. He does have quite an interest in science, doesn’t he?”

Grace nodded slowly. “He does. He has a very inquisitive mind, and Joe seems sure his first grandson will go to college when he’s old enough.”

“Well, I’m sure he would love one of those then. We only have a few more days before we close off orders.”

“Oh, this isn’t for Marcus. It’s for Joe.”

Rosey laughed out loud before realising that Grace was serious. “For Joe? What on earth does he need a toy balloon for?”

Grace was staring at the page and seemed as if she wouldn’t answer. “Because sometimes memories need something to hold them in.”

 

Prompt: a toy balloon, 1824
Character: Joe

 

Link to Day 10 of the Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar – With a Flourish by faust