Chapter 9

“Whatever Pa says about what?” Ben questioned as he descended the stairs into the stilted silence of the great room, “well? whatever Pa says about what, do l not at least merit an answer?

Hoss threw a quick glance at his brother then snagged an apple from the bowl on the coffee table, crunching a large bite from the fruit, he knew very well that if his mouth was full it would excuse him from having to give any reply to his fathers question, anyway it was in his opinion Adam’s responsibility to answer since he broached the question, therefore silently he studied the shiny red skin of the apple, occasionally flicking glances at his elder brother, Adam feeling his brothers eye’s upon him sighed, sucked in his cheeks and closed the book he was trying to read..

“l said Pa, it wasn’t right for us to have to sit waiting for Little Joe before we get to eat, we all know the kid has no respect whatsoever for punctuality he will stroll in whenever he feels like it.”

“Whatever l think to the contrary, is that what you are saying,” his father added making himself comfortable in his favoured chair.

“l may have said something along those lines,” Adam failed to suppress the flicker of a grin that curled his lip, to his surprise his his father concurred.

“Well l totally agree with you Adam, l see no reason whatsoever to delay dinner, Hop Sing works hard to prepare the evening meal and we should respect his wishes to be at the table for the given time, if your young brother prefers the distractions of Virginia City, well so be it,”

Slightly taken aback by his fathers unusual display of complacency to his brothers tardiness Adam pressed his point further,

“He will have ridden Cochise hard, slowing down to a walk just before the outskirts of town, left him at the livery to cool down, popped into the the Silver Dollar for a hand of poker, a quick drink and an even quicker f…fumble with one of the saloon gal’s, finishing with a round of fisticuffs, after collecting the mail he would then ride the animal just as hard home,”

“Not unalike you at his age Adam, except for one major difference,” receiving no response Ben continued, “you always made sure to collect the mail first,”

Taking up the the newspaper Ben shook it open, speechless Adam rolled his eyes and returned to his literature.

Hoss relieved that there was to be no discourse between his Pa and brother the big man strolled back and forth across the room, taking even more enjoyment in his chosen snack.

“Son do you really have to munch with such fervour and why you always have to eat an apple just before a meal beats me,”

“It’s for the benefit of my gastric juices,” Hoss advised deciding now to rest his backside on the edge of the leather topped desk, .

Adam having returned to his book, both he and Ben lowered their reading matter and stared in the direction of the the largest of the Cartwright’s,

“Your gastric juices?” Ben repeated quizzically.

“Sure Pa, l find the it allows my gastric juices to flow freely, thus enhancing my appetite and aiding my digestion,”

Both men continued to stare at the apple crunching speaker,

“Brother if your gastric juices flow any more freely the Ponderosa will be able to boast of another lake beside the Tahoe, and as for enhancing your appetite, l don’t think Pa could afford it,”

Ben chuckled into his chin, commenting that he often thought about docking Hoss’s wages as it was, if he his son was going to in anyway increase his food consumption he would have to bring it into operation by next pay day, before any further comments could be made Hop Sing scooted out of the kitchen to announce ‘dinner ready five minutes’, the words corresponded with the opening of the front door which heralded the arrival of the youngest of Ben’s boys.

The silence as l entered the room told me that l had been the topic of conversation, keeping my head ducked down, l unbuckled my belt, Hoss was at my side before l had even put the holstered gun on the credenza, swiping at my hat he popped it on a vacant peg, l scowled my annoyance, he said nothing as he took a good look at my black eye and bruised face, crinkling his nose he sniffed the air,

“Dadburnit shortshanks yer fall into a bed of pine needles or summat, you sure smell sweet,”

“He’s fallen in and out of some kind of bed anyway,” Adam joined big brother at the door, forcing my head around to view the damage, “it seems at least you had the common sense to get it patched up, Doc must have got some of the latest dressings sent in from the East.”

“Sure fancy aint they, almost worth getting a lump fer,” added Hoss

“Is it not possible Joseph that just once you could manage to get into town and back without some sort of injury?”

l was now the centre of attention, l had thought they would all be seated or halfway through the meal but it seems that l made it home just in time,

“Well, don’t you have something to say?”

“Sorry Pa, I’m fine,” l muttered trying to keep my head low,

“From the looks of you you certainly are not fine, were stitches required?”

l assured him again l was fine and no stitches were necessary, and mumbled that l would get washed up, l presume you did get the mail, Pa asked me, l went back to my jacket and removed the letters from the inside pocket and handed them to him, l suppose l have to be thankful for that, he muttered as he made his way to the table.

Ducking into the kitchen l almost collided with Hop Sing laden with a tray of hot dishes and got a tirade in Cantonese fired at me, l couldn’t help but giggle, if Pa had any knowledge of the language l reckon he would have gagged the little man years ago, giving my hands and face a quick sluice l took up my seat at the table.

“Well young man what have you to say for yourself?”

Pa wasn’t about to let me off lightly, for once in a roundabout way Adam came to my rescue,

“Pa, please can it not wait till we’ve eaten, l can’t do sympathy on an empty stomach,”

A little begrudgingly Pa agreed and dinner went ahead without any interruptions, l hoped that with full stomachs my afternoons visit to town would be no longer of interest, but no l had to stand trial over coffee, but what could l tell them, l kept as near to the truth as possible and just said l had a fall of fa Cooch, l mean, l even had myself believing that that was all it was, this appeared to satisfy Pa and Hoss, but of course not the hanging judge Adam Cartwright, he wanted to know the ins and outs, did l fall going into town or coming out, was it because l was riding too fast, how come it still took all afternoon, finally he gave me one of those famous raised eyebrow looks of his,

“Boy do you need a keeper,”

On hearing those words l couldn’t stop a wide grin from spreading across my face, which stamped a furrow of annoyance on elder brothers forehead, scrubbing my fingers through my hair, l thought maybe that after all it had all been due to the bump on the head, a subconscious, crazy dream, instead of taking my usual stance of umbrage, l shook my head l couldn’t stop smiling,

“Elder brother l reckon you could be right at that,”

Suddenly feeling the need for fresh air l excused myself and pulling the napkin from my lap, my fingers tipped the fine stitches, Betty’s stitches, the repair she had made of my pants, unless you knew it was there it would be almost impossible to discern…invisible mending, she’d called it.

Epilogue

0ctober 3rd 1863 – The Ponderosa

After weeks on the trail, at the tail end of a cattle drive, aching, dusty and tired, but looking forward to being home by noon the next day, the Cartwright brothers, settled themselves down beside a camp fire, another meal of bacon and beans was silently being eaten by Adam and Hoss, Joe pushed the food around his plate.

“Iffun yer aint gonna eat that fatback…”

Joe threw the two pieces of fatty meat toward his big brother, they were caught expertly and landed safely on his brothers empty plate.

“You OK Joe, you’ve hardly said a word today, not going down with something are you?” Adam’s eye’s squinted with concern.

“Me, nah, just thinking,”

“Oh, is that what it is, now l am worried,”

Hoss chortled, almost choking.

‘You ever think that those stars were the same stars that were shining last year, that they are the same stars that shone a hundred years ago, the same stars that will be shining next year and the same stars that will be shining in the next hundred years, still shining down on us and everyone all over the world, do ya ever think that?” keeping his gaze fixed onto the heavens above, Joe directed his question at neither of his brothers.

Reaching across to where the pot was left beside the fire, Hoss pulled it toward him, examining the contents and seeing that all the bread had been eaten he proceeded, with his fingers to caress the inside of the utensil, curling his stubby digits, he gathered the remains of the sauce and beans and brought them up toward his mouth he licked contentedly and repeated the action until the pot was clean.

“You surprise me Joe never knew you thought that deeply about anything,”

“If it were possible Adam, would you ever want to travel back or forward maybe a hundred, a hundred and fifty years from now just to see what it was like, kinda travel in time?”

“Not really something l have given any thought to,” Adam wondered if his little brother was feeling the same wanderlust that had hit him in him at about the same age, “you getting itchy feet little brother?”

“Maybe…Hoss why don’t you get down on all fours and use your tongue?”

“l’m doing just fine shortshanks, why don’t you just get on with yer time travel stuff, anyways l reckon l give a lot more thought to time travel than you do,”

“You do? When?” Little Joe’s voice rose to an incredulous squeak.

“Sure l do, most every day, l worry about travelling from breakfast time to lunch time to…”

One large arm managed to fend off Adam’s empty plate as it flew at his shoulder, but seeing that Joe’s plate, which came sailing toward him a second or two later, was still carrying a portion of sauce covered beans Hoss allowed it to splatter against his broad chest, he smiled as he hand picked the slithering food and placed it into his mouth, grinning broadly at his two brothers who were staring at him with a combined look of disgusted dismay.

“What? aint hit the dirt,” he advised.

“There is more dirt on that vest than there is on the ground,”

“Reckon you’re right at that elder brother, but aint no one l know ever died eating dirt,” Hoss to his brothers continued repugnance finished off the clinging victuals.

Eventually the three brothers took to their bed rolls, heads and shoulders resting on their saddles, Joe lay awake listening to the even breathing and sleeping snores of his brothers his eye’s still fixed on the sparkling canopy above him, his mind and thoughts a hundred years away.

October 3rd 2014 – San Francisco

“l just cannot get used to calling you Betty Cartwright,”

“I don’t see your problem, if l’d married l would’ve changed my name wouldn’t l?”

“Yes, but you aren’t married, well not to a man, to a deed pole maybe…Betty what has been going on, l go away for, what, almost a year and when l get back l find that not only have you changed your name, the Betty Roberts Dickerson that l went to school with and went clubbing with, who swore a vow that we would never keep a secret from each other with, is no more, she is now Betty Roberts Cartwright and she is the mother of a what, a two, three month old baby boy, extremely beautiful though he is…what on earth have you been up to?”

“Oh for goodness sake don’t be so dramatic, you know l never liked the name ‘Dickerson’ anyway, surely even you can figure out what l have ‘been up to’, it’s not rocket science is it?…Joe, for your information is nearly four months old, he was a prem baby,”

“He’s very little,” the woman leaned forward and tickled the child under it’s chin, the curly haired baby stopped at it’s frantic clenching and unclenching of it’s tiny fists and ceased the flaying of it’s small arms, which were trying to reach the hanging toys suspended from the arches of the play mat, “little Joe, it suits him,” the serious frown the baby gave the woman disappeared into a wide toothless smile which spread from cheek to chin, giving his wide hazel and green flecked eye’s an added sparkle. “he’s gonna be a heart breaker, no doubt about that, so tell me where is ‘daddy little Joe’, no longer on the scene?”

“That is it exactly, don’t look so downhearted, one day l may tell you all about it, but that day, my very best friend in all the world is not going to be today.”

FINIS