Summary: Joe and Adam plan on an afternoon at the summer picnic. Unfortunately, their plans aren’t compatible. Hoss has plans too, but he ought to know better than to listen to Joe, if he wants a quiet boys’ afternoon!
Rating: G (7,170 words)
Hands
The hands of the school clock seemed to move slower than any other clock Joe Cartwright had ever encountered, especially on a Friday afternoon when Miss Jones was holding forth on one of her favorite romantic heroes. Today the book was King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Joe wouldn’t have minded if there had been just a few battles with a little swordplay or boiling oil involved. Miss Jones’s main topic had been romantic as usual. Apparently, Arthur had stopped the squabbling of his knights by a code of chivalry and this stupid round table where no one sat at its head and everyone had equal rights to speak.
The only words he had been listening for came just as his patience had reached its limits, “You may close your books, children.” Unfortunately they were followed by the words, “And for your homework this weekend…” Joe sighed; couldn’t she let them off just once? Didn’t she understand that the fish were biting, calves were being branded, horses broken, trees needed climbing and the lake was cool and inviting for a swim and a hundred other boy pursuits were just outside that door? He dutifully wrote the homework in his book and flipped it shut, not planning to open it again until the last possible moment before Monday morning.
“You comin’ fishin’ tomorrow, Joe?” two or three boys yelled out as he saddled Cochise ready for the ride home.
“You bet!” he shouted back as he did his usual flying leap into the saddle and left the schoolyard at a pace that left the others staring after him in admiration.
Joe rode like the wind, even faster than usual and with good reason. He had been late getting up this morning. His father had warned him that one more letter from Miss Jones on his tardiness would result in a weekend confined to the house doing schoolwork, something that was too awful to contemplate. To avoid this fate he had left one of his chores undone. He had decided it was the safest one. In summer the only one using wood was Hop Sing and he was unlikely to need much until he heated up the stove for supper. Sometime during the day, however, Joe’s stomach had felt a sinking sensation. He remembered his older brother mentioning at breakfast that he planned to replace a shoe on his horse. For that he’d need the forge and wood! If Adam had used what little wood was left Hop Sing would be mad and his yelling would alert Pa. Adam might even tell Pa the state of the box unless Joe got home first and talked him out of it.
“C’mon, Cooch,” he urged. The little pinto, used to his master’s style of riding, responded with a will. If he ever wondered why they rode like the devil was after them on all occasions when alone but traveled more sedately when a certain buckskin or sorrel were with them then he kept it to himself. His master adored him and he would do anything for him; they were partners and best friends. He would make sure he had extra oats and maybe even an apple or some sugar before bed.
Joe sighed with relief when he arrived home to find the barn empty. He quickly unsaddled Cochise and took care of him before slipping over to the forge. Yep, sure enough; it had been used. He tried to recall if Adam and Pa were working together today. He didn’t think so, but if they were, he was in big trouble. Adam would never keep quiet if he’d had to split his own kindling for the forge. He crept quietly into the house to deposit his books, careful not to disturb Hop Sing, just in case he was in trouble there too. He kept looking over his shoulder as he quietly eased himself out the door and around the corner to the woodpile to be stopped by a massive hand on his shoulder.
“Where you creepin’ to, Shortshanks?” came the voice of his brother, Hoss. “You look like you got somethin’ to hide. Wouldn’t be an empty wood box, now would it?” he grinned.
Joe jumped back, startled, then relieved that it was only Hoss. “Don’t do that, you scared the wits outta me,” he grumbled.
Hoss laughed. “If’n you wasn’t feelin’ so guilty, you’d a’ seen me. I ain’t that small.”
“Pa and Adam back yet?” Joe asked, nervously.
“Pa’s still over to Mr. Miller’s, but Adam’s in the bunkhouse talking to a couple of the hands about tomorra’s work.” Hoss grinned. “I bin workin’ with him all day and he ain’t too happy with you. I’d tread real careful around him. Seems he had to split some kindlin’, afore he could shoe Sport this morning.”
Joe sighed and picked up the axe, at least Adam hadn’t told Pa yet. Maybe there was still a way out. He swore softly. “Dammit, if he split kindlin’ he might have honed the axe after, too.”
“Here, give it to me, buddy. I’ll go do it while you take what little is left into Hop Sing before he starts yellin’.” Hoss held out a hand and Joe gratefully placed the axe into it.
“Thanks, I owe ya,” Joe replied.
Hoss shook his head as Joe bent over the box to extract the last of the firewood, hoping it would be enough. “Little brother, you ain’t never gonna be able to pay back what you owe me in chores,” he grinned.
Joe satisfied Hop Sing’s immediate needs and returned to the woodpile, taking the axe from Hoss, who had already made up about half of the deficit. He was almost finished when he caught sight of a pair of black boots approaching…uh oh!
“Day late and a dollar short as always, little brother,” Adam commented then leaned back against the side of the house. “I had to do your chores again this morning but we’ll find a way to put that right won’t we?” He reached out and ruffled Joe’s hair, which he knew irritated his little brother more than anything.
“If you hadn’t let Sport get a shoe loose you wouldn’t have known,” Joe scowled.
Adam grinned, lazily. “If I hadn’t, I couldn’t have offered to shoe Buck too and you’d not be eating supper or maybe eating it standing up.”
“You mean you didn’t tell Pa?” Joe asked in amazement, letting the axe rest on the block.
“Not yet, but there’s always time,” Adam chuckled. “Here let me give you a hand loading it in the box.”
Joe reached out and caught his older brother’s sleeve, “Why you bein’ so goldarn nice?”
Adam shook off the hand. “I got a little errand I want you to run for me and now I know I can count on you.” He took the armful of logs and tossed them in the box, dusting off his shirt as he finished and winking at Joe as he went into the house.
Joe frowned. Adam had something up his sleeve and that something was likely to be unpleasant for him or big brother would never have been so accommodating over the extra chore of splitting his own kindling. He finished off his chores and washed up for supper in deep thought. By the time the family sat down for the evening meal Joe was decidedly uneasy about his older brother’s intentions and decided to get in first.
“Pa is it all right if I go fishin’ tomorrow after I get my chores done?” he asked, almost as soon as Hop Sing had served the meal.
Ben turned his eyes on his youngest son. A request like that made so early in the evening conversation usually meant Joe was trying to elicit permission before some misdemeanor was revealed that would result in a negative response. “All your chores done for tonight?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” Joe replied promptly, studiously avoiding looking at his oldest brother. After all it was the truth: it was the morning chores that had been left.
“You get kept after school or have a note from Miss Jones for me?” Ben asked, this time a little more suspiciously.
“No, sir!” Joe replied, injecting a little righteous indignation into his tone.
“Well, I don’t see why not then, as long as all your chores get done before you go and your homework is finished tonight after supper,” Ben responded, returning to his meal.
Joe’s eyes widened. That wasn’t quite the answer he wanted. He’d planned on a game of checkers with Hoss tonight, not stupid homework. “But Pa, I can do my homework on Sunday, there’s plenty of time and there isn’t much.” It was only a small untruth; a bit of arithmetic and that stupid essay to complete and he didn’t plan on spending long on that.
Ben gestured with his fork and put on his sternest expression. “You’ll no doubt expect to go to the summer picnic on Sunday after church so it’s homework tonight or tomorrow instead of fishing, it’s your choice.”
Joe sighed. “Yes, sir, I’ll do it tonight.” He glanced at his oldest brother; at least he’d got permission for his fishing. Adam looked back with a smug smile but said nothing. Joe desperately wanted to know what Adam had planned for him. It had to be something awful or he would have told Pa about the wood box. Joe decided to keep his head down and think about the essay that he would now have to write.
Miss Jones hadn’t been very specific; the children had a choice of two topics. The first concerned this afternoon’s lesson and was supposed to show how King Arthur’s ideas related to today’s world. Joe couldn’t see how there was any connection at all. The idea of knights and armor and such in Virginia City, or here on the ranch was laughable and as for round tables? He glanced at his father seated at the head of the dining table; Hoss was to his left and Joe to his right with Adam at the other end. There was sure no mistaking who was king at this table and as for everyone having an equal say in what happened …well Pa was, right now, giving Hoss orders on how to deal with a problem at the branding pens and he sure wasn’t asking anyone’s opinion.
The second option gave him no more inspiration either. They were supposed to write about hands. Hands, I mean what a stupid topic. He vaguely toyed with the idea of writing some of the more colorful stuff about the ranch hands but knew before he began that he wouldn’t get away with that. She didn’t mean those sort of hands.
With supper over and the table cleared, Joe headed for the checkers box. He had got as far as placing it on the big oak table in front of the fire before he glanced at his father. Ben was watching with a slightly amused expression.
“Fishing off for tomorrow then, Little Joe. Seems a shame, fish were biting pretty good when I saw Henry Coogan down at the lake this morning.”
Joe groaned. “But, Pa…?”
“I gave you a choice. If this is it, I don’t want to hear a single whine, tomorrow, when Hoss goes fishing alone,” Ben said sternly.
Joe almost slammed his fist against the checkers box, but thought better of it at the last minute. A display of temper was likely to get him sent to bed and then neither checkers nor homework would be done. Maybe if he worked real fast and did as little as possible, he could still get in one game with Hoss. Ben’s next words removed even that possibility.
“Adam, perhaps you wouldn’t mind checking Joe’s work when he’s done. I’d like to finish up on that timber contract.”
Adam nodded and almost chuckled at the look of doom and gloom on his kid brother’s face. He guessed what Joe had planned. “Sure, Pa,”
Hoss, seeing the prospect of a checkers game slip away, picked up the Territorial Enterprise and began scanning the headlines.
Joe sighed and dejectedly made his way back to the dining table to spread out his books. For almost half an hour he applied himself to the arithmetic problems but then as they became more difficult his mind began to wander. Hands, funny things…he thought, everyone’s were different and yet they were all the same in a way too. He looked over at his brothers.
Hoss’s hands, big, meaty and strong and yet so gentle too. He could fight with them, bet he could squeeze the life out of someone if he’d a mind to, but he could also calm a skittish colt or coax a tiny bird back to life.
Adam, with his longer dexterous fingers, could engineer or repair the tiniest detail of a piece of machinery. Artistic hands, which could draw pictures to amuse small brothers and yet still strong enough to do a days work at the forge or in a lumber camp.
Then there was Hop Sing, who’s hands were tiny along side Hoss’s but they could create wonderful meals and mend boys torn clothes so that not even Pa noticed they had been torn.
And Pa…most of all, Pa’s hands were special. They could wipe away a tear and comfort a small boy with nightmares, hold you close so that you knew you were loved and protected. The palms were callused from a lifetime of hard work to support his children and yet those hands were gentle and reassuring to those same sons. Joe grinned. Pa’s hands had another function, too, that he’d rather not think about. They were darned hard when they connected with any part of his sons’ anatomy in anger. Yeah, Pa’s hands could sure warm the seat of a fella’s pants real good and that was likely to happen if he didn’t get back to his work.
Adam saw Joe’s faraway look and guessed he was having trouble. He closed his book and strolled over to lean at Joe’s side. “Stuck with something?” he asked quietly.
Joe looked up. Yeah, he was stuck but did he really need an Adam style professorship lecture on long division or percentages. He sighed. If he didn’t get help on these last two problems he’d be here all night and there was still that darned essay. “I’ve done most of it but I don’t understand these last two.” He admitted.
Adam eased out the chair beside his brother and read the paper. “So what’s different about them?” He asked.
Joe almost groaned. He wanted help, like answers, not a quiz session. Then he read the question again and frowned. “I dunno, those were all numbers these got a lotta words and stuff.”
“Yes,” Adam responded” but they aren’t different problems.”
Joe’s disgusted expression deepened. “Then how come, I can’t do ’em,” he grumbled.
“Because you’re not taking in what it says. If I said two plus two you’d have no problem, right?” Adam wrote 2 + 2 on the paper.”
Now Joe really lost it. “You dumb or something, course I could do it.”
“Okay, how about if I wrote this then: Hoss has two apples and you give him two more, how many does he have now?”
Joe looked up at his older brother and grinned. “None, he’s ate ’em all.” Then light dawned. “You mean all I got to do is read the question and put in the numbers?”
Adam smiled. “Well, these are a bit more difficult than two plus two but basically, yes. Here, let me give you a hand.”
Together the two brothers solved the problems in no time, Joe working and Adam prompting him where to look for the figures he needed.
“Is that it or you got any more stuff to do?” Adam asked.
Joe mumbled under his breath and glanced at his father who had his head buried in contracts.
Adam followed his brother’s glance. “He’s not gonna let you go fishing unless it’s all done and if you try and deceive him you’ll be in big trouble, boy.”
Joe gave a deep pained sighed. “I got one of Miss Jones’s stupid essays to write,” he complained, then went on to explain the topics.
Adam frowned. “You got any ideas?”
Joe shook his head at first then decided to tell Adam what he had been thinking about hands. Adam listened and nodded approvingly. “Well, it’s an idea but now you need to develop it more. Write down all the stuff you told me, don’t worry about what it looks like for now and maybe as you write more ideas will come.” He got up and left Joe scribbling furiously.
Adam wandered over to the fireplace. Miss Jones sure came up with some weird ideas, a lot of them far in advance of the type of student in the class. He could imagine how some of the boys had reacted to the homework. Like Joe, they would dismiss it as impossible. He smiled over at his little brother’s curly head bent over his paper. He wished there were something he could do to ease this one for him. Pa had been adamant that the work had to be finished and it was most unlikely that Joe would come up with anything that would pass muster as an essay tonight.
Twenty minutes or so later Adam noticed Joe was once again staring into space. He wandered over and read over his brother’s shoulder. Once or twice he had to ask what on earth a word was as Joe’s writing was atrocious but the ideas were good.
“Hey, that’s not bad,” Adam complimented him.
“Yeah, but I don’t know how to end it,” Joe grumbled glancing at his father.
Adam thought for a minute. “Perhaps it would help to leave it for a while and come back to it fresh on Sunday night,” he grinned.
Joe looked up at his older brother with scorn and pointed with his pencil toward the back of his father’s chair. “Huh, and no fishin’,” he muttered softly.
Adam winked at him. “Hey, Pa, Joe’s pretty much finished his homework but he needs to take a break before writing it up neat. He could do that Sunday, couldn’t he?”
Ben half turned in his chair, “You sure that’s all it needs?” he asked sternly eyeing both sons.
“Uh huh! Just a few adjustments here and there, shouldn’t take more than ten minutes, Sunday night.” Adam replied.
Joe held his breath. If Pa said yes there would be time for at least one checkers game. It never took him long to beat Hoss.
Ben gave it some thought, then nodded. Joe had been pretty good. He hadn’t heard much sighing and moaning as was often the case with his youngest son when there was an unpleasant task to be completed. “Very well, but you finish it off right after the picnic.”
Joe scrambled to collect his books into an untidy heap. “Thanks, Pa.” He turned to his brother and winked. “Thanks, Adam, for helping me with the arithmetic,” he said, although both knew that wasn’t quite what he meant.
Joe had been in bed for about ten minutes when there was a quiet tap at his door. He knew by the footsteps, it had to be Adam. Maybe now he’d find out what all the pleasantries had been about.
Adam came in and sat on his little brother’s bed.
Joe grinned. “Okay, whaddya want?”
Adam looked hurt. “What makes you think I want something? Can’t I give my little brother a helping hand without wanting something?”
Joe let loose with his infectious giggle. “Not often and you said you had an errand for me. You wouldn’t have helped with chores and lied to Pa without a good reason.”
Adam put on his sternest expression. “I did not lie to Pa. I just didn’t cover everything,” he excused himself.
“Hah! Can’t see that one working if I tried it,” Joe complained. “C’mon, what am I gonna have to do for all these chores and big favors?”
“Weeell…” Adam started. “It’s nothing awful, I promise.”
Joe raised an eyebrow.
“You know Maggie Barnes, don’t you?”
Joe began to smile, “Sure I know Maggie, she’s in my class at school…”
“She’s a nice girl. You do like her don’t you?”
Joe waited a moment as if considering his answer, “I guess Maggie’s okay, bit quiet but yeah, I like her. Why?”
“I was thinking that you haven’t said that you are taking anyone to the picnic,” Adam said slowly.
Joe’s eyes began to light up as he became even more certain that he knew where his older brother was heading. “Nope, I was kinda keeping things open. There’s a few girls I might go with, I was figuring on choosing at church tomorrow.”
Adam shook his head with a smile. Typical Joe, he wasn’t being conceited just honest. There were probably half a dozen girls waiting on Joe’s choice and another half dozen boys waiting to see who wasn’t chosen so they could offer their invitations to the rejected ones. “Well, if you haven’t decided I thought maybe you could ask Maggie,” he suggested.
“Maggie…hmmm…not exactly the prettiest girl in town, is she?” Joe complained. “Bit plain and spends all her time with her head in a book. So why’d you want me to ask Maggie…” he grinned wickedly “Got anything to do with her having a real pretty big sister?”
“C’mon Joe,” Adam pleaded. “I asked Cindy and she said yes, but her mother said she’s got to take Maggie along because she doesn’t have anyone to go with.”
Joe leaned back against the bed head and put his hands behind his head. It wasn’t often his older brother needed a favor and he was going to milk this one for all it was worth. “I’m not sure. I was thinking of going with Lizzie or maybe Maryann. I suppose I could go with Maggie but she’s not so much fun…”
Adam started to get angry. He knew Joe was playing him along and it was tempting to threaten but he thought he’d try another route first. “I might be able to help you with a little spending money. You must be short since Pa stopped your allowance for that broken window.”
Joe pursed his lips as if considering the offer. “How much?” He finally said, one eyebrow raised.
“Well, say three dollars,” Adam suggested.
“Make it five and you got a deal,” Joe responded.
“Why you little…” Adam’s temper now began to rise rapidly in the face of Joe’s arrogance. “Just remember you owe me several favors as it is. I’ll just have to tell Pa, about a few things. Won’t I? Like how your essay needs a lot more work.”
Joe grinned. “Yeah, and how you lied to him about it a while back.” Then seeing Adam’s temper mounting beyond what was considered safe, he moderated his demands. “Why not split the difference? Four dollars and Pa stays in the dark about my homework?” he suggested, knowing that at fourteen to Adam’s twenty-six, he’d come off a lot worse in any encounter with Pa.
Adam sighed and reached into his back pocket. “Four dollars and you spend the whole day with Maggie and you ask her first thing at church,” he instructed.
Joe grinned triumphantly and took the money.
Adam scowled. “You back out on the deal and you won’t live to your next birthday.”
Joe kept his grin as Adam left the room. Easy way to make four dollars. He’d find a way to solve the problem of Maggie at the picnic. He had no intention of spending the whole day with her. He turned his thoughts to Maggie’s older sister. Now, there was a pretty girl, he wouldn’t mind taking her to the picnic. He giggled as he thought of maybe hanging around Adam and Cindy and annoying them on Sunday.
Saturday’s fishing was good and Joe enjoyed the time with his friends and his big brother. He knew he could always rely on Hoss to help him out. He waited until Hoss was alone and distracted and delighted with a huge fish that he had just caught and then slyly made his move.
“Hey, Hoss, you taking anyone to the picnic tomorrow?” he asked casually.
Hoss shook his head. “I ain’t asked no one. I was thinkin’ of maybe talkin’ to Miss Jane but…”
Joe grinned. If Hoss were only thinking about it then it would be another month before he got up the courage to do it and he was still calling the girl Miss Jane too. This would be easy. “I was just wonderin’, maybe you’d like to stick around with me? I ain’t asked anyone yet either and we could make a team at horseshoes.”
Hoss eyed him suspiciously. It was most unlike Joe not to have several girls hanging on his every word. “You sure?” he asked, screwing his face up in an effort to work out whether his little brother was playing a trick on him. “Whaddya want me around for?”
Joe shrugged. “Just thought it’d be good to be just us fellas for once. It ain’t as if Pa’s gonna let me stay around late. I still got that homework to finish.” He gave a deep sigh as if the troubles of the world were on his shoulders. “Course if you don’t wanna be with me…” he trailed off as though terribly hurt by Hoss’s reluctance.
“No, no, it ain’t that. Joe,” Hoss protested. “I guess I was surprised you wasn’t goin’ with no one. I’ll come with ya.”
Joe hid his grin and baited his hook for his next fish but he’d already caught the one he wanted.
The next morning at church and under Adam’s watchful eye, Joe did his duty and asked Maggie if she’d accompany him to the picnic. Maggie’s eyes had opened wide and she had stuttered an acceptance that almost made Joe laugh. He had made sure that there were no other girls within earshot when he made his offer. The moment Adam’s back was turned he slipped away to explain to Lizzie that he had to spend some time with Maggie because his father wanted him to, out of plain kindness. Lizzie was a little put out at the off hand invitation, but the chance of spending anytime with Joe was worth a short wait. She could at least look superior to all the other girls who had been waiting in line and would now be disappointed.
“Hey, Joe, I thought you wasn’t takin’ no one,” Hoss whispered when Maggie joined them after church.
Joe shrugged. “You don’t mind Maggie being with us, do you? It’s a favor for Adam so he can be alone with Cindy.” Joe rolled his eyes in mock disgust.
Hoss frowned but couldn’t say more as Maggie had moved closer and he didn’t want her to overhear. She was a nice little thing and Hoss couldn’t bear to hurt her feelings, since she was obviously thrilled that Joe had asked her. For half an hour Joe was as good as his word and he paid every bit of attention to Maggie. Adam watched him carefully for signs that he was up to no good, but there were none and when Joe caught the looks he simply smiled back.
Maggie held on to his arm and simpered up at him, she was proud, yet nervous, to be Joe’s date; he’d never asked her before. Once he was sure Adam had relaxed his guard, Joe led Maggie and Hoss around some of the games on offer. Shrugging off some of the more childish ones he settled for a game where the participants had to split a log with an axe, the fastest of the afternoon being the winner. “You could win that, Hoss. Be easy for you.” He turned to Maggie, “Hoss is a champion with an axe. Ain’t ya, Hoss?”
Hoss blushed and coyly looked at Maggie, “I can do pretty good, but I don’t know Joe, some of them loggers bin doing stuff like this longer ‘an me.”
“Oh, please, Hoss,” Maggie implored. “Joe’s told me so much about his big strong brother. I’d love to see you win.”
Joe grinned and nudged his brother, “Go on, big brother. If ya win, we could afford to go buy ice-cream and cake. They got some real special stuff. Proper ice-cream kept cold with ice chips and chocolate cake to go with it.”
Hoss’s eyes lit up, he loved ice-cream and chocolate cake, but ice-cream was expensive and his wages didn’t run to it, especially if he had to treat Joe and Maggie and he couldn’t go there alone. “Well, maybe…”
“I’ll stand ya the entrance fee,” Joe offered generously. After all it was only one of the precious dollars Adam had given him. He handed the dollar to Hoss, “You get two chances for that.” He smiled at Maggie. “You wait here and I’ll go get us some lemonade.”
Maggie started to protest but Joe smiled and held up a hand, “He’ll weasel out if someone don’t keep him in the line and he’ll need a drink to keep him going between turns. We want that ice-cream don’t we?”
Maggie wasn’t so sure that Hoss would give up if she wasn’t there, but she nodded and allowed Joe to head off into the crowd for lemonade. He glanced back once or twice but Hoss and Maggie were deep in conversation and he knew it would be an hour or more before Hoss had completed his two chances. He whistled as he walked, that had been easier than he expected. He knew Hoss was too much of a gentleman and too soft to abandon Maggie, and Adam would by now have slipped away with Cindy to some secluded spot. He was free and clear and could now join Lizzie unhindered.
It was a wonderful picnic and Joe took full advantage of his time with Lizzie. He showed off on many of the sideshows, winning a doll for her at one game and a bag of candy on another. She was his devoted slave and he was looking forward to the reward of a kiss at least. He was just wondering how to draw her away from the crowd to a quiet spot to collect his kisses when a hand came from nowhere to grab his arm. He looked up into the dark smoldering eyes of his older brother.
“Excuse me Elizabeth, but my little brother has other duties to attend to. Perhaps you’d better find another escort,” Adam said politely but firmly.
Lizzie looked from one brother to the other. Adam’s expression made her nervous and she backed away. “Sure, Adam. I’ll see you in school tomorrow, huh, Joe?”
Joe didn’t answer. The grip on his arm had become painful and he could only imagine the pain yet to come.
Adam pulled him around and glared at him, “So…where is Maggie and my four dollars?” he growled.
Joe swallowed hard and tried to look unconcerned. “She’s fine, Adam. She was gettin’ on real well with Hoss and I just slipped away for a few minutes to get them some lemonade. It’s real hot.”
Adam shook his brother until his teeth rattled. “A few minutes, huh? So how come Cindy found her in tears and threatening to go tell her mother that she’d been left alone for over an hour?”
Joe bit his lip and tried to wriggle out of Adam’s grasp. “She was watching Hoss in the logging contest,” he protested.
“Ah, yes…, Hoss! He’s not too happy with you either. You ran out on him and left him with Maggie. He’s not too good with women in tears. Think yourself lucky I found you first.”
At that moment Joe heard a shout that could only be Hoss. Adam was momentarily distracted and Joe took his chance and wrenched his arm free. He ran like a deer, darting in out of the crowds with both brothers in hot pursuit. Knowing he’d never evade both of them in the open, he made the fateful decision to try to lose them by heading for the most crowded part of the picnic grounds: the food tables!
Suddenly, Adam caught a glimpse of Joe and made a dive for him through a gap in the crowd. It was most unfortunate that Widow Hawkins chose that moment to emerge from behind a table with a tray of cakes and pies! Her screams, as she tumbled in a heap with Adam, Joe and a large cream cake, were heard all over town.
Hoss, guessing that where noise and trouble were Joe would be also, ran into the melee from the other direction, grabbing Joe and colliding with Adam who was struggling to his feet as he held out a hand to Widow Hawkins. All four went down, this time with Hoss landing heavily on top of his brother, while Joe attempted to make good his escape.
Joe made all of three steps before he ran up against a broad chest and looked up into the angry eyes of his father.
Ben paced up and down the living room while his three sons fidgeted and tried to look anywhere but at him. “Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?” he growled for the second time. “Answer me!” he shouted; not that he had given them much chance to explain the first time. “You managed to turn a perfectly ordinary summer picnic into a battlefield.”
Joe looked from one brother to the other and decided he’d get in first, since any punishment was likely to come his way no matter who spoke up. “They set on me, Pa,” he protested.
Up to this point Adam had planned on keeping quiet about his deal with Joe, his own part in this fiasco wasn’t without blame, but at this he raised his head and glared at his younger brother.
Hoss was red with the effort of keeping still. He was the injured party, here, and he’d behaved like a gentleman… Well, up to the point he’d grabbed Joe by the collar, he had. He, too, glanced furiously at his younger brother.
Ben simply sighed. “Not without good reason, I’ll be bound,” Ben replied. He turned his angry eyes on Adam. “You’re the oldest, perhaps you’d like to explain?”
Adam hesitated, not sure where to begin to show himself in a good light. Pa was sure to blame him for not taking care of his brothers.
Ben leaned back on his heels and folded his arms across his chest. “Make it good and make it quick. I’m not in the mood for one of your long-winded and convoluted stories. I want the truth and I want it NOW!” he bellowed.
Whoa…Joe moved back a step and glanced at Adam. This was going to take all of Adam’s well known skill at skirting the truth to get him and his older brother off the hook. He reckoned Hoss was probably in the clear but he and Adam had a lot to answer for and it didn’t look good.
Adam rubbed his left ear and then scratched at the stubble on his chin. “You see Pa it was like this…”
Ben listened, questioning now and again and slowly forcing his oldest son to reveal more and more of the story. Joe watched the expressions flitting across his father’s face with alarm. This wasn’t going down well, despite Adam’s best efforts. Pa had a nasty habit of getting at the truth. When Adam had finished speaking an eerie silence descended on the room. The three boys waiting for the axe to fall and Ben made sure they were given the maximum time to examine their consciences. Finally he unfolded his arms and rested his hands on his belt, his thumbs hooked through in a familiar stance. He nodded slowly and looked from one to the others.
“So I have raised two blackmailers, liars and cheats, is that what you are telling me?”
Adam flushed and looked away for a moment then turned back. “That’s a bit strong, Pa. I mean–“
“Yes…” Ben interrupted. “What exactly do you mean? I can see that Hoss has a point in his favor, in that he appears to have been the entirely innocent victim of Joseph’s carefully crafted plan…but you…” He glared at his oldest son. “You blackmailed Joseph into asking Maggie to the picnic, true?
Adam pulled at his ear; he couldn’t deny that. Joe almost smiled, but his expression changed, as his father swung back to him and pointed a finger.
“Of course, if Joseph had done as he was told and completed his chores and his homework,” his dark eyes bored into his youngest son, “then it would have been hard to do. You both lied to me about that. Oh, and I forgot the bribery. Between you, you also lied to Mrs. Barnes and her daughters.” He leaned back on his heels and nodded. “Not a story to be proud of, is it?”
“No, Pa, I guess not,” Adam muttered, shamefacedly.
Ben nodded again. “You will both make your apologies in town, especially to Widow Hawkins. I do not want that hanging over me ever time she sees me.”
Joe remembered the widow with cream in her hair and over her frilly dress and couldn’t help the smile this time. Uh, oh, Pa had noticed it.
“You, Joseph,” Ben wagged his finger under his son’s nose, “will make all this up to Maggie Barnes but not for a while as you will be staying home doing yard chores for the next two weeks.”
Joe sighed. “Yes, sir,” he agreed as he saw his father’s temper was barely contained.
“And you,” Ben pointed at his oldest son, “will do chores for Hop Sing. He’s threatening to leave. Most of the food you ruined was his and he is complaining about the amount of work he put in for nothing. Your task will be to calm him down enough to continue cooking.”
At this statement, Hoss glared at his brothers. “You better make it good. No one cooks like Hop Sing.”
At the kitchen door Hop Sing smiled and retreated again. He’d make Mr Adam pay dearly for ruining his fine baking. Of course he wouldn’t leave but it wouldn’t pay to let the boys know that just yet.
It was a very disgruntled young man who arrived home to start on the dreaded yard chores. Amidst all the confusion Joe completely forgot his homework assignment and Ben was too angry over the picnic to remember it either. It wasn’t until Joe got to school on Monday morning that the omission was discovered. The result was two hundred punishment lines and the essay to complete by the next day. He was somewhat happier, however, once he discovered the chore his older brother had been given by Hop Sing.
He heard the grumbling before he entered the kitchen with a pile of kindling and peeped cautiously around the door. The sight that met him made him giggle. Adam was bent over the stove and he was not just dressed in black, he was black, from head to toe.
“It’s not funny,” Adam grumbled as he looked up from his task and saw Joe. He wiped a hand across his forehead, streaking the soot and blacking even more.
“Supper gonna be late?” Joe asked with a grin.
“Don’t you start. Hoss is bad enough and this is partly your fault anyway,” Adam replied as he applied more blacking to his brush. “It took hours to clean the flue and now he wants it black leaded before he’ll use it.”
“Hoss or Hop Sing?” Joe asked innocently then giggled again.
“Hop Sing, of course. He’s sitting out back waiting for me to finish and he won’t start supper until I do. Hoss keeps coming in and complaining and making it clear he blames me.”
Adam looked so comical and pathetic that Joe decided to take pity on him. “Hey, I’ll make a deal with you.”
Adam eyed him suspiciously. “I seem to recall it was a deal between us that got us into this mess.”
Joe grinned and nodded. “Well, you’re sure in a mess. What I meant this time was I’ll give you a hand with the stove if you help me with the yard chores and my homework. That way Hoss is happy, Hop Sing’s happy and maybe even Pa won’t be so mad.”
Adam conceded that it was a good idea and handed Joe a brush. “Be my guest.”
Joe put on the blacking while Adam polished and then both stood back to admire their work when the stove was gleaming.
“Now let’s get that kindling in here and start the fire,” Adam suggested. “You go tell Hop Sing he can cook before Hoss wastes away from starvation.”
“Sure thing,” Joe chuckled. “Yard chores next then maybe we’ll get to eat.”
“Somebody mention eatin’,” came Hoss’s voice from the doorway.
Joe grinned and nudged Adam. “Well, we could if someone would get this fire started and persuade Hop Sing to cook, but me and ol’ Adam gotta do yard chores yet and that could take maybe another hour.” He sighed and turned on his pathetic puppy dog expression. “See we’ve done the kindlin’ and cleaned it all up but it needs more wood…”
“Well, why didn’t ya say so?” Hoss said and moved like lightening toward the back door. “You go get them yard chores done and I’ll fix the wood box for Hop Sing and ask him to get cookin’ up a storm.”
Adam and Joe managed to contain their laughter until Hoss was outside then they let rip. “I think he’s lending us a hand,” Joe spluttered as he tried to control himself. His eyes lit up, “Hey, that’s it! The ending for my essay! ‘Bout how things go more smoothly, if we lend each other a hand ‘stead of arguing.”
Neither of them saw their father leaning against the doorframe until he spoke. “I agree, young man. I agree.”
The End
