Summary:  Ben resorts to evesdropping…

Rated: K  Word Count:  2275

Lessons Learned 

The intense heat of the day was gone, replaced by the gentle breezes that wafted up from the valley below bringing with them a gentle cool night. The sky sparkled with ten thousand stars and the full moon shone brightly over the yard in front of the sprawling ranch house.

Ben Cartwright stirred from his light slumber as he heard the sound he had been subconsciously waiting for since midnight: the sound of horses in the yard. Three of them to be exact. Content now that his sons were home from their night in town, Ben thought to roll over and go back to sleep but another sound stayed that slumber. The sound of his sons laughing, trying to be quiet about it but not succeeding enough. He heard the barn door creak open, then the unmistakable peal of his youngest son’s laughter followed quickly by twin “shhhs” that had to have come from Adam and Hoss. The sound was cut off with another creak of the barn door closing. Ben grunted to himself Those three. Why didn’t I stop at one son? but there was no heat in this thought, Because life around here would have mighty dull without the other two.

And again he heard the barn door creak open and with it, Ben heard Adam’s deep-throated chuckle. He could hear them coming across the yard, headed for the house and the door left wide open to admit the cool evening breeze.

“Adam, you still got that bottle with you?” he heard Hoss ask, his voice a low rumble. Ben heard Adam’s slow drawl “uh huh” in reply. Then he heard the scrape of chair legs on the front porch. Three separate scrapes. Sounded as if the boys were going to settle back for a little more late night drinking and talking and as their father, Ben thought that perhaps he should listen in. Not eavesdropping necessarily, more like, more like, well…more like gathering information, Ben thought. So as quietly as he could, he donned his robe and left his room, destined for his favorite listening post: the chair behind his desk downstairs.

He took a quick peek out of the small window behind the desk, checking on them. Sure enough, there the three of them were on the porch. He could barely see Adam, all dressed in black as he was. He was there; a deeper shadow at the end of the table that moved and extended a bottle that caught the light of the moon as it was passed to Hoss. Hoss was easy to see not only because of his light colored shirt and hat but also by the sheer bulk of him as he sat on the edge of the porch. Joseph was the easiest of them as he sat in the rocking chair in the full moonlight but Ben couldn’t see what he was doing. Then he heard a thud followed by a sigh and saw Joe lean well back in the rocker and plant his bare feet on the porch upright.

“If you ain’t gonna drink it, Hoss, pass it this way.” The voice belonged to Joseph and Ben settled back to listen. This should be interesting he thought.

“Lord, it was a hot one today, weren’t it?” Hoss sighed.

Ben heard the bottle slide across the tabletop.

“Joe wouldn’t know, Hoss, I think he spent the day at the mill unclogging the sluice on purpose. That water had to be cooler than where I was.”

“Well, Big Brother, it weren’t that cool fixing that line of fence you said two weeks ago was all right. May as well let me have a little of that stuff you twos drinking. My throat got real dry out there today.”

“And just where were you all afternoon, Adam? You certainly didn’t look hot and sweaty to me when we came in for supper. Did he to you Hoss?”

Ben heard Adam’s deep chuckle before his oldest son answered. “Any time you want to sit in on a school board meeting, Little Brother…” And let the sentence dangle.

“No thanks. You can have all of that you want but, Hoss, hand me the bottle before you drink it all. I had enough of school while I was goin’ Adam, I am not willingly goin’ for more.”

“Now who’s drinking it all? Joe, give me back my bottle! But as for school, that new teacher sure is a pretty little thing. Long blonde hair, pert little nose…”

“Is she the one I saw you with the other day?” And Hoss started to chuckle. And Ben heard Adam’s “uh huh” again then the thunk thunk of two booted feet coming to rest on the tabletop.

“Well now, Joe. Adam was right about her. She do have a pert little nose. But it is a crying shame that she’s got them bugged out eyes behind them glasses that are thicker than a beer mug’s bottom” and all three of them started to laugh.

Joe was the first to sound the “shhhh” command. “Pa’ll hear us for sure.”

“Naw, doubt that. He’s probably been asleep for hours. You’ll note that the lamp over by his chair is out. That means he went upstairs to bed instead of waiting for you two lunkheads to come home.” Adam drawled and Ben heard “ahh, good whiskey.”

“Did you hear what I just did, Little Brother? Our dearly beloved older brother just called us ‘lunkheads’.”

“Yeah, that’s one of those fancy college words he knows. Glad to see something came out of all that learnin’. Pass the bottle, Adam.”

Ben caught Hoss’ chortle as he said, “ Better pick up some speed there, Joe.”

“Yeah, you probably had too much as it is, both of you. Hoss, is that bottle empty?

Already?” and Adam sounded a bit miffed.

“Well, it will be now.” Ben stood up and looked out the window again just in time to see his baby boy tilt his head back and drain the last of the bottle down his throat. He was of a mind to go out there right then and there and have words with his sons. Whiskey! And from the sounds of it they had been at it for some time. But they were men, he reminded himself, grown men, even that ‘baby boy’ of his! He sat back down, intent on keeping his temper and just listening.

“Hey now. I wasn’t anywhere near finished drinking..”

“Then just hush up Adam. I just happen to know exactly where there is another bottle. And better stuff than this, I might add.” Joe’s voice was not even in the least slurred.

“If you are referring to the bottle in the back of the hall closet, how are you gonna get to it? You have to go right by Pa’s room. As hot as it is, you know his door is open.” Hoss hissed.

“Yeah, that’s the one and yeah, I can get it.” Ben wondered suddenly how they knew about the bottle in the first place. And who had put it there? Didn’t matter, as what he wanted to know was how Joseph was going to get it.

“How?” was the word chorused between Hoss and Adam and echoed in Ben’s head.

“Way I used to get out of the house for ages before Pa decided I was big enough to go into town at night on my own. Through the window.”

“But Joe, you got a long drop down from your window to the ground.”

“That’s why it wasn’t my window I went out of.” And in the long silence that followed Ben could almost envision his two other sons’s looking at one another, their faces question marks. “Yours, Adam, yours. After all, it looks right out over the roof and has that rain gutter handy to shimmy down to the ground.”

“Fine. So you got out of my window but we are talking about you getting back in.”

“Well, most of the time I didn’t worry about getting back in. Just came home, did my chores and walked in the house for breakfast. Simple as that! And you all would think I had been up for hours. I had been, really. Lots of hours.” Inside the house Ben closed his eyes and shook his head in amazement. That Joseph….

“I am not going to wait that long, Joe. Now you said you could do it, so do it!”

“Okay, okay.” And once again Ben looked out the window to see what was going on. He saw Joe pad barefoot across the porch, grab hold of the overhang and pull himself up onto the roof. Ben heard his two brothers whistle softly in amazement as a soft scurry sound came from overhead. Within two ticks of the grandfather clock, Ben saw Joe’s feet come down over the edge of the roof and Ben sat back down, afraid to be discovered.

The sound of hands catching solid glass followed by a soft ka-thump told Ben that Joseph had been successful.

“Now that, my dear little brother, was amazing. And to consider Hoss, that here he has been hiding such talent all a long.” Adam teased as Ben heard a bit of back slapping then the scraping of the rocking chair and knew that Joe had returned to his kicked back position of earlier.

“I propose a toast,” Hoss said, “To the best pair of brothers a man could have.”

The other two agreed and there was silence as the bottle was past around.

Joe broke the silence first. “Yeah I guess I have had it pretty good with you two as brothers. After all, I learned so much from the two of you.”

“Certainly not grammar.” Adam smooth baritone accused.

“Maybe not grammar but as I recall, oh Older Brother, you took me into my first saloon and bought me my first beer.” Ben smiled in the darkness, remembering that it had to have been followed by the first hangover. The hangover had been not been overlooked but as Ben recalled, he could not get from his youngest how he came to have it in the first place. Now, years too late, he knew.

“And you brother Hoss, I recall you showing our mischievous little brother a few things too. Like short sheeting my bed on more than one occasion. Teaching him how to while away his days fishing.”

There was pride in Hoss’ voice when he said “Yeah I reckon I did at that. And that ain’t all I showed…” and then stopped himself from going further.

“Good move, Hoss. Up to now, ol Adam thinks I am the one behind it all, like the outhouse door being blocked. You say anymore and he is bound to figure it out that I ain’t the only one.”

“And for that little buddy, here, have another swig of Pa’s good whiskey. I am man enough to admit that I have learned some things from you as well, Joseph.”

“Like what? Besides how to get into and out of the house now without using the door.”

Ben leaned close to the window now, wanting to hear every word. So intent was he that he almost knocked over some books there on the bookshelf.

“Well, like how to tell Pa just a piece of the truth and get away with it when he catches you out. I must admit that I am not nearly as good at it as you are but I am working on it.”

“Practice, Adam, practice is all the difference between you and me.”

“That and about a dozen years and forty pounds and six inches. Joe, gimmee that bottle dadburn it.”

“I thought you weren’t gonna drink with us tonight, Hoss. Way you been hitting that bottle, could have fooled me. Don’t go getting drunk on me and Joe. I doubt if we could get you upstairs.”

“Oh no? It might be easier than getting you upstairs and in bed. Last time Joe and I had to hold you up on your horse all the way from Washoe Road junction, drag your sorry butt across the yard and upstairs without waking Pa. And all you wanted to do was sing some sea song.”

Joe gave a little giggle. “Oh yeah and I remember some of the words to that little “operatic” piece too. Those weren’t words you learned in church, were they?”

“Speaking of getting upstairs to bed, guess we had better get there. Both bottles are empty.” Ben made out the sounds of chairs straightening up and feet hitting the porch floor. There wasn’t enough time for him to get up the steps and into his room before they made it into the house so he just stayed where he was, in the shadows in the study.

They made their entry quietly, closing the door behind them, hanging their hats up and curling their gunbelts before placing them on the bureau. Joe went over and dropped his boots behind the settee before heading for the stairs, running his hand through his thick curls. Hoss was yawning and stretching both huge arms as if to encompass the world. Adam was doing his best to get the kinks from out of his back as he headed after his brothers up the stairs.

As they went up the stairs, they were saying good night to one another softly. Joe hit the top of the stairs first and called back over his shoulder at the same time Adam and Hoss said it as well:

“Good night, Pa”