Ponderosa – Present

 

Little Joe noted the look of concern on his pa’s face as Adam finished reading the letter. There was something familiar about that name, and as Adam continued to speak, the pieces of distant memories started to come together in his mind. A letter from Adam—Pa was worried. Packing quickly—a long trip. He and Hoss were left with friends—Pa was gone a long time—he was sad when he came back. Little Joe’s thoughts were interrupted when Hoss spoke.

“Hey, Pa, that name, Sissy. Does this have anything to do with the time you left Little Joe and me in New Orleans?”

The look of regret in his pa’s eyes answered the question for Little Joe. He’d only been about eight-years-old at the time. Through bits and pieces of adult conversation, he’d picked up on the fact that something had happened to Adam; although, his pa would never say just what it was. He’d hoped that maybe Adam would be coming home with his pa, but it was still several years before he saw his older brother again.

Seeing his brother standing there now, twisting the letter nervously in his hands, his travel bag at his feet, Little Joe feared he was going to lose him again. He glanced anxiously across the room at his middle brother.

Hoss was sitting on the hearth, elbows on his knees, staring intently at his clasped hands. He’d been waiting for this ever since Little Joe had found that letter. When he’d looked over his brother’s shoulders while Joe had been reading, he’d scanned to the bottom of the letter and seen the signature. The minute he saw Sissy’s name, his heart had sunk.

Things hadn’t been the same for a long time after Hoss had heard that name the first time. The long trip across country after Adam’s letter had arrived might have been a fun and adventurous time had the circumstances been different. But it hadn’t been fun at all. Pa was constantly worried, and there was never time to see or enjoy anything; always in a hurry to get to the next stop. Then Little Joe had gotten sick and their pa had detoured to leave them with some friends in Louisiana. When Pa had finally come back, it was deep into wintertime and they had remained in New Orleans until the following spring. That winter had been one of the worst ones Hoss had ever known. Pa was solemn and quiet, often pacing for hours at a time in the living room of the small home he’d purchased. All he’d told Hoss was that Adam was in a bad way, and that only time would tell the outcome .

They didn’t get any letters from Adam for a long time, but he knew his pa was still getting word of him somehow. Then, finally, one day in April, Pa had received a letter from Adam that made some of the deep edges of sadness around his eyes ease. He’d sold their little house the next week, and they’d headed back to the Ponderosa. Adam was supposed to have graduated from the University of Virginia that May, but it was three more years before he finally came back home. Hoss had blamed whatever happened with the mysterious Sissy for the delay, and here he was fifteen years later, about to lose his brother again.

To the same dad-blamed girl twice!