Chapter 6 Discomfort Zones

            “Ow, ow, ow.” As Adam tried to sit up in the bed, the muscles in his back spasmed again objecting to nearly a week of twelve-hour days. He wanted more than anything to slip into a warm bath to let the warm water soak away his soreness. That’s what he wanted, but his mistake had been lying down in this soft bed first. As he lay there, he could picture the scene when he had last seen his father. Standing on the porch, fists on hips and eyebrows arched with the scowl firmly in place, Ben Cartwright had slowly surveyed his three sons.

“So, all of you think the others have it easier than you. Maybe, you ought to switch jobs and see how easy your brother has it. Hoss, you’re going to Fort Carson instead of Joe. You need to convince the Army to give us three more weeks to send the horses we contracted to send. We don’t have enough time to green-break the number they wanted. If they won’t give more time, then reduce the number we’ll sell. Joe, you’re going to Sacramento in Adam’s place. You’ll be there for the railroad meetings that set all the specifications, prices, and penalties that they have for the next bid process. Pack your best suit and get the best set you can for us to make the next bid for a contract.” Looking at Adam, Ben was almost smirking. “You get to go with Hoss’ friend Rafe and cut a new logging road from our property to the river over the right-of-way you negotiated so that we could do more logging. Then ride a raft downriver to make sure the way is clear for us to send logs.” Before stomping back into the house, Ben had set a deadline. “I expect to see you back here in a week to get ready for the cattle drive.”

So after hours of riding that first day, Adam had worked with Rafe downing trees with a large crosscut saw as they cut trees to make a corridor large enough for the teamsters to drive wagons from the Ponderosa to the river. They were working on land for which he had recently acquired a right-of-way so that the Ponderosa could log in more remote areas of the ranch. Once the crude road was cut, he had thought the ride downriver would let him recover, but instead he and Rafe muscled the raft fighting the current that wanted to push them into rocks or shallow areas. He lay in bed as his muscles protested, his stomach growled, and his head hurt. Then, he remembered flipping off the raft as they coasted over a rapids until the raft collided with a rock that turned the raft around in circles. He had tumbled into the rough water slamming into rocks or scraping by them until Rafe was able to snag him with a logging hook and pull him back to the raft. To add to his indignity, once they arrived in town, Rafe had climbed aboard a wagon to ride with the loggers back to the newly opened cutting. He had given Adam a parting shot.

“You did all right, but next time, send Hoss.”

As Adam struggled to get off the bed and go to the washroom in the hotel, he was thinking that he would be more than happy to do that if he could ever get out of that bed. To meet the deadline, he had to be home the next day, and he knew his father would be upset if he was late. He hoped his brothers had done better so that his father would be pleased with those efforts and less likely to berate his oldest son. Well before dawn the next day, he saddled a horse he purchased, mounted up stiffly, and rode out of town as fast as he could go without causing pain to shoot up and down his legs and into his lower back. He guessed that if all went well and if he didn’t stop for meals, he could be home in about fourteen hours.

Many miles away, Hoss would have been happy to do bring good news home with him, but arguing with Army officers was like trying to convince cougars that rabbits were their friends. They had an idea and weren’t about to change it.

“Mr. Cartwright, you promised fifty horses by the fifteenth. Now you want more time or for us to take fewer horses. That is unacceptable.”

“It may not be acceptable, but it’s what’s gonna happen. We ain’t got the horses green broke yet so ifn ya want em by the fifteenth, it’s take half of what you ordered, or give us the extra time, and we’ll have all fifty green-broke for ya.” This constant battling back and forth gave Hoss a headache, sitting in a ladder back chair for hours at a time made his back hurt, and the food was worse than trail drive beans and bacon. Hoss longed for one of Hop Sing’s home-cooked meals and could almost taste it by thinking about it. He had no idea how his Pa and Adam would go to these meetings and come back with a smile. Adam had told him it was like playing poker, watching for tells, letting them win a little, and bluffing when you had to until you pulled in the pot. Hoss couldn’t see how anything this frustrating could be compared to a game, but his brother Adam was always thinking strange things. Then Hoss was harshly brought back to reality by the major again.

“Are you listening to me? Your terms are unacceptable. You need to offer us a reasonable alternative.”

It had gone on and on like that until Hoss wore them down by sheer persistence. With a lot of grumbling, he got the new contract with the additional three weeks, but there were also some stiff penalties included if they missed the new deadline. They would have to put off the preparations for the cattle drive, and his father would be very unhappy with that. Aw heck, Hoss was thinking he’d likely be furious. He hated it when his father was angry with him. All he wanted to do was do a good job and see his father smile. This was not going to be one of those times. After two days of riding and three days of endless frustration, he packed his saddlebags early in the sixth morning and headed home hoping his brothers had better news so his father wouldn’t be in a foul mood when Hoss had to deliver his results by the end of the next day.

On the seventh day, Hoss and Joe were still in the stable taking care of their horses when Adam rode in with a lathered mount. He dismounted and nearly fell. Hoss was dismayed at the condition of the horse as well as the weakness of his brother.

“Adam, you been drinking? I never seen you push a horse this hard or nearly fall on your backside when you had all your senses.”

“I didn’t want Pa to be mad because I was late. It’s bad enough that I got home last. I didn’t want to be late too. I’ve got about enough energy to walk to the house and flop in a chair.”

“You got the road cut, didn’t you?”

“Well, the trees are cut clear through to our land, but there will have to be some additional work so that any of the loaded wagons don’t get stumped.”

“Why you looking like you got in a fight with a grizzly and lost?”

“After four days of sawing from dawn to dusk to make the cut, we took a raft down the river. I fell off and smacked up against about half the rocks between here and there before Rafe snagged me and hauled me back up on the raft. At least I got the minimum done that Pa ordered. By the way, Rafe wants you next time we have a project like that.”

“He said that?”

“He said I did all right but that next time we had to send you.”

“You just saying that cause ya don’t want to have to cut with Rafe again?”

“No, it’s the truth. He thinks you do better work than I do.”

Proud that Rafe had said that, Hoss still had to tell his tale of woe to the others especially noting that they had three more weeks to complete the contract but serious penalties for being late and/or short on delivery. “Those Army men are just not reasonable.”

Joe had only one question. “Did you buy a bottle and set it on the table when you started negotiating?”

“Course not, Joe. Drinking is for after you’re done with your work.”

“Well, that’s what they were waiting for. One bottle on the table, a couple of glasses, and an hour later, you could have told them what the contract was going to say.”

“Joe, why didn’t you tell me that before I went to the fort?”

“We were supposed to be finding out what the other brothers did. I figured you would use your extra years of experience and your wisdom of being older to do better than me, not worse.”

“It ain’t funny, Joe, and you don’t have to act uppity with me. I would have told you if there was a trick you needed to know.”

“Hoss, I wish you would have told me I needed two more men to get that road cut in less than a week.”

“I really am sorry, Adam. I guess I thought you would know that.”

Joe was grinning by the time his brothers finished their sad tales and commentary. “It couldn’t have gone better for me. Adam, I don’t know why you always complain after these trips, and I didn’t need any special tips from you to get it done either. I had a great time in Sacramento. I told those railroad men that there was no reason to sit in some stuffy old offices and talk. They liked my idea. We went to some fine establishments, we had drinks, and we had some entertainment. We talked some too of course, and yesterday morning, they gave me sheets of all those things Pa wanted. I got them all here in this envelope.”

Adam had to ask. “You didn’t ask them to lower the penalties, raise the prices they pay to us, and set more reasonable deadlines and specifications?”

“No, they said they’d do the best they could for us because we’ve been such great suppliers in the past. I trust them, Adam, and they trust me. They’re really great guys. For three days, I’d buy the first round, and they would always buy every round after that no matter how late it got.”

Joe’s naiveté in dealing with cutthroat railroad barons both shocked and amused Adam and Hoss. They wanted to say something about how difficult he had just made the bidding process for them, but the humor of the situation after all they had been through for the previous week overwhelmed their concerns. Adam started laughing first as Hoss tried but couldn’t help but join in. Soon Adam was so weak with laughter that he had to rest his head on Hoss’ shoulder. Hoss was sitting on a bale of hay, which was fortunate because he probably would have fallen to the ground otherwise as his stable rattling guffaws poured out. Once the two brothers got back some control, Hoss wrapped an arm around Adam’s shoulders as they stood and then headed to the house. “Pa’s gonna think we done great once he hears from Joe. This all worked out jim dandy for us.”

“Hoss, we need to tell our stories first. If Joe talks first, Pa will blow and never even care how we did. How about if we do it by age with the oldest first?”

“That sounds real good to me, older brother, real good. You think Joe’s gonna get that finger of doom pointed at him?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“What’s so funny, and why is Pa going to be mad? And why shouldn’t I go first? Why’s Pa going to blow? Why would he be pointing the finger at me? I did the best of all three of us, didn’t I?”

From his study window, Ben watched as his sons trudged toward the house with Joe looking most worried of all. He was a bit upset and yet felt a certain satisfaction in knowing he had taught them all a valuable lesson even though Joe didn’t know it yet. Crow was being served, and the master chef was proud of his work.