Summary: \u00a0An old short story, which I was inspired\u00a0to post by the Dan Blocker Literary Birthday Challenge. \u00a0It was originally written in response to a challenge to use the word “preprandial” in a story.<\/p>\n
Rating: K \u00a0 Word Count: 770<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Tiny Preprandial Tale<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Hoss Cartwright ran his index finger under his tight collar as he and his older brother walked toward one of Virginia City\u2019s largest mansions.\u00a0 \u201cDoggone it, Adam, I ain\u2019t for sure it\u2019s a good idee, invitin\u2019 me to this shindig with your fancy friends.\u00a0 You\u2019d\u2019ve been a heap better off askin\u2019 Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd spend the whole evening rescuing him from the clutches of one conniving charmer after another?\u201d\u00a0 Adam massaged his throat as if to dislodge something choking him. \u00a0\u201cNo, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThought Joe was the conniving charmer,\u201d Hoss chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cGood point,\u201d Adam admitted with an arch of his eyebrow, \u201cbut it really doesn\u2019t matter whether I\u2019m rescuing him from the ladies or the ladies from him.\u00a0 Either way, it adds up to an evening that is nothing like the one I have planned.\u00a0 You, I can trust.\u201d\u00a0 He lifted the silver knocker and let it drop.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, but\u2014\u201d\u00a0 Hoss broke off as the door opened, and a butler in a swallow-tailed coat admitted them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll be fine,\u201d his older brother assured him.\u00a0 \u201cJust relax and let yourself enjoy the evening\u2014and if you have any doubts, simply follow my lead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFollow your lead, huh?\u201d\u00a0 Hoss still looked dubious.<\/p>\n Walking down the short hallway, Adam gave the broad shoulder at his side a light, but supportive clap.\u00a0 \u201cExcept when you\u2019re dancing,\u201d he chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cThen you lead.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI can handle the dancing just fine, older brother.\u00a0 It\u2019s all them fancy forks at dinner I worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMove from the outside in,\u201d Adam advised.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s all there is to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss took a deep, bolstering breath and followed Adam into the elegantly appointed drawing room of the mining superintendent\u2019s home.\u00a0 Adam greeted the host and hostess with suave courtesy, while Hoss stammered a hesitant howdy and kept right at his brother\u2019s heels as Adam moved around the room, speaking to other friends and acquaintances.<\/p>\n A waiter passed by and extended a tray of tidbits to the Cartwright brothers.\u00a0 Adam took a small dish and placed two triangles of caviar-topped toast on it.\u00a0 Hoss did the same, except he took four.\u00a0 \u201cThis ain\u2019t dinner, is it?\u201d he whispered to his older brother.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course not.\u00a0 It\u2019s a preprandial hors d\u2019oeurve,\u201d Adam replied.\u00a0 \u201cAn appetizer,\u201d he amplified in response to Hoss\u2019s mystified expression.<\/p>\n \u201cOh.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss still looked befuddled.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t see how them little things could satisfy any man\u2019s appetite.\u201d\u00a0 He popped one in his mouth.\u00a0 \u201cKinda salty, and that just makes me hungry,\u201d he reported.<\/p>\n Adam rolled his eyes, wondering if, after all, he might have been better off inviting Little Joe.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s the idea\u2014to whet your appetite, not satiate it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh!\u00a0 In that case, it works right well.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss grinned and popped in another toast triangle.\u00a0 \u201cThree-inch steak would work better, but\u201d\u2014he choked when Adam elbowed him hard in the ribcage.<\/p>\n \u201cGood evening, Melinda,\u201d Adam said to a young lady with light auburn curls flowing over bare porcelain shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cHave you met my brother Eric?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy, no, I haven\u2019t had the pleasure,\u201d Melinda said, dimpling as she smiled at Hoss.\u00a0 She rested a slender hand on his forearm.\u00a0 \u201cMy, they grow them big in Nevada, don\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly some of them.\u201d\u00a0 Adam attempted to nudge Hoss aside, but the big man wouldn\u2019t budge.\u00a0 He just kept staring into her luminous violet eyes.<\/p>\n Melinda dipped her chin demurely, cocked her head to one side and looked up from beneath long, dark lashes.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s how I like them.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss flicked a nervous tongue across his lower lip.\u00a0 \u201cYou had any of these pre\u2014prepran\u2014what\u2019d you call \u2018em, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOers d\u2019oeurves,\u201d Adam said tersely.<\/p>\n \u201cAppetizers,\u201d Hoss explained with a broad smile at the lady.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019s just meant to whet your appetite, not satisfy it.\u00a0 Try one.\u201d\u00a0 He held out his plate to Melinda.<\/p>\n Melinda took a nibble, obviously savoring the expensive caviar.\u00a0 \u201cUm, delicious.\u201d\u00a0 She hooked her arm through Hoss\u2019s elbow.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps we could find some more?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, ma\u2019am!\u201d\u00a0 Hoss scanned the room, sighted the waiter and with an enthusiastic bounce in his step steered Melinda toward culinary satisfaction\u2014and, he hoped, satisfaction of a different sort for himself.<\/p>\n Left palm resting against his cheek, Adam gaped as they walked away.\u00a0 \u201cI guess I should have brought Little Joe after all,\u201d he mused softly.\u00a0 \u201cAt least, when he gets taken in by a woman\u2019s charms, I can toss him over my shoulder and lug him home!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: \u00a0An old short story, which I was inspired\u00a0to post by the Dan Blocker Literary Birthday Challenge. \u00a0It was originally written in response to a challenge to use the word “preprandial” in a story.<\/p>\n Rating: K \u00a0 Word Count: 770<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":10198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[8,40],"tags":[148],"class_list":["post-10197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","category-challenges","tag-dblc","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Hoss-Emily.jpg?fit=328%2C253&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}