{"id":10357,"date":"2012-09-07T17:18:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=10357"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:22:07","slug":"hide-and-seek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=10357","title":{"rendered":"Hide and Seek (by bahj)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>: Be careful what games you play!<\/p>\n

Rated: Family Friendly \/ Word count: 1074<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HIde and Seek<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam reached out for the door knob and sent out yet another silent prayer.
\n\u201cPlease, please, let him be in here,\u201d he plead desperately.
\nAdam had checked the entire house and the barn twice. He had checked the outhouse, the corral, the bunkhouse, and even gone down as far as the lake. He\u2019d called out until he was almost hoarse, but there was absolutely no sign of his curly haired, bright eyed, ten year old brother.
\nHe practically tore the room apart, but he\u2019d known before he started searching here that he would find nothing.
\nHe let his head drop into his hands and moaned loudly.
\n\u201cI\u2019m dead!\u201d he thought. \u201cPa, is gonna kill me!\u201d
\nSlowly he picked himself up and made his way out the door and down the stairs. He would just have to keep looking; there was nothing else to do\u2026<\/p>\n

Hoss peeked out from his partially open door and waited until he was sure Adam was gone before he motioned for Joe to follow him. Together they snuck into the room Adam had just searched and closed the door. Joe started to giggle and Hoss shushed him. \u201cHush up, Joe,\u201d he whispered. \u201cYou want Adam to hear you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Hoss,\u201d Joe said after he\u2019d composed himself. \u201cDon\u2019t you think maybe we should tell Adam now? He\u2019s been looking for almost three hours already.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe, if you show yourself now even I won\u2019t be able to save you,\u201d Hoss answered seriously. \u201cYou\u2019d better just wait until Pa gets back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe sighed but nodded his head in agreement. Truth be told he was starting to get tired of hiding; although it had been his idea to begin with. Last week he had overheard his oldest brother after church bragging to some of his friends how he managed to get in a little quiet time. He\u2019d explained to them that whenever Joe asked him to play hide-and-seek he always said yes and then would wait twenty or thirty minutes before he started looking for him. Joe had been furious and vowed to get even. It had taken him days to come up with a plan and then another few before Pa and Hop Sing would be gone long enough for him to pull it off. When he\u2019d told Hoss his plan and his reason for doing it, Hoss had agreed that Adam needed to be taught lesson.<\/p>\n

Earlier that day\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBoys,\u201d Ben said to his sons at the breakfast table. \u201cI have to go into town today for a business meeting and Hop Sing is going with me to pick up some supplies and say hello to a few of his relatives. I trust you can all be responsible and get your chores done before you make any plans for the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe noticed the look his Pa gave Adam. It was that look he always gave him before he went away. The one that said Adam was really supposed to be the responsible one.
\nBen left about an hour later and Joe and Hoss worked quickly to get all there chores done. They both knew there would probably be some small penalty to pay for their prank and they didn\u2019t want to be in trouble with Pa for not getting their work done.<\/p>\n

They finished in record time and giving each other a sneaky smile, set things in motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Adam,\u201d Joe called out entering the barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, what,\u201d answered Adam jovially.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wanna play hide-and-seek with me,\u201d he asked trying hard not to grin.
\nAdam smiled to himself. He had actually been planning on suggesting that to Joe as he wanted to start a new book he had recently purchased. A half hour alone would give him a great start.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, Joe,\u201d he answered. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you hide first and I\u2019ll come look for you, just make sure you stay close to the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I will,\u201d Joe answered and ran out of the barn excitedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Hoss,\u201d Joe yelled coming into the house. \u201cHe said yes, you ready?\u201d
\nHoss nodded and the two began the greatest game of hide-and-seek ever played. A half hour later on the dot Adam entered the house and started searching. He didn\u2019t seem to notice that Hoss was never more than a few feet away. Whenever Adam would get close to where Joe was hiding, Hoss would distract him and Little Joe would move.<\/p>\n

Current time\u2026<\/p>\n

Hoss walked casually down the stairs and had to hide a snicker as he saw Adam opening cupboards he\u2019d already checked a hundred times.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Adam, why don\u2019t you try down by the lake again? You know that brother of ours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do,\u201d Adam answered, slapping his leg in frustration. \u201cJust wait til I get my hands on him!\u201d
\nAfter he\u2019d saddled up and raced out of the yard Little Joe and Hoss burst into laughter. Wiping tears from their eyes they made their way into the kitchen and made a couple of sandwiches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI betcha Adam is getting hungry,\u201d Joe said around a large mouthful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bet you\u2019re wrong,\u201d answered Hoss and Joe looked at him quizzically. \u201cHis stomachs probably in so many knots that he doesn\u2019t even want to think about food.\u201d
\nWhen several hours later Adam still had not returned Hoss and Joe started to worry. It was almost dark and their Pa would be back soon.<\/p>\n

They jumped up suddenly when they heard the sound of horses entering the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe, up stairs quick,\u201d Hoss yelled and Little Joe ran for the stairs.<\/p>\n

Hoss dove into a chair and pretended to be reading.
\nHis eyes practically popped out of his head when his Pa rushed in followed by Sherriff Coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss, has Little Joe shown up yet?\u201d Ben bellowed.
\nHoss shrugged helplessly suddenly wishing the floor would open up and swallow him.<\/p>\n

Adam staggered in a moment later looking disheveled and pale. Not nearly pale as Hoss, however, or the young boy listening at the top of the stairs.<\/p>\n

Oh\u2019 what a tangled web we weave\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Be careful what games you play!<\/p>\n

Rated: Family Friendly \/ Word count: 1074<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3758,"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":[1009,23,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brothers","category-drama","category-prequels","wpcat-1009-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-30-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\/04\/ponderosapine.jpg?fit=270%2C404&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10357","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\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}