{"id":13064,"date":"2016-06-16T11:33:07","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T15:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=13064"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:18:22","slug":"one-for-the-ages-by-justafan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=13064","title":{"rendered":"One for the Ages (by Justafan)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 <\/strong>A story of a friendship that ran deeper than blood.\u00a0 Submitted in response to a 2016 Pinecone Challenge.<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 K\u00a0 (537 words)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One for the Ages<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a true story about friendship that runs deeper than blood,\u201d Joe said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cIf Hoss were not my brother, we\u2019d be the best of friends.\u00a0 I know that had we different lives, I would somehow have found him.\u00a0 My opposite, the south to my north; the up to my down; the right to my left.\u00a0 A friend who followed me into trouble, including raising rabbits.\u00a0 You know, Hoss insisted that I was not going to slaughter those Gerbies. He put me in a rabbit cage and would not let me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHad I not been at the ranch, Joe would probably still be folded up inside that cage,\u201d Ben said laughing.\u00a0 \u201cAnd don\u2019t forget about Old Sheba.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat elephant.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t forget that.\u00a0 Hoss let the old rancher thump both of us that day.\u00a0 Of course, he could have crushed him with one blow.\u00a0Hoss decided that day we\u2019d take our licking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho could forget the elephant. The Ponderosa Pachyderm,\u201d Adam smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Adam.\u00a0 Remember, Pa even rode the thing to town.\u00a0 Hoss and I got into a world of trouble together.\u00a0 A friend who followed me into situations to make sure I didn\u2019t get hurt and took care of me if I did. He fought for me, when I couldn\u2019t, counseled me when I was troubled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss helped you rob a bank and do some detective work.\u00a0 I remember coming home and finding wanted posters of my two sons and the sad way you and Hoss tried to talk your way out of those two situations,\u201d Pa said shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t forget how Hoss sat on me in the alley behind the bank and said, I\u2019ll break it, I\u2019ll break it, <\/em>while he twisted my leg into a knot. Detectives, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry about that one, Pa.\u00a0 But we did save the town\u2019s money from some crooks,\u201d Joe added.\u00a0 \u201cHoss could eat some pancakes, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he had stayed at the table he would have won. Joe literally starved Hoss for days, made him do all the chores, and exercise for hours so that he\u2019d be hungry for the competition. \u201cAnd this one,\u201d Ben said pointing a thumb at Joe, \u201ctied pots and pans across the stairs so that it would wake him if Hoss headed for the kitchen at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt worked.\u00a0 It just woke the whole house and Pa nearly blew the windows out bellowing at us.\u00a0 Hoss was a great sport, a good man and I was blessed to have him as my brother and my best friend.\u00a0 Rest in peace, Hoss.\u00a0 I will love you and miss you forever,\u201d Joe said as silent tears slipped slowly down his face.\u00a0 \u201cSo much deeper than blood.\u00a0 So much more than my brother.\u00a0 He was part of my soul and I will never be the same without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pa and Adam stood and comforted Joe as he grieved the loss of his best friend and\u00a0brother, who now belonged to the ages.<\/p>\n

~The End<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s Note:\u00a0 I claim artistic license that Adam returned to the Ponderosa after Hoss’ death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Family,\u00a0Grief<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 A story of a friendship that ran deeper than blood.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 K\u00a0 (537 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1181,"featured_media":14601,"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":[7,23,4,8,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-u","category-drama","category-humor","category-short-stories","category-challenges","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-4-id","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\/2017\/08\/pained-look.jpg?fit=300%2C266&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13064","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\/1181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}