{"id":13682,"date":"2003-01-01T21:19:36","date_gmt":"2003-01-02T02:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=13682"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:47:54","slug":"the-black-gloves-by-milesky1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=13682","title":{"rendered":"The Black Gloves (by Milesky1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 <\/strong>Answering the burning question, “<\/strong>Why did Joe suddenly start wearing those black gloves?”<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 T\u00a0 (850 words)<\/p>\n

This is a parody of the hurt\/comfort genre.\u00a0 If it\u2019s going to upset you that I poke a little fun at Bonanza, please do not continue to the story.<\/p>\n

The Black Gloves<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Pa!\u00a0 It hurts…make it quit hurtin\u2019\u2026Please, Pa!\u201d\u00a0 Joe\u2019s voice cracked as it caught in a spasm of pain.\u00a0 He grimaced, nestling his head against his father\u2019s shoulder.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Shhh\u2026it\u2019s gonna be okay Joseph.\u00a0 Just hang on.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already sent Hank for help.\u201d\u00a0 Ben\u2019s eyes misted with tears as he gathered his son close to his heart.\u00a0 Rocking Joe slowly back and forth, Ben sought to comfort his youngest child.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hoss knelt next to the pair, despising his feelings of helplessness.\u00a0 \u201cPa, what else should we do?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you take your brother upstairs to his room?\u201d\u00a0 Ben released his hold on Joe with obvious reluctance.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s Adam?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s inside, looking in the medical book.\u00a0 We never really treated an injury like this before; he wanted to make sure we did it right.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss lifted Joe into his arms with minimal effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood idea.\u00a0 Leave it to Adam to approach the situation logically.\u201d\u00a0 Ben smiled at the thought of his eldest son, the most levelheaded of the three.\u00a0 The small grin was quickly wiped away as Joe groaned in pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/strong><\/span><\/center>Hoss deposited Joe gently on the bed.\u00a0\u00a0 Hop Sing appeared as if by magic, hot <\/span>water and bandages on a tray.\u00a0 Joe bit his lip against the pain as Ben gently removed his shirt.\u00a0 Seeing past Joe\u2019s brave front, Ben reached out to push a wayward curl off Joe\u2019s forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Joe, so sorry this had to happen to you.\u00a0 If only I hadn\u2019t sent you out to mend fence\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPa, don\u2019t do this.\u00a0 Don\u2019t blame yourself.\u00a0 It was an accident, pure and simple.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss placed a hand on his father\u2019s shoulder as he attempted to assuage any feelings of guilt his father might be harboring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDamn useless medical books!\u201d\u00a0 Adam stormed into the room.\u00a0 \u201cNot a one of them mentions an injury like this!\u00a0 How are we supposed to know what to do? HOW?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben sank <\/span>to the bed as the significance of Adam\u2019s statement hit him.\u00a0 \u201cI guess we\u2019ll just have to wait and pray.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/strong><\/span><\/center>Ben, <\/span>Adam, and Hoss rose from the table as they heard the door to Joe\u2019s room open and close.\u00a0 Hop Sing had insisted on serving dinner, although Ben and Adam\u2019s plates remained untouched.\u00a0 Hoss, of course, had cleaned his plate twice over.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell?\u201d\u00a0 Ben could hardly speak past the lump in his throat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nasty, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 I\u2019ve dosed him up with laudanum and bandaged the hand as best I could.\u00a0 The next twenty-four hours are critical.\u00a0 If he makes it that long without a recurrence, then his chances are good.\u00a0 But lots of things can still happen\u2014infections, pneumonia.\u00a0 He\u2019ll need at least a week of bedrest, and then light work until he\u2019s fully healed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like you\u2019re saying this could happen again.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss frowned at the thought of the events of the day repeating themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could, and without warning, just like this.\u00a0 From now on, I want him wearing gloves whenever he works outside.\u00a0 Might not be a bad idea to wear them nearly all the time.\u00a0 Can\u2019t be too careful with things like these.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs it really that bad?\u201d\u00a0 Adam looked at his own hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it\u2019s bad.\u00a0 You saw Joseph.\u201d\u00a0 Ben paced the length of the great room.\u00a0 \u201cAs much as I love the Ponderosa, sometimes I wonder if we wouldn\u2019t be better off living nearer to civilization. If we\u2019d been in the city, this wouldn\u2019t have happened, and if it had, treatment would have been more immediate.\u00a0 We were just lucky that Sally Sue was in Virginia City.\u00a0 She could have been as far away as Placerville.\u201d\u00a0 He looked to the woman packing her bag.\u00a0 \u201cWhat would it take to entice you to settle in Virginia City, Sally?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sally closed her bag and stood tall, looking Ben squarely in the eye.\u00a0 \u201cBen, you know I can\u2019t settle in one spot.\u00a0 There\u2019s too much need and not enough bodies to do the work.\u00a0 Until more manicurists heed the call of the West, it\u2019s my lot, as an itinerant manicurist, to travel my circuit, helping where I can.\u00a0 Would you have someone else suffer, as Joseph did?\u00a0 As long as there are hangnails to be treated, I\u2019ll be moving on when my work is done.\u00a0 Maybe, if people learned to care for their hands, their cuticles, the way they care for their horses, then perhaps I could settle.\u00a0 But until that day comes, I am one woman– one woman with a mission.\u201d\u00a0 On that dramatic note, Sally picked up her bag and walked to the door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hand on the latch, she turned.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t forget about the gloves.\u201d\u00a0 And with that, she was gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/strong><\/span><\/center>Unfortunately, as we know, it took Joe two more seasons (and presumably several painful recurrences) to fully heed Sally Sue\u2019s words and begin wearing the gloves.\u00a0 Adam, unable to face a future fraught with painful hangnails, high-tailed it back to the civilized East coast, eventually heading to out to sea.\u00a0 Rumor has it that he required his cabin boys to be highly proficient manicurists, in addition to their numerous other duties.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 Answering the burning question, “Why did Joe suddenly start wearing those black gloves?”<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 T\u00a0 (850 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10267,"featured_media":13683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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},"categories":[1008,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-humor","category-short-stories","wpcat-1008-id","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-8-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\/01\/capture.png?fit=171%2C184&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682","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\/10267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}