Summary: \u00a0It is October, a time of looking back and giving thanks for a harvest of blessings. \u00a0For Joe Cartwright, this is impossible.\u00a0 The autumn marks\u00a0one year since he lost his beloved brother, Hoss. Needing to escape, Joe heads out to visit to Carrie Pickett.\u00a0 He never makes it.\u00a0 Instead, Joe finds himself lost and alone and badly injured. Half-dead, he works his way toward a plume of smoke rising in the distance.\u00a0 Little does Joe suspect that what he finds at the end of his journey will change his life forever.<\/p>\n
Word count: 22,401<\/p>\n
Rated PG<\/p>\n
Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 I have set this tale in the autumn.\u00a0 In my Bonanza world, both Joe and Hoss\u2019 birthdays come in the fall, just like the birthdays of the men who portrayed them.\u00a0 As to the timing and manner of Hoss\u2019 death, nothing much is said in canon. The show aired in the autumn and the only mention of his death is that it was sudden.\u00a0 This story is my take on that terrible day and its aftermath. This story is post-canon, set in what would have been season fifteen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bittersweet<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ONE<\/p>\n
Just…a…little…farther.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d seen smoke in the distance.\u00a0 That meant there was someone other than him on this Godforsaken hill.\u00a0 Someone who could help him.<\/p>\n
Someone who could save his life.<\/p>\n
But he had to get there first.<\/p>\n
Face-down on the forest floor wasn\u2019t a good way to start.<\/p>\n
Lift your arm.\u00a0 Use it<\/em> to lift your body.\u00a0 Do it!\u00a0 Do it now<\/em> before you freeze to death!<\/p>\n Snow.\u00a0 Who would have believed it?\u00a0 It was early autumn and there was an inch of snow on the ground.\u00a0 It covered the brown leaves and nettles that were his makeshift bed like a gossamer blanket.<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright blinked his eyes and tried to focus on the landscape around him.\u00a0 If he could figure out where he was, he might be able to figure out whose cabin was ahead of him.\u00a0 Trouble was, the blow to the head he had taken in the fall had just about blinded him.\u00a0 All he could make out were dim shapes and just about all of them were white.<\/p>\n Joe rested his head on his good arm and turned to look behind him.\u00a0 There was one spot that wasn\u2019t white.\u00a0 His horse\u2019s carcass lay back there at the base of the ravine, a black and red blot on the pristine fall of snow. \u00a0Thank God he\u2019d left Cochise at home!\u00a0 Though if he\u2019d been riding Cochise, he probably wouldn\u2019t have gone over the edge and tumbled down the side of the ravine to land in the half-frozen river at the bottom.\u00a0 The horse had scrambled out of the water, giving no thought to the fact that his foot was still caught in the stirrup and he\u2019d be dragged along.\u00a0 She fell about a dozen feet on the other side of the river, mortally wounded.\u00a0 The cold, icy water had ruined his rifle.\u00a0 He\u2019d had the wherewithal to grab his pistol and hold it over his head as he hit the surface.\u00a0 It made it out with him, though his belt and extra bullets were lost to the fast-running current.<\/p>\n He had two bullets left after putting the skittish animal out of its misery.<\/p>\n Joe winced as he shifted and grunted out a laugh.\u00a0 He should <\/em>have put the horse out of its misery the minute he laid eyes on it in the farmer\u2019s stable \u2013 and maybe the farmer along with it.\u00a0 The man had cheated him, plain and simple.\u00a0 His own horse had come up lame and he\u2019d taken what he could get, so hell-bent was he on reaching Carrie Pickett\u2019s cabin in the Piney Woods.\u00a0 Carrie had a way of workin\u2019 him out of a funk and he\u2019d been in one when he set out from the Ponderosa.\u00a0 He often headed her way when he needed to think.<\/p>\n Or to escape.<\/p>\n It was strange.\u00a0 Both he and Pa were hurtin\u2019.\u00a0 You\u2019d think they would have taken solace in each other\u2019s presence, but instead \u2013 when they were <\/em>together \u2013 they were both all too <\/em>aware of the one who was missing.\u00a0 Not brother Adam.\u00a0 He\u2019d said his goodbye years before.<\/p>\n Hoss.\u00a0 It was Hoss who was missin\u2019.<\/p>\n Hoss who had died a year ago to the day.<\/p>\n Joe sucked in air and readied himself to rise. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t doin\u2019 him any good layin\u2019 here in the snow gettin\u2019 all maudlin.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t get his ass up and out of the white stuff, Pa was gonna have another reason to regret this day.<\/p>\n Another reason.<\/p>\n Like the first <\/em>wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n Like he hadn\u2019t screwed up again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The wind was up and it froze the tears on his cheeks as Joe lifted his head and blinked.\u00a0 Somewhere between those last two sentences he must have passed out.\u00a0 The sun was setting, casting long fingers of fiery pink and gold over a rolling land gone silver-blue.\u00a0 He\u2019d come here to do a little work for Carrie and to find solace, not to die.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t get to shelter before night fell, that was just what he was going to do.<\/p>\n Die.<\/p>\n Once again, Joe pressed his right hand against the frozen earth and attempted to rise.\u00a0 Pain shot through his left side and blasted out of his skull as he did.\u00a0 His leg was broken just below the knee and he was fairly certain the ribs on that side were too.\u00a0 At first he\u2019d slid down the hillside, but then that damned horse had passed him by, crushing his left side and pulling on the leg still caught in the stirrup. That\u2019s when it snapped.\u00a0 He\u2019d passed out and the first thing he\u2019d known, he\u2019d found himself lyin\u2019 on the far side of the river, gasping for air.\u00a0 It took just about everything that was in him to get his foot out of the tangle it was in.\u00a0 After that he\u2019d dragged his body over to the horse, put a bullet in its brain, and then done his best to splint his leg with branches gathered from nearby and the remnants of the horse\u2019s reins.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t much, but it had allowed him to stand and move under his own power for an hour or two.<\/p>\n Joe breathed in a noseful of cold air and lifted his tired body a few inches higher.\u00a0 The knock he\u2019d taken to the head on the way down had muddled his thinking.\u00a0 The ravine was a few miles out from Carrie\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 He\u2019d fallen a good fifty feet or so to its lowest point.\u00a0 Still, the old cabin in the Piney Woods should have been to his back, which meant he was movin\u2019 east.\u00a0 Or at least, he thought<\/em> he was movin\u2019 east.\u00a0 Since it was dusk, he couldn\u2019t see the sun.\u00a0 There was nothing to guide him<\/p>\n Other than a plume of smoke.<\/p>\n Pulling his right leg up and under him was agony, but he did it.\u00a0 Using the hand on that side as a prop, Joe rose up and balanced on his good knee.\u00a0 It held him briefly and \u2013 even more briefly \u2013 he felt triumphant, but then pain shuddered through him and he lost his balance and fell, landing on his back with his face turned toward the sky.<\/p>\n He was gonna die here.<\/p>\n He was gonna die and Pa would never know what happened to him. \u00a0Of all the crazy stunts he\u2019d pulled, the fights he\u2019d started, the men he\u2019d made mad enough to come after him \u2013 none of them had killed him.<\/p>\n \u2018Joseph Francis Cartwright\u2019<\/em>, his tombstone would read, \u2018Best judge of horseflesh in all of Nevada lies here as a result of his own stupidity.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Joe lay there in silence waiting \u2013 waiting for his pa to come, waiting for the sound of his brothers\u2019 laughter to wash over him and make him so mad he\u2019d come up with fists flying \u2013 waiting for God to send a miracle.<\/p>\n But there was nothing.\u00a0 Nothing but the darkness and a deep silence and the constant fall of snow that was impossibly early and improbably heavy.<\/p>\n Joe drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, watching the vapor rise like his spirit toward the sky.\u00a0 A tear slid down his face, freezing instantly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Pa,\u201d he whispered as he lifted his gun and used his last two bullets to signal he was in trouble.<\/p>\n Then Joseph Francis Cartwright fell silent as the night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben Cartwright stood in his son\u2019s bedroom, gazing out the window at the impossible fall of snow. \u00a0\u00a0Autumn had barely begun and it was snowing!\u00a0 Something in him wanted to believe that the world was mourning too.\u00a0 The last year had seen so much loss \u2013 Joe\u2019s wife and unborn child.<\/p>\n Hoss.<\/p>\n A year ago today it had happened.\u00a0 His middle son had been ripped from them, leaving him and Joe to mourn.\u00a0 He\u2019d sent letters out, hoping to catch Adam at one of the ports he visited, but in a year there had been no word. \u00a0Joe needed his oldest brother.\u00a0 Though he had done everything in his power to convince his youngest son that there was no blame to be attached to his actions that day, Joe remained unconvinced.\u00a0 As the anniversary of Hoss\u2019 death approached, he\u2019d watched his remaining son withdraw deeper and deeper into himself until speaking to him had become an exercise in futility.\u00a0 When Joe told him he was going up to the Piney Woods to check on Carrie Pickett, he\u2019d let him go without an argument.\u00a0 Joe needed solitude just as much as he<\/em> needed his son\u2019s company.\u00a0 In the end his love as a father had won out over his own needs and he\u2019d watched his son ride away.\u00a0 At the end of the yard Joe had halted and waved before disappearing from sight.\u00a0 He\u2019d been a bit concerned that Joe\u2019s companion of many years had pulled a tendon and was out of the running for a mount.\u00a0 The horse Joe picked to replace Cochise \u2013 a sleek, fast black \u2013 was as young and impulsive as his son had once been.\u00a0 Still, if anyone knew horseflesh it was Joe and he had to believe his son had made the right choice.<\/p>\n Turning from the window, the older man walked to the bed and sat down.\u00a0 From his position on it, he looked around the room.\u00a0 He knew his old friends thought him tetched in the head for leaving both of his older sons\u2019 rooms as they had always been \u2013 as if, somehow, he expected them to walk into the house and resume their lives on the Ponderosa as if they had never left.\u00a0 In truth both rooms were a shrine to a golden era that had come and gone.\u00a0 Ben sniffed back a tear and straightened up.\u00a0 Walking over to the dresser, he picked up the portrait of Marie that Joe kept in his room.\u00a0 Yes, he was in his youngest\u2019s room, not in Hoss\u2019.<\/p>\n On this day he chose to embrace life and not to focus on death.<\/p>\n With trembling fingers, Ben reached out to touch the face of his long dead wife.\u00a0 \u201cSomehow, my darling,\u201d he whispered, \u201cI knew it would be our boy who would stay with me.\u00a0 Watch over Joe, wherever he is.\u00a0 Bring him home.\u201d<\/p>\n A beam of light fell through the window striking Marie\u2019s portrait and setting its silver frame ablaze.\u00a0 The rancher stood still, fearful he would miss her reply when it came, and come it did<\/em> in the sound of footsteps in the hall.<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Cartwright no should be alone tonight,\u201d his old friend said.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing fix roast pork in Mistah Hoss\u2019 honor.\u00a0 You come eat.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben put the frame down and turned toward his friend.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not hungry, Hop Sing.\u00a0 Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou eat for Mistah Hoss.\u00a0 He angry if you end up skin and bones!\u201d\u00a0 The Chinese man advanced into the room.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Hoss want you to live.\u00a0 Want little brother to live.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cWant both of you to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n At first he was angry, but then a sadness overtook him as he realized the truth his cook spoke.\u00a0 Hoss would be the first one to chide them for clinging to his death instead of celebrating his life.<\/p>\n \u201cRoast pork, you say?\u201d he asked, forcing his tone to be light.\u00a0 \u201cWith mashed potatoes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd apple pie.\u00a0 You come. \u201c<\/p>\n Ben hesitated.\u00a0 The idea of sitting at the dining room table \u2013 alone \u2013 was almost too much.<\/p>\n \u201cI….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing bring tray into great room.\u00a0 Eat in there.\u201d\u00a0 The little man paused.\u00a0 \u201cToo cold in dining room.\u201d<\/p>\n Too cold?\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n Cold as the grave.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sound of two shots echoed through the tangled woods where Joseph Cartwright lay.\u00a0 It bounded from one tree to the other until it reached the ears of a sturdy young man who was standing outside a ramshackle cabin\u00a0 approximately half-a-mile away, looking at the stars.\u00a0 He jumped at the sound because it meant he was not alone.\u00a0 Quicker than seemed possible for his massive frame, the youth bolted into the cabin and grabbed his mother\u2019s rifle and then returned to the dilapidated porch to listen for another shot.<\/p>\n Nothing came.<\/p>\n The youth rested the butt of the elegant weapon on one of the sturdier boards and waited.\u00a0 A few minutes later he heard a sound \u2013 not the bark of a rifle or gun, but the hungry cry of a wolf.\u00a0 It had been a lean year.\u00a0 Wolves, while they usually avoided men, could be driven to kill in hard times.\u00a0 If someone was out there \u2013 if that\u2019s what the shots meant \u2013 then they were in trouble.\u00a0 His ma had taught him to do the same thing, to fire off his rifle to signal he was in distress.\u00a0 She\u2019d taught him other things as well, mostly that he had to be careful.\u00a0 That it was best not to let no anyone know they were there.\u00a0 Before he was born, she said, men came to this hill and they meant to do her harm \u2018cause she was different.\u00a0 If not for a stranger who\u2019d been staying with her at the time, they would have.\u00a0 The man had driven them off before going his way.\u00a0 He\u2019d helped her make the cabin strong and left some money with her; money that had helped to keep the two-footed wolves from her door.<\/p>\n It sure <\/em>was a pretty rifle.<\/p>\n Taking a few steps, the youth moved into the yard.\u00a0 The snow was an inch deep and still falling. \u00a0It wouldn\u2019t last long.\u00a0 Odds were the next day the sun would melt it fast.\u00a0 But tonight, it was deadly.\u00a0 \u00a0He stood there, considering his choices, and then realized he really didn\u2019t have <\/em>a choice.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t bear for a creature to suffer, man or mouse.\u00a0 If someone was out there in need of help, then he had to do his best to give it.<\/p>\n His ma wouldn\u2019t have had it any other way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cartwright woke in a panic. \u00a0He was burning alive!<\/p>\n The wounded man blinked and looked down his lean frame toward his boots.\u00a0 A white hot fire surrounded the tan leather.\u00a0 It was creeping slowly up his body, igniting cloth and skin as it went.\u00a0 Terrified, he struggled to sit up.\u00a0 When he couldn\u2019t manage it, he lay on the ground, breathing hard.\u00a0 Lifting the only hand that would obey, Joe brought it to his face and pulled the black glove that sheathed it off with his teeth.\u00a0 He shook like a man with delirium tremens as he struggled to unbutton his jacket and shimmy out of it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to do that, mister,\u201d a voice said as a hand caught his and held it tightly.\u00a0 Another was placed on his shoulder and pinned him to the ground.\u00a0 \u201cYou ain\u2019t thinkin\u2019 right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d he shrieked.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u00a0 You don\u2019t…understand.\u00a0 Hot…so hot!\u00a0 I\u2019m burning!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou ain\u2019t burnin\u2019, Mister.\u00a0 You\u2019re freezin\u2019 cold.\u201d<\/p>\n Whoever it was, they were an idiot.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t they see that white hot light? \u00a0It was in his hair now, his eyes \u2013 it ran along his fingertips, seeking to consume him.\u00a0 With every bit of strength he had, Joe fought to free himself from the hands that held him, arching his back, striking out \u2013<\/p>\n Screaming.<\/p>\n \u201cNow you just stop that!\u00a0 You\u2019ll hurt yourself worse.\u201d\u00a0 One of the hands went to his forehead.\u00a0 It was followed by a low whistle.\u00a0 \u201cYou got a fever awful fierce.\u00a0 No wonder you think you\u2019re fryin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The voice sounded young…uncertain.\u00a0 Joe fought the fire in his brain, at last recognizing the symptoms of freezing to death.\u00a0 He drove the fear of that back until he could open his eyes.\u00a0 It was no use.\u00a0 His vision was as uncertain as his future.\u00a0 All he could tell was that someone was leaning over him; a tall, broad someone who sounded like a child but looked like a man.<\/p>\n Joe blinked.\u00a0 His hand reached out.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u201d he whispered, his voice without strength. \u201cHoss?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy-man shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cName\u2019s Rick.\u00a0 Short for Broderick.\u00a0 Ma says that\u2019s my pa\u2019s name, though how he came by one so sissified I don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Joe felt fingers grasp his frozen chin and turn his head.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s some knock you took, Mister.\u00a0 You remember what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n He did.\u00a0 He had.<\/p>\n Not any more.<\/p>\n Joe shook his head, setting off another explosion of incandescent pain.<\/p>\n \u201cLucky for you I heard those shots.\u00a0 You\u2019d have had all your clothes off and froze to death come mornin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 The boy-man released him to rock back on his heels.\u00a0 \u201cHow bad are you hurt?\u00a0 Can you tell me?\u00a0 I gotta move you and I don\u2019t want to cause you any more pain than I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes, shutting out the sight of the vivid white light.\u00a0 It took a moment, but then he began to tick off the things that hurt.\u00a0 \u201cArm,\u201d he said through gritted teeth, \u201cribs, leg.\u00a0 Left side.\u201d\u00a0 The injured man sucked in air.\u00a0 \u201cHead hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I should of asked what don\u2019t<\/em> hurt,\u201d Rick sighed.<\/p>\n Joe managed a small smile.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick leaned forward.\u00a0 Gently, with the skill of a doctor, he ran his hands along Joe\u2019s injured limbs and then felt his ribs.\u00a0 As he finished, he sighed.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s gonna hurt, Mister, no matter how I do it.\u00a0 If you ride, or if I get you on a travois, it\u2019s gonna hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeen…hurt before.\u00a0 Lots,\u201d Joe breathed.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019re a tough old coot, eh?\u00a0 You don\u2019t look so old,\u201d Rick paused, \u201cor all that tough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLooks can be…deceiving.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was silent for several slow, sluggish heartbeats.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, Ma said that too.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe feebly turned his head.\u00a0 \u201cIs\u00a0 your…ma here?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy-man shook his.\u00a0 \u201cShe went into the settlement for supplies. \u00a0Guess, you\u2019re stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n He managed to lift his good hand and pat Rick\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cGlad to…know you.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick grinned.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, it\u2019s good to know you too.\u00a0 Now, why don\u2019t you just lie there while I figure out how to get you to the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was drifting off.\u00a0 Rick\u2019s words revived him briefly.\u00a0 \u201cYou…got smoke in…your chimney?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn account of the snow, yeah.\u00a0 You seen it, didn\u2019t you?\u00a0 That\u2019s<\/em> why you were comin\u2019 this way.\u201d<\/p>\n He was surprised to hear fear color Rick\u2019s words.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s..wrong?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Rick was silent for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cNothin\u2019\u201d, he said as he got to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cNow, don\u2019t you go runnin\u2019 off, Mister.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be back as soon as I can with a horse.\u00a0 Do you think you can ride?\u201d<\/p>\n He paused, assessing his injuries, and then shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, then I\u2019ll bring Dumpy.\u00a0 He\u2019s a big fellow.\u00a0 He can pull a travois.\u201d<\/p>\n It hurt to laugh, but he couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0 \u201cDumpy?\u00a0 What kind of..a…name is that for a horse?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy pa rode him when he was here cause Pa was big too.\u00a0 Old Dumpy\u2019s got one of those shaggy manes and kind of looks like he\u2019s ready for the glue factory. \u00a0But don\u2019t let that fool you.\u00a0 He\u2019s strong as an ox and smart too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019d like…to…have met your pa,\u201d Joe said as consciousness faded.\u00a0 \u00a0He was aware enough to hear Rick\u2019s answer, but not aware enough to realize what he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d the boy-man sighed.\u00a0 \u201cMe too.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Two<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright sat in his great room sipping a cup of excellent coffee.\u00a0 He\u2019d opened the shutters on the window behind the dining room table to let the light in and been surprised to find the yard covered by several inches of snow.\u00a0 His thoughts went instantly to Joe, wondering if his son was all right.\u00a0 Then, he dismissed those thoughts just as quickly.\u00a0 Joseph was nearly thirty-two now, more than a young man if not quite a middle-aged one, and his son was well aware of the dangers on the road and how to keep himself warm on an unexpectedly cold night.<\/p>\n Ah, yes, there was the \u2018rub\u2019 as Adam would have put it.<\/p>\n Unexpectedly.<\/p>\n As was often the case, especially this time of year, the older man\u2019s gaze went to the table before the fire and its empty surface.\u00a0 For a year now the checkerboard had been missing.\u00a0 It was one of the first things Joseph had removed after his brother\u2019s death.\u00a0 He had no idea what his son had done with it.\u00a0 That checkerboard was as much a part of Hoss and Joe\u2019s relationship as their outrageous escapades and hard, side-by-side work.\u00a0 The pair had been nearly inseparable since Joe\u2019s birth.\u00a0 He remembered well that first day when he had opened the door to welcome Little Joe\u2019s brothers into the birthing room for a first look. \u00a0Hoss had nearly bowled him over in his excitement to see his baby brother.\u00a0 Adam had been more reticent, as he always was, fearful too love too much for fear of loss.<\/p>\n What an irony that, in the end, his oldest had chosen to lose himself.<\/p>\n By six, Hoss was already reaching toward his older brother\u2019s height.\u00a0 At birth his middle son, Eric, had weighed more than twice what Joseph did.\u00a0 Both he and Marie had feared that the boy would be frightened he would hurt his little brother.\u00a0 Instead, they had marveled as Hoss, with his huge hands, took the baby from Marie and hushed his crying.\u00a0 As had been the pattern of his life, Joseph had entered it complaining that things weren\u2019t moving fast enough or going his way.\u00a0 Marie, exhausted, was at her wit\u2019s end.\u00a0 Hoss had cradled the crying child close to his chest and begun to speak quietly, as he would to an injured horse or fallen bird, and \u2013 slowly \u2013 Joseph had calmed.\u00a0 All their lives Hoss had been able to calm his baby brother when he was angry, or sullen and tired.\u00a0 \u00a0Hoss was Joe\u2019s tether.<\/p>\n A tether that had been absent for a year now.<\/p>\n Ben took another sip of his coffee and then placed the cup on the table in lieu of the game board.\u00a0 It had happened so fast.\u00a0 No one would have thought \u2013 or could have believed \u2013 that morning that Joe would come home broken in body and spirit and that Hoss \u2013 Inger\u2019s Eric \u2013 would never come home again.\u00a0 They had gathered at the table for breakfast.\u00a0 Hop Sing had been at his finest.\u00a0 Both Joe and Hoss\u2019 birthdays were drawing near and with a wink the Chinese man announced he had decided to practice for their upcoming parties by fixing their favorite foods.\u00a0 That was a part of it, but they all knew as well that a long, hard day awaited the two of them.\u00a0 It had been a particularly wet autumn. \u00a0There were mudslides and rock falls everywhere.\u00a0 Most of them had happened in inconsequential places and, though the damage to the trees would set them back some years, at least no one\u2019s life had been lost.\u00a0 Joe and Hoss were set to ride out and survey the damage to their property when a knock came at the door.\u00a0 How the man knew to come to them he had never learned.\u00a0 Somehow the stranger knew of Joe\u2019s connection to Carrie Pickett and had sought him out.\u00a0 Ben smiled.\u00a0 Of course, half of Virginia City as well as most of their ranch hands knew about Joe and Carrie.\u00a0 There were jokes \u2013 respectful ones \u2013 about his son\u2019s love for the old woman.\u00a0 Joe rode out a few times each year to check on her and, so far, the older woman was holding her own.\u00a0 She was well over sixty now and slowing down, but every time Joe returned with a grin on his face and stories of the rows he and the she had enjoyed.<\/p>\n Carrie, in a way, had come to fill the shoes of Joe\u2019s absent mother.<\/p>\n And so when Joe heard that there had been a massive rock fall near her home, he had to go.\u00a0 His brother quickly offered to go with him, shooting down any misgivings he might have had with\u00a0 a simple \u2013 \u2018Joe and me was goin\u2019 that way anyhow, Pa. We\u2019ll check on Miss Carrie and then go on about our business.\u2019 \u00a0No amount of pleading could change either sons\u2019 mind and so, in the end, he had given up.<\/p>\n And regretted doing so every day since.<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 No, he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 If both brothers had not gone, Joe would be dead.<\/p>\n Ben frowned. \u00a0His hand went to the bridge of his nose and pinched it.<\/p>\n Joe or Hoss?<\/p>\n How could he have made <\/em>such a choice?<\/p>\n Lowering his hand, the rancher stared at the door to his home.\u00a0 He could see the two of them putting on their hats and coats \u2013 Joe anxious, short-tempered; his mind already a day\u2019s ride away with the older woman.\u00a0 Hoss, smiling, taking his little brother\u2019s guff in stride as he always did with big hands, bigger steps, and the biggest heart.<\/p>\n With a sigh Ben rose and walked to the door, following them in his mind as they left that day, opening it and walking into the yard and heading for the barn.\u00a0 As he neared it, he recalled the conversation he had had with Hoss as his son checked the wagon\u2019s wheels and prepared to mount into the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n \u2018Are you sure you want to go, Hoss?\u2019 he\u2019d asked him.\u00a0 \u2018From what Dave said, Carrie should be fine.\u00a0 Joe just has to see for himself.\u2019<\/p>\n His son\u2019s crystal blue eyes had flicked to his brother who was leading Cochise out of the stable. \u00a0\u2018I gotta go, Pa.\u00a0 You know Joe.\u00a0 If there\u2019s any danger, he\u2019ll throw himself right into it as sure as plungin\u2019 into the rapids without a rope.\u2019<\/p>\n They\u2019d shared a chuckle.\u00a0 Hoss knew his brother well.\u00a0 \u2018You\u2019ve taken good care of him, son, from the day he was born,\u2019 he\u2019d replied.\u00a0 \u2018Thank you for that.\u2019<\/p>\n Hoss ducked his head in that way he had.\u00a0 \u2018Aw shucks, Pa.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t live if somethin\u2019 happened to that little scamp.\u00a0 You know that.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Then, his middle son had said something odd.\u00a0 To this day he had no idea what it meant. \u00a0\u2018I got me a hankerin\u2019 to see them Piney Woods too. \u00a0You know, Pa, a long time ago….\u00a0 Well, I think I left somethin\u2019 there.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019, I should of gone back for.\u2019<\/p>\n Ben dropped onto a bale of hay and stared at his son\u2019s big Black. \u00a0Chubb was still in mourning as much as he and Joe.\u00a0 Sitting there, he thought again of Hoss\u2019 words.\u00a0 Something he left?\u00a0\u00a0 Something he should have gone back for?\u00a0 At the time he\u2019d thought Hoss was speaking of something that had happened the day they\u2019d ridden hard to Carrie Pickett\u2019s home, arriving just in time to save Joe from a beating \u2013 or worse.<\/p>\n Now, he wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cartwright shifted.<\/p>\n It was a stupid thing to do.<\/p>\n Pain exploded in his head and along the left side of his body.\u00a0 He closed his eyes and held his breath as he waited for the assault to end.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t, but it fell off to a lingering siege.\u00a0 Gingerly, Joe let the breath out and shifted again, which made him moan, which brought in turn a soft spoken….<\/p>\n \u201cMister?\u201d<\/p>\n One eye opened while the other squinted in protest of the action.\u00a0 Joe sucked in a breath and then made it heave-to and open as well. \u00a0His vision was fuzzy and he couldn\u2019t make much out.\u00a0 He was fairly certain he wasn\u2019t outside.\u00a0 Everything around him looked brown \u2013 well, brown spotted with a watercolor wash of colors.\u00a0 There was a vague light spilling in through a square opening, so he figured he must be in the cabin and the sun was up.<\/p>\n And the fuzzy face hanging over him must be Rick.<\/p>\n \u201cMornin\u2019,\u201d he managed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhew!\u00a0 You sure scared me.\u00a0 Last night you was out of your head yellin\u2019 all kinds of crazy things.\u201d\u00a0 A hand came to rest on his forehead.\u00a0 \u201cThe fever ain\u2019t gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe narrowed his eyes, trying to bring Rick into focus. \u00a0From the round shape of his face and the wide eyes in it, he guessed his rescuer was a youth and not a man as his size indicated.\u00a0 Lucky for him that he was a big feller, or he would have still been lyin\u2019 out there in the snow.<\/p>\n \u201cHurt,\u201d he replied, and then tried again. \u201cLeft side hurts.\u00a0 Did you…?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI cleaned everythin\u2019 out that I could.\u00a0 Ma left some alcohol and bandages, just in case.\u00a0 A couple of pain powders too.\u00a0 You want one?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe considered it seriously.\u00a0 Then he shook his head.\u00a0 He had to figure out where he was and who the youth was and \u2013 more importantly \u2013 how to get word to his father that he was alive.<\/p>\n Of all the times of year to go missing!<\/p>\n \u201cRick, is there any way…you can get word out \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n The youth \u2013 hasty as the young were \u2013 cut him of.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t no one around, Mister.\u00a0 Just you and me, and I can\u2019t leave you alone long enough to go to the settlement.\u00a0 You\u2019re hurt real bad.\u00a0 You might….\u201d<\/p>\n Die.\u00a0 That was what Rick was thinking.<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes.\u00a0 What an irony.\u00a0 One day past when Hoss…passed…and he might die less than a mile away from where it happened.<\/p>\n Feebly, he reached out to touch the boy\u2019s flannel-sleeved arm. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m…not going to die,\u201d he said with a forced smile.\u00a0 \u201cToo damn stubborn.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy laughed.<\/p>\n Good.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he was trying for.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you hungry?\u201d Rick asked.\u00a0 \u201cI got me some eggs left from breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s stomach rolled at the thought.\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cIs that coffee I smell?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 You want some?\u201d<\/p>\n It took its time to work through his muddled brain, but suddenly Joe realized he\u2019d forgotten to introduce himself.\u00a0 Imagine that.<\/p>\n Dropping his hand from the boy\u2019s sleeve, he said, \u201cCall me Joe. \u00a0My pa is \u2018sir\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou live with your pa?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was fading.\u00a0 He lifted one eyelid to look at Rick.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s face was a tiny bit clearer.\u00a0 He thought he might have red hair. \u00a0His eyes were pale, but his vision was too screwed up to guess the color.<\/p>\n \u201cSure, I live with my pa.\u00a0 Have all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou ain\u2019t married or nothin\u2019? No kids?\u201d<\/p>\n It was natural for the young man to be curious, and just as natural for him to want to talk about anything else.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d he muttered and then added, only half-faking it.\u00a0 \u201cNeed to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick jumped up.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, Mister…Joe.\u00a0 Sorry.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to keep you awake.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cYou still want that coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLater,\u201d Joe mumbled.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll keep it hot.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe waved his good hand in thanks and then drifted of to sleep.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rick waited until the older man was asleep and then stepped out of the house and gazed up at the sky.\u00a0 It was somethin\u2019 his ma had taught him to do.\u00a0 \u2018A man can\u2019t get too big for his britches if he looks at the sky. Keeps him humble.\u00a0 Let\u2019s him know how small he is<\/em>,\u2019 she used to say.<\/p>\n He sure missed her.<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s head shook as his eyes dropped to the ground.\u00a0 The snow was almost gone, melted off by the rising light.\u00a0 God\u2019s ways sure were funny. \u00a0The man inside was hurt bad, but most likely he could have walked right up to the house and asked for help if it hadn\u2019t been for the snow and the cold.\u00a0 Or maybe just got back up on his horse and rode home.\u00a0 He was tough-lookin\u2019, like a cowboy or miner, and he supposed he could survive an awful lot.\u00a0 From all the scars on him it looked like he already had!\u00a0 He was sure glad Joe\u2019d been unconscious when he had to pull his shirt and pants off of him. \u00a0His left side was a mess. \u00a0It looked like a boulder or somethin\u2019 had rolled right over him.\u00a0 His leg was broken on that side and he wasn\u2019t too sure about his arm. \u00a0There were a couple of ribs caved in too, but it was the knock on the head the wounded man had taken that worried him the most.\u00a0 He\u2019d hit his head like that once and the doctor\u2019d been scared he wouldn\u2019t be all right.\u00a0 He knew he had to wake Joe up every hour or so just to make sure he could.<\/p>\n Right now he sure wished Ma hadn\u2019t chosen to live so far outside of civilization, back in a holler where nobody knew where they was.<\/p>\n Ma didn\u2019t like people.\u00a0 She said she was\u00a0 tired of bein\u2019 made fun of and laughed at, and so she chose to live with the animals \u2018cause they didn\u2019t care if she could hear or not.\u00a0 From the time he was born it was just the two of them and so he\u2019d never thought nothin\u2019 of it.\u00a0 It was just the way she was. \u00a0He always had to be sure she was lookin\u2019 at him when he wanted her to hear what he was sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n Rick snorted.\u00a0 It was kind of fun that he could say things when she wasn\u2019t<\/em> lookin\u2019 that she couldn\u2019t hear!<\/p>\n Ma was real close too, about where she come from and who her folks were and such.\u00a0 She was even closer about his pa.\u00a0 Almost like Pa was a bank robber or somethin\u2019.\u00a0 She said once that he came from a good family, which kind of did away with his outlaw theory, and that his pa had other \u2018responsibilities\u2019.<\/p>\n Responsibilities.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019 other than takin\u2019 care of his ma and him.<\/p>\n He wondered what they was.<\/p>\n With a sigh, Rick picked up the bucket on the stoop.\u00a0 Stepping off of the porch, he headed for the water barrel.\u00a0 It\u2019d be full of nice clean, cold water from the snow-melt.\u00a0 Joe was gonna need it.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen his ma through enough fevers, and had them himself, to know the worst was yet to come.\u00a0 He\u2019d done his best with what he had to clean out Joe\u2019s wounds, but was afraid it wasn\u2019t enough.\u00a0 It was autumn and the ground was covered with bright orange, red, and yellow leaves . Underneath that pretty blanket was a lot of rot.\u00a0 It was good for the trees and grass, but not so good for an injured man.<\/p>\n As he turned back, the dawning light struck the small structure Rick called home. \u00a0It was sturdily built; strong enough to withstand winds and torrential rains, snow, and the heat of the summer.\u00a0 His Ma told him his pa had helped her make it strong before he left, wanting to make sure she\u2019d be all right.\u00a0 He\u2019d asked her once why he never came back and she said it was because she told him not to.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t have him waste his life takin\u2019 care of no cripple.\u00a0 Ma always called herself that.\u00a0 She weren\u2019t no cripple.\u00a0 Leastways, not physically.\u00a0 She could do everythin\u2019 except hear.<\/p>\n And, it seemed to him, live.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hop Sing shake head as he reach for potato.\u00a0 For the last day he bury himself in kitchen work.\u00a0 It too painful to see Mistah Ben alone in house that once was filled with the laughter and shouts of three mischievous and much loved boys.\u00a0 The omens had not been good when Mistah Adam chose to leave.\u00a0 An ill wind blew, bringing with it much sorrow.\u00a0 Like a crouching dragon, tragedy waited to strike and when it did, the dragon\u2019s fire nearly burned all away, taking with it Little Joe\u2019s wife and child and Mistah Hoss.<\/p>\n The man from China paused in his chopping to wipe away a tear.\u00a0 He glanced at the shrine he kept in the kitchen, tucked in a nook between two cupboards.\u00a0 For many long years Missy Marie watch him from there as he care for the ones she love.\u00a0 Her beautiful face stare at him from its nest of seasonal flowers and bits of silk taken from the beautiful scarves she once place around home.\u00a0 Beside it lay another shrine.\u00a0 This one hold the photo kindly given to him by Mistah Ben of number two son.\u00a0 Letting his knife fall to the cutting block, Hop Sing cleaned his hands on his apron and then walked over to look at it.\u00a0 Mistah Hoss smile as always; his big face reflecting bigger heart.\u00a0 Photo hand-painted.\u00a0 Color of Mistah Hoss\u2019\u00a0 hair right, but no paint could be as blue as his bright and loving eyes.<\/p>\n Each day, every hour, Mistah Hoss and Missy Cartwright watch over him and those who come into his kitchen.\u00a0 He keep pictures hidden between cupboards because number three son cannot bear to look at them.<\/p>\n Number three son blame himself for number two son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n With a sigh, Hop Sing returned to the chopping block and sank down in the chair beside it, allowing himself a moment more for thought.\u00a0 How well he remember.\u00a0 Day and night wind howl like Feng Hao<\/em> angry.\u00a0 All day Wen Zhong, Lei Gong, <\/em>and Dian Mu <\/em>contend with one another, crashing and thundering\u00a0 their displeasure; throwing spears of rain and sleet against house.\u00a0 Little Joe and brother Hoss leave day before to go help Miss Carrie, make sure she okay.\u00a0 Every hour they gone Mistah Ben roam house liked caged tiger chewing on worry.<\/p>\n Mistah Ben right to worry.<\/p>\n The Chinese man closed his eyes and drew a breath.\u00a0 Slowly, he let it out as he opened his hands and rested them on his knees, seeking balance.\u00a0 Vision that confront him tear at his heart.\u00a0 Mistah Ben hear it first \u2013 horses\u2019 hooves pounding into yard.\u00a0 HopSing in dining room, clearing dishes. \u00a0Sudden noise make one drop and smash.<\/p>\n It also omen of what was to come.<\/p>\n Mistah Ben rise to feet as front door fly open.\u00a0 Doctor Martin come in first.\u00a0 Behind doctor come men carrying Little Joe.\u00a0 Number three son white and black like chessboard, skin very pale and covered with deep purple bruises.\u00a0 Little Joe barely breathing.\u00a0 Men carry him upstairs toward his room as Mistah Ben turn to follow.<\/p>\n Doctor stop him.<\/p>\n The Chinese man opened his eyes. \u00a0Tears trailed down his cheeks.\u00a0 He hear Mistah Ben ask how is Little Joe? \u00a0Doctor shake his head and then say….<\/p>\n \u2018Ben, there\u2019s more.\u2019<\/p>\n Never forget Mistah Ben stepping out of house and walking to wagon; rain pouring down like his tears.\u00a0 Only thing that anchor him to the living is number three son.\u00a0 Very sick.\u00a0 Almost die as well.<\/p>\n Not want <\/em>to live.<\/p>\n Hop Sing sat a moment longer and then rose to his feet.\u00a0 Though Mistahs Hoss and Adam no longer home, still plenty to do; plenty men to care for.\u00a0 Young Mistah Jamie due home from trip with Candy to mark trees soon.\u00a0 Boy need much food to grow tall like brothers.<\/p>\n Disappointed with himself, the Cartwright\u2019s Chinese cook struck a tear from his cheek.\u00a0 Must remember wise mother\u2019s words, spoken when he a young man.<\/p>\n \u2018All of life is a dream walking, all of death is a going home.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n Hop Sing had just driven his fist into a mound of dough, with a little more violence than was necessary,\u00a0 when he sensed he was not alone.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope I\u2019m not disturbing you.\u201d<\/p>\n He shake head.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Cartwright always welcome in Hop Sing\u2019s kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Mistah Ben chuckle as he knew he would.\u00a0 \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n Indicating the chair he\u2019d just vacated with a nod, the man from China said, \u201cSit.\u201d<\/p>\n Mistah Ben stare at him.\u00a0 Rancher not sit, but cross over to the area that holds shrines.\u00a0 He stand a moment, looking at the faces of loved ones lost, and then turn back to say, \u201cI can feel him here today.\u00a0 Hoss, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n Fear in his voice.<\/p>\n Hop Sing set the bowl of chopped vegetables aside.\u00a0 He feel it too \u2013 a presence, almost as strong as in life.<\/p>\n Mistah Ben walk over to door with window in it that look out on porch.\u00a0 He stare out of it a moment and then announce, \u201cI\u2019m going after Joe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Then he turn to look at him as if he expects argument.\u00a0 Mistah Joe almost thirty-two; too old to have his father follow.<\/p>\n Too young to know better.<\/p>\n When Hop Sing say nothing, Mister Ben go on.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t help it.\u00a0 I feel….\u201d\u00a0 He ran hand across his face.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe it\u2019s just the…time of year, but I can\u2019t help feeling there\u2019s been trouble.\u00a0 That Joe is…hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWise man not ignore voice of heart,\u201d he say softly.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMistah Cartwright very<\/em> wise man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr an very old<\/em> fool,\u201d his boss and friend counter.<\/p>\n \u201cI pack basket.\u00a0 You take to Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher laugh.\u00a0 \u201cThe usual?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlenty food, coffee, special teas,\u201d he say as he began to move.\u00a0 \u201cPut on top of salve and bandages.\u00a0 Add bottle of brandy from cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n Mistah Ben\u2019s lips twitch.\u00a0 \u201cSounds about right.\u201d \u00a0His boss cross room to stand by his side.\u00a0 Hand fall on shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cThank you for understanding, old friend, and for not chiding this old mother hen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMother hen take good care of chick.\u00a0 Gather under wing to keep safe.\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing pick up apron and make shooing motion.\u00a0 \u201cYou go find Little Joe.\u00a0 You tell him Hop Sing say so!\u201d<\/p>\n Older man indicate things he gather together. \u00a0\u201cShould I…?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI bring basket out to barn.\u00a0 You go now!\u201d<\/p>\n Mistah Ben straighten up and salute.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir!\u201d he say with laugh.<\/p>\n Hop Sing turn back and pretend to go to work then, but as soon as friend is out of the kitchen, he drop what he is doing and walk over to the shrine.\u00a0 Once there, he light candle and place a stick of incense at its heart.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you think, Mistah Hoss? \u00a0Should Hop Sing go too?\u201d<\/p>\n At that moment wind outside rises and Mister Ben\u2019s sailor\u2019s bell that hangs on porch strikes \u00a0three times.<\/p>\n Hop Sing bow his head, deeply humbled.\u00a0 After he finish basket for Little Joe, he begin another.<\/p>\n Mistah Ben not know it yet, but he not go alone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Three<\/p>\n \u201cHey there, little brother, rise and shine.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe opened his eyes only to have raindrops fall from his lashes and slide down his cheeks.\u00a0 He groaned.\u00a0 Rise and drown <\/em>was more like it.<\/p>\n \u201cRight,\u201d he snarled as he sat up in the bed of the wagon and fought to get his twisted rain slicker back into place.\u00a0 They\u2019d taken turns sleeping and he\u2019d just happened to draw the straw for doing it during a downpour.\u00a0 The bed of the wagon and his horse, who was tethered to the back board, were just as soaked as he was.<\/p>\n As he sat there, struggling with the slicker, Hoss turned in the seat and reached out to take hold of his chin.\u00a0 Stunned, Joe did nothing to break away as his brother turned his head from side to side and looked behind his ears like he was making sure he\u2019d washed.<\/p>\n Coming awake, he jerked his head away.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the heck do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cJust checkin\u2019 to see if you\u2019d growed any gills.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss shook his head and sent water flying from the rim of his ten gallon hat before turning back to the road.\u00a0 \u201cSure looks like you\u2019re gonna need them today.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe turned his face toward the sky.\u00a0 It was a sullen gray and, while it wasn\u2019t raining now, there was no sign the storm was going away any time soon.\u00a0 Clambering up onto the wagon seat, he sat beside his brother as they started to move again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s it got to rain for?\u201d he groused as he plucked his soaked pants off his soaked legs.<\/p>\n \u201cCain\u2019t be no flowers without rain, little brother. \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t be no trees neither, nor nothin\u2019 to eat.\u00a0 Fact is, the world would be a right sorry place without rain.\u201d\u00a0 His giant of a brother turned and grinned at him.\u00a0 \u201cInto every life a little rain\u2019s gotta fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at him a moment.\u00a0 \u201cHoss, can I tell you something?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou got a secret?\u201d his brother asked.<\/p>\n He sniffed and then blew a sodden curl from his nose.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen what \u2018a you want to tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShut up.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment Hoss did nothing \u2013 then he exploded with laughter.<\/p>\n As the day passed Joe\u2019s mood improved and soon the two of them were talking and laughing in spite of the rain, which returned not with a gale force as feared, but in a miserable constant drizzle.\u00a0 At one point he shimmied out of his slicker and put his green jacket back on.\u00a0 It was no use.\u00a0 Between the water dripping off his hat and the soaked wooden seat he occupied, he was wet through.\u00a0 At least the jacket was dry \u2013 momentarily.\u00a0 Hoss didn\u2019t seem to mind the rain.\u00a0 He was whistling and appeared not to have a care in the world.<\/p>\n Joe smiled to himself.\u00a0 Maybe it was middle brother who\u2019d grown gills.<\/p>\n They were a few miles down the road from Carrie\u2019s cabin, near a place where the road took a sudden turn and ran close to the edge of a ravine, when they came across a woman whose wagon was stuck in the mud.\u00a0 The ramshackle vehicle was blocking the path so, even if they\u2019d wanted to, they couldn\u2019t have gone past her.<\/p>\n Of course, being gentlemen, they wouldn\u2019t have wanted to.<\/p>\n As Hoss pulled the wagon to a halt, Joe jumped off and headed for the woman who was knee-deep in mud, ignoring his brother\u2019s protests that he wait.\u00a0 Childish as it was, he turned back and flashed Hoss a smile \u2013 and then rammed his fingers in his ears and stuck out his tongue.<\/p>\n \u2018See, Adam,\u2019 he thought as he turned back.\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019m all grown up.\u2019<\/p>\n When he was a few feet away Joe called out to the woman.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t respond.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t very big. About five foot or so.\u00a0 Her pale blonde hair dangled down the back of a calico blouse that had seen better days.\u00a0 When he called again and she still<\/em> didn\u2019t answer, he decided she was so focused on what she was doing that she hadn\u2019t heard him.<\/p>\n He realized differently when he laid his hand on her shoulder and she turned around and decked him.<\/p>\n Hoss was climbing out of the wagon.\u00a0 As he landed butt-first in the mud, his brother stopped and leaned on its side and let out the loudest, longest belly laugh he\u2019d ever heard.\u00a0 Blinking away mud, Joe rose to his feet and took another step toward the woman.\u00a0 She was pretty all right.\u00a0 She had a delicate heart-shaped face, wide brown eyes, and a pert little mouth.\u00a0 She was also looking down the sight of a rifle that was aimed at his heart.\u00a0 As Hoss moved, the rifle shifted toward him, halting middle brother about thirty feet away.\u00a0 A second later he heard a sharp intact of breath.\u00a0 Hoss started to say something.<\/p>\n That was when it happened.<\/p>\n There was a rushing sound and it seemed like the whole world came down on top of him. \u00a0The side of the hill let loose, bringing with it a flood of water, stones, and bracken.\u00a0 He reached out for the woman.\u00a0 She was falling away from him.\u00a0 The rifle went off and he felt a searing pain in his head.<\/p>\n And then, he was buried alive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe woke gasping for air.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been back in the mud, trying to claw his way free.\u00a0 It had filled his eyes, his mouth and nose.\u00a0 \u00a0He\u2019d known he was dead.\u00a0 There was nothing that could stop the primeval power of a river of water set loose.<\/p>\n Nothing but his brother.<\/p>\n Tears ran down Joe\u2019s cheeks\u00a0 in imitation of that river.\u00a0 Sobs wracked his battered form, sending ripples of pain along his left side.\u00a0 They were nothing compared to the pain \u2013 the guilt and grief \u2013 he\u2019d carried with him this last year.\u00a0 For a time his love of Alice had driven the darkness away, but with her death it had returned, bringing with it its own darker waters.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t understand why his brother had done what he had done.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he told himself.\u00a0 But he did.<\/p>\n Hoss had simply been \u2013 Hoss.<\/p>\n Sucking in tears and steeling himself for agony, Joe dragged his weary body up and into a seated position so he could look around the small cabin he lay in.\u00a0 His eyesight still wasn\u2019t what it should be, but it had cleared enough for him to see fairly well.\u00a0 The house\u00a0 was sturdy and fairly clean.\u00a0 Its condition reminded him of his childhood bedroom when Hop Sing took a holiday.\u00a0 Everything was straightened but untidy.\u00a0 There were well-ordered dishes piled in the dry sink and sort-of folded clothes hanging over chair backs. \u00a0A light coating of dust showed on the sparse furniture that filled the cabin.\u00a0 He remembered Rick saying his mother was away.<\/p>\n From the look of things he wondered just how long<\/em> she\u2019d been away.<\/p>\n Joe sat for a moment, ruminating on how he\u2019d gotten himself into this latest predicament, and then with a snort decided \u2013 what the Hell! \u2013 he\u2019d see if he could stand. \u00a0He could tell by the state of his long johns, which had been soaked and grown stiff, that his fever had broken overnight.\u00a0 He was feeling better.\u00a0 In fact, he was hungry.\u00a0 Since his young host was nowhere to be found, he figured he would see if he could make it to the stove and at least get some coffee.\u00a0 The inviting scent filled the room, calling him like a siren singing for a sailor.\u00a0 As he pushed himself up with his good hand and began the laborious task of swinging his splinted leg over the side of the bed, Joe snorted.<\/p>\n He could just hear Doc Martin now.<\/p>\n Rick had done a good job on his leg.\u00a0 The splints were sturdy.\u00a0 The boards looked like slats from a corn crib. The youth had bound them with strips of cloth that were knotted nice and tight.\u00a0 As he sat there, breathing hard, Joe assessed his other injuries.\u00a0 His head was ringing like he\u2019d just finished a lecture from Hop Sing. \u00a0His eyesight was still fuzzy.\u00a0 Every time he moved his ribs screamed out in protest.\u00a0 His left arm was held in a sling against his chest, so he guessed he must have sprained it, and his leg was painfully broken.\u00a0 Just another normal day for Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Doc Martin called him a \u2018walking miracle\u2019.<\/p>\n More like a walking mess.<\/p>\n Taking hold of the bedpost with his good hand, Joe levered himself onto his feet and then stood there waiting for the fireworks to end.\u00a0 He needed some kind of crutch and \u2013 luckily \u2013 found one in a broom that was leaned up against the bed, along with a pail.\u00a0 Wrinkling his nose, he guessed the use it had been put to.<\/p>\n He\u2019d have to apologize to Rich for puking all over his floor.<\/p>\n Propping the broom-head in his armpit, Joe started his slow walk across the cabin.\u00a0 Doc Martin would have cursed his cussedness.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d be out of his head with worry.\u00a0 Hop Sing would be hoppin\u2019 mad and Hoss….<\/p>\n God, Hoss.<\/p>\n His thoughts made him misstep and Joe felt himself heading for the floor. \u00a0A pair of strong arms caught him before he could hit it.\u00a0 He must have missed Rick opening the door.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe!\u00a0 What do you think you\u2019re doin\u2019?\u201d his rescuer demanded.<\/p>\n \u2018Bein\u2019 Joe Cartwright, what else?<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 he thought, but he said, \u201cThat coffee sure smells good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLand of Goshen!\u201d the youth exclaimed.\u00a0 \u201cYou take more lookin\u2019 after than my ma.\u201d<\/p>\n As Rick lowered him into a chair at the table, Joe asked, winded, \u201cIs that a…good or a…bad thing?\u201d<\/p>\n The young man had gone to the stove and returned with a steaming blue spatterware cup that he placed before him. \u00a0Rick stood looking at him as he reached out with a trembling hand to take hold of it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be out of bed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou sound like my pa,\u201d Joe snorted.\u00a0 He took a sip and released the warmth.\u00a0 He was chilled, which meant his temperature was probably rising again.<\/p>\n Nothing like taking a stroll on a broken leg to bring it back.<\/p>\n Rick\u2019s large hand landed on his forehead. \u00a0He was obviously thinking the same thing.\u00a0 \u201cYou always this stubborn?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Joe sat the cup down.\u00a0 The warmth was great, but the dark liquid was turning his stomach. \u00a0\u201cMy pa says since I drew my first breath,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n \u201cMa says I\u2019m stubborn too. \u00a0Says I get it from my pa.\u201d\u00a0 Rick paused and then, for the first time, he laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI think I get it from her.\u201d<\/p>\n As casually as he could, Joe asked, \u201cWhen is your ma due back?\u201d<\/p>\n There was another pause \u2013 this one a little too long.\u00a0 \u201cNot for a week or so. \u00a0You\u2019ll probably be gone \u2018fore she comes home.\u201d\u00a0 The youth turned and walked back to the stove.\u00a0 \u201cYou want I should fix you something to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe pivoted slightly in his chair and, from his vantage point at the table, studied the young man.\u00a0 He was tall.\u00a0 Near six foot or over.\u00a0 He reminded him of Hoss in that he was built big and strong as an ox, but gentle at the same time.\u00a0 Rick\u2019s hair was light in tone and reddish.\u00a0 From what he\u2019d seen, he thought he had gray eyes \u2013 sort of a light, pale smoky blue like a wolf\u2019s.\u00a0 But then he hadn\u2019t really \u2018seen\u2019 him all that well yet. \u00a0His vision was still messed up.<\/p>\n \u201cNo thanks,\u201d he answered.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMaybe later. \u00a0My stomach\u2019s kind of off.\u201d\u00a0 Joe paused and then asked, \u201cHow old are you \u2013 if you don\u2019t mind my asking?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick\u2019s shoulders stiffened.\u00a0 \u201cSixteen,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, no reason.\u00a0 I guess I was wonderin\u2019 about your ma leaving you alone so long, what with winter coming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019ll be back before then.\u00a0 She always goes into the settlement this time of year to get supplies.\u201d\u00a0 Rick turned toward him and he heard the first anger in the young man\u2019s tone.\u00a0 \u201cI can look out for myself.\u00a0 Better than you can!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe held up his good hand.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, I didn\u2019t mean to rile you.\u201d\u00a0 He hesitated and then laughed.\u00a0 \u201cGood Lord!\u00a0 I sound like my brother Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou got brothers?\u201d Rick asked, the longing clear in his voice.<\/p>\n \u201cOne living and one…dead,\u201d he replied, his voice cracking.<\/p>\n The young man looked uncomfortable.\u00a0 \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n Sorry his brother was dead or sorry he asked, Joe wondered?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s okay.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t talk about them, then it\u2019s like they never lived.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou said only one was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe winced.\u00a0 \u201cMy older brother left home years ago.\u00a0 We hear from him now and then.\u00a0 I guess, in a way, it\u2019s like he\u2019s dead too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy pa\u2019s dead.\u00a0 Or at least Ma told me he is.\u201d<\/p>\n With his wounded eyes, Joe studied the youth as best he could.\u00a0 Rick had come back to the table with his own cup of coffee and sat down.\u00a0 There was a roundness to his face and a sense of innocence about him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t make out any sign of a beard.\u00a0 If it hadn\u2019t been for Hoss, he might have believed him when he said he was sixteen.\u00a0 Pa told him Hoss was six feet tall and near two hundred pounds by the time he was twelve.<\/p>\n He was thinkin\u2019 now that Rick wasn\u2019t much older.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you remember about him??\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n The boy frowned. \u201cNothin\u2019.\u00a0 I never met him.\u201d<\/p>\n There was such a longing in his voice that it almost reduced him to tears.\u00a0 \u201cMy brother Adam never met his ma.\u00a0 She died when he was born.\u201d\u00a0 Joe hesitated because he was growing fatigued and his emotions were on edge, but he went on.\u00a0 He felt he owed it to Rick to tell him.\u00a0 \u201cI knew my mama, but she died when I was four.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had my mama….\u201d Rick stopped.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve always had my mama.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry you didn\u2019t have yours \u2013 and lost your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n So, Rick\u2019s ma was <\/em>dead.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he\u2019d thought.\u00a0 The boy was living all the way out here all alone, pretending he was a man. \u00a0For a moment he thought to call him on it, but then decided this wasn\u2019t the time.<\/p>\n Besides, he wasn\u2019t going anywhere for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, you don\u2019t look so good,\u201d Rick said.<\/p>\n Joe leaned back in the chair.\u00a0 Truth was, he didn\u2019t feel<\/em> so good. \u00a0\u201cI guess stubbornness will only take you so far,\u201d he admitted, his lips twisting in a wry smile.<\/p>\n The boy hesitated, then blurted out, \u201cI like you Joe.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t want anythin\u2019 to happen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n For a second there was something \u2013 some tug on his heart \u2013 but it was at that moment that his injuries decided to make themselves known again.<\/p>\n The world began to spin.<\/p>\n Rick was at his side in a second.\u00a0 He took hold of him and lifted him from the chair as if he weighed no more than a sack of flour.\u00a0 \u201cHere, lean on me,\u201d the boy said as they began the seemingly endless trip back to the bed.\u00a0 By the time they reached it, he was exhausted.<\/p>\n Rick lowered him to the bed and drew the covers up to his chin.\u00a0 Then, he reached out to touch his arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re gonna be okay, Joe.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take good care of you.\u201d<\/p>\n A deep longing filled him at the boy\u2019s words \u2013 for his missing brothers, for his pa and home.\u00a0 Joe fought the tears, but they came anyway, streaking down his cheeks.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll stay here \u2018til you\u2019re asleep,\u201d Rick said softly.<\/p>\n Knowing he was in good hands, Joe did just that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About two hours later Rick rose stiffly to his feet and headed for the door.\u00a0 With a glance at Joe where he lay, finally quiet in his bed, he walked outside and into the yard.<\/p>\n The light was fading and the day ending.\u00a0 Outside the air was crisp with that smell it had only in the autumn.\u00a0 A strong wind drove the rust-red leaves and brown nettles before it, dashing them against the cabin\u2019s walls before rounding them up into a sort of dance.\u00a0 His ma had loved this time of year.\u00a0 One time, when he\u2019d asked her why since everythin\u2019 was dyin\u2019, she\u2019d told him it wasn\u2019t dyin\u2019, it was just goin\u2019 to sleep and one day soon it would all wake up brand new.\u00a0 His ma believed in God.\u00a0 She read to him out of her Bible in that funny high-pitched voice of hers.\u00a0 She\u2019d told him, just before she disappeared, that when she got to Heaven she\u2019d be able to hear just like everybody else.\u00a0 She said she was lookin\u2019 forward to it.\u00a0 That nobody would laugh at her there.<\/p>\n Rick turned back to look at the cabin.\u00a0 He\u2019d left the door open so he could see Joe through it.\u00a0 His ma had always been afraid of strangers.\u00a0 That\u2019s why she built her place back in a holler at the bottom of the ravine. \u00a0A good many years back, when he\u2019d been around seven, a man had come around askin\u2019 questions.\u00a0 Ma had walked that man right out of there with her fancy rifle pointed at his backside.\u00a0 They heard he gave the old lady near the lake some trouble, but it all came out right and they never saw him again.<\/p>\n Since Ma\u2019s disappearance he\u2019d mostly fended for himself.\u00a0 Now and then he\u2019d ride old Dumpy up to the top of the ridge and meet one of the traders who came through.\u00a0 He\u2019d buy coffee and other things off of them that he couldn\u2019t find or hunt for himself.\u00a0 They always thought he was a lot older than he was, so they left him alone.\u00a0 Last winter, without Ma, he\u2019d hunkered down and stayed inside.\u00a0 When spring came, he guessed his ma was probably where she wanted to be \u2013 up in Heaven dancin\u2019 and listenin\u2019 to the Heavenly music.\u00a0 Spring and summer were good \u2018cause of the animals.\u00a0 They knew he was all right and came right up to the cabin and ate out of his hand.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t miss his ma so much when the animals were around. \u00a0He hadn\u2019t realized how lonely he was \u2018til Joe came.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t know what he would do if he died.<\/p>\n Rick chewed his lip as he leaned against the fence at the edge of the yard.\u00a0 It kept in the few chickens he had and the old goat he got milk from.\u00a0 The only reason Joe was sleepin\u2019 was that he gave him one of those powders his ma had.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know if it was smart, but Joe was thrashin\u2019 about on the bed and he got worried he was gonna hurt himself worse.\u00a0 It took some work, but he got the sick man to swallow the bitter liquid and then he went quiet.<\/p>\n Real quiet.<\/p>\n Rick ran a hand\u00a0 through his pale hair.\u00a0 He sure hoped he\u2019d got all them wounds of Joe\u2019s cleaned out okay. \u00a0He didn\u2019t have much practice on people, just animals.\u00a0 His ma said he had a way with hurting things.\u00a0 He wished he could have helped her when she <\/em>was hurting, but there wasn\u2019t no way.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the traders told him a little blonde woman had died the year before after bein\u2019 caught in a flash flood.<\/p>\n Since she never came back, he figured it was her.<\/p>\n Pushing off the fence, Rick steeled himself and headed back to the cabin.\u00a0 Joe was awful sick.\u00a0 His fever had been so high it had scared him.\u00a0 The wounded man kept callin\u2019 out for his pa and for someone called \u2018Hoss\u2019.\u00a0 It was funny, he thought as he reached the porch.\u00a0 His ma used to call Dumpy that sometimes when she was combin\u2019 him.<\/p>\n \u2018Good old hoss,\u2019 she\u2019d say.\u00a0 \u2018Strong as an ox.\u2019<\/p>\n He missed his ma, but he was gonna miss Joe even more when he went home.<\/p>\n Rick stopped in the doorway.\u00a0 Joe hadn\u2019t moved.<\/p>\n If <\/em>he went home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Four<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Ben eat.\u00a0 Hop Sing no cook food to feed birds!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben smiled.\u00a0 It was a toss-up as to which of them was the worst mother hen.\u00a0 He was glad he\u2019d given in and let Hop Sing accompany him, but there was a price to be paid.\u00a0 In his opinion he\u2019d already eaten enough to last him until they got home!\u00a0 He found, as he aged, that his appetite was smaller, probably due to the fact that he did more desk work than leg work now.\u00a0 Joe had taken over many of the tasks on the ranch.\u00a0 His son worked hard to keep their dream alive.<\/p>\n Was Joe alive, he wondered?<\/p>\n After grudgingly accepting another plate, heaped nearly as high as the first, Ben pushed the food around with his fork as his eyes strayed to the tree line.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t been up this way since…well, since the spring after the accident that had claimed his middle son\u2019s life and nearly carried off his youngest as well.\u00a0 The purpose of his trip had been two-fold, to make certain the road was cleared and to check on Carrie Pickett. The older woman had been worried.\u00a0 She was devastated to hear what had happened. \u00a0Before he left he\u2019d gone to the closest settlement and hired a man to check on her twice a year to make certain she was well supplied.<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t known at the time if Joe would ever want to come this way again.<\/p>\n Ben noticed Hop Sing watching and forced himself to lift the fork to his mouth.\u00a0 As he chewed, he thought about that youngest boy of his.\u00a0 It had taken Joseph nearly the whole winter to recover and, even then, that was only physically.\u00a0 No amount of talking could make the boy see that the accident \u2013 that his brother\u2019s death \u2013 had not been his fault.\u00a0 The older man shuddered as his fork fell to the plate.\u00a0 Joseph had been buried alive.\u00a0 Hoss had rushed into a raging torrent of mud, debris, and fast running water to save his brother.\u00a0 They had both made it out.\u00a0 Then Hoss went back in to save the woman.<\/p>\n And didn\u2019t come out again.<\/p>\n Ben started as he felt the plate being taken out of his fingers.\u00a0 Almost at the same moment a hand rested on his shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Ben tired.\u00a0 He should sleep.\u00a0 Tomorrow not share.\u00a0 Keep its own company.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, they had no idea what the next day would bring.<\/p>\n After a trip to the woods to relieve himself, Ben discovered Hop Sing had made him a bed fit for a king out of a light feather tick and downy comforter.\u00a0 The Chinese man had packed the wagon and had managed to squirrel both items away among the other supplies, which were enough to outfit Grant\u2019s army.\u00a0 Along with a half-dozen blankets, there were several pillows and two hampers of food. \u00a0Ben grinned in spite of his apprehension. \u00a0Somehow their food supply had outgrown a basket before it reached the yard. \u00a0Hop Sing had also included his emergency chest; the one he brought with him when they went on a drive. In it were alcohol and bandages, as well as various herbs and potions that had proven effective with his boys in their younger years.<\/p>\n How he longed for those years gone by!<\/p>\n It took about a half hour for his friend to finish all his self- imposed chores.\u00a0 After Hop Sing lay down, the world grew hushed.\u00a0 With the exception of a few animals shifting and snuffling within the cover of the leaves, there was no sound save the beating of his heart.\u00a0 He often wondered why he was still alive.\u00a0 At sixty-three he had long outlived many of his friends.\u00a0 The West was a harsh mistress, seductive in her allure and often deadly.\u00a0 He had sacrificed two wives and one son to her and for what?\u00a0 A thousand acres of land that his oldest did not want and his youngest wanted only because it had been his<\/em> dream.<\/p>\n No, that wasn\u2019t fair, to him or to Joe.\u00a0 Joe loved the Ponderosa.\u00a0 It was his life.<\/p>\n Closing his eyes, Ben whispered a prayer to his Maker, asking for protection for his child.<\/p>\n It was a long time before he fell asleep.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was a sound.\u00a0 Someone reading.<\/p>\n Joe laid with his eyes closed, listening.\u00a0 The words were from the Bible.\u00a0 He must be in his bedroom at home and Pa was sitting with him, reading.<\/p>\n He must be sick.<\/p>\n As he laid there, he took an inventory of what hurt \u2013 his arm, his head, his chest, and especially his left leg.\u00a0 Not sick then.\u00a0 Hurt.\u00a0 Injured.<\/p>\n Injured when his horse went over the edge of a cliff and fell down into a ravine.<\/p>\n The voice continued, speaking words he knew well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.\u00a0 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.\u00a0 He leadeth me beside the still waters.\u00a0 He restoreth my soul.\u00a0 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.\u00a0 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.\u00a0 Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.\u00a0 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over…..\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,\u201d Joe finished, his voice a weak rasp that surprised him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick smiled as he lowered the leather tome to his lap.\u00a0 \u201cHey!\u00a0 You\u2019re awake!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe hesitated, but then decided to be honest.\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you hurtin\u2019 bad?\u00a0 Do you want another powder?\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNot now.\u00a0 Might…need it later.\u201d\u00a0 The minute he tried to shift on the pillow to sit up, Rick was right there lifting him.\u00a0 Joe waited a moment to catch his breath and then said, \u201cThanks.\u00a0 You sure are strong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBroad and strong, Ma says.\u201d \u00a0Rick paused and the smile returned.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019d say you\u2019re kind of puny.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe snorted.\u00a0 He wondered briefly if Rick\u2019s mother had looked like Bessie Sue Hightower.\u00a0 \u201cI guess that\u2019s why my brothers, heck, everyone<\/em> used to call me Little Joe. \u00a0\u2018Course, next to middle brother anyone would have looked puny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour brother was big?\u201d the boy asked innocently, his eyes wide with wonder.\u00a0 \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe leaned his head back against the pillow as the image of his big, strong brother plunging into the maelstrom of rocks, mud, and rushing water rose before them.\u00a0 \u201cWe had different mas,\u201d he said, his tone utterly weary.\u00a0 \u201cPa\u2019s a good size. \u00a0Hoss\u2019 ma was kind of tall from what I understand.\u00a0 My mama was petite.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He laughed.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s the one named me petit <\/em>Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWas she French?\u00a0 I mean that\u2019s French for \u2018little\u2019, ain\u2019t it?\u00a0 Petit?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cKind of.\u00a0 She was from New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGosh.\u00a0 That\u2019s a long way from here,\u201d Rick said. \u00a0\u201cI ain\u2019t never been anywhere farther than the settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d been looking for an opening.\u00a0 Even though Rick seemed pretty self-sufficient, the middle of nowhere was nowhere for a twelve or thirteen year old boy to live alone.\u00a0 \u201cYou could come with me, you know?\u00a0 Visit the Ponderosa.\u00a0 That\u2019s where I live.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said with a shrug.\u00a0 \u201cSeems I heard that name before.\u00a0 Like maybe Ma mentioned it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s the biggest spread around here.\u00a0 Most people know about the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat your last name?\u00a0 Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 Then he realized he didn\u2019t know Rick\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s yours?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got Ma\u2019s name.\u00a0 It\u2019s Ferrell.\u00a0 Broderick Ferrell.\u201d\u00a0 The boy paused and then said, softly, \u201cI don\u2019t know what Ma would think about me goin\u2019 off with a stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe turned his head so he was lookin\u2019 straight at Rick.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think she\u2019d mind.\u201d\u00a0 He paused and then added, as gently as he could, \u201cShe\u2019s dead, isn\u2019t she, Rick?\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019re all alone here.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick\u2019s jaw grew tight.\u00a0 For a minute it looked like he\u2019d deny it.\u00a0 Then he sniffed and nodded.<\/p>\n Joe wanted to ask how she\u2019d died, but it really was none of his business.\u00a0 The boy, however, had become very much<\/em> his business now.\u00a0 Still, he knew what it was to be young and think you were years older than you were.\u00a0 So instead of insisting, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes and said, \u201cWell, you think about it, okay?\u00a0 Pa would want to pay you back for what you\u2019ve done for me.\u00a0 A visit would be a good way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need no pay for it.\u00a0 It was my Christian duty,\u201d Rick declared.<\/p>\n Joe opened his eyes and looked at the book in the boy\u2019s hands.\u00a0 \u201cThat your ma\u2019s?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n As Rick nodded, Joe noticed an envelope \u2013 no, two, tucked inside the back cover.\u00a0 He could tell that at least one of them was unopened.\u00a0 \u201cYour ma leave those for you?\u00a0 The letters, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n Unexpectedly, the boy paled.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t sure. \u00a0I can\u2019t read the words on the front.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you were reading from the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can read print. \u00a0I can\u2019t read that fancy stuff.\u00a0 Ma never taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cScript?\u00a0 You mean you can\u2019t read script?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever you call it.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe hesitated. He didn\u2019t want to intrude.\u00a0 \u201cYou want me to take a look at them?\u201d<\/p>\n Again, the boy got a funny look on his face.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe later,\u201d he said as he rose and went to put the Bible on the table.\u00a0 Once he had, he looked back.\u00a0 \u201cYou hungry?\u00a0 You ain\u2019t eaten much.\u201d<\/p>\n He considered it.\u00a0 He did feel better, though the pain was pretty intense and masked his need for food.\u00a0 \u201cI can try.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI made some soup.\u00a0 I figured maybe eggs and bacon would be too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks.\u00a0 I really appreciate everything you\u2019ve done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI….\u201d\u00a0 Rick paused.\u00a0 \u201cIt ain\u2019t nothin\u2019, and I\u2019m glad for the company.\u201d\u00a0 With that he turned and walked toward the stove.<\/p>\n Joe leaned back again.\u00a0 He was exhausted, not only from pain but from talking \u2013 and even more from the memories the boy aroused.\u00a0 He was a lot like Hoss, or like his brother must have been as a kid.\u00a0 Soft-spoken and gentle with a hidden strength.<\/p>\n Unbidden tears coursed down his cheeks.<\/p>\n God, how he missed him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is where we part,\u201d Ben said.<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Cartwright sure that best thing?\u201d Hop Sing asked, his tone unconvinced.<\/p>\n The rancher turned and looked again at the edge of the road.\u00a0 It was obvious something \u2013 or someone \u2013 had gone over it and not all that long before.\u00a0 The brittle brown grass was chewed up and a cascade of rocks and dirt had tumbled down into the ravine.\u00a0 He prayed it had nothing to do with Joe, but he couldn\u2019t ignore it.<\/p>\n \u201cI need you to go on to Carrie\u2019s and see if Joe is there.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the sky. \u00a0The day was wearing on.\u00a0 \u201cIt will only take a few hours.\u00a0 If he\u2019s not there, you can come back.\u00a0 We need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou go down there?\u201d Hop Sing asked, pointing over the edge.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 I noticed a moderate slope about a mile back.\u00a0 Buck can work his way down there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou think Little Joe fall?\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher winced.\u00a0 \u201cI certainly hope not, but this road is precarious at best and Joe wasn\u2019t riding Cochise.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately.<\/p>\n \u201cYou take chest,\u201d Hop Sing said.\u00a0 \u201cIf Little Joe fall, he need medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll fill my saddlebag from it. \u00a0That way we\u2019ll both have what we need \u2013 just in case.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben looked grim.\u00a0 If Joe had<\/em> fallen into the ravine, it was a long way down.\u00a0 Without warning a vision of his youngest son lying at the bottom injured, alone \u2013 maybe dying \u2013 flashed before his eyes and he swayed.<\/p>\n A familiar hand steadied him.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe be okay.\u00a0 He smart boy.\u00a0 Take care of self.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben slowly nodded.\u00a0 He had taught all of his boys survival skills, but sometimes it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n It hadn\u2019t been enough last October.<\/p>\n \u201cI go put supplies in saddlebags then. \u00a0Medicine and<\/em> food for you and Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Hop Sing.\u00a0 I want to start out before the light is gone.\u201d\u00a0 He placed a hand on his friend\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou need to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n The man from China nodded his agreement and headed for the wagon.<\/p>\n Ben looked down into the ravine again and then raised his eyes to the road.\u00a0 They were a mile or so out from the scene of last year\u2019s accident, but he could see it in his mind\u2019s eye.\u00a0 God could not be so cruel as to take both of his boys in nearly the same way, at almost the same place.<\/p>\n Not the God he knew.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rick sat at the table with his ma\u2019s Bible in his hands.\u00a0 Joe was asleep again.\u00a0 His fever was back and it was climbing.\u00a0 He knew something was wrong.\u00a0 There had to be an infection somewhere, but he didn\u2019t know what to do about it.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to peek under the bandage on Joe\u2019s leg, but it had caused the wounded man so much pain he\u2019d stopped.<\/p>\n He was scared.<\/p>\n Since Joe had finished the Twenty-third Psalm when he was reading it, he figured he was a Christian too.\u00a0 Of course, even if he wasn\u2019t, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to pray for him.\u00a0 He\u2019d done that and then read a little more.\u00a0 He liked the Psalms the best.\u00a0 Ma said they were \u2018real\u2019.\u00a0 She told him whenever he thought he couldn\u2019t question God or felt guilty \u2018cause he was angry with Him, he should go to the Psalms.\u00a0 \u2018Course she told him too that if he got too big for his britches, he needed to read the last two chapters of Job where God asked Job where he<\/em> was when He hung the stars.<\/p>\n As he sat there thinkin\u2019 about his ma and Joe\u2019s brother who\u2019d died and wondering why, Rick\u2019s eyes went to the unopened letters tucked in the back of the book.\u00a0 He knew what they were, even though he didn\u2019t let on to Joe.\u00a0 Ma told him.\u00a0 She\u2019d told him she left them in case she never came back.\u00a0 Of course, Ma knew he couldn\u2019t read them himself, but she figured he could find someone who would.<\/p>\n Like<\/em> Joe.<\/p>\n Still, if he let Joe read those letters, then he had to accept she wasn\u2019t never comin\u2019 back and he wasn\u2019t quite ready to do that.\u00a0 Even though he\u2019d admitted to the older man that she was gone, well, readin\u2019 them letters would be like closin\u2019 the lid on her coffin.<\/p>\n He sure wished she\u2019d had<\/em> a coffin and he had a grave.<\/p>\n With a sigh Rick rose to his feet, leaving both the book and the mystery of the letters behind.\u00a0 He glanced at Joe, who was mutterin\u2019 and movin\u2019 around on the bed, and then picked up the bucket and headed outside.\u00a0 Night was comin\u2019 fast and the air was gettin\u2019 cold. \u00a0The water would be the same.\u00a0 He needed it to cool Joe down.<\/p>\n He only hoped it would be enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben headed down into the ravine as dusk overtook the October landscape.\u00a0 The setting sun swept it, enriching the orange, red, and yellow hues until it seemed the woods were on fire.\u00a0 As he and Buck reached the bottom, the rancher became all too aware of a familiar odor.<\/p>\n The odor of death.<\/p>\n As Ben moved along the bottom of the ridge, he disturbed a flock of crows from their feasting.\u00a0 In the encroaching darkness he hadn\u2019t seen them until they took flight like something out of an All Hallows Eve fright.\u00a0 With fear and trepidation he approached the partially desiccated corpse of a large dark horse.\u00a0 Terror made his heart pound so hard he feared it would leap out of his chest as he dismounted and rounded the dead animal to see if anything \u2013 or anyone<\/em> \u2013 was trapped beneath.<\/p>\n God was merciful.\u00a0 There was nothing.<\/p>\n Nothing, that was, except his son\u2019s tan hat and Joe\u2019s tack still mounted on the unfamiliar horse; the saddlebags distinctively marked with the letters \u2018JFC\u2019.\u00a0 As he circled out from the dead animal, looking for more evidence, he came across Joe\u2019s pistol. The chamber was empty and there were spent shell casings on the ground.\u00a0 In the dim light, Ben sensed more than saw the blood on the gun\u2019s pearl handle.\u00a0 Fortunately, he could also see the tracks of a horse and a travois.<\/p>\n Someone had come across his son.\u00a0 Thank God!\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n As Ben stood there, staring at the tracks, the rancher came to a decision.\u00a0 The autumn moon was large and low on the horizon.\u00a0 With any luck it would serve to light his way once it ascended.\u00a0 He knew the wise thing to do would be to camp for the night and follow the tracks in the morning, but wisdom had nothing to do with how he felt.\u00a0 His son was hurt.\u00a0 He had no idea how bad.<\/p>\n He needed to be with him.<\/p>\n Returning to Buck, Ben took his faithful friend\u2019s reins in hand.\u00a0 It would take longer to walk but, this way, he was certain not to miss the trail.\u00a0 In the end, luck and God were with him.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t gone a quarter of a mile when he rounded a brace of trees and saw smoke rising into the air.\u00a0 With hope and thanksgiving swelling in his breast, the older man hastened his steps.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m coming, Joe. Pa\u2019s coming,\u201d he breathed.\u00a0 \u201cHold on.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rick was dead tired, but there was no way he could sleep.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s fever was sky high and the cold blankets and cloths he\u2019d wrapped him in weren\u2019t doin\u2019 much to keep it at bay.\u00a0 As he held the struggling man down, the boy glanced at Joe\u2019s left leg where it had pulled free of the cover.\u00a0 That leg had<\/em> to be the source of the infection.\u00a0 He knew he should unwind the linen strips, remove the splints, and clean the wound out again.\u00a0 The trouble was, he didn\u2019t really have anything to use.\u00a0 What alcohol he\u2019d had was long gone.\u00a0 There was dead tissue as well that needed to be cut away but that would take a doctor and, even if there had <\/em>been a doctor closer than twenty miles away, he couldn\u2019t leave Joe.<\/p>\n He was gonna watch him die.<\/p>\n Tears broke free to course down his cheeks.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t known Joe more than a few days, but already he felt the older man was like kin.\u00a0 He\u2019d been alone for so long.\u00a0 Having someone to talk to \u2013 someone to care <\/em>for \u2013 was somethin\u2019 he\u2019d prayed for but never expected to have again.\u00a0 He\u2019d figured he would live in this holler and die in this holler all alone.<\/p>\n When Joe grew quiet, Rick released him.\u00a0 Catching hold of the cloth that had fallen from the wounded man\u2019s forehead, he reached down to soak it in the water he\u2019d gathered from the rain barrel.\u00a0 It was warm.\u00a0 The boy pivoted to look at the hearth.\u00a0 He\u2019d stoked up the fire good because Joe was shiverin\u2019.\u00a0 Glancing at the sick man again, he weighed the danger of leaving him alone against his need for cold water.\u00a0 He\u2019d had a high fever once, when he had the measles.\u00a0 Ma told him he\u2019d climbed right out of the bed and headed for the cabin door, thinkin\u2019 he was runnin\u2019 from a grizzly that had hold of him.<\/p>\n With Joe\u2019s injuries….<\/p>\n Exhausted with worry and too little sleep, Rick caught the handle of the bucket in his fingers and headed for the door.\u00a0 He picked up a lantern on the way and lit it, since it was dark outside.\u00a0 Once on the stoop, he stopped and turned back to look into the house, to make sure Joe was still sleeping.\u00a0 That\u2019s when he heard a noise.\u00a0 The jingling of a harness.\u00a0 A horse snorting.<\/p>\n A man calling out, \u2018Ho!\u00a0 You in the house!\u2019<\/p>\n Rick froze.\u00a0 No one came to the holler.\u00a0 No<\/em> one.<\/em>\u00a0 Now two men had in less than two days.\u00a0 Fear gripped him.\u00a0 What if this man was responsible for Joe\u2019s accident somehow and had come lookin\u2019 for him?\u00a0 Joe hadn\u2019t said much except his horse took him over the edge of the ravine.<\/p>\n Backing up toward the house, Rick reached inside the door and grabbed the loaded rifle he kept there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben approached the cabin, excited and thrilled to see that the structure was in fairly good shape and the birds and beasts that bleated and squawked to warn of his coming were well fed and feisty.\u00a0 All of that meant this was an active homestead and not a ramshackle place where some vagabond or outlaw lived who might take advantage of his injured son.\u00a0 There was a figure on the porch.\u00a0 As he approached, the man stiffened in surprise and backed toward the door, stepping into the light.<\/p>\n The rancher halted and drew in a sudden, startled breath as he was propelled back in time.<\/p>\n It could have been Hoss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Five<\/p>\n As he approached, Ben raised his arms and held his hands out in the universal gesture of friendship.\u00a0 He did it as well as to show that he held no weapon. \u00a0The rancher halted as the man on the porch raised the rifle and pointed it at him.<\/p>\n \u201cWho are you and what do you want?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n The crack in the homesteader\u2019s voice made the rancher realize that, most likely,\u00a0 it was not<\/em> a full grown man he was dealing with.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean you no harm,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cMy name is Ben Cartwright.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking for my son.\u201d<\/p>\n The rifle dipped at his name, but the young man still sighted along it.\u00a0 \u201cHow do I know you\u2019re tellin\u2019 me the truth?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben thought furiously.\u00a0 If this young man had rescued Joe, then he\u2019d probably talked to him.\u00a0 In fact, he prayed<\/em> he\u2019d talked to him.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son came to this area to visit the older woman who lives by the lake.\u00a0 Maybe you know her?\u00a0 Carrie Pickett?\u201d\u00a0 The homesteader nodded, but said nothing.\u00a0 \u201cHis name is Joseph.\u00a0 He\u2019s not a big man.\u00a0 Curly brown hair.\u00a0 Green eyes.\u00a0 Most likely wearing a green jacket.\u00a0 Have you seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n He got a question for<\/em> a question.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019d you find me?\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher considered his answer and decided to be completely honest.\u00a0 \u201cI followed the tracks of the travois. \u00a0Son, I know<\/em> Joe\u2019s here.\u00a0 Please, let me see him.\u201d<\/p>\n A noise caused the young man to turn and look into the house.\u00a0 It sounded like the cry of someone in pain.\u00a0 He turned back quickly and when he saw that he hadn\u2019t moved, seemed to grow more at ease.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your place called?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ponderosa.\u201d\u00a0 Ben thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019ve talked to Joe, you probably know he has a brother Adam and that his other brother, Hoss…died a year ago in a mudslide close to here.\u201d<\/p>\n The homesteader winced at the sound of another cry.\u00a0 He hesitated a moment and then dropped the rifle.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u2019s real sick, Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 God must have sent you.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded as fear for his son sickened him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s your name, son?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRick. \u00a0Rick Ferrell.\u201d<\/p>\n He took a step forward. \u201cRick.\u00a0 Can I come inside?\u201d<\/p>\n The young man looked back into the cabin as another cry went up.<\/p>\n \u201cYou better hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben didn\u2019t know what he expected, but it wasn\u2019t what he found.<\/p>\n The cabin itself was a simple structure with two rooms.\u00a0 The first was a large space that served as kitchen, dining room, and great room.\u00a0 The second, smaller room, was probably a bedroom.\u00a0 The door was closed.\u00a0 From the look of the bedding on the floor near the table, Rick had abandoned it to be near his ailing son.\u00a0 There were unexpected hints here and there of a woman\u2019s touch \u2013 antimacassars on the back of an old settee, lace curtains, figurines on a what-not shelf and the like.\u00a0 It was definitely not<\/em> the house of a single man in his late teens or early twenties as Rick appeared to be.<\/p>\n He saw Joe the moment he stepped in.\u00a0 His son was lying on a low bed pressed up against the back wall of the cabin.\u00a0 A few long strides took him to his side.\u00a0 Once there, he sat on the bed and reached out to touch the boy\u2019s forehead.<\/p>\n He nearly pulled his hand away.<\/p>\n Pivoting, he demanded sharply, \u201cHow long has his fever been this high?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA couple of hours,\u201d Rick answered from the doorway where he was standing.\u00a0 \u201cHe got better and then he got worse.\u00a0 I think somethin\u2019s infected.\u201d\u00a0 The young man swallowed hard.\u00a0 \u201cI did my best, Mister Cartwright, to clean them wounds out, but he was awful dirty when I found him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe fell into the river at the bottom of the ravine.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that didn\u2019t help,\u201d he replied as he pulled the coverlet back and began to untie the strips that held the splints on Joe\u2019s leg.\u00a0 His son stirred and muttered as he did, but didn\u2019t wake up.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know what to do?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben started.\u00a0 The voice was so young, so…terrified …he was forced to reassess the age of Joe\u2019s rescuer again.\u00a0 His own son had been a giant at the age of twelve.<\/p>\n Rick might not be much older.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve raised three boys.\u00a0 I have a pretty good idea,\u201d he said as he continued to work on the soiled strips of linen, taking them off and tossing them to the floor.\u00a0 \u201cRick, if you will, go out to my horse and get my saddlebags.\u00a0 There\u2019s food and medicine in them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n \u201cMy horse is named Buck.\u00a0 Talk to him.\u00a0 He\u2019ll let you come near.\u201d<\/p>\n Some sort of reply came back his way as the boy headed out the door. \u00a0Dismissing his need to know what it had been, the rancher turned back to his son.\u00a0 Reaching out he cupped Joe\u2019s chin in his hand and said, \u201cJoseph.\u00a0 Can\u00a0 you hear me?\u00a0 It\u2019s Pa. \u00a0Your pa\u2019s here, boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe seemed to hear him.\u00a0 He shifted and moaned.\u00a0 For a moment he grew quiet and then he began to thrash.<\/p>\n \u201cNo…\u201d he wailed.\u00a0 \u201cNo! …can\u2019t…. No!\u00a0 Hoss!\u00a0 No!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Good Lord. \u00a0He was reliving his brother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n He pinched his son\u2019s chin.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, listen to me.\u00a0 Listen!\u00a0 You\u2019re hurt.\u00a0 You have a fever.\u00a0 You\u2019re not in the mudslide!\u201d<\/p>\n His son\u2019s eyes flashed open.\u00a0 Joe looked at him but he wasn\u2019t sure he saw him.\u00a0 His youngest drew in a shuddering breath as tears flooded his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Hoss. \u00a0No,\u201d he repeated, and then Joe said something that made no sense.<\/p>\n \u201cLily.\u201d<\/p>\n A gasp made him turn.\u00a0 Rick was standing in the doorway, saddlebags in hand.<\/p>\n He looked like he\u2019d seen a ghost.<\/p>\n With a glance at Joe, who seemed to have fallen back into the sleep of the sick, Ben rose and went over to the young man.<\/p>\n The boy.<\/p>\n Looking directly at him now, he recognized the signs of puberty. \u00a0His middle son had looked much the same around the age of twelve \u2013 and been just as tall.<\/p>\n \u201cIs something wrong, Rick?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe ain\u2019t said that before,\u201d the boy replied, his voice a bare whisper.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat…?\u00a0 Oh, \u2018Lily\u2019?\u00a0 Does that mean something to you?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick nodded as he held out the saddlebags.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my ma\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The night was a battleground.<\/p>\n Once he had the bandages removed, Ben found the source of the infection.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s bone had splintered and a part of it worked its way through the skin.\u00a0 Rick had cleaned the wound, but something had been left behind.\u00a0 In spite of the discovery of what it was \u2013 and subsequent treatment \u2013 Joe\u2019s fever raged and he\u2019d feared for his life.\u00a0 Now, as he sat by his son\u2019s side exhausted but grateful to see the dawn breaking through the window, the older man reflected on how precarious life was.\u00a0 Joe was about as hale and hearty as they came, toughened by years of exposure to the elements and the life of a cowboy with all of its inherent dangers.<\/p>\n And all it took was a bit of a decomposed leaf to threaten his life.<\/p>\n Glancing at Rick where he lay sleeping, he smiled.\u00a0 The boy had ably assisted him throughout the night, following his orders quickly and efficiently and without protest.\u00a0 It was plain to see that he was greatly relieved to have someone else in charge.\u00a0 Turning back to Joe, the rancher placed a hand on his son\u2019s arm.\u00a0 It was just as plain to see that in the short time Joe had been in the boy\u2019s company, Rick had become attached to him.\u00a0 A smile touched his lips.\u00a0 Of course, with Joe, it didn\u2019t take much.\u00a0 Most anyone who knew him liked him \u2013 or loved him.\u00a0 Leaning forward he placed his hand on his son\u2019s face and was delighted to find that the fever had abated a bit.\u00a0 Rick had helped him to prepare one of Hop Sing\u2019s herbal plasters and it seemed to be doing the trick.\u00a0 Still, he was worried.\u00a0 The leg had to be set and soon. \u00a0Rick had splinted it to keep the broken bone immobile, but the boy had not moved the bones back into place.\u00a0 He was concerned Joe would have a limp, but he couldn\u2019t fault the boy.<\/p>\n For a lad his age he had done far more than could have been expected.<\/p>\n Tomorrow, he told himself.\u00a0 Tomorrow, if Joe\u2019s fever was down, when Hop Sing arrived he would set his son\u2019s leg.\u00a0 Ben looked at Joe, who was sleeping deeply.\u00a0 He had judiciously added a few drops of laudanum to a glass of water and given it to him to help him sleep without dreams.<\/p>\n The rest he had kept, knowing they would have need of it.<\/p>\n Ben rose and stretched.\u00a0 As he left his son\u2019s bedside and walked toward the door, he passed Rick who was asleep on his makeshift bed, dead to the world.\u00a0 Stopping, he paused to study him for a moment and was struck again by the resemblance to Hoss. \u00a0The boy\u2019s coloring was lighter.\u00a0 His hair was fairly thick and a pale shade of blond with red highlights.\u00a0 He was more slender than Hoss as well, though just as tall and fairly broad.\u00a0 If he was only twelve or thirteen, most likely in time he would fill out and be a powerful man to take notice of.\u00a0 He thought about how tender the boy had been when he helped with Joe, holding his son\u2019s head, offering him water; speaking kind and healing words to him.<\/p>\n Ben pursed his lips and shook his head.<\/p>\n How he wished he could go back to the time when all his sons were home with him.\u00a0 When they were children who needed guidance and advice like this one.<\/p>\n When Pa was their world.<\/p>\n As he turned to exit, Ben noted a Bible laying open on the settee by the boy.\u00a0 Usually when he traveled he brought his own with him, but worry had made him forget.\u00a0 He glanced at Rick and decided the boy probably wouldn\u2019t mind if he borrowed it.\u00a0 More than likely, he wouldn\u2019t even know. \u00a0Leaning over, the rancher picked up the well-worn tome.\u00a0 Slowly, his fingers caressed the soft leather.\u00a0 With an eye to the growing light Ben opened the door, walked outside, and drew in a breath of the crisp autumn air.\u00a0 The light was breaking through the trees, striping the land with gold.\u00a0 Birds wheeled in the sky.\u00a0 God\u2019s world was<\/em> truly wonderful.<\/p>\n He was humbled by its beauty and more than thankful that his son had made it through the night.<\/p>\n The evening before as he entered the cabin he\u2019d noted a rocking chair beside the door, just under a window.\u00a0 Feeling every one of his sixty-plus years, Ben went to it and sat down.\u00a0 For a moment he remained still with his hand on the Bible, watching the growing light, and then he opened it, intending to go to the Psalms to read one of praise.<\/p>\n As he did, two letters fluttered to the ground.<\/p>\n Slightly perplexed, he bent and retrieved them.\u00a0 He\u2019d started to put them back in the book when the name and address on one of them brought him up short.<\/p>\n Mister Eric Cartwright.\u00a0 The Ponderosa.\u00a0 Nevada. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Quickly, he looked at the other one.\u00a0 It was addressed to Broderick Ferrell.<\/p>\n That one said, \u2018To be opened upon my death.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n The letters were obviously old.\u00a0 The wax on them was cracked and the paper slightly faded on one end from being exposed to the light.\u00a0 Ben sat there for some time with the pair of them in his hand, uncertain of what he should do.\u00a0 He\u2019d just decided to wake the young man up and ask him about them when the sound of a wagon approaching brought him to his feet.<\/p>\n Hop Sing had arrived.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019d never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n Mister Cartwright might have been the owner of the Ponderosa, the biggest spread in all of Nevada, but he might as well have been a kid just like him, the way Hop Sing took over.\u00a0 The little Chinese man came into the cabin, took one look at Joe, and started to issue orders.\u00a0 Soon enough he had both him and the rancher hopping; boilin\u2019 water, crushin\u2019 spices, and makin\u2019 them plasters he put on Joe\u2019s leg.\u00a0 The last one smelled like the dickens!\u00a0 When they caught a break Mister Cartwright explained that he\u2019d hired Hop Sing when Joe was little, before his ma died.\u00a0 The man from China had had a big part in raisin\u2019 Joe and loved him like his own.\u00a0 He knew it was true.\u00a0 He\u2019d stood by Joe\u2019s bed when Hop Sing first sat down.\u00a0 Just like his ma would have, the little man stroked Joe\u2019s hair back from his forehead.\u00a0 As he did, he said soft words in that funny language of his.\u00a0 Joe smiled and, even though he wasn\u2019t really awake, answered back the same way.<\/p>\n Rick turned toward the door, wonderin\u2019 what Mister Cartwright was up to.\u00a0 Since Hop Sing\u2019s arrival, Joe\u2019s pa had spent a lot of time outdoors, doing things he\u2019d had to neglect \u2018cause of takin\u2019 care of Joe, like cleanin\u2019 out the stalls and milkin\u2019 their goat.\u00a0 He thought it was awful funny that a man who owned a thousand acres of land would want to do that.<\/p>\n Mister Cartwright told him he needed time to think and he thought better when his hands were busy.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s pa had been awful quiet since Hop Sing came.\u00a0 All he could figure was that he was afraid Joe would die, but then that didn\u2019t make sense, cause Joe was gettin\u2019 better.\u00a0 He\u2019d stayed awake long enough today to ask for his pa and the two of them had talked for a bit before Joe went back to sleep.\u00a0 Mister Cartwright had leaned in and kissed him on the forehead before he left, like he was a little kid, and Joe hadn\u2019t complained.<\/p>\n He sure wished he\u2019d had a pa.<\/p>\n He sure wished he still<\/em> had his ma.<\/p>\n Glancing down, Rick noticed his ma\u2019s Bible laying on the table.\u00a0 It was in a different spot from where he\u2019d left it the night before.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard Joe\u2019s father prayin\u2019 in the middle of the night, so he knew he was a believer.\u00a0 He figured maybe Mister Cartwright had been reading it, which was okay.\u00a0 He knew it\u2019d been read \u2018cause the letters were in a different place.\u00a0 They probably fell out when the older man opened it.\u00a0 Driven by something he didn\u2019t quite understand, Rick pulled the letters out of the back of the book and stared at them, wondering what was written on them and who they were for.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen his ma write his name once or twice and he thought one of them was addressed to him.<\/p>\n He had no idea who the other one was for.<\/p>\n \u201cBoy look tired.\u00a0 Why he not sleep?\u201d a soft voice asked.<\/p>\n Mister Cartwright had asked him point blank and he\u2019d had to admit he wasn\u2019t as old as he looked.\u00a0 Usually when someone called him \u2018boy\u2019 it made him kind of mad, but he\u2019d heard Hop Sing call Joe \u2018boy\u2019 too.<\/p>\n That had made him smile.<\/p>\n His eyes went to the bed where his friend lay.\u00a0 \u201cIs Joe gonna be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing\u2019s black eyes clouded with concern.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Joe very sick boy.\u201d \u00a0The Chinese man touched his head and then his heart.\u00a0 \u201cHere, and here.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick nodded.\u00a0 \u201cHe blames himself for his brother\u2019s death, don\u2019t he?\u00a0 Hoss, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe talk in sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. \u00a0Lots.\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing was silent for a few seconds, then he said, \u201cMister Hoss good man.\u00a0 Love Little Joe him very much. Would give life for brother.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d pieced together a few things from Joe\u2019s rantings.\u00a0 There had been a flash flood.\u00a0 The road had washed out, takin\u2019 Joe with it and some woman whose wagon had been stuck.\u00a0 Hoss had saved Joe but gone back in and died tryin\u2019 to save her.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a woman too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLily.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick stiffened.\u00a0 \u201cLily?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe say name over and over.\u00a0 Hoss.\u00a0 Lily.\u00a0 Lily. Hoss.\u201d<\/p>\n He was gonna be sick.<\/p>\n Rising to his feet, Rick turned and ran outside.\u00a0 Hop Sing came running after him. \u00a0He stopped in the door and called out to him, askin\u2019 what was wrong.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know why he hadn\u2019t put two and two together before.\u00a0 Now that he had, how could he tell him?<\/p>\n How could<\/em> he tell Joe?<\/p>\n Lily.<\/p>\n That was his ma.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben heard a commotion and stopped what he was doing.\u00a0 After finding the letter addressed to Hoss it had been hard to remain in the house.\u00a0 Every instinct that was in him told him to open it and read it, but every rule he had ever known \u2013 and taught his boys \u2013 told him it was none of his business.\u00a0 As a young man he had found work to be therapeutic.\u00a0 Digging in the earth, cutting down timber, riding herd \u2013 even busting a bronco or two \u2013 had taken his mind off of what troubled him.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t working this time.<\/p>\n Leaning the rake against the stall wall, the rancher walked to the barn door, opened it, and looked out.\u00a0 Hop Sing was standing on the porch, looking both confused and concerned.\u00a0 Wiping his hands on his trousers, he crossed the yard to the porch.<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cBoy run off.\u00a0 Go into woods.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben looked but could see nothing.\u00a0 Turning back he asked, \u201cHow\u2019s Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe better.\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing paused.\u00a0 \u201cNot best.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you think he\u2019ll recover?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBoy need doctor for leg.\u201d<\/p>\n He winced.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to set that leg.\u00a0 Is he strong enough, do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFeed broth, then see. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cDo you need me?\u201d Ben asked, looking again toward the woods.<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing okay all by self.\u00a0 Cook broth.\u00a0 Give to boy.\u00a0 He stronger, set leg when you come back.\u201d\u00a0 The Chinese man frowned.\u00a0 \u201cTall boy like Mister Hoss.\u00a0 Hide feelings.\u00a0 Feelings deep.\u201d<\/p>\n Perceptive as always, that was Hop Sing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll see if I can find him.\u201d<\/p>\n The man from China turned and entered the cabin as he walked away.\u00a0 The light was rising, painting the trees a fiery orange.\u00a0 As Ben walked the autumn leaves fell, fulfilling the cycle of life \u2013 dying so new things could be born.\u00a0 He\u2019d gone about a quarter of a mile when he came to an area with a ramshackle fence. \u00a0It was covered in Bittersweet.\u00a0 Rick was leaning against it, his shoulders rising and falling with silent tears.<\/p>\n Walking over to the boy, he placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cSon?\u00a0 Would you like to talk?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick sniffed.\u00a0 He struck tears from his face with his sleeve and then said, without turning.\u00a0 \u201cI wish you was my pa, Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 I hope he was like you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The boy looked at him with those keen light blue eyes of his.\u00a0 \u201cSir?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCall me Ben.\u00a0 You saved my boy\u2019s life.\u00a0 I consider you a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBen,\u201d he said as if trying it out.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cYou seem upset.\u00a0 Can I help?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was fingering one of the burnt orange berries on the vine that clung to the fence.\u00a0 \u201cMy ma loved this stuff.\u00a0 She used to cut and bring it into the house this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBittersweet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 She said it was like life. \u00a0Sweet and sour at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour mother sounds like a very wise woman.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was silent a moment.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s dead, you know.\u00a0 She\u2019d died a year ago.\u201d\u00a0 The boy glanced at him and then his head went down.\u00a0 \u201cI think she killed your son.\u201d<\/p>\n To say he was taken aback would have been an understatement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHoss. \u00a0I think Ma was…. I think Hoss died tryin\u2019 to save her.\u00a0 Hop Sing said the woman\u2019s name was Lily.\u201d\u00a0 He blinked back tears.\u00a0 \u201cMa\u2019s name was Lily and I never saw her again after that mudslide last year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but Joe said things.\u00a0 He was tryin\u2019 to warn her.\u00a0 It seemed she didn\u2019t hear him.\u201d\u00a0 Rick frowned. \u00a0\u201cMa was deaf.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben leaned against the fence, his middle son\u2019s final words pounding through his brain.<\/p>\n \u2018I got me a hankerin\u2019 to see them Piney Woods too.\u00a0 You know, Pa, a long time ago….\u00a0 Well, I think I left somethin\u2019 there.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019, I should of gone back for.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Was that \u2013 could<\/em> that something have been a son?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Six<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe wake up.\u00a0 Boy need to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe shifted, winced, and dared to shake his head.\u00a0 \u201cNot hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBoy eat anyhow.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe opened one eye and looked.\u00a0 Yep, it was Hop Sing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen did you get here?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cBoy not remember.\u00a0 Hop Sing take care of Little Joe all<\/em> night long.\u201d<\/p>\n He sniffed.\u00a0 Wrinkling his nose, he said, \u201cI could of told by the smell.\u00a0 What\u2019d you put on my leg?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChinese secret.\u201d<\/p>\n He was more than used to Hop Sing\u2019s \u2018secret\u2019 potions.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t one of them that didn\u2019t set your hair on end and smell like wet dog.<\/p>\n A hand on his forehead stopped his protest.\u00a0 \u201cBoy not complain.\u00a0 Boy better.\u00a0 Fever down.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sighed.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing, it\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve been a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese man smiled.\u00a0 \u201cAlways boy to Hop Sing.\u00a0 Always Little <\/em>Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n He shifted again and was grateful to do it.\u00a0 It hurt, but it didn\u2019t feel like his leg wasn\u2019t part of him anymore.\u00a0 \u201cCan you help me sit up?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cIf boy eat soup.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll eat your soup,\u201d he groused.\u00a0 \u201cJust help me up.\u201d\u00a0 Once he was propped against the pillows, he asked, \u201cWhere\u2019s Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe look for great big boy,\u201d the Chinese man said as he reached for the tray next to him.<\/p>\n \u201cRick?\u00a0 Where\u2019d he go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing tell big boy what Little Joe say when fever high.\u00a0 He hear and run.\u201d<\/p>\n The sick man resisted a sigh.\u00a0 Hop Sing was tucking a napkin under his chin.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019d I say?\u201d he asked as the Chinese man settled the tray on his lap.<\/p>\n \u201cLily.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe blinked.\u00a0 \u201cLily?\u00a0 Just that?\u201d\u00a0 He thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cLily.\u00a0 I think that was the name of the woman Hoss tried to save.\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded.\u00a0 \u201cLily boy\u2019s mother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 He jerked so hard he spilled some of the soup on the tray.\u00a0 \u201cAre you sure?\u00a0 How do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing see it in boy\u2019s eyes,\u201d the man from China said softly.<\/p>\n Joe thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.\u00a0 They were near where the landslide happened.\u00a0 Rick said his ma had gone to town and not come back.\u00a0 He\u2019d told him she was hard of hearing and the woman he\u2019d shouted at had been deaf.\u00a0 There was another thing he remembered.\u00a0 It was why he kept saying her name.\u00a0 Just before Hoss waded back in, his brother had called out a name.<\/p>\n \u2018Lily\u2019.<\/p>\n Like he knew her.<\/p>\n Hop Sing held a spoonful of broth out.\u00a0 He pushed it aside.<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n Not Hoss.<\/p>\n Maybe him<\/em>, but not Hoss.<\/p>\n Joe looked at the door.\u00a0 He could see Rick standing there that first night and remembered how much he had reminded him of his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t think,\u201d Joe said, his voice hushed with awe.<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded as he offered the spoonful of broth again.<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing not think.\u00a0 He know<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben\u2019s head was reeling.\u00a0 None of it made any sense.<\/p>\n If Hoss had…fathered a child…nothing in the world would have stopped his son from claiming the boy, no matter what the societal consequences.\u00a0 And yet, looking at Rick now, it was impossible not to see the resemblance.\u00a0 Oh, he\u2019d noted it before, but in passing.<\/p>\n Now, there was no question.<\/p>\n Clearing his throat, he asked Rick, who was leaning against the fence, looking off into the distance, \u201cDo you know anything about your father?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy glanced at him as if wondering why he cared.\u00a0 Then he shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cMa told me he was a good man, but he couldn\u2019t stay.\u00a0 Said he had \u2018other obligations\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Rick paused.\u00a0 \u201cI think she was lyin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is that?\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed.\u00a0 \u201cMa was…mighty proud.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t take nothin\u2019 from no one.\u00a0 Said she\u2019d had to fight all her life to have somethin\u2019 to call her own and she wasn\u2019t about to take charity.\u201d\u00a0 The boy turned around so he was facing him.\u00a0 \u201cShe wasn\u2019t a drinker, but every once in a while Ma\u2019d break out the medicine bottle and take a shot or two.\u00a0 She told me she\u2019d sent him away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSent him away?\u201d he echoed.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMa didn\u2019t say, but I think him and her \u2013 Pa and my ma \u2013 gettin\u2019 together was \u2018cause they was both lonely. \u00a0Not \u2018cause they loved each other.\u201d<\/p>\n He was trying hard to piece it together.\u00a0 It still didn\u2019t sound like his son, and yet he found it hard \u2013 especially in light of that letter \u2013 to believe Rick was not talking about Hoss.\u00a0 Ben thought about it.\u00a0 Rick was somewhere in his early teens.\u00a0 That placed his birth about the end of the fifties, or maybe the early sixties.\u00a0 When had Hoss been so distraught that this might have happened?<\/p>\n Then he had it.\u00a0 Emily Pennington.\u00a0\u00a0 The young woman had left because she knew she was dying and broken his son\u2019s heart.\u00a0 After that, Hoss had gone away for a time.\u00a0 He\u2019d said he needed time to himself.\u00a0 Could he have come across Lily and the pair of them \u2013 two lonely souls \u2013 sought a moment of consolation in each other\u2019s arms?<\/p>\n \u201cYou okay Mister…Ben?\u201d Rick asked.<\/p>\n The rancher placed a hand on the boy\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 For a moment, he was at a loss for words.\u00a0 When he found his voice, he said, \u201cSon, those letters you have in your mother\u2019s Bible.\u00a0 Do you know who they are for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI already told Joe.\u00a0 I can\u2019t read that fancy writing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy haven\u2019t you found someone to read them to you?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m…afraid, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf what you\u2019ll learn?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThat and, well, readin\u2019 them….\u00a0 I guess, it\u2019s like I\u2019m givin\u2019 up on Ma. \u00a0Like I\u2019m admittin\u2019 she ain\u2019t ever comin\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think she is?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick pale blue eyes, so like his late son\u2019s, met his.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGo ahead and do it, Pa,\u201d Joe said between gritted teeth.<\/p>\n His father had his hands on his leg.\u00a0 Rick\u2019s were on his shoulders.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to hurt, son.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Pa said.<\/p>\n He knew it had been too long.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure how long it had <\/em>been, but he knew at least two days had passed since Rick found him.\u00a0 Without the bone being set, the odds were he\u2019d have a limp at best and be a cripple at worst.\u00a0 He understood why Pa waited.\u00a0 It only made sense to be sure he wasn\u2019t gonna die before bothering to set his leg.\u00a0 Hop Sing was standin\u2019 at the bottom of the bed, eying all three of them.\u00a0 He knew why.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen Pa, sneakin\u2019 looks at Rick just like him.<\/p>\n If only<\/em> they knew for sure.\u00a0 If some part <\/em>of his brother had been left behind \u2013 if Hoss had<\/em> gone back into that raging torrent of mud and water to save a woman he\u2019d loved….<\/p>\n Well, it didn\u2019t make it any easier, but it did make sense.<\/p>\n Joe caught his father watching him. \u00a0He nodded and gave him a little smile.\u00a0 They both knew the bones might have begun to knit and it was gonna hurt like Hell to move them.<\/p>\n Pa glanced up at Rick and nodded.\u00a0 Joe felt the boy\u2019s grip tighten.\u00a0 He was waiting for pa to say \u2018when\u2019 when \u2018when\u2019 came without warning.\u00a0\u00a0 He thought he\u2019d been ready.<\/p>\n He was wrong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By the time Joe regained consciousness, the light was gone.\u00a0 Someone had stoked the fire in the hearth and the cabin smelled of apples and cinnamon.\u00a0 It never ceased to amaze him what Hop Sing packed in that medicine chest of his.\u00a0 He felt dizzy and light-headed, but if he had to tell the truth, his leg felt better.\u00a0 The searing pain that had filled his mind and sapped his strength for the last few days was \u2013 well \u2013 not gone, but a distant memory of what it had been.<\/p>\n When he came to himself enough to realize what was goin\u2019 on around him, Joe saw that his Pa was sitting at his bedside. \u00a0He had a letter in his hand.<\/p>\n Joe licked his lips.\u00a0 \u201cHey, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n The older man started and reached out to touch his arm.\u00a0 \u201cJoe.\u00a0 How are you, son?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBetter.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s hand came down on his forehead.\u00a0 Then he smiled.\u00a0 \u201cI believe you are.\u00a0 The fever is almost gone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you have to be sorry for?\u201d Pa asked, confused.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to come up here and then I went and, well, you know.\u201d\u00a0 He scowled.\u00a0 \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been easy realizin\u2019 I went over the edge so near….\u201d<\/p>\n Pa closed his eyes and then opened them with a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 But you\u2019re here now and alive. That\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned his head and looked around the cabin.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s Rick?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOutside with Hop Sing.\u201d\u00a0 His father cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cI asked them to give us a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe lifted his brows in a question, but then found the answer on his own.\u00a0 \u201cThe letter?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Pa nodded.\u00a0 \u201cDid you know one of them was addressed to your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI asked Rick about them, but I never saw them. \u00a0You mean Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n His father laughed.\u00a0 \u201cWell, it\u2019s certainly not addressed to Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe laughed too but sobered quickly.\u00a0 \u201cHave you read it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 I waited on you.\u00a0 I think this is something we have to do together, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n He shifted and instantly his father moved to help him to sit up.\u00a0 Joe was surprised as a sudden fear gripped him like a fist.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what he was afraid of.<\/p>\n The truth, maybe.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, you gonna open it?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s near-black eyes met his.\u00a0 He paused and then his fingers cracked the years\u2019 old seal.\u00a0 The older man opened the page and scanned it, and then began to read.<\/p>\n \u2018Eric, if you are reading this, I\u2019m dead.\u00a0 I placed this letter along with one for Broderick in my Bible and told him not to open them unless something happened to me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t regret the choice I made.\u00a0 It was right for both me and you.\u00a0 There was no love between us, just a chance encounter between two people who were hurting and were seeking something they could never find this side of Heaven.\u00a0 There was a man I loved, just like you loved Emily.\u00a0 His family wanted nothing to do with the deaf girl. They sent him away.\u00a0 Emily had no choice.\u00a0 She died and broke your heart.\u00a0 I am grateful, that \u00a0for a few days, I was able to mend it. <\/em><\/p>\n Dear friend, there is something else I did not tell you and I would not for all the world have told you if there was any other way.\u00a0 Shortly after I sent you away, I found I was with child.\u00a0 I named him after you.\u00a0 Broderick.\u00a0 Do you remember when I called you that?\u00a0 Broad Eric, my Viking knight.\u00a0 Though you didn\u2019t love me, and I sent you away and told you not to look back, you gave me a gift for which I am eternally grateful.\u00a0 From Heaven I am looking down on you and smiling.\u00a0 Rick is a good boy. \u00a0He is yours now.\u00a0 Take care of him for he is your own.<\/em><\/p>\n Lily\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Tears were streaming down his cheeks.\u00a0 Joe thought of Emily Pennington and the deep love his brother had for the dying girl.\u00a0 Hoss had been devastated when he\u2019d found out she couldn\u2019t live.\u00a0 He remembered he\u2019d wanted to go after him, but his father had held him back, saying Hoss needed time.<\/p>\n Time in which he found Lily.<\/p>\n Time enough to have a son.<\/p>\n Joe blinked back tears.\u00a0 He looked at his father.\u00a0 Pa was crying too.<\/p>\n \u201cPa?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n His father stared at him.\u00a0 \u201cI have a grandson.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s words filled him with a sense of wonder.\u00a0 And he had a nephew!\u00a0 Hoss wasn\u2019t gone \u2013 not completely.<\/p>\n God had made sure a bit of him remained.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen are you going to tell him?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n The older man drew in a breath, slapped his thighs and rose.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no time like now.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rick heard his name being shouted.\u00a0 He paused in feeding Dumpy and turned toward the door.\u00a0 It sounded like somethin\u2019 was wrong.\u00a0 Instantly, he thought of Joe and feared the injured man had taken a turn for the worse.\u00a0 Quick as he could, the boy finished dumping the oats into the bucket and then, with a quick, \u2018I\u2019ll be back soon as I can\u2019, headed for the cabin.<\/p>\n Ben was standing on the porch waitin\u2019 for him.\u00a0 As he approached, Rick looked beyond him.\u00a0 At the sight of Joe, relief washed over him.\u00a0 The sick man was sitting up in the bed, looking his way.<\/p>\n The sick man\u2019s pa waited a moment and then said, softly, \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m sorry, son.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to frighten you.\u00a0 Joe is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n There was somethin\u2019 funny in Ben\u2019s voice.\u00a0 As he cleared his throat, the older man raised a hand to strike away a tear that was trailin\u2019 down his cheek.<\/p>\n Rick wondered if he\u2019d done somethin\u2019 wrong. \u00a0\u00a0Then he saw the letters in the older man\u2019s hand.\u00a0 One open.\u00a0 One not.<\/p>\n Ben noticed him looking.\u00a0 He drew in a breath and let it out very<\/em> slowly.\u00a0 \u201cYou said Joe told you about his brother,\u201d he began, his voice rough, \u201cabout Hoss and how he died?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u201d \u00a0Rick paused and then added, \u201cJoe\u2019s pretty torn up about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s blamed himself.\u00a0 Joe was caught in that flash flood, in the slide of mud and water that came down unexpectedly and washed out the road.\u00a0 His brother saved him and then went back, apparently in an attempt to save your mother.\u00a0 Joe was hurt and he couldn\u2019t help.\u00a0 Hoss was too exhausted to make the attempt and Joe took that on himself \u2013 the fact that Hoss had to go in and he couldn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think Joseph understood until now why his brother did.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben was lookin\u2019 at him awful<\/em> funny.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd why was that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s pa stepped off the porch and came to stand in front of him.\u00a0 He held out the opened letter.\u00a0 \u201cThis is addressed to Hoss,\u201d he said and waited.<\/p>\n Rick frowned.\u00a0 Now why would his ma have written a letter to Joe\u2019s brother?\u00a0 Joe said they didn\u2019t know who she was when they found her stranded with the wagon.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d he said at last.<\/p>\n \u201cCome inside, Rick.\u00a0 I think you will once you hear what this letter has to say.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe looked up at his pa and nodded.\u00a0 The older man was standing with his hand on Rick\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 Pa had read the letter Lily wrote to Hoss and since he\u2019d finished, the boy hadn\u2019t said a word.\u00a0 Rick was sitting with his head down, staring at the still unopened letter that was addressed to him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll leave you two alone,\u201d Pa said.<\/p>\n They\u2019d decided before Rick came in that once they\u2019d read Lily\u2019s letter, Pa would leave for a time.\u00a0 The boy had to be overwhelmed and Pa thought that maybe, since they\u2019d become friends, it would be better for him to read the still unopened letter to Rick.\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t sure he could.\u00a0 He felt light-headed \u2013 giddy even \u2013 but he wasn\u2019t sure if that was because he\u2019d just come out of a killing fever, or because he was suddenly the uncle of a six foot tall teenage boy.<\/p>\n God did move in mysterious ways.<\/p>\n After a moment, he dared to ask a question.\u00a0 \u201cYou okay, Rick?\u00a0 I mean, I know it\u2019s a lot to take in.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment, the boy didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 Then Rick raised those pale eyes of his and met his stare.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean…I\u2019m really….\u201d\u00a0 He faltered and tried again.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother Hoss is my pa?<\/em> \u00a0Are you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe snorted.\u00a0 Sure he was sure.\u00a0 Even if there hadn\u2019t been a letter, they probably would have figured it out on their own soon enough.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure,\u201d he said with a nod.\u00a0 \u201cYou look just like the big galoot, right down to that gap in your teeth.\u201d\u00a0 It was smaller than Hoss\u2019 had been, but it was there.<\/p>\n Rick was turning the letter over in his hands.\u00a0 \u201cMa was so small. \u00a0I always wondered….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow you got\u00a0 to be so big?\u201d\u00a0 Joe shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cJust like me.\u00a0 Lookin\u2019 at Hoss, I wondered how I got to be so small!\u201d<\/p>\n The boy winced.\u00a0 \u201cSo, that means…I mean, you\u2019re…my Uncle<\/em> Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n Uncle Joe.\u00a0 Imagine that.<\/p>\n \u201cYep.\u201d\u00a0 Joe paused.\u00a0 \u201cAre you happy about that?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was honest.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 It\u2019s so…sudden like. \u00a0To have no one and then….\u201d\u00a0 His eyes suddenly lit with surprise.\u00a0 \u201cThat means your pa is my….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGrandpa. Yep.\u201d<\/p>\n And Pa was tickled pink.<\/p>\n For some reason, Rick wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s botherin\u2019 you?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n The boy blinked.\u00a0 \u201cNothin\u2019 really.\u00a0 I mean…what do I do now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCome home with us.\u201d\u00a0 At Rick\u2019s look, he added, \u201cI asked you to already, remember.\u00a0 It ain\u2019t just \u2018cause of Hoss.\u201d \u00a0Joe sobered.\u00a0 \u201cYou saved my life.\u00a0 You\u2019re a good kid.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t be livin\u2019 out here all alone.\u00a0 You need your…family.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick sucked in air.\u00a0 \u201cFamily.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t never had a family.\u00a0 Just ma.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell now you got me and Pa, and Jamie.\u00a0 Pa adopted him a year or so back.\u00a0 He\u2019s just about your age.\u201d Joe hesitated and then laughed.\u00a0 \u201cAnd just about half your size.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy nodded absently.\u00a0 He was staring at the letter in his hands.<\/p>\n The injured man paused.\u00a0 Then he said, \u201cRick, I\u2019m sorry about your ma.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry I…we couldn\u2019t save her.\u00a0 If I\u2019d of known she couldn\u2019t hear.\u00a0 I mean, I know some sign language \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cMa wouldn\u2019t have let you know, even if you\u2019d spoken to her.\u00a0 She was ornery as a mule and twice as stubborn. \u00a0That\u2019s why she went off on her own and left me to mind the place. \u00a0I told her I should have gone with her.\u00a0 I….\u201d\u00a0 A little sob escaped him. \u201cI might of been able to save her.\u201d<\/p>\n In his mind\u2019s eye Joe witnessed the accident again, as fresh and clear as if it was happening at that moment.\u00a0 He\u2019d called out to Lily.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t hear him.\u00a0 He reached for her, but before he could say another word the water and mud erupted, driving him and her off the road and down the side of the hill.\u00a0 He heard Hoss shout.\u00a0 It had seemed like hours though \u2013 in truth \u2013 it was probably less than a minute before he felt his brother\u2019s strong hands close on his arm.\u00a0 There was a battle between Hoss and the mud and then, all at once \u2013 like a cork in a champagne bottle \u2013 he popped out and shot up so fast and hard he knocked his brother over.\u00a0 Hoss had been pantin\u2019 as he dragged him up the hill and propped him against a rock that was out of the devastated area. \u00a0He remembered Hoss lookin\u2019 at the mudslide and then back to him.<\/p>\n \u2018I gotta go, Joe,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n He\u2019d pleaded with him not too.\u00a0 He knew \u2013 somehow he knew <\/em>that if his brother stepped back into that maelstrom of mud and debris he wasn\u2019t ever gonna come out.<\/p>\n \u2018I gotta go, Joe.\u00a0 I gotta save Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n And then, Hoss was gone.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been hurt worse than he realized.\u00a0 When Hoss vanished, he pulled himself to his feet and started for the edge, determined to follow.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make it.\u00a0 He remembered looking down and seeing his brother\u2019s white hat floating on the mud.<\/p>\n And then everything had gone dark.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until the next day that someone came along and stumbled on him layin\u2019 at the side of the road, half out of his mind with fever and grief. \u00a0They\u2019d gone through his pockets once they got him to the settlement and to a doctor and managed to find a bill of sale that was still partially legible.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d been sent for.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t want to see him.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t <\/em>tell him Hoss was dead.<\/p>\n And so he<\/em> had lingered near death for days before God in His mercy made the decision for him \u2013 \u00a0that he would live in spite of himself.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t take it on yourself, Rick.\u00a0 Don\u2019t…dishonor your ma\u2019s memory by ruining your future with guilt.\u00a0 She\u2019d want you to go on, to remember her with a smile.\u201d\u00a0 He closed his eyes for a second, knowing the words were for him as well as Hoss\u2019 boy. \u00a0\u201cLily would want you to live.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment Rick didn\u2019t say anything.\u00a0 Then his lips twitched and turned up with a shy little grin that was so like his dead brother\u2019s it took his breath away.<\/p>\n \u201cYou gonna take your own advice?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Joe hesitated and then placed his hand over the boy\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cYou and me.\u00a0 We\u2019ll do it together.\u00a0 Okay?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick shifted his grip so he could grasp his fingers.\u00a0 \u201cDeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe nodded, indicating the letter.\u00a0 \u201cYou want me to read that to you?\u201d<\/p>\n The boy looked at the envelope in his hand.\u00a0 Then he shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s eyebrows popped.\u00a0 \u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n Rick shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Uncle <\/em>Joe.\u00a0 I want you to teach me<\/em> how to read it.\u201d<\/p>\n The injured man smiled as he pumped the boy\u2019s hand.\u00a0 \u201cSo you\u2019re comin\u2019 home with us?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019 son smiled too.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I\u2019m comin\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Epilogue<\/p>\n Ben halted near the table by the hearth in the great room of the Ponderosa ranch house. With one ear tuned to the outside, he sat in his chair and placed the steaming cup of coffee he held on its surface beside the yellow and black checkerboard.\u00a0 Shortly after Rick had come to live with them it had been returned to its proper place.\u00a0 Now, as before, his evenings were spent watching two beloved sons take turns winning and losing the game.\u00a0 Rick had caught on quickly to his Uncle Joe\u2019s…rather unique…strategy and just as quickly put an end to it.<\/p>\n He\u2019d never forget the look on Joe\u2019s face the first time the boy picked him up bodily and promptly put him down on the opposite side of the board!<\/p>\n Outside the leaves were once again turning to gold.\u00a0 The crops in the fields were ready and ripe to pick.\u00a0 Hoss\u2019 son had been with them for a full year now.\u00a0 In that time they had come to know him and to love him.\u00a0 Rick was much like his father and yet, was his own unique self.\u00a0\u00a0 He loved animals just as Hoss had and had the same healing touch, but the boy loved books as well \u2013 nearly as much as his absent Uncle Adam.\u00a0 Joe had spent the winter teaching him how to read script as well as print, opening the last door to learning.\u00a0 He\u2019d never forget the light that had come into the boy\u2019s pale blue eyes the day Joe had shown \u00a0him his brother Adam\u2019s library and told him it now was his.\u00a0 It had brought both him and Joe great delight to give it to him.<\/p>\n All the more so as Adam would have been delighted too.<\/p>\n One day shortly after that, as he passed Adam\u2019s old room on his way downstairs, he found Rick sitting in his son\u2019s favorite chair by the window.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s chin was on his fist and he was gazing out, so he didn\u2019t notice he was there.\u00a0 Lily\u2019s second letter lay open on his lap.\u00a0 During the day neither he nor Joe had asked the boy what it contained.\u00a0 After all, his mother\u2019s words were for him alone.\u00a0 That night at supper Rick mentioned\u00a0 the fact that he had read the letter.\u00a0 He said that, in it, his mother had bid him \u2018goodbye\u2019 and then ordered him to send the other letter on to his pa. \u00a0Later the boy added that Lily had closed the letter by saying she prayed to the good Lord above that he would at last have a family.<\/p>\n Her prayer had certainly been answered.<\/p>\n Ben smiled as he leaned forward and reached for his cup. \u00a0He cradled it in his fingers a moment relishing the warmth, and then took another sip.\u00a0 The winter had passed quickly as the three of them came to know one another and then, when the spring thaw came, they\u2019d mounted up and headed for town.\u00a0 It had been quite an occasion.\u00a0 Joe was mostly healed by then and intended to ride Cochise.\u00a0 Rick would have none of it.\u00a0 The boy was still protective of his new-found uncle and threatened Joe with bodily harm if he didn\u2019t travel with him in the wagon.<\/p>\n The grousing and sniping between the pair on the Virginia City road had been music to his ears!<\/p>\n Once they arrived in town, they\u2019d visited a few close friends and introduced Rick.\u00a0 Roy Coffee and Doc Martin guessed the truth immediately and were overjoyed when they found out he had a grandson. \u00a0For the boy\u2019s sake, they made no public announcement.\u00a0 Of course, they really had no need to explain it to anyone.\u00a0 One look at Rick was enough to establish his pedigree and, though society would have frowned on the circumstances of the boy\u2019s conception and birth, those who knew and loved Hoss were overjoyed to find that a bit of the gentle giant remained.<\/p>\n The older man\u2019s eyes went to the old tall case clock as he took another sip.\u00a0 He\u2019d expected Joe and Rick back an hour before.\u00a0 Chiding himself for remaining an old mother hen, Ben leaned back and savored his coffee.\u00a0 Hop Sing had laced it with just a little brandy and it was doing its work to take the edge off of the chill night air.\u00a0 As he did, he considered God\u2019s providential hand.\u00a0 Two years ago, this day had been one of immense sorrow and unbearable loss.\u00a0 This year it was one of thanksgiving.\u00a0 Today marked one year since Rick had come to live with them and Joe\u2019s life had been spared.\u00a0 One year since they had been given a priceless gift that few received.<\/p>\n One year since the hole in their hearts had been, if not completely filled, then certainly mended.<\/p>\n As he finished his coffee, Ben heard the sound of horses\u2019 hooves pounding into the yard and then, laughter as the pair he had been waiting on dismounted.\u00a0 A moment later the front door flew open bringing with it an icy wind and two well-bundled men.\u00a0 Well, one man and one boy.<\/p>\n The boy, of course, was the only one on his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m tellin\u2019 you for the last time, you put me down!\u201d Joe protested.\u00a0 His youngest son\u2019s booted feet were dangling a few feet off the floor.<\/p>\n Rick had his uncle slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain .<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019ll you give me if I do?\u00a0 Whatever it is, it better be good!\u201d the boy declared.\u00a0 Rick winked at him before continuing.\u00a0 \u201cHow about that new saddle of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t givin\u2019 you my saddle just so I can put my feet on the floor!\u201d Joe snarled.\u00a0 \u201cFor all I care you can hang onto me \u2018til the cows come home!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, Joe,\u201d Ben said as he placed his cup once more on the table.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCandy just took off on the drive with the men.\u00a0 You could be up there a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked down at Rick\u2019s long, tall form.\u00a0 \u201cIf the \u2018sights\u2019 were better from up here, I might not mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick crossed the room, moving as if Joe were a light as a feather.\u00a0 As he approached the settee, he asked, \u201cHow about this, Uncle Joe?\u00a0 You do my chores for a week and I\u2019ll let you down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope,\u201d Joe said, settling in.\u00a0 \u201cNo more muckin\u2019 out stalls.\u00a0 I\u2019m too old.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHmmm.\u201d\u00a0 The boy scratched his head.\u00a0 \u201cI got it!\u00a0 You let me win at checkers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou always win at checkers,\u201d his son groused.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, now<\/em> I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick was standing beside the settee.\u00a0 Ben covered his eyes with his hand.\u00a0 He could hear Marie groaning.<\/p>\n The boy shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cGuess I just gotta give in then.\u201d<\/p>\n The settee groaned too as Joe hit it with a resounding \u2018thud\u2019.<\/p>\n The scene that followed was all too familiar.\u00a0 He had witnessed it for decades on end.\u00a0 Joe rose up off of the sofa.\u00a0 Rick shrugged, made a face \u2013 wiggled his fingers in his ears \u2013 and then darted through the door with his uncle following after him, hooting and hollering loud enough to wake the dead.<\/p>\n Ben picked his empty cup up and followed them.\u00a0 As he paused by the front door, his eyes went to the familiar yellow and white ginger jar on the credenza.\u00a0 In it were a half-dozen brown branches covered with dried leaves and dotted with dark orange berries.\u00a0 Rick had brought a start of the plant along with him when he left his mother\u2019s house behind.\u00a0 It vined now all along the front fence, blooming purple in the spring; dying and drying to a burnt orange in the fall.<\/p>\n Lily had been right.\u00a0 Life was like that too \u2013 sorrow and joy intertwined.<\/p>\n Bittersweet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tags:\u00a0 Ben Cartwright,\u00a0brothers,\u00a0Family,\u00a0Grief,\u00a0Hoss Cartwright,\u00a0Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright,\u00a0SJS<\/p>\n