{"id":23474,"date":"2019-08-27T22:43:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T02:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=23474"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:39:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:39:38","slug":"like-father-like-son-by-annie-k-cowgirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=23474","title":{"rendered":"Like Father Like Son (by Annie K Cowgirl)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong> Post show story. While on a trip to Abilene, Texas, Joe’s son goes missing.<\/p>\n

Words:<\/strong>\u00a0693<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong>\u00a0K<\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/strong> All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abilene, Texas, 1885<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI swear, when I get my hands on that boy I’m gonna kill him. I told him to do one thing, one thing: stay on the boardwalk outside the store until we got back, and what does he do? Wander off! Why did I even think of bringing him with us in the first place? It was a terrible idea, and\u2014will you stop laughing, please? This isn’t funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam wiped a mirthful tear from his eye, still chuckling. \u201cIt kind of is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it isn’t.\u201d Joe glared at his older brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, come on, of course it’s funny,\u201d Adam clapped a hand on his sibling’s shoulder. \u201cAfter all, you did much the same to pa on more occasions than I can count. It’s about time you got a taste of what raising a child just like you is like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought if I named him after Hoss, I might be able to avoid the whole ‘parental curse’; besides, I wasn’t that bad.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adam raised an eyebrow. \u201cFat chance. And no, you were worse. By the time you were five years old, pa’s hair was mostly grey due to your shenanigans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not,\u201d Joe scoffed. \u201cAnyway, it’s not like you were a paragon of good behavior growing up. I’m sure some of those hairs were your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe? Compared to you I was a perfect angel. At any rate, you can’t say that Eric is the reason for that snowy mane of yours; it was already white before he was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe jabbed an elbow into Adam’s ribs. \u201cAt least I have hair, baldy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older Cartwright made a face and tugged his stetson further down on his head. \u201cYou’d better pray the next one’s a girl, or you might start losing some of that mop. Anyways, I think we’re getting off topic here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh really? So you can dish it out, but you can’t take it, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBack to the matter at hand, where do you think he would go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe’s smile dimmed, and he felt panic rising up within him again. It wasn’t the first time Eric had wandered off before\u2014nor even the tenth\u2014,but those occasions had happened in Virginia City. He knew both the place and the people and wasn’t too irritated when his son slipped away from his side to visit Charlie at the livery stable, or to find out what new candy Mr. Petersen had in stock at the mercantile. But here…Joe didn’t know anyone. The town had a reputation for attracting the wrong sorts of people\u2014it was why his wife had been so worried about letting him take the boy along. Now, there was a good possibility that her fears would come to pass. \u201cMolly’s going to kill me,\u201d he murmured, pulling his hat off to drag his fingers through his curls.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot if she doesn’t find out.\u201d Adam said, gently.<\/p>\n

Joe glanced sideways at him. \u201cI hope you’re kidding, because I prefer breathing. I’ll be telling her all about this once we get home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you get yourself all worked up, I may have an idea of where he went.\u201d Adam said, pointing to a large sign that read:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBuffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and Pioneer Exhibition<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that doesn’t sound like something that would tempt an eight-year-old boy into wandering off, I don’t know what else would,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh,\u201d Joe cleared his throat. \u201cWell, the boy’s horse-crazy\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike father like son,\u201d Adam muttered.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014so it’s a good possibility that he’s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to mention you’ve always wanted to see one of those shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe tried to look innocent, but the twinkle in his green eyes gave him away. \u201cI don’t see any harm in checking it out; besides, we’re not leaving town until Thursday so we have the time. Come on, it’ll be fun!\u201d Joe tugged on his arm, propelling him in the direction that most of the crowd was headed.<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head, wryly. \u201cAnd here I thought you’d grown up. Guess I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, sour-puss, or we’ll be late for the reenactment of the stagecoach chase.\u201d<\/p>\n

~ Finis<\/p>\n

Tags:<\/strong> Adam Cartwright, brothers, Family, Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0Post show story. While on a trip to Abilene, Texas, Joe’s son goes missing.<\/p>\n

Words:\u00a0693
\nRating:\u00a0K<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":16188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[7,4,698,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-u","category-humor","category-post-timeline","category-short-stories","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-698-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Forever-part-2-00011.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}