Summary: An old storyteller tells tales of the family to Hoss and gives a refrain for each Cartwright and why they have it, and one story sets off an explosive change in the family.
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Dogging My Soul Storytelling<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapter 1<\/strong><\/p>\n “So, Sammy, you’re the best storyteller I know, and if you was telling a story of my family, what would ya be saying about my father because he lost three wives but got himself three sons?”<\/p>\n “In your pa’s heart, I’d say there must be three stories. In the first are black ribbons and in the other red ones.”<\/p>\n “Are the black for our mothers and the red for us sons?”<\/p>\n “No, just the opposite: he’s still in love with his wives, but his sons haven’t gifted him with grandsons so that is his sadness. In his heart, there is a hole calling out a lonely refrain: Leaving a legacy been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born.”<\/p>\n “Did I ever tell you the story of him and that family he met when we had that drive up towards Lake’s Crossing. Well, they had two boys and both were married and both had wives a little thick in the middle if you know what I mean. He and that old man set down and got to talking. A lot of that talk was about your older brother. The other man’s first off question was if that older brother of yours was married, and your pa said nah, he wasn’t so the man asked him why. Said he was old enough to have been married and widowed at least twice by then. Your pa stammered a bit and said he ain’t never found the right one. Man snickered a bit and said he heard Adam had found enough to start his own remuda. Your pa didn’t like that much especially as he made it clear Adam was probably with those women in a way only a man and a woman who are married are supposed to be with each other.<\/p>\n “Yeah, that would bother my Pa.”<\/p>\n The man said to give his sons their lead and stop trying to pick the wife your pa wanted, and he’d have grandchildren to fill the house soon enough. Your pa got mighty huffy and puffy over that as you well know he can. Stomped away and never walked back to talk to that man.”<\/p>\n “That don’t put my pa in a very good light.”<\/p>\n “No, it don’t, but it’s the same thing a lot of folks say. What kind of sons did he raise that he can’t trust their judgment to bring home a woman to be a wife?”<\/p>\n “I guess we all made mistakes in doing that.”<\/p>\n “Ain’t no perfect women out there, Hoss. Your pa has got you three looking for a woman who don’t live nowhere.”<\/p>\n “Well, you kinda started in on it, so what is my older brother’s story?”<\/p>\n “Your older brother ain’t got a story yet. Your pa made him the anchor to the ship. If he don’t cut that line, he’ll be hugging rocks instead of a wife for the rest of his life. He can’t help himself no more. That guilt he carries over his mother dying and the promises he made to your ma got him still tied in knots trying to find a way to make your pa happy. He can’t do nothing except try to be the perfect son in your pa’s eyes. His refrain is the saddest of all. Trying to please my pa been dogging my soul since the day I was born.”<\/p>\n “True ‘nough said there with them fancy words ya got. But what of my older brother and what his soul has to say? It can’t just be saying that.”<\/p>\n “His is the saddest tale starting in tragedy with his mother dying at his birth. Then your mother died before his eyes as he held you in his arms. He watched over you and Joe when Marie passed away. Every lost love and friend turned the wrong way reminds him to say: Death been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born. That’s the one thing he hides from everyone but himself. It makes him afraid to love and afraid to give his heart. He seems so brave, but that man is just waiting to die.”<\/p>\n “What?”<\/p>\n “You best watch out for him even more than you have because if he don’t find a dream and a place for himself soon enough. If he don’t leave her for somewhere else where he can make a new life for himself, I fear he’s gonna be leaving this world for the next.”<\/p>\n “What can I do that I ain’t already done?”<\/p>\n “I think you’ll know when that time comes. He can’t keep putting himself in danger like he does and keep walking away from it. One of these times is gonna be the last time. What did you tell me about that time with the Comancheros?”<\/p>\n “I was going to run across an open area and he stopped me. He said I was too big a target so he ran across and was the target.”<\/p>\n “Kinda fits what I’m saying, don’t it?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, it does. He put his life on the line to protect me. He didn’t even take time to try to think of another way. And then there was the time the Apache had us surrounded and he went by himself to get water for us. He could have been killed then too.”<\/p>\n “That’s his story then. You need to watch out for him before he does get himself killed.”<\/p>\n “What about Little Joe? What’s his story?”<\/p>\n “Now your younger brother is another matter entirely. He seeks to be smarter and faster than his eldest brother by far. He wants what you have and is so much younger and smaller. He seeks to stand tall in his father’s eyes so his goal is to rise and his cry is thus: Fear of losing been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born.”<\/p>\n “I got lots of stories ’bout that younger smaller brother of yours. You want one that makes him look good and bigger or one that shows that he ain’t likely never gonna be what he thinks he should be?”<\/p>\n “The good and bigger one.<\/p>\n “I know your family was gonna help your older brother give a party for Rebecca and her father. She liked the idea and he said yes because of her, but away from the ranch, he changed his mind and sent word they would not be able to attend. Your older brother was upset but hid it. You all knew though. Your little brother skipped out of work to go see her and her father to get them to change their minds. He knew he’d get a tongue lashing or two and maybe extra work for leaving like he did. He almost had her convinced too, but her father stepped in and invoked his father’s privilege. Forbid her to go and kicked your little brother out and told him never to come back. He went back home and faced his older brother’s anger and his pa’s disappointment and never complained at least not to you or anyone in the family. He wanted to help his oldest brother. He failed, but did you ever know him to do such a noble thing? I bet not. Makes you wonder what other good things he’s done, but you don’t know about them.”<\/p>\n “It sure does. But why wouldn’t he tell?”<\/p>\n “Remember what I said about what he wants to be? He’ll only brag on his successes. Failure no matter how noble the purpose of the act cannot be told by his way of thinking.”<\/p>\n “That is a sad state of affairs. We don’t know each other as well as I thought. He don’t understand that telling us something like that would make him bigger in our eyes. Now, what about me? I ain’t worried none about a legacy, and I don’t have to win cause just being me has always been fine. What story would you tell about me?”<\/p>\n “Yes, you are happy with the life you lead here, but you must protect them from threats within and without settling disputes between those you do love and among your good friends. And that’s a pressure that can cost you pain and headaches until you exclaim enough but you don’t do it often.<\/p>\n So trying to smile through trouble been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born is your refrain. I seen it lots, and that’s a big part of most all of the stories about you.”<\/p>\n “You got a story to go with them pretty words of yours?”<\/p>\n “The one nobody talks about much is when you saved your brothers when each one near got the other kilt.”<\/p>\n “Oh, yeah, nobody likes to talk about that time.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, I was working with them too, and that weren’t no picnic. The worst was after that flood that took out the bridge. We were doing the repairs and your older brother had to go for supplies and some more planks. On the way back, he saw that the shaft coupler looked loose and saw the shaft was cracked. Took it easy and figured it could hold to the bridge where they could fix it easier with the wagon unloaded and with all of us helping. Well he got there to find his little brother lounging under a tree instead of working like he thought he would be. Now we had laid out the planks like we thought your older brother wanted them but you little brother weren’t sure it was the best way. Figured his oldest brother would be back soon enough and he could tell him what he was sure was a better idea. Now we didn’t know he had already told him that idea and been told it wouldn’t work. Didn’t stop him from trying again though. He figured he could push the plan again when he got it approved, we could secure them but higher like he wanted.”<\/p>\n “Yeah. he likes to get his way.”<\/p>\n “When your older brother got back, he was hot and tired so he didn’t listen though and began to hollering almost like your pa can do. Your little brother got his back up instead of waiting him out. He could have told him his idea but your older brother said it wouldn’t work and it was time to finish the work. Your little brother sure hates to be told he’s wrong. No, as soon as that wagon was unloaded, your little brother hopped in the seat and took off. Your older brother yelled and told him the problem with it, but he was too far gone by then to listen.”<\/p>\n “Having a temper and being stubborn ain’t good.”<\/p>\n “That’s about when you got there, and he told you what was wrong and what you had to do to save the one run off like he did. You raced off to catch him and thank the Lord, you did. We waited, and we set up a cheer seeing you all coming back safe. But your older brother had walked out onto that bridge not knowing the planks were all loose. We hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet after what your little brother had done. We hadn’t seen him walk that way neither with us watching you and the younger one heading back. I guess hearing the cheers, he must have looked up and stepped to the edge which tipped the planks, and he went into the river. Wouldn’t have been so bad except one at least hit him in the head. You got called on again to save a brother racing your horse along that river bank until you could get in and scoop up your brother.”<\/p>\n “Had me real scared until he coughed and said he wanted to kick Joe in the backside only he didn’t say it anywhere near that polite.”<\/p>\n “I can believe that. We needed to fix the wagon to give your older brother a ride back. He listened as your little brother tried to explain how it weren’t his fault, but he had that look that said he was pretty damn mad.”<\/p>\n “I had the planks loose so we could put more supports under them and raise the bridge higher so it won’t get washed out so easily next time. You didn’t even consider my idea when I told you before but only said it wouldn’t work because it wasn’t your idea.”<\/em><\/p>\n “No, I said it wouldn’t work because it wouldn’t work. You must know I thought about that possibility but it means having to raise the grade on both sides of the bridge. Because of the steep slope down to the bridge on both sides, that would create a partial damn. In a flood, it would channel more water to the bridge so even if we raised it higher, it wouldn’t matter.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Huh?”<\/em><\/p>\n “Give me some paper.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Well, he up and drawed it all out in a few sketches for us all to see and darned if it didn’t make the most sense the way he could show it to a man. We all understood, but your little brother wasn’t done.”<\/p>\n “Why didn’t you explain it to me like this before?”<\/em><\/p>\n “Why can’t you trust me to know what I’m doing instead of wasting all this time when we could be working? Now if you would like to spend your time working on a stone arch bridge, we could put one of those in here and that would work. It would be higher like you want, and it wouldn’t wash out in floodwaters. Of course, you would have to spend the next couple of months giving up all your free time hauling rocks and mortaring them into place to make that work by spanning this little valley enough that we don’t have to worry about floodwaters.. Or you could trust me that this is our best option at this point.”<\/em><\/p>\n “He was right, you know. My older brother knows all about building things. We should trust him when he says something will or won’t work. Of course, he could have told little brother why it wouldn’t work instead of just telling him it wouldn’t.”<\/p>\n “He could have. Course, your little brother challenged him on it in front of the other men that morning and not earlier when there would have been time to talk about it.”<\/p>\n “You would think a proud man like my little brother would know better than to challenge a proud man like our older brother like that. He would never back down in front of the men. You’re right. If he wanted to do it different, he should have asked him when they were still home.”<\/p>\n “Probably goes back to what I was saying before about your little brother. He wants what you and your older brother already got.”<\/p>\n “What does that have to do with it?”<\/p>\n “Well, if he gets his way, then he takes his older brother down a notch, and I reckon in his mind, that brings him up one too.”<\/p>\n “You know that’s exactly the kind of crazy thinking my little brother does. You do understand him.”<\/p>\n “I guess in the time it took to for your older brother to recover from the knock on the head and swallowing that river water, the two of them worked out their differences on that kind of thing. Meanwhile, you get to worry about the next time they butt heads and what you’ll have to do to make peace in the family again. It tires you out and you wish you didn’t have to do it.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, those kind of stories make me worry about them two. I don’t have an answer about what to do about them. Doesn’t mean we can’t do this again when we all have more to say. Maybe you could tell some funny stories next time.”<\/p>\n “All right, so do you want the one with the cigar, the poker, the stolen brandy, one of the kissing booth stories, the naked at the lake story, or maybe the girl hiding in the bedroom?”<\/p>\n “Oh, those are all good ones, but I’ve heard those stories already. You need to be thinking about a story I ain’t heard. You must have at least one of those.”<\/p>\n “I’ll think on it.”<\/p>\n “Wait a minute, what was the girl hiding in the bedroom story? Come to think on it, I don’t think I have heard that one.”<\/p>\n Adam walked into camp to hear that last part and objected. Unfortunately, Ben walked in a short distance behind him and overheard enough of the discussion to offer his own objections but in an entirely different vein. That was just before all hell broke loose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter 2<\/strong><\/p>\n If Sammy had been able to tell the tale to Hoss, it would have been entertaining which is how the hands heard it later after Ben and Adam had a temporary ceasefire. It had not been a long argument based on their usual altercations but was more bitter than usual. Questioned directly by Ben, Sammy had to admit that the girl hiding in the bedroom story was about Adam. That made Ben turn on Adam and demand answers.<\/p>\n “When did this happen?”<\/p>\n “What does that matter? It’s all in the past.”<\/p>\n “It matters because my sons are all aware of my rules, and clearly you were in defiance of me and hid it all from me as well. The lack of respect for me could not be made any more clear to me.”<\/p>\n “What about your respect for me? You don’t think I have the right to make decisions for myself? I am not a child.”<\/p>\n “And you shouldn’t act like one.”<\/p>\n “Act like one? How did I act like one?”<\/p>\n “Hiding your behavior from your father like any misbehaving child would.”<\/p>\n “I hide what I do from you because of your unreasonable expectations that grown men have to ask their father for permission to do what any man would do. I do not think I have to live my life by your standards.”<\/p>\n “You do if you want to live on my ranch and in my house.”<\/p>\n “That is the main issue then, isn’t it?”<\/p>\n Adam walked away as Ben wished he could take his words back. He knew he shouldn’t have said them but knew of no way to take them back without conceding everything Adam wanted to hear. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. In his mind, he had been embarrassed in front of the hands when Sammy had mentioned that story because to Ben that was telling everyone that one of his sons had so easily deceived him. Hoss came up to him as Adam walked away.<\/p>\n “Pa, you should do something. You shouldn’t have talked that way to Adam.”<\/p>\n “What about how he talked to me?”<\/p>\n “Pa, nothing he said was all that bad, but you pretty much called him a child. You’re darn lucky he didn’t take a swing at you for that one. He really held back when you done said that part.”<\/p>\n “I didn’t call him a child.”<\/p>\n “You did the same thing as that saying he acted like a child.”<\/p>\n “I didn’t mean it like that.”<\/p>\n “Don’t you think you ought to go tell him then?”<\/p>\n “It might be better to wait until morning so we don’t have another argument.”<\/p>\n “Pa, haven’t you always said we should always tackle the hard jobs right off cause they only get harder when you put them off?”<\/p>\n “Why is it that every good lesson I teach comes back to kick me in the behind?”<\/p>\n “I don’t know about that, but I do know my older brother. If he stews on this all night, you’re likely to get your head bit off in the morning for saying anything to him. Probably about the same will happen with everyone else too.”<\/p>\n “So for everyone’s safety, I need to go apologize now.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, that’s about right. Oh, and, Pa, I’m going to ask Sammy to tell that story. Otherwise, the men are going to be asking around about it. There’s no telling what kind of crazy stories might get told. It would likely be best if Sammy told it.”<\/p>\n Hoss could tell his father was reluctant, but he finally nodded his agreement with the plan. Hoss decided a little reassurance was in order.<\/p>\n “Pa, you do realize that every man out there fooled their pas at least once and in some cases probably a dozen times or more? It ain’t no measure of disrespect. It’s a boy growing into a man and testing the way. Some of them likely wish they were as bold as Adam was and others are thinking he wasn’t near as wild as you would think knowing him now.”<\/p>\n “He did usually follow all the rules, didn’t he?”<\/p>\n “He sure did and still does.”<\/p>\n “I should learn to hobble my lip sometimes.”<\/p>\n “You sure should.”<\/p>\n “You didn’t have to agree so quickly.”<\/p>\n “Pa, when you’re right, you’re right.”<\/p>\n Joe came up to the two of them and addressed his father.<\/p>\n “You about ready to go talk with Adam?”<\/p>\n “I suppose you and Hoss had this all worked out.”<\/p>\n “Not all worked out, but we did agree in general what needed to be done. I didn’t have time to come up with a whole plan. But if you want to talk with Adam, you better hurry. He’s saddling up Sport.”<\/p>\n “Tarnation, what I said wasn’t that bad, was it?”<\/p>\n Ben moved off quickly because there was no time left to talk with his younger sons. Hoss and Joe waited for him to be gone far enough so he couldn’t hear them talk before either said anything.<\/p>\n “He figure it out?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, I think so. When he saw me watching him, he must have known you were with Pa. After a couple of minutes, I saw a little smile. Then he looked at me and told me he was only going to go to town for the night to use up a little of his frustration.”<\/p>\n “That’s what he called it?”<\/p>\n “Yeah. I bet he’s going to have a good time. We probably won’t see him for a day and a half at least.”<\/p>\n “He could get in a bit of trouble in a strange town.”<\/p>\n “He could. Yeah, in that mood, Hoss, there’s no telling what kind of trouble he could get into.”<\/p>\n “One of us should probably go with him.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, one of us should do that. Flip a coin for it? Heads I win and tails you lose?”<\/p>\n “Doggone it, Joe, every time you flip that coin, I lose. Let me flip it this time.”<\/p>\n “You saying I cheat at coin flips?”<\/p>\n “Nah, I’m not saying it. Just let me flip the coin.”<\/p>\n Hoss pulled a coin from his pocket and flipped it.<\/p>\n “Heads. Dadburnit, I lose again. Well, we can tell Pa you’ll watch over him, but you be sure to do that and don’t get in any trouble.”<\/p>\n “Oh, I won’t. You know me. When I’m on guard duty, I behave.”<\/p>\n Hoss rolled his eyes and suggested they go listen to Sammy tell the story they had never heard. Meanwhile, Ben was hearing it too but from Adam’s point of view. It was a far shorter and a far more censored version than what the drovers gathered around Sammy heard.<\/p>\n “Well, you see, they drew straws, and normally Adam would win at that. Whether he’s lucky or cheats is up to which brother you’re asking. But this one time when the family was planning this trip to San Francisco, he lost the draw with Hoss. He looked so down when his family, Hop Sing, and most of the hands headed out the next morning. It was the first time Little Joe was going so there was no one staying there except him and a few hands to take care of what had to be done.<\/p>\n Almost as soon as they were gone though, Adam finished up his chores and hitched up the carriage. The three of us left on the ranch were surprised when he come back with a pretty lady who set up house with him. It was only going to be a short drive, but he had a good couple of weeks on his own there. What nearly got him in trouble though was his family had some problems and decided to cut their vacation time short and they came back early. She was still there. He was running around gathering things up with her helping when he realized they were back. The two of them hauled it all up to his room, and she stayed there with the door closed. Mister Ben was right pleased to see how good the house looked. You know how a woman likes a clean and tidy house. She’d been doing the cooking too so the kitchen was spotless. There was no complaining from Hop Sing. However he did have a question.<\/p>\n “Who been cooking in my kitchen?”<\/p>\n “Hop Sing, Adam has been the only one here. Of course, he would have been cooking in your kitchen. He had to eat.”<\/p>\n The two men were on different stories. Hop Sing was wondering who else had been there while Ben thought Hop Sing was upset that somebody had been in his kitchen domain. Adam was relieved that the conversation didn’t go any further, and Hop Sing went back to the kitchen. Hop Sing must have guessed the real answer though after checking the washroom, and checking to find that Adam had almost no laundry that needed to be washed. There was no cleaning or dusting that needed to be done in the house. To Hop Sing, there could be only one answer of two options. Either Adam had hired one of Hop Sing’s cousins to work while Hop Sing was gone or there had been a woman in the house. As nervous as Adam seemed, Hop Sing began to smile a bit. Guessing that the woman was probably still in the house, he decided to help the number one son. He called to Adam to come into the kitchen after dinner.<\/p>\n “In morning, I bring all laundry you have from weeks alone to town. Hop Sing cannot take care of so much here on Ponderosa.”<\/p>\n “But I don’t have so much.” Then he saw how Hop Sing was smiling. “Ah, yes, I understand. It is too much to take care of here. It will be down here tomorrow morning so you can take the laundry to town. Thank you.”<\/p>\n One can only guess at the conversation in Adam’s bedroom later as a heated discussion would have taken place in whispers. She would not have liked the idea of being wrapped up in the sheets like a laundry bundle. He would have argued that it was the only way. He won, and after breakfast the next morning, Hop Sing drove a carriage from the Ponderosa with a large bundle in the back seat. A short distance down the road, he stopped the carriage and opened the knot which secured the bundle.<\/p>\n “I will never spend time with that Adam Cartwright ever again. He said all those sweet things to me and then he won’t even introduce me to his family.”<\/p>\n “He afraid of father and what his father say.”<\/p>\n “What about me and what I say, or what I would say. He doesn’t seem to care about what I have to say at all. I thought he cared about me.”<\/p>\n “He care, but he care about father too much.”<\/p>\n “He’s a man. He should be able to stand up for himself.”<\/p>\n “Woman cannot come between father and son.”<\/p>\n “Well, he’s never going to be happy until he cuts himself free. I don’t have time to wait. I have another offer. I think I will take Ross Marquette up on his offer. He wants to marry me. I thought Adam was a better choice, but now I don’t think so.”<\/p>\n The next day, there was a visitor on the Ponderosa to announce wedding plans. Ross asked Adam to be his best man at his wedding to Delphine. Adam smiled and congratulated his friend and Ben ordered Hop Sing to find some good wine in the cellar and bring it up for a toast. Adam suggested perhaps Ross might like whisky or brandy instead. Ross agreed and the men toasted the wedding plans. Adam refilled his glass several times. Ben noticed but never suspected the reason why. He talked with his son when Ross left.<\/p>\n “Son, it’s an honor to be best man. Don’t be nervous. There’s not much to do.”<\/p>\n “Oh, I know, but I wonder if Ross is ready for marriage. He has a ranch to run too with his father passing away. It’s a lot to take on.”<\/p>\n “He has good friends. He’ll do well.”<\/p>\n So Adam stood by Ross’ side and watched him marry the girl he had hidden in his room instead of telling his father. If he had told him, he knew he was the one who would have married her. Everyone who mattered would have insisted on it. Instead, he stayed quiet and let her get away. Too concerned about what his father would think, he didn’t give enough consideration to his own thoughts and feelings. Many of the men who had no knowledge of how all of that turned out laughed a bit at what had happened, and Hoss worried at what they might say to Adam.<\/p>\n “Hey, you might want to remember the mood my brother is in after his little discussion with my pa before you make any comments to him about this story you just heard.”<\/p>\n That sobered up the audience rather quickly. No one wanted to poke an angry cougar. Hoss sat with Sammy for quite a long time. One thing they discussed was their earlier assessment of Adam and his relationship with his father. The story Sammy had told seemed to reinforce what he had said earlier. Nearby, leaning against the chuckwagon, Adam heard that part of the conversation, and walking up to him, so did Ben.<\/p>\n “Do you think that’s what our relationship is? Have I confined you in a gilded cage?”<\/p>\n “Not really. The gate is open, but this bird had never had the courage to fly.”<\/p>\n The two were silent in the dark for quite a while until Ben spoke.<\/p>\n “Maybe it’s because you have been putting others before yourself for too long. What would you do if you were the only one who had to be happy?”<\/p>\n “Pa, I think you know that answer.”<\/p>\n “Then, that is what you should do. It’s time for you to find your own place where the mountains touch the sky however you see that happening. It may be what we all need. It won’t be easy for any of us, but we need to break this mold and set a new path.”<\/p>\n “That’s quite a mix of images.”<\/p>\n “It’s late, and this is difficult. You could be more tolerant.”<\/p>\n “You told me to do it my way and now want me to do it your way. Which is it?”<\/p>\n “Adam, as long as you’re here, I may not be able to ever change. We’re like an old married couple who have these routines. I have acted this way for so long and you have allowed me to do so. It’s going to take a big event to break out of this pattern. If you travel and do some of the things you want to do, when you come back, we can start fresh.”<\/p>\n It was quiet again. Ben was shocked by the next statement he had not expected to hear.<\/p>\n “Pa, if I leave, I may not come back.”<\/p>\n “You’ve been thinking about leaving?”<\/p>\n “Yes, for all the reasons you stated and many more. At the end of this drive, I won’t be going back with you. I want to check some things out. I may or may not be back for a time depending on the direction I decide to go. First though, I will spend some time in the city.”<\/p>\n “So we will be able to visit and say our goodbyes.”<\/p>\n That’s what happened. Each of them got to spend time with Adam in the city before he got on a ship and sailed away. Sammy had to come up with a new refrain for what was doggin’ the soul of each Cartwright although he couldn’t do one for Adam because his letters never told the family enough of what he was thinking and nothing at all of what he was feeling. It was many years before Sammy saw Adam again and had an idea of what to say about him.<\/p>\n There was a new Cartwright though when Jamie arrived, and Sammy had to invent one for him. There were more stories to tell as time went on with raising rabbits and training a dog, but none was ever so meaningful as the girl who was hidden in a bedroom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TAgs:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright,\u00a0Ben Cartwright,\u00a0Hoss Cartwright,\u00a0Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: An old storyteller tells tales of the family to Hoss and gives a refrain for each Cartwright and why they have it, and one story sets off an explosive change in the family.
\nrating: T\u00a0 word count: 5,525<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":39385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,1008],"tags":[1075],"class_list":["post-39384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-family","tag-ufo-challenge","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1008-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\/2022\/07\/Erin.jpg?fit=600%2C463&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39384","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\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}