{"id":4518,"date":"2009-10-28T18:32:44","date_gmt":"2009-10-28T22:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=4518"},"modified":"2025-02-27T12:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T17:22:16","slug":"common-traits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=4518","title":{"rendered":"Common Traits (by Storm)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This is another story I wrote for the November Chaps and Spurs challenge.\u00a0 The truth be told, did Adam really say that to Pa?\u00a0 And just what was it that Ben thought he heard?<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0 K+ \u00a01450<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Common Traits<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou sound like a fog horn.\u201d Ben smiled.<\/p>\n

Every once in a while he remembered things one of his wives had said to him. This had come from his first wife and he supposed coming from the daughter of a sea captain, as she had been, one should consider the comparison a compliment. Each of the three had often spoke of love and family and it seemed fitting that as the first governmentally sanctioned Thanksgiving Day approached Ben should think of the things he was thankful for.<\/p>\n

Some who did not know him might think it was the money or, as others called it, the empire he owned that he would be most thankful for, but those who knew him knew that Ben Cartwright would give everything up for one of his sons. He supposed that in order to give thanks for those sons it only proper he give thanks for the women who had given them to him, and he was thankful for each and every one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuit it Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben let out a sigh; well he was thankful for each and every one of them most of the time. The door slammed open and his three sons came in. \u201cWhat is going on Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa will you tell Adam to quit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuit what Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing pa, he\u2019s just upset by something I said. Little brother I only say what I see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just what is it you\u2019ve seen Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell pa I saw my little brother here with Molly Maine and I heard Molly offer to show your baby boy her\u2026um shall we say the abundance of her harvest.\u201d Adam grinned as the color came to Joe\u2019s cheeks.<\/p>\n

Joe didn\u2019t care how embarrassed he felt he wasn\u2019t going to let Adam get the better of him. \u201cYou\u2019re just jealous because she didn\u2019t offer to show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle brother she has offered to show every man at one time or another. At least since she\u2019s been old enough to harvest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cADAM!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat pa it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it is but you should not talk about the young lady like that.\u201d There was no maybe about it, Ben knew it was true but he would not have one of his sons speaking of a lady in such a way even if the lady did not behave very ladylike at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she didn\u2019t want to be talked about like that then she shouldn\u2019t\u2026\u201d Adam noticed the way his father was looking at him. \u201c\u2026I\u2019ll keep quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood. I will count that among my blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The smirk on his youngest brother\u2019s face annoyed Adam greatly so he went and did something he was not intending to do at the start. \u201cJust one more thing you should know pa. Your youngest progeny there showed great interest in her crops. He offered to go and help her reap them tomorrow afternoon. He even said he\u2019d help her store them away in the barn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe didn\u2019t think his brother had heard that much. \u201cADAM!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time little brother you won\u2019t look so smug.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have mattered if your brother had said something or not Joseph. In case you\u2019ve forgotten, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and we will all be here giving our thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks for what. Having an oldest brother who can\u2019t seem to remember what it was like to be young?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for you little brother I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head and looked to the one son who had stood silently by as he always seemed to do, at least until he was needed for one reason or another. Right now Ben needed him to answer a question. \u201cHoss has this been going on all day?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth is pa it goes on so much I don\u2019t really notice any more when it starts or stops.\u201d And that was the truth. To Hoss the disagreements and arguments were just a part of who his brothers were. He supposed if they ever stopped for any length of time he might start to worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t understand. You\u2019re mothers were so\u2026\u201d Ben thought about what he was just about to say and he recognized the truth for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were so what pa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to say so different Joe but that\u2019s not true. They were very much alike. They were both strong willed and stubborn. They just went about it differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell that explains a lot doesn\u2019t it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss your mother was no different. She again just went about it in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey pa did you ever think it has nothing to do with the fact that we have different mothers who were alike but that we have the same father?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam I thought you were going to keep quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry pa I call it as I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you keep calling it you\u2019ll be sorry that you saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know pa. I think oldest brother there has a point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh you do do you Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. It seems to make sense that we would inherit similar traits from the one parent we have in common not the one we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that so. And Hoss what about you? Do you too think the stubbornness and strong will were inherited from me and not your mothers?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell pa\u2026um\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on Hoss tell pa what you think. Are we like our mothers or like our pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess Joe, pa, that we\u2019re a little bit of both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow very diplomatic Hoss. I wonder who you inherited that from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just what does that mean Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa I remember Inger. I believe if I had to choose which one of you was the more diplomatic it would have to be her. She was the one who played peacemaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess that\u2019s where I get that from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes Hoss on that I will have to agree with you. Your mother couldn\u2019t stand discord of any kind but that doesn\u2019t mean she gave in to keep the peace either. She fought for what she believed to be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo do you pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes Hoss but your mother and pa go about it quite differently. You see your mother saw what was right and made others see it by doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just how do I go about making others see what\u2019s right Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou pa? As far as we\u2019re concerned you usually go about it by telling us or lecturing us and if that doesn\u2019t work we usually get a very loud earful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, as far as your concerned Adam, I usually get an argument about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa I never argue with you when you\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood see that it stays that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course pa. Hoss, Joe I think we better go get washed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his sons went up the stairs they left Ben wondering after them and the smiles they had left with. He then realized that he had just been insulted by his eldest son. If, as he himself had said, Adam always gave him an argument were true and Adam saying he never argued with his father when he was right were also true his son was in a sense telling his father he was never right. Ben should have learned to pay more attention to that eldest boy\u2019s words. He had a way of twisting them. Ben smiled and began to wonder how many other times had he heard one thing when Adam had said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it Joe? You better go get washed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah in a minute. You really pulled one over on pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh he\u2019ll catch on soon enough and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be called to task for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam do you really believe pa is never right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe pa is usually right it\u2019s just that as his sons it\u2019s our job to make sure it doesn\u2019t go to his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah because we\u2019re the only ones not afraid that we won\u2019t survive telling Ben Cartwright he\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue Joe but that\u2019s because we\u2019re the only ones who know what a real softy he is. As his sons we get to see the real Ben Cartwright not the strong fa\u00e7ade he\u2019s had to show most of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you\u2019re right Adam. Pa does have most everyone thinking he\u2019s hard and unbending.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we know better don\u2019t we Joe. We know that no matter how he fusses and fights or argues and disagrees with us he\u2019s always there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKind a like us huh big brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah little brother exactly likes us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben quietly made his way downstairs. Maybe those boys were like him after all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Summary: \u00a0\u00a0This is another story I wrote for the November Chaps and Spurs challenge.\u00a0 The truth be told, did Adam really say that to Pa?\u00a0 And just what was it that Ben thought he heard? \u00a0<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0 K+ \u00a01450<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":3478,"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":[39,23,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chaps-spurs","category-drama","category-challenges","wpcat-39-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/4Cartwrights.jpg?fit=849%2C541&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518","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\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}