Summary: it may start out looking like a serious story, but it’s a fun brothers’ story using songwriting as the major method of the two-against-one scenario and vice versa.
\nRating: T\u00a0 Word count: 2197<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Buttons and Bows<\/strong><\/p>\n After six months of recuperation from his back injury, Adam was tired of being coddled and confined, watched over and restricted. Falling off a roof, spending weeks in a wheelchair doing exercises that continued for months even after he got rid of what he called “the damn chair”, and listening to Doctor Martin’s warnings about the time it takes for the back to heal, he had long ago used up any patience he had or any good graces for that matter. Too much inactivity led to too many thoughts about Laura and Will generating negative feelings he wanted to banish.<\/p>\n At breakfast, he announced he was ready to help Joe with the contract for horses. His father’s concern was evident.<\/p>\n “Adam, what do you think you can do to help Joe with the contract for the horses?”<\/p>\n Ben nearly blew coffee out his nose when he heard the answer.<\/p>\n “I thought I could help best by doing some bronc busting.”<\/p>\n Surprised so much he did blow coffee out his nose, Hoss was quite sure it wasn’t a good idea and tried to discourage the idea.<\/p>\n “Adam, maybe you could try something a bit less hard on you the first day back at working than breaking horses until you’re sure you’re all right.”<\/p>\n “I’m fine!”<\/p>\n “What Pa and Hoss are saying is maybe try the forge first this week. Maybe get those muscles working again, you know, all warmed up before you try mustangs.”<\/p>\n “Joe, it was my back that was hurt not my ears. I could hear them. Did you hear me. I told you what I want to do and that I’m fine. Are you ready to tell me I can’t or do I have to prove to you I can?”<\/p>\n The tone of the response and the look said that nothing was going to dissuade him. Hoss and Joe looked at each other but said nothing more. Ben’s white-knuckled grip on his coffee cup was the only indication of what he was thinking. Breakfast was relatively quiet after that. Four hours later, Ben stood with his two younger sons and watched Adam ride his third mustang of the day. The eldest son had surprised them all and had ridden two to a standstill already with a good chance of bringing this third one to a successful conclusion too.<\/p>\n “He ain’t hardly even dirty.”<\/p>\n Joe was proud as well as relieved to report the day’s success.<\/p>\n “The first two didn’t throw him so the only dust is what got thrown up by the ride. He’s riding like I’ve hardly ever seen him before. He’s matched me horse for horse today. It’s like he’s got something to prove.”<\/p>\n Ben sighed deeply.<\/p>\n “Well that’s probably because of me. I should have known better. Don’t cross him, don’t boss him. It’s always been the way with him ever since he was a little boy.”<\/p>\n Hoss looked at Adam’s expression and remembered how he’d been for the past months.<\/p>\n “You know, he’s wild in his sorrow. He’s just busting to let it all out, but he don’t know how other than doing something like this.”<\/p>\n “Hoss, you have that right. To continue your line of thought, he’s a man who’s riding hard and hiding his pain.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, yeah, and his heart is real heavy.”<\/p>\n “And his lips are pulled tight with sadness.”<\/p>\n “The two of you sound like you’re writing a song for him to sing.”<\/p>\n Joe snickered at that thought. But thinking back to what had been said, Hoss smiled as he put it all together.<\/p>\n “Well, Pa, you started it with that line about not crossing him and not bossing him. It kinda sounded like poetry and got us started too.”<\/p>\n The idea of Hoss and poetry made Joe snicker and then he did that even more as Hoss proposed an idea.<\/p>\n “Yeah, maybe ifn he could sing about it, he could let it all out some better than he does with talking about it which he don’t rightly do. He’s been bottling it all up inside like he does with most things.”<\/p>\n Hearing it all spelled out like that, Joe took the whole idea more seriously and liked where the conversation was headed.<\/p>\n “Yeah, Pa, Hoss might have a point there.”<\/p>\n After finishing with the third horse, Adam noted his family deep in conversation and headed in their direction. It often seemed like things didn’t turn out well for him when the other three held conversations like that and excluded him. Even though Adam had been successful with the third horse too, he was feeling the strain of those rides. He did his best to hide any discomfort and walked up to his family interrupting what was apparently a light-hearted conversation. He had been aware of their worried looks for the previous four hours and wondered at the change.<\/p>\n “What are all you conspiring at?”<\/p>\n “Adam, it’s a family conversation not a conspiracy. Your brothers liked a description I made about you and thought it could be turned into a song.”<\/p>\n Joe decided to lay it all out for him.<\/p>\n “Oh, Pa and Hoss have been thinking up new song lyrics for you thinking maybe you could write a whole song out starting with these. Don’t cross him, don’t boss him because he’s wild in his sorrow. He’s a man who’s riding hard and hiding his pain. His heart is real heavy, and his lips are pulled tight with the sadness inside. <\/em>You know, you’re kind of the Shakespeare guy of the Ponderosa. You could start calling yourself that.”<\/p>\n Although Adam frowned a little, he was a little intrigued by the idea. Even the nickname, even though it was meant as a jibe by Joe, was a bit of a compliment to him. At least he was interested until Hoss added more.<\/p>\n “Yeah, I thought maybe you could set it to the tune of Buttons and Bows!”<\/p>\n The suggestion was met with a look of pure disgust from Adam that got Joe going with that crazy cackle of his and set Hoss guffawing and Ben chuckling. Adam couldn’t help it. He had his first genuine smile in months. Even though he was the butt of their humor, he appreciated it. Sitting down and stretching out his legs, he decided he had enough of bronc busting for the day and maybe for the week. A long warm bath beckoned, but he thought perhaps he could turn his experiences into a song or two. A long tragic ballad appealed to him. Even as his family continued to chuckle, his mind began to work again on the idea of creating a song that would allow him to let go of the hurts by putting them into lyrics that could last long beyond the betrayal and abandonment he had suffered. By the time the song was sung over and over, he knew two people who would likely hate it. He was looking forward to doing something new and the justice of that ballad appealed to him even more. He had another idea in mind too specifically tailored to Joe’s teasing and Hoss’ humor at his expense on that day. That turned into a solid plan with the closing comments by his brothers.<\/p>\n “Yeah, you’re better off spending some time singing and playing that guitar than torturing these horses with your riding. They probably came to a standstill today out of pure fear you’d ride ’em again.”<\/p>\n “Good one, Hoss. Maybe Adam could come sing near the breaking corrals. Having him that close would help me out. Horses would ride to a standstill for me in fear they might get him for a rider next.”<\/p>\n Ben saw the look then and decided retreat was the best option. His younger sons never seemed to be able to discern when that look of Adam’s turned into a sinister intent. They continued their teasing and Ben was sure there was a ledger filling up in Adam’s head with marks that had to be paid.<\/p>\n Over the next few months, Hoss and Joe would snicker hearing Adam strumming out the notes from Buttons and Bows. Hoss joked to Joe that Adam must have gotten that song stuck in his head and couldn’t forget it. Joe said something similar to Adam who only smiled and said that maybe that was true or maybe there was more to it. Then he smiled that smile that made Joe worry. That smile that looked like the canary swallowed the cat was the most wicked one his older brother had. It was unnerving to see it, and events unfolded to show there was reason to worry too. Adam always liked to balance the scales.<\/p>\n In the saloons on Saturday nights, the men sometimes were able to convince Adam to play the guitar and sing a few songs. Sometimes it was a singalong and sometimes Adam sang songs he knew or even ones he had written. Months after the incident at the corral, he was asked if he had written any new songs. Hoss and Joe waited for the answer as much as the other men did.<\/p>\n “Why, yes I have. I’ve written a couple in fact.”<\/p>\n “Well, what are they? You gonna play them for us?”<\/p>\n “I will. I’ll play the sad one first so you can all drink more beer. The bartenders and the girls will like that. It’s called Broken Heart Mountain.”<\/p>\n The room was quiet when he finished. Lonely men could appreciate the tale of lost love and betrayed love. They knew the pain of a broken heart and the frustration of being hurt and not being able to do anything about it. The request then though was for something more fun after that. They were in a saloon and crying into a beer wasn’t something that appealed to anyone for a night’s entertainment.<\/p>\n “You got a toe-tapper for the second one?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, after that, you gotta sing one to make us smile.”<\/p>\n “Nah, he’s got to sing one to get us to belly laughing is what he needs to do.”<\/p>\n “Gentlemen, I’ve got one of those too. I think it’s about time for me to sing it. It’s a new one and I’ve been working on it for quite some time. I wanted it to be perfect. I called it by a rather long name, but I’m sure you will appreciate it. Good fun songs always seem to have long names. This one is Buttons and Bows, the Curly Headed Boy Who Loved Pintos and his Big Brother With the Funny Ideas.”<\/p>\n All eyes turned to the youngest Cartwright first and then to Hoss. Amid the raucous laughter, Joe tried to escape, but dozens of hands propelled him to the front to hear the song in his honor. Hoss might have made it out the doors, but unless he decided to use his strength and hurt someone, he was going to have to stay too. All he and Joe could do was to generate sickly smiles as Adam grinned and began to sing.<\/p>\n It was difficult for most to hear the whole song because laughter drowned out much of it. A few lines came through to Cosmo at the bar who smiled and hoped Adam would sing it again. He assumed he would and guessed he might know what the rest of some of those lines would be but wanted to hear the whole song. “…Big brother said open those buttons and show them your chest but forgot it was as smooth as a baby’s behind . . . and he said now put a ribbon on it but he forgot to tell him not to tie it tight . . . he did that himself and now he has no money and no wife . . . ”<\/p>\n After the third time through the verses of the song, the crowd decided that Joe and Hoss were free to go. Joe looked at his oldest brother and pointed a finger.<\/p>\n “I’ll get you for this.”<\/p>\n “Are you sure you want to do that, Joe? I don’t get even. I get ahead.”<\/p>\n With a sneer, Joe spun around to leave, and Hoss followed not sure at all what to do. When the two brothers walked outside, they found their horses ready for them with bows tied in manes and tails and everywhere else they could safely be tied. There were two pretty ladies there too which was more of a shock.<\/p>\n “Your brother said you might have some trouble with your bows and buttons. He sent us to help you out.”<\/p>\n Joe was grinning but Hoss needed a bit more persuasion that all was well.<\/p>\n “You’re here cause Adam wanted you to help us with these bows?”<\/p>\n “Yes, and then perhaps you could come back to our place and help us with our buttons and bows.”<\/p>\n “Oh.” After a pause, Hoss was grinning too. “Oh! Lordy, yes.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***Song lyrics in the first discussion adapted from Red Headed Stranger (1975) by Willie Nelson.<\/em><\/p>\n ***A lot of poetic license as Buttons and Bows was published in 1947, but it was featured in a number of western films.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: it may start out looking like a serious story, but it’s a fun brothers’ story using songwriting as the major method of the two-against-one scenario and vice versa.
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