{"id":4634,"date":"2008-06-28T23:22:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-29T03:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=4634"},"modified":"2025-02-27T12:12:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T17:12:25","slug":"coming-home-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=4634","title":{"rendered":"Coming Home (by pjb)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0<\/span>A wild stallion and a nine-year-old boy teach Adam a lesson he never learned in college.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rated:<\/span>\u00a0K+ \u00a0WC \u00a06300<\/span><\/p>\n

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\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 \u00a0Coming Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The smack of the leather belt<\/strong> against the reddened flesh seemed to echo forever.\u00a0 “All right, that’s it,” Adam said, weary with resignation.\u00a0 In four years away at college, he’d forgotten just how much he hated this part of being the older brother.As soon as Adam lifted his hand from the boy’s back, Little Joe sprang to his feet, pulling up his pants as he darted across the room, as far from Adam as he could be.\u00a0 He stood by the window, his back to the room and his brother, each hand clutching the opposite elbow. \u00a0He still made no sound. \u00a0He hadn’t from the moment Adam laid him across his lap.”Joe.”\u00a0 The boy didn’t move.\u00a0 “Joe.”\u00a0 Adam watched for anything, any sign that the boy understood how much he hadn’t wanted to do it.\u00a0 Sighing, he put his belt on and crossed to where his little brother stood, still as a statue.\u00a0 He rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder.\u00a0 No response.\u00a0 It was like putting his hand on a rock.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the boy wanted nothing to do with him.\u00a0 “I’ll see you downstairs,” Adam said, patting the stubborn shoulder.\u00a0 He let himself out, closing the door quietly behind him.<\/p>\n

Downstairs, Adam paused only briefly before pouring himself a brandy.\u00a0 He rubbed his temples against the beginnings of a headache.\u00a0 Settling himself in the blue velvet chair by the stairs, he wondered how it was possible that four short years had brought so many changes.<\/p>\n

Little Joe was just shy of six years old when Adam left.\u00a0 Marie had died only a few months before, but Pa maintained that both he and Adam’s stepmother had wanted him to go to college and that he ought not change his plans now.\u00a0 “We’ll manage,” said Pa, resting his hand on Adam’s shoulder.\u00a0 “You go and do what you need to do, and we’ll be here when you get back.”<\/p>\n

So, Adam went.\u00a0 Even though he had pangs of homesickness, especially during that first year, he never once regretted the decision.\u00a0 Boston was rich with culture and refinement and sophisticated people, with thoughts and ideas debated long into the night over glasses of port.\u00a0 It was beautiful young women in lace-trimmed dresses who found the combination of rough cowboy and polished scholar intoxicating.\u00a0 It was the ability to read as much as he wanted without being called away to water the stock or slog through mud looking for stray calves or diaper the baby or do any of the myriad things that always seemed to require him to put down his book almost as soon as he’d taken it up.<\/p>\n

But at the end of it all, he came home.\u00a0 It was part of the deal he’d made with himself:\u00a0 four years of study, and then he’d go back and use what he’d learned to help build the Ponderosa into the empire he knew it could be.\u00a0 It wasn’t as if there weren’t other opportunities, but Adam knew where his obligations lay.\u00a0 Pa had already sacrificed so much for him; now, it was Adam’s turn to make some sacrifices.\u00a0 And so he’d written home through the years, his ideas going before him so that Pa would be ready for them when he arrived home.<\/p>\n

His homecoming had been almost all he could have hoped for.\u00a0 As soon as he stepped from the stage, Pa gathered him into a hug, right there on the street.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright might be the toughest, strongest man Adam had ever met, but he had a soft side when it came to his family, and he never shied away from expressing it.<\/p>\n

When Pa released him, Adam turned to Hoss.\u00a0 His younger brother was almost half a head taller than he was, and he’d filled out beyond his earlier promise.\u00a0 Adam’s best guess was that the fifteen-year-old outweighed him by fifty pounds, and he knew that estimate just might be conservative.\u00a0 Hoss was laughing with delight, and he gathered Adam into a big bear hug that pulled him right off his feet.<\/p>\n

Finally, Hoss set Adam down.\u00a0 Breathless and laughing, Adam turned to Little Joe.\u00a0 The chubby little boy who had laughed and cried in the same breath and clung to him in the dark days after his mother’s death was no more.\u00a0 Instead, a skinny nine-year-old was pressed up against Pa, big green eyes fixed on Adam as if considering a stranger.<\/p>\n

“Joe?” Adam said gently.\u00a0 He reached for the boy, but Joe tightened his grip on Pa’s jacket and watched him as he might a stranger, without a hint of a smile or welcome.<\/p>\n

“Joseph, it’s Adam,” said Pa. \u00a0“It’s your brother.\u00a0 Don’t you remember?”\u00a0 The boy shook his head slightly, eyes never leaving Adam.\u00a0 “It’s Adam,” said Pa again.\u00a0 “Now, you welcome your brother home properly.”<\/p>\n

The boy looked up at Pa, who nodded encouragingly.\u00a0 Still holding to Pa with one hand, he extended his other to shake hands.\u00a0 “Welcome home, Adam,” he said somberly.<\/p>\n

Adam suppressed a smile as he took the small hand in his.\u00a0 “Thank you, Joe,” he said with all proper seriousness.\u00a0 “It’s good to be home.”\u00a0 The boy regarded him soberly, withdrawing his hand.<\/p>\n

The next three weeks had passed in a flash.\u00a0 Every waking minute was filled with seven things that needed to be done.\u00a0 In the evenings, Adam took over his father’s desk, drawing up new plans for corrals and cattle pens, setting down plans for expanding the family’s holdings, and trying to capture all his thoughts before they vanished in the bustle of the days.\u00a0 Every now and again, he would look up to see his father watching him, bemused.\u00a0 Hoss would just laugh outright when Adam sounded so much like an overenthusiastic schoolboy that even he knew it, but there was nothing mean-spirited about Hoss’ mirth.\u00a0 The two brothers had fallen right back into the easy relationship they had when the elder had left.<\/p>\n

It was inevitable, Adam supposed, that something would have been lost in the shuffle.\u00a0 Now, as he sat by the fire, brandy in hand, it was bitterly clear to him that he’d been overlooking one of the most important things, the boy upstairs.\u00a0 He’d seen the look on Joe’s face last week, when Pa said that he had to go to Genoa.\u00a0 The boy looked almost panicked.<\/p>\n

Pa had seen the look, too.\u00a0 After he’d said goodnight to Joe, he came back downstairs to where Adam sat, surrounded by papers.\u00a0 “Son, we need to talk,” he said.<\/p>\n

Something in Pa’s voice got his attention immediately.\u00a0 Even though he’d been in the middle of adding up a long column of figures, Adam put his pencil down.\u00a0 “Yes, sir?”\u00a0 Pa turned from the desk and headed over to his red leather chair, silently instructing Adam to follow.<\/p>\n

Adam settled himself on the settee and waited.\u00a0 Pa watched him for a long minute.\u00a0 Then, he said, “You’ve been quite busy since you got home.”<\/p>\n

It didn’t sound like a compliment.\u00a0 “Yes, sir,” said Adam, a trifle uneasily.<\/p>\n

“You haven’t had time to do much besides work, have you?”<\/p>\n

“Not really, Pa,” said Adam.\u00a0 “But once these plans are completed and in place, I think you’ll find that they save us all a lot of time and expense.\u00a0 If we just move the corral-wait, let me show you the drawings-”\u00a0 He started to rise, but his father’s voice interrupted.<\/p>\n

“Adam.”\u00a0 The single word was enough to return him to his seat.\u00a0 His father watched until he was satisfied that Adam’s attention had indeed returned to the discussion.\u00a0 “I’ve been watching you since you came home, and there’s something that concerns me.\u00a0 I was hoping that you’d put it right on your own, but that hasn’t happened.”<\/p>\n

“What do you mean?” Adam asked when Pa didn’t continue.<\/p>\n

“Little Joe,” said Ben, drawing on his pipe.\u00a0 “The two of you have barely spoken.\u00a0 Did something happen that I should know about?”<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head.\u00a0 “Nothing that I’m aware of,” he said.\u00a0 “The boy hasn’t shown the slightest interest in talking to me.”<\/p>\n

“And how much interest have you shown in talking to him?” Pa asked gently.\u00a0 Adam opened his mouth and closed it without speaking.\u00a0 “He’s a child, Adam, as much as he wants to believe otherwise.\u00a0 He was very excited about your coming home-he talked of nothing else for weeks.”<\/p>\n

“Really?”\u00a0 The memory of the withdrawn child at the stage seemed at odds with the picture his father was painting.\u00a0 “But when you came to pick me up-”<\/p>\n

Pa nodded.\u00a0 “He was shy,” he said.\u00a0 “You weren’t the way he remembered.\u00a0 He was so little when you left, and he’d been through so much with Marie’s death-he remembered you differently.”<\/p>\n

“Did he tell you this?”<\/p>\n

“He talks to me,” said Pa.\u00a0 “And to Hoss.\u00a0 And he’d talk to you-if he thought you were listening.”<\/p>\n

“Is that what he said?\u00a0 I don’t listen to him?”\u00a0 Adam fought the urge to defend himself.<\/p>\n

“Joe doesn’t tattle,” said Pa simply.\u00a0 “But it’s true.\u00a0 I’ve watched him try to get your attention.\u00a0 You’re so focused on your plans and ideas that you don’t pay him the slightest mind.\u00a0 Even when you’re looking right at him, it’s clear that your mind is somewhere else.\u00a0 He’s a bright boy.\u00a0 You can’t treat him that way and then wonder why he won’t talk to you.”<\/p>\n

Adam considered his father’s words.\u00a0 “Is that why you’re going to Genoa?\u00a0 So that Joe and I will talk to each other?”<\/p>\n

Ben smiled.\u00a0 “I’m not quite that clever,” he said.\u00a0 “I’m going because I need to sign those contracts before we can get started moving the herd.\u00a0 But you may want to take advantage of your time \u2018playing father’ to see if you can’t talk to your brother.”<\/p>\n

And now, three days after Pa’s departure, they were farther apart than ever.\u00a0 Joe had clung to Pa out in the yard, and he’d been thoroughly obstinate from the moment Pa was out of sight.\u00a0 Hoss did his best to temper the boy’s attitude, but even he couldn’t seem to get Little Joe to cooperate.\u00a0 Everything was a battle, from hauling him out of bed to getting him to eat anything.\u00a0 The only thing he did willingly was to groom his pony.\u00a0 Everything else required shouts and threats.<\/p>\n

Finally, this afternoon, came the straw that broke the camel’s back.\u00a0 Adam knew by now that Little Joe was obsessed with horses; anyone who spent three minutes in the boy’s presence knew that.\u00a0 He also knew, as did Little Joe, that Pa had very strict rules about which horses Joe could ride and under whose supervision.\u00a0 Needless to say, any horse that was not thoroughly broken and gentled was absolutely off limits, in all ways, and Joe knew this as well as anybody.<\/p>\n

And so, when Adam came around the corner to find Joe standing quietly in the pen with the gray stallion that had just come in and was so wild that they hadn’t even attempted to put a saddle on him-well, that was the final straw.\u00a0 It didn’t matter that the horse wasn’t acting up.\u00a0 To the contrary, the horse stood as quietly as the boy, as if each were taking the measure of the other.\u00a0 Joe was talking to the horse in quiet, soothing tones, neither attempting to draw nearer than the six-foot distance between them.<\/p>\n

“Joseph!”\u00a0 The word leapt forth, harsh and angry.\u00a0 Little Joe jerked around, and the horse tossed its head, snorting.\u00a0 Immediately, Adam saw his mistake.\u00a0 Moving carefully, he said quietly, “Joe, back over to the rail, now.”<\/p>\n

“Adam, he’s all right,” said Little Joe.\u00a0 “You just startled him.\u00a0 He’s fine.\u00a0 It’s okay.”<\/p>\n

“Do as you’re told,” said Adam through clenched teeth.<\/p>\n

“Adam, he’s-”<\/p>\n

“Joseph.\u00a0 Back.\u00a0 Up.\u00a0 Now.”\u00a0 The controlled fury left no room for debate.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry, Gray, I have to go now,” Little Joe said to the horse.\u00a0 The horse eyed him, but made no move.\u00a0 Without breaking eye contact, Joe backed up the few steps to the fence, and Adam seized him, dragging him between rails.<\/p>\n

“Adam, you don’t-”<\/p>\n

“Get up to your room and wait for me,” said Adam between clenched teeth.\u00a0 “Go!” he shouted as the boy looked about to say something else.\u00a0 Reluctantly, the boy turned and headed into the house.\u00a0 Only after he was out of sight did Adam allow himself to feel the terror of what could have happened, and he clung to the rail, his legs suddenly unable to bear his weight.<\/p>\n

It was an hour before he was calm enough to climb the stairs.\u00a0 He hadn’t meant to make the boy wait so long, but he remembered how Pa had always said not to discipline a child while you were still angry.\u00a0 Adam was convinced that this principle had saved his hide on more than one occasion.\u00a0 Today, though, Little Joe would not be so lucky.<\/p>\n

He opened the door without knocking.\u00a0 Little Joe stood by the window, looking down into the yard, and he didn’t look up when Adam entered.<\/p>\n

“All right, let’s get this over with,” said Adam.\u00a0 He unbuckled his belt and sat down on the edge of the bed.<\/p>\n

Little Joe turned from the window then.\u00a0 Seeing his brother on the bed, he said, “Pa doesn’t turn me over his knee any more.\u00a0 I’m too big for that.”<\/p>\n

“Well, Pa may think you’re too big, but I don’t,” snapped Adam.\u00a0 “Now get over here and drop your pants.”<\/p>\n

Joe’s eyes grew round.\u00a0 Wordlessly, he shook his head.<\/p>\n

“Joe, if I have to tell you again, I’m going to add two lashes,” said Adam.\u00a0 He hated, absolutely hated, this part of being a big brother.\u00a0 There was no question in his mind that the boy was testing him, that he’d never have gotten into the pen with that horse if Pa were home.\u00a0 He didn’t seem to realize how fast that stallion could have turned on him, how dangerous it was to be there.\u00a0 It was up to Adam to protect him.<\/p>\n

“That’s not how Pa does it,” said Joe, remaining by the window.<\/p>\n

“Maybe not, but that’s how I’m doing it, and you’ve just earned yourself two more lashes.”\u00a0 If there had been any way just to walk out of the room at that moment, Adam would gladly have taken it.\u00a0 He watched as his little brother’s face became immobile, emotionless.\u00a0 Defiantly, the boy walked over to him and unfastened his pants, letting them drop to his ankles.\u00a0 He stood beside Adam, almost daring him to take the next step.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Adam felt sick.\u00a0 He knew that discipline was necessary.\u00a0 What Little Joe had done was wildly dangerous, and he couldn’t wait until Pa got back to deal with it.\u00a0 But something about this scene was terribly wrong.\u00a0 The boy hadn’t made a sound the entire time.\u00a0 Everything in Adam wanted to take Joe in his arms and reassure the boy that he was loved, that the punishment had been for his own good.\u00a0 But when he touched Little Joe’s shoulder and felt nothing but rocklike resistance, Adam lost his nerve.\u00a0 Telling himself that Joe didn’t care what he had to say anyway, he patted his little brother’s shoulder and said, “I’ll see you downstairs,” and he left the room.<\/p>\n

He poured himself another brandy.\u00a0 He couldn’t get over the feeling that he’d handled the matter very badly.\u00a0 He tried to remember how Pa had been with him over the years, but it had been a long time, and he didn’t think he’d ever done something as utterly foolhardy and dangerous as what Joe had done.<\/p>\n

“Hey, Older Brother, what’s for supper?”<\/p>\n

Adam hadn’t even heard Hoss come in.\u00a0 The gap-toothed grin was usually enough to lift his spirits, but now, even that failed.<\/p>\n

The grin faded.\u00a0 “You okay, Adam?\u00a0 You look mighty down.”<\/p>\n

Adam sipped his brandy.\u00a0 “I had to deal with Joe,” he said.\u00a0 “Found him in the pen with that gray stallion.\u00a0 Scared the living daylights out of me, I’ll tell you that.”<\/p>\n

“Not again!”<\/p>\n

“\u2018Again’?\u00a0 He’s done this before?”\u00a0 Adam was flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

Hoss nodded, settling himself on the settee.\u00a0 “That kid has a way with horses, no two ways about it, an’ every time we get a new one in, he wants to get in the pen with it and try to gentle it.\u00a0 Been doin’ it for about a year now.\u00a0 We’ve all told him not to, and Pa’s tanned his hide more times’n you can count about it, but it’s like he can’t help himself.\u00a0 He ain’t done it in a while, and we thought maybe he finally learned.”<\/p>\n

“Well, apparently, all he learned was not to do it when Pa’s home,” said Adam bitterly.\u00a0 “So, it fell to me to do the tanning.”<\/p>\n

“You tanned him?”\u00a0 Something in Hoss’ tone was suddenly strange.<\/p>\n

“What was I going to do?\u00a0 Wait for Pa?”<\/p>\n

“No, it’s jest-well, you ain’t hardly been back, and Joe don’t really know you yet-”\u00a0 Hoss was stumbling over his words.<\/p>\n

“Hoss, I’m his brother,” said Adam.\u00a0 “Of course, he knows me.\u00a0 What does that have to do with anything, anyway?”<\/p>\n

Hoss was clearly searching for words.\u00a0 “It’s jest-well-mebbe you should have waited for me.\u00a0 I mean, the kid’s got grit, and he’s tough as they come on some stuff, but when it comes to things like this-well, Pa’s got a way of handlin’ him.”<\/p>\n

“Well, if he keeps getting into the horse pen, it would seem that Pa’s way isn’t all that effective, so maybe mine will be,” said Adam, draining his glass.<\/p>\n

Hoss’ blue eyes were troubled.\u00a0 “Adam-before you done it-did you talk to him about why you were doin’ it?”<\/p>\n

“What do you mean?”<\/p>\n

“Well-Pa always talks to him first so’s Joe knows why he’s getting’ tanned.”<\/p>\n

“He knew why,” said Adam impatiently.\u00a0 “I caught him in the act, for God’s sake.\u00a0 He knew exactly why he was being punished.”<\/p>\n

“You didn’t say nothin’ at all?”<\/p>\n

“I told him what to do, he tried to defy me, and we eventually did it my way.\u00a0 Then, he refused to speak to me, and I came downstairs.”<\/p>\n

“Wait-what do you mean, he defied you?”<\/p>\n

“He said that he was too big to be turned over my knee.”\u00a0 Adam couldn’t figure out why he was suddenly defending his actions.<\/p>\n

“He is,” said Hoss.\u00a0 “Pa ain’t done that with him in almost a year.”<\/p>\n

“Well, it doesn’t really matter,” said Adam.<\/p>\n

“It does to Joe,” said Hoss, his eyes dark with concern.\u00a0 “What about afterward?\u00a0 What did you say to him?”<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head.\u00a0 “I didn’t say anything,” he admitted.\u00a0 “I tried, but he wouldn’t even turn around and look at me, so I just told him I’d see him downstairs.”<\/p>\n

“And you just left him there by hisself?”\u00a0 Hoss was incredulous.\u00a0 “How long ago was this?”<\/p>\n

“About half an hour,” said Adam.\u00a0 “Why?”\u00a0 It seemed to him that Hoss was seriously overreacting.<\/p>\n

In response, Hoss just shook his head and headed up the stairs.\u00a0 When Adam started to rise, Hoss turned back.\u00a0 “You jest stay there,” he said, as if their roles had suddenly been reversed and he were the older brother.\u00a0 “I’ll see to Little Joe.”\u00a0 Without waiting for a response, the fifteen-year-old headed up the stairs.<\/p>\n

* * * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

Hoss eased the door open.\u00a0 Little Joe was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, sound asleep.\u00a0 He was making the hiccupping noises that he made when he’d cried himself to sleep.\u00a0 He wore only his shirt, and a crescent of reddened flesh was visible below the hem.\u00a0 The pants were a tangle on the floor, as if they’d been hurriedly yanked off to relieve discomfort.\u00a0 Hoss took the blanket that was folded up at the foot of the bed and drew it up over his sleeping brother, resting his hand on the boy’s shoulder.<\/p>\n

Little Joe jerked awake at the touch.\u00a0 His initial look of panic gave way to relief when he saw his big brother standing by the bed.\u00a0 His cheeks were stained with tears, and his eyes were rimmed with red.\u00a0 “Hoss,” he murmured, reaching out.<\/p>\n

Hoss settled himself on the bed and rubbed the boy’s back in large, slow circles.\u00a0 “You okay?” he asked.\u00a0 Little Joe nodded, fresh tears leaking down his cheeks.\u00a0 “It’s all right, ole Hoss is here,” his big brother murmured as the boy gave in to new sobs.\u00a0 “Come here, you,” he said, wrapping the boy in the blanket and holding him close, careful to position him comfortably.<\/p>\n

When the sobs had subsided, Hoss wiped his brother’s eyes and then handed him the handkerchief.\u00a0 Little Joe blew his nose and handed it back.<\/p>\n

“You wanna tell me what happened?”\u00a0 Hoss said quietly.\u00a0 It was part of the routine they’d established after Adam had left, when it was just the two of them:\u00a0 after Pa had disciplined the little boy, Hoss would come to him, and they would talk about what Joe had done.\u00a0 Sometimes, Hoss didn’t understand any better than Joe just why Pa was upset, but the two brothers would try to sort it out as best they could.\u00a0 Even when they couldn’t figure everything out, it helped to talk.<\/p>\n

“I went in with the gray,” Little Joe said.\u00a0 “I just wanted to talk to him.\u00a0 We were doin’ real well, too.\u00a0 But then-he came along and yelled and nearly spooked the horse, and he dragged me out of the pen and sent me up here, and he turned me over his knee like I was some little kid-”\u00a0 Tears spilled over again, and Hoss held the boy close, making soft, meaningless noises of comfort.<\/p>\n

“You went in with the gray?” Hoss repeated after the boy’s tears had stopped.\u00a0 Little Joe nodded.\u00a0 Say what you would about the kid, but he wasn’t a liar.\u00a0 If he did something, he admitted it.\u00a0 “But you knew Pa said not to.”<\/p>\n

“But nobody else was doin’ it,” said Little Joe.\u00a0 “I could tell the gray was gettin’ upset, and he needed a friend.\u00a0 I thought maybe I could help, and since Pa wasn’t here, it’d be okay.”<\/p>\n

Hoss sighed inwardly.\u00a0 This was going to be hard to explain.\u00a0 He wished Pa were here.\u00a0 “Joe, you know I think it’s real important to help animals when you can,” he began.\u00a0 Joe nodded solemnly. \u00a0Hoss had brought home lots of injured animals over the years. \u00a0“Thing is, sometimes it’s dangerous.\u00a0 Remember how that raccoon bit me when I tried to splint its paw?”<\/p>\n

Little Joe nodded, a smile stealing over his face for the first time since Hoss came into the room.\u00a0 “Your thumb swelled up big as a tree,” he remembered.<\/p>\n

“And it hurt like a son of a-it hurt a lot,” Hoss amended hastily.\u00a0 Pa would wash his mouth out with lye soap if he heard some of what Hoss had said when that danged raccoon chomped down.\u00a0 Hoss wasn’t one for cussing, but those sharp little teeth could make a preacher swear.\u00a0 He rubbed his thumb, remembering, and Joe giggled.<\/p>\n

“Well, a horse can hurt you a whole lot worse than a raccoon,” said Hoss.\u00a0 “When Pa tells you not to go into the pen, it ain’t ’cause he don’t wanna help the horses.\u00a0 It’s ’cause it’s dangerous for you to be in there all by yourself when the horse ain’t tied up.\u00a0 Even Pa and me wouldn’t go in with some of them horses, and we been at it a whole lot longer than you have.\u00a0 It don’t matter if Pa’s home or not, you jest can’t do it.\u00a0 It’s too dangerous.\u00a0 It’s like Pa said before:\u00a0 if you wanna talk to the horses, you gotta do it from outside the pen.”<\/p>\n

“But it doesn’t work as well,” protested Little Joe.\u00a0 “They don’t like it when there’s a rail in between us.”<\/p>\n

“Mebbe not, but that’s all you can do if’n you ever wanna sit down again,” Hoss said, his half-joking tone belying the seriousness of his message.\u00a0 “Joe, I need you to promise me you won’t go in the pen by yourself no more.\u00a0 Promise me that you won’t do it unless Pa or me or Adam is with you and somebody’s holdin’ the horse.”<\/p>\n

The boy searched his big brother’s face.\u00a0 For four long years, almost half his life, it had been just the two of them here with Pa.\u00a0 Hoss had only been eleven when Adam left but, as Adam had before him, Hoss had shouldered a man’s load at an early age.\u00a0 With both Adam and Marie gone, that load had included the care of his little brother while Pa was out tending to ranch business.\u00a0 Through the years of working and growing together, of games and fights and pranks and secrets and tears and laughter, the two boys had grown closer than most brothers.\u00a0 Hoss knew people would think it silly if he said it out loud, but the nine-year-old in his lap was his best friend, and it just about broke his heart when the boy had to be punished.<\/p>\n

“I promise,” Little Joe said finally, reluctantly.<\/p>\n

“Cross your heart?”<\/p>\n

Solemnly, Little Joe drew an X over his heart.\u00a0 “I promise,” he repeated.\u00a0 “I won’t go in unless you or Pa is with me.”<\/p>\n

“Or Adam,” said Hoss.\u00a0 When Joe remained silent, he said, “You still mad at him for tannin’ you?”<\/p>\n

In response, Little Joe nestled into Hoss’ arms.\u00a0 “Hoss?”<\/p>\n

“Hmmm?”<\/p>\n

“If somethin’ happens to Pa, promise you’ll take care of me?”<\/p>\n

“Nothin’s gonna happen to Pa,” protested Hoss.<\/p>\n

“But if it does,” said Little Joe.\u00a0 “Like with Mama.\u00a0 Nobody thought it would happen, but it did.\u00a0 If somethin’ like that happens to Pa, promise you’ll take care of me?”<\/p>\n

“If somethin’ happens to Pa, Adam’ll take care of both of us,” said Hoss.<\/p>\n

“No!”\u00a0 Little Joe burrowed his head into Hoss’ chest.\u00a0 “He don’t want me anyway!\u00a0 He don’t even like me!”<\/p>\n

“Listen to me, Little Brother,” Hoss began.\u00a0 He reached down and lifted Joe’s chin.\u00a0 “You need to-what happened to your lip?\u00a0 Were you in a fight?”\u00a0 Joe’s bottom lip was cut, and fresh blood was congealing.\u00a0 Joe shook his head.\u00a0 “Then how did this happen?”\u00a0 Joe was silent.\u00a0 “Joe, I want to know how this happened.\u00a0 You tell me now, if you weren’t fighting, how did you cut your lip?”<\/p>\n

Little Joe dropped his eyes.\u00a0 Finally, he whispered, “I didn’t cry when he tanned me.\u00a0 Not even a little bit.\u00a0 I never made any noise at all.”\u00a0 Remembering, he bit his lower lip again.<\/p>\n

The words pierced Hoss’ heart.\u00a0 How very angry, how very scared the boy must have been, biting through his own lip rather than lose control.\u00a0 He could feel his temper starting to flare.\u00a0 He held the boy tightly, and the skinny arms went around his neck, clinging as if for dear life.\u00a0 “You’re all right,” he murmured, patting Little Joe’s back.\u00a0 “I got you.\u00a0 You’re fine.\u00a0 Don’t you worry ’bout nothin’.\u00a0 Everything’s gonna be okay, I promise.”\u00a0 He held his little brother, murmuring comfort, until he felt the boy relax.<\/p>\n

Just then, Adam called from downstairs, “Supper’s ready!”<\/p>\n

“You better get dressed,” said Hoss, extricating himself from Little Joe’s grasp.<\/p>\n

“No.”<\/p>\n

Hoss raised his eyebrows.\u00a0 “You ain’t plannin’ on goin’ downstairs without your pants, are you?”<\/p>\n

“I ain’t goin’ downstairs at all,” said Joe.<\/p>\n

“Little Brother, you gotta eat somethin’,” said Hoss.\u00a0 “‘Sides, Adam was makin’ beef stew, and it smelled mighty good.”\u00a0 Joe shook his head, not meeting Hoss’ eyes.\u00a0 Hoss reached down to lift the small chin.\u00a0 “What?” he asked gently.<\/p>\n

The boy’s cheeks were flaming red with embarrassment.\u00a0 “Hurts,” he muttered.\u00a0 “He hits harder than Pa.”<\/p>\n

“Oh,” said Hoss, understanding.\u00a0 He knew Pa would have insisted the boy come down to the table.\u00a0 Pa wasn’t here, though, and with things so unsettled and nobody to work them out, Hoss was reluctant to put the boy through the humiliation and discomfort of trying to sit on that hard wooden chair, especially in front of Adam.\u00a0 He thought briefly of putting a cushion on Joe’s chair and abandoned the notion as equally mortifying to the young boy’s pride.<\/p>\n

“All right, just this one time,” Hoss said.\u00a0 Little Joe flung his arms around his big brother’s neck.\u00a0 “You get your nightshirt on, and I’ll bring your supper up.\u00a0 But jest remember, this is only one time.\u00a0 Next time, you go downstairs.\u00a0 Understand?”\u00a0 Joe nodded soberly, and Hoss smiled.\u00a0 Adam wouldn’t be happy, but Hoss could handle him.\u00a0 Joe and Adam needed to talk, that much was certain, but that could wait until later.\u00a0 For now, Hoss was taking care of his baby brother.<\/p>\n

* * * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

Adam was seated at the table when Hoss came down.\u00a0 His younger brother looked troubled.\u00a0 There was no sign of Little Joe.\u00a0 Adam sighed inwardly.\u00a0 Was this the next step?\u00a0 Drag the boy, kicking and screaming, to the supper table?<\/p>\n

“Where’s Joe?” he asked, trying not to sound irritated.<\/p>\n

“Upstairs,” said Hoss.\u00a0 He picked up the plate at Joe’s place and ladled stew onto it.<\/p>\n

“You know, you can probably make do with one plate at a time,” said Adam.<\/p>\n

“This is for Joe,” Hoss said.\u00a0 He gathered up the silverware, napkin and water glass, depositing everything onto the tray that sat on the sideboard.<\/p>\n

“What?\u00a0 Why isn’t he coming down?”<\/p>\n

Hoss met Adam’s eyes squarely.\u00a0 “Because I said he didn’t have to,” he said.\u00a0 It was as clear a challenge as Adam had ever seen.<\/p>\n

“Oh, really?\u00a0 Any particular reason that he’s now getting his meals delivered to him on a tray?\u00a0 Are you sure you can’t find a silver platter for him?”<\/p>\n

“Watch yourself, Adam,” said Hoss almost casually.\u00a0 “You might have a fancy education, but you don’t know what you’re talkin’ about here.\u00a0 You take care of the ranch, and let me handle Little Joe.”<\/p>\n

Hoss’ quiet authority was even more irritating that Joe’s open defiance had been earlier.\u00a0 Adam snapped, “Little Joe is my responsibility while Pa’s away, and I’ll handle him the way I see fit!”<\/p>\n

“The way you did this afternoon?\u00a0 Tell me something, Adam.\u00a0 Other than the time you spent yellin’ at him and tannin’ him, how much time have you spent alone with Little Joe since you been home?”\u00a0 Adam opened his mouth and closed it without speaking.\u00a0 “That’s what I thought,” said Hoss.\u00a0 “That boy don’t know what to think of you right now. \u00a0He says you don’t like him and much as I don’t want to believe that, fact is that the only things you done since you been back are ignore him and tan him.\u00a0 He won’t say it, but I think right now, he’s scared of you.\u00a0 So I’m takin’ his supper up to him, and I’m gonna eat with him in his room, and I’m gonna sit with him for a while.\u00a0 And if you don’t like that, Adam, well, that’s jest too dang bad.”\u00a0 He ladled stew onto a second plate, picked up his own silverware and water glass, and loaded everything onto the tray.\u00a0 “Enjoy your supper,” he said, disappearing up the stairs.<\/p>\n

Adam sat alone at the table, his gaze resting on one empty chair after another.\u00a0 Maybe this had been a mistake, coming home.\u00a0 Maybe he should have stayed in Boston.\u00a0 Maybe he should have gone someplace where nobody knew him, where he could get a fresh start and nobody would be upset because he was different from how he’d been before.<\/p>\n

The clink of his fork against the plate almost echoed in the silence.\u00a0 He could hear himself chewing.\u00a0 He took a sip of water and listened to himself swallow.<\/p>\n

To hell with this.<\/p>\n

Those were his brothers upstairs.\u00a0 For better or worse, they were his family.\u00a0 And if they wouldn’t come downstairs to eat with him, he would damned well go upstairs to eat with them.<\/p>\n

Adam gathered up his plate and silverware and stomped up the stairs.\u00a0 Let them hear him coming.\u00a0 It wasn’t as if they could go anywhere.\u00a0 What was the worst thing they could do?\u00a0\u00a0Tell you you’re not welcome to join them,<\/em>\u00a0whispered the voice in his mind.\u00a0 He shook it away.\u00a0 Hoss would never say that.\u00a0 He wasn’t so sure about Little Joe, but then, he’d certainly earned any skepticism the boy might entertain.<\/p>\n

The door was ajar, but he knocked anyway before pushing it farther open.\u00a0 Hoss was sitting in the bedside chair, while Joe lay on his side, plate on the bed in front of him.\u00a0 The smile on his face vanished as he looked up and saw Adam.<\/p>\n

“Mind if I join you?” Adam had intended to sound jovial, but even to his own ears, he sounded tentative.<\/p>\n

His brothers exchanged a long look.\u00a0 He saw the plea in Joe’s eyes, but Hoss shook his head slightly.<\/p>\n

“C’mon in,” said Hoss.\u00a0 “We might not be too interesting, but you’re welcome to join us.”<\/p>\n

Adam smiled determinedly.\u00a0 He pulled the desk chair over by the foot of the bed and set his plate by Little Joe’s feet.\u00a0 He pretended not to notice how his brothers had fallen silent when he came in.\u00a0 Instead, he focused on his food for a few minutes while he tried to figure out something to say.<\/p>\n

Then, it came to him.\u00a0 He swallowed his stew and turned his attention to Little Joe.\u00a0 “So,” he said.\u00a0 “I hear you have a way with horses.\u00a0 Is that so?”<\/p>\n

The boy looked at him suspiciously.\u00a0 “Yep,” he said, pushing his stew around his plate.<\/p>\n

“Is that what you were doing today with the gray?”<\/p>\n

“Yep.”<\/p>\n

Adam sighed inwardly.\u00a0 Talking to this kid was like trying to dig a silver mine with his eyelashes.\u00a0 “What exactly were you doing?” he asked.<\/p>\n

“Talkin’,” said Little Joe.\u00a0 He took a bite of stew and chewed for much longer than was warranted.<\/p>\n

“What did you say to him?” Adam asked after the boy had finally swallowed.<\/p>\n

“Stuff.”\u00a0 Another long bite.\u00a0 Adam caught Hoss giving Joe a stern look, and he took a bite of his own dinner, lest the boy see him smiling.<\/p>\n

“Like what?” he asked when they’d both swallowed.<\/p>\n

“Just stuff,” said Little Joe.\u00a0 “Nothin’ you’d be interested in.”<\/p>\n

“If I weren’t interested, I wouldn’t be asking,” said Adam simply.\u00a0 “I don’t generally talk to horses, and I don’t know what you’d say to one other than \u2018geeyap’ or \u2018whoa.’\u00a0 That one today didn’t look like he’d care much about either of those words, so I was wondering what you were saying to him.”<\/p>\n

Little Joe looked at Hoss, who nodded encouragingly.\u00a0 “Well,” he began hesitantly, “first, I just say howdy, just like you would to any stranger.\u00a0 Then, if they’re nervous, I try to tell them that it ain’t so bad here.”\u00a0 Adam resisted the urge to correct the boy’s grammar.\u00a0 “Most of them are nervous, so I tell them what a nice place this is and how nobody’s gonna hurt them and it’s okay to relax a little bit.”<\/p>\n

“What else?” Adam asked encouragingly.<\/p>\n

“Well, sometimes, if they seem like they’re not too sure about me, I tell them who I am, and all about Pa and Hoss-”\u00a0 He broke off.<\/p>\n

“It makes sense that you’d tell them about the people they’d be meeting,” said Adam smoothly.\u00a0 He knew that the boy was suddenly uncomfortable that he didn’t tell the horses about his eldest brother.<\/p>\n

Joe shot him a sharp glance to see whether he was being mocked.\u00a0 Apparently satisfied, he continued, “And I tell ’em about the Ponderosa and how much they’re gonna like bein’ here, even if they ain’t gonna be stayin’ very long.\u00a0 An’ usually, by the time we talk about all that, they’re ready for somebody to try ridin’ them.”<\/p>\n

“And does it work?”<\/p>\n

“Pardon?”<\/p>\n

“Are they any gentler when it’s time to break them?”<\/p>\n

Little Joe nodded.\u00a0 “They’re a lot easier to handle,” he said, looking to Hoss for confirmation.\u00a0 “‘Cause they know it’s okay to trust people.”<\/p>\n

Hoss nodded.\u00a0 “Sounds farfetched, but it’s true.\u00a0 Not all of ’em, but enough that it ain’t just a coincidence.”<\/p>\n

“Can anybody do it?\u00a0 Could I?”\u00a0 Adam sat back in his chair, genuinely impressed.\u00a0 Nobody had ever mentioned this about Little Joe.\u00a0 He wondered what else they’d never told him, what else he would discover about the boy in the days ahead.<\/p>\n

Joe studied him carefully.\u00a0 “I don’t know,” he said.\u00a0 “Depends, I guess, on how you are with ’em.\u00a0 You gotta be gentle and really listen to them.\u00a0 They gotta know you like ’em.\u00a0 You gotta make sure they know you’re not gonna hurt ’em.”\u00a0 His voice faltered.<\/p>\n

Adam bowed his head. \u00a0And a little child shall lead them,<\/em>\u00a0he thought.\u00a0\u00a0I did less for you, my own brother, than you do for those horses.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0He took a deep breath and lifted his head.<\/p>\n

The boy’s eyes were guarded, and his expression was cautious.\u00a0 Adam knew that, no matter what he said, Little Joe wasn’t going to trust him overnight.\u00a0 He’d been gone too long, and the past few weeks had been too rocky, for a quick fix.\u00a0 They were going to need to talk about a lot of things-today, the last month, and years gone by.\u00a0 It wasn’t going to be easy for either of them.<\/p>\n

But if a wild gray stallion could learn to trust a nine-year-old boy, then just maybe, there was hope for the rest of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Disclaimer:<\/span>\u00a0All 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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

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

Summary:\u00a0A wild stallion and a nine-year-old boy teach Adam a lesson he never learned in college.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0K+ \u00a0WC \u00a06300<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":13918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,30],"tags":[14,17,16],"class_list":["post-4634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-prequels","tag-adam-cartwright","tag-hoss","tag-joe","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-30-id"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":2942,"today_views":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Black-Stallion.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2836,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2836","url_meta":{"origin":4634,"position":0},"title":"Big Fish (by faust)","author":"faust","date":"April 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Adam is coming home, but not everyone seems eager to meet him. 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