Summary: Once again Adam is unable to get his ideas across to his father and wonders if there will ever be peace between them, until a brother steps in to help. Written for Brand’s Brother’s Day Challenge – write a story involving Hoss and at least one of this brothers (Adam, Joe, Jamie, or Clay).<\/p>\n
Rating: G<\/p>\n
Word Count: 708<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Divide and Conquer – Cartwright style<\/b><\/p>\n
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Adam stormed out to the porch and plopped down on the step. He\u2019d just had a bad fight with his father and it didn\u2019t help that Little Joe added his two cents\u2019 worth in. Poor Hoss remained silent but Adam could tell all the harsh words were hurting him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He dropped his head into his hands and moaned. <\/span>Why does it always seem to be my fault? Why do I always have to bend to Pa or Little Joe\u2019s opinions? Why could they never see reason and let me have my way, or do things my way!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Hearing the door latch lift followed by heavy footfalls Adam couldn\u2019t hold back a smile. He estimated it had taken at least forty or fifty seconds before his bigger brother appeared. Not bothering to look up, he acknowledged Hoss\u2019 presence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTook you a bit longer than usual to appear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYa mean you count seconds?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSometimes minutes, sometimes days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A gentle chuckle escaped Hoss\u2019 lips making Adam finally lift his head and look at his brother.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI heard a lot o\u2019 words in there but I suspect you didn\u2019t say what was really on you mind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo, they wouldn\u2019t want to hear it, and neither would you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou really think that? About me anyway?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo, guess not.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s chest rose and fell with a deep sigh. \u201cHoss, I can\u2019t figure out why Pa spent all that money on my education when he won\u2019t let me use it. I\u2019m not telling him what to do, just making suggestions. But I think I\u2019d have better luck with a brick wall.\u201d His head dropped to his hands again.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy do ya want to make changes, Adam?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Adam\u2019s head snapped up so fast it made Hoss\u2019 neck hurt. \u201cWhat do you mean by that! I thought you were on my side. Look, I\u2019m not trying to change everything. I just see some things that aren\u2019t working too well or could make work go faster or easier, and in the long run that could bring more profit to the ranch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow you see why I asked that question? You gave me an answer that made sense. And you might notice you got mad but you answered my question anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, so?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hoss kept quiet for a few extra seconds then grinned when his older brother\u2019s eyes lit up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPa never asked the right question. I tell him I have an idea or a suggestion and he says \u2018what\u2019 then \u2018no\u2019. Then I get mad, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYep, you got it figured out. Now whatcha gonna do about it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGo back in and see if I can get Pa to ask the \u2018why\u2019 question.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere ya go, an\u2019 I\u2019ll get Little Joe outta there so\u2019s you two can talk more peacefully.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThanks. Say, do you agree with what I\u2019ve suggested?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I do. I listened to your numbers and facts and they make some sense. I wanna talk more about \u2018em later but Pa needs to hear \u2018em first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThanks, again!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYa ready to go back in an\u2019 try again?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Yeah, but maybe you better get Joe out first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh, right. I\u2019ll take him out through the kitchen. All this fussin\u2019 calls for some cookies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Adam finally felt like laughing and so did Hoss. \u201cJust save some for me and Pa.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWill do, brother.\u201d He gave him a hearty slap on the back. Adam counted to twenty then heard voices near the bunkhouse so he headed inside.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPa, I\u2019m sorry I lost my temper. Can we start over?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSure son. Why don\u2019t you begin by telling me why you want to make these changes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Wondering if that was too easy, Adam shrugged to himself then pulled out his notes. For the next two hours, father and son talked about changes for the ranch and eventually Joe and Hoss joined in. By dinner time harmony was restored and some of Adam\u2019s suggestions had been accepted and added to the work schedule. The others would be considered when funds and time allowed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Later that evening, Adam and Hoss shared smiles and winks behind their father\u2019s and brother\u2019s backs. A little patience and teamwork, and in this case dividing and conquering, could accomplish much within the Cartwright family. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: Once again Adam is unable to get his ideas across to his father. Adam wonders if there will ever be peace between them, until a brother steps in to help. Written for the Brand Brother’s Day Challenge – write a story involving Hoss and at least one of this brothers (Adam, Joe, Jamie, or Clay).\u00a0<\/p>\n Rating: G<\/p>\n Word Count: 708<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8333,"featured_media":64715,"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},"categories":[1090,8,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-hoss","category-short-stories","category-challenges","wpcat-1090-id","wpcat-8-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\/2026\/05\/The-Dark-Gate-2.png?fit=623%2C442&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64714","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\/8333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}