{"id":6720,"date":"2013-04-30T19:28:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T23:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=6720"},"modified":"2023-03-22T13:13:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T17:13:53","slug":"conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=6720","title":{"rendered":"Conflict (by pbeaking)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: This was written for the Chaps & Spurs Literary Challenge in April.<\/strong>\u00a0 Adam and Joe fight and Ben steps in to help.<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 K+ 800<\/p>\n

Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 1<\/p>\n

Crash!<\/em> Ben Cartwright looked up from his morning cup of coffee. A moment later another loud clatter brought an immediate furrowed brow. He set down his cup and headed determinedly towards the door. His boys were at it once more. Outside, Adam and Joe were rolling around on the ground each trying to outdo the other. It was hard to tell who was winning through all the dust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the meaning of this?\u201d Ben bellowed. The scene around him continued without interruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe! Adam! Stop you two!\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly Joe jumped to his feet leaving his brother in the dust. He began to encircle him, fists up in a stalwart<\/strong> position; ready for more. Adam arose slowly, taking time to dust off his pants before calmly folding his arms and cocking his brow.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad enough?\u201d the older brother sarcastically questioned before turning his back and starting towards the door. That was a mistake. Within a minute Joe flung his whole body at Adam\u2019s back and the two crumbled to the ground. Ben stepped into the mix and firmly grabbed hold of both boys\u2019 collars.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough! You two are brothers<\/strong> not enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam jumped to his feet and forcible pushed his father\u2019s hand away. \u201cWe may be brothers, pa, but we don\u2019t have to think alike and act alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was not ready to end this conflict.<\/strong> He tried to reach over the top of his father to get one more punch at his brother, but Ben had a firm grip.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph! That is enough. Now, I\u2019m sure whatever caused this shameful behavior can easily be remedied through calm discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ever try to have a calm discussion with a strong-headed bull, pa?\u201d Adam once again folded his arms and cocked his brow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe once again lunged towards Adam to no avail. \u201cYou\u2019re the one that\u2019s so damn bull headed, Adam. You just can\u2019t admit that I\u2019m right for once.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight about what, Joe?\u201d Ben questioned, trying to uncover the issue between them.<\/p>\n

Joe looked down and kicked the ground. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter, pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter? I come out to find two of my sons practically killing each other and it doesn\u2019t matter? I demand an explanation and I want it now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s eyes shifted from one son to the other before making a decision. \u201cAdam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam suddenly felt his conscience<\/strong> rise. He knew he had been provoking Joe all morning. \u201cWell…I merely was trying to broaden Joe\u2019s outlook on things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe means he was trying to change my beliefs to match his own,\u201d Joe huffed.<\/p>\n

Adam unfolded his arms and brought them down to his side. \u201cThat\u2019s not true, Joe and you know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I?\u201d the younger brother countered. \u201cYou always think your way is best. No one knows better than Adam Cartwright. Well, this time, brother. I\u2019m not giving in. It\u2019s a matter of honor<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA matter of stubbornness you mean,\u201d Adam muttered under his breath.<\/p>\n

Ben had heard enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop it you two. Stop it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both brothers were silenced by the power and frustration in their father\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ve listened to both of you,\u201d Ben continued, \u201cAnd now you both are going to listen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly Ben turned away from his boys and looked out towards the barn to gather his thoughts. His eyes fell upon the small corral located in the eastern corner.<\/p>\n

He turned back towards his sons and ordered, \u201cCome with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three men walked over to the corral and Ben told Joe to get inside. He positioned Adam along the outside of one of the rails and made both men face each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow boys, I want you to think about something. Joe has his opinions and Adam you have yours. Right now, the only thing separating them is this here fence.\u201d Ben paused to pound his palm down on the top rail for emphasis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fence can easily be climbed over or knocked down in a blink of an eye, but it can also remain standing as well. Now you two stalwarts<\/strong> are going to have to reach an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben turned around instantly and started to head back towards the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is ridiculous,\u201d Adam muttered as he leaned against the rail watching his father depart. Ben heard his son\u2019s comment and spun around once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it, Adam? Well, let me tell you one thing … conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben then turned and walked into the house.<\/p>\n

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

Summary: This was written for the Chaps & Spurs Literary Challenge in April.\u00a0 Adam and Joe fight and Ben steps in to help.<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 K+ 800<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":3721,"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":[2,39,23,8,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actionadventure","category-chaps-spurs","category-drama","category-short-stories","category-challenges","wpcat-2-id","wpcat-39-id","wpcat-23-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\/2014\/04\/adam-joe-c.jpg?fit=245%2C230&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720","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\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}