Summary: An Excerpt from “Sins of the Fathers, Sins of the Sons”
Word Count: 4500
The Line Shack
Spring, 1847 – Ponderosa Ranch
“You poked me! You’re gonna cut my ears off!” Little Joe wailed and tried to jump off the kitchen chair and escape from his captor. He yanked on the dishtowel that his father had tied around his neck.
Ben clamped a large hand on the little boy’s shoulder and held him firmly in place. Joe waved his little hands and kicked his feet trying to free himself from captivity.
“If you would sit still, nothing would happen to you!” his father warned. Ben was losing his patience with his five-year-old son. He still had lots of work to do and Joe was trying his endurance.
“I won’t! You are hurting me!” Joe wiggled and wriggled. He swung his hands up and knocked the scissors out of his father’s hand.
“Joseph! Sit down. I am not hurting you but if you don’t stop this fussing, I will show you a world of hurt,” Ben roared. He firmly held the child in place with one hand and tried to pick up the scissor from the floor with the other. Joe was squirming too much and Ben’s arms weren’t long enough to reach the scissor which had slid next to the pantry door.
“I want only Adam to cut my hair!” Joe demanded. “Only my Adam. Not you!” Joe clamped both his hands over his curls. Ben pried his son’s fingers from his head with one hand and attempted to hold him down on the chair with the other.
“Adam is with the timber crew and he won’t be home until tomorrow night or even Monday. I’m cutting your hair. Sit still, Joseph! Sit still or you won’t be able to sit for a month,” Ben roared.
“No, Pa! No!” the boy shrieked so loud the hands could hear him in the barn. “No haircut!”
“Adam is not here. He won’t be home anytime soon and you can’t go to church looking like…like…”
”A riverboat gambler?” They both heard a familiar voice from the back door. Ben and Joe looked up to see Adam leaning on the doorframe. He had been standing watching the raging battle for five minutes without being noticed by either his angry father or his hysterical baby brother.
Little Joe leaped off the chair and right into his oldest brother’s arms.
”Looks like you missed me, Shorty,” Adam Cartwright grinned as he hugged his baby brother. Seeing the happy look on his father’s weary face, he added, “Looks like you missed me too, Pa. Need a hand with shaggy Joe?”
”Don’t be so smug,” Ben growled as he bent down and picked up the scissors.
”We finished up faster than you thought. Did all the marking on the ridge and went all the way back to the creek too. Hays said we should just come home and eat supper instead of staying up there any longer. So here I am.“ Adam grinned mischievously. “Ready for supper and ready to tame this boy’s curls.”
”Pa is scalping me and killing me and pulling off my ears, Adam!” Little Joe complained bitterly to his seventeen-year-old brother. “You saved me!”
”You saved this little hellion from a tanning too!” Ben glared at Joe.
Joe clung tighter to his brother.
“Here!” Ben handed the scissors to Adam and angrily added,” Cut his ears off! Scalp him. See if I care.”
”Calm down, Pa,” Adam laughed. The boy was very full of himself. Only two weeks earlier he had received word that his application for college had been accepted. His grandfather, Abel Stoddard had sent Adam an invitation to live in the Stoddard house in Boston and work for his shipping firm to earn his expenses while in college. “Pa, just watch this!” He twirled the scissors on his index finger like a gun fighter would twirl a six shooter.
”Watch what? The only thing I am going to watch is the men working at the breaking corral. You cut your brother’s hair. I’ll be back for supper.” Ben slammed on his hat and stormed out the back door.
“So, Little Joe. Seems like we have a situation here,” Adam smiled. He swung his brother back on the chair. “You can’t sit still?”
”No, Adam.” Little Joe started to slide off the chair. “I wiggle like a worm.”
”Seems like some little worm said that he wanted to go fishing with me when Hoss and I go the next time.”
Joe nodded his head as if it was loose. Adam untied the towel from his little brother’s neck. He rummaged in the kitchen drawer and pulled out an old tablecloth. “If you can’t even sit still for the ten minutes it takes to cut your hair, how will you be able to sit still when we are fishing?”
Little Joe shrugged and didn’t say a word.
Adam snapped the tablecloth open with a flourish. “Lift up your chin, little worm.”
His little brother pointed his chin up to the ceiling and Adam tied the cloth around his neck. Then he tied the corners of the fabric into the spindles of the chair, trapping Joe as if he was in a straight jacket. “Don’t think you can squirm too much now, little worm.” Adam grinned. “Pa doesn’t know all the tricks that I do. Now sit still, Joe.”
Joe shrugged. “I can sit when we fish. I can sit very still.”
”Show me, Little Joe. Sit still and show me right now. Then maybe you can ask Pa to permit you to go fishing with Hoss and me.” Adam re-tied the white cloth tightly around his little brother’s slender neck.
Joe nodded his curly head. “I am sitting still now.”
”Oh no you aren’t. You are shaking your head, Little Joe. Sit very, very still” Adam whispered in the boy’s ear. “Very, very still.” He snipped the curls around the little boy’s neck.
”Very, very, very still,” Little Joe whispered back. “Then I can go fishing?”
Adam efficiently snipped the curls on top of the boys head and around his ears.
”Very, very, very still.” Adam grinned. Little Joe was going to look as neat as a pin for church. Adam was sure his father would have to admit that Adam Cartwright could do what Ben Cartwright couldn’t do.
*****
Adam heard singing. His brother’s sweet soprano voice was singing some silly annoying, repetitious song about a pretty girl dancing in the light of the moon. All Adam wanted to do was sleep a bit more and Little Joe just kept right on singing.
As Adam tried to turn over, he opened his eyes and realized he wasn’t home, in his own bed. The bed was far too lumpy and much too narrow. He was covered by a rough wool blanket rather than the soft coverlet he had on his bed at home. Where was he? Adam tried to clear his head. He attempted to sit up and the pain in his leg made it all flood back.
Adam was fully awake. He was in the line shack, hurt and all alone with Little Joe.
Hoss and Adam were going to go up to the high meadow under the pretense of checking fences. They had decided to make a fishing trip out of it and to stay over night. Five-year-old Little Joe had begged and wheedled to go with his older brothers and Adam had finally given in. Joe was so proud to be included. He promised his father to follow his brother’s orders to the letter and not misbehave one bit. “Adam promised if I learned to stay very still, I could go fishing.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Do you know what you boys are getting into?”
“Yes sir. We will do fine,” Hoss said earnestly.
“No problem, Pa. Little Joe will always listen to me,” Adam bragged.
Adam rode one horse and Hoss rode a second with Little Joe riding on the saddle in front of him. The little boy argued at first that he wanted to ride his own horse but their father told him that it would be too far and too much for him to handle his own horse. “If you want to join your brothers on this trip, Joseph, you need to follow orders. Either do what I am telling you or stay behind.”
Joe shifted his weight from one foot to the other and nodded. He already had packed his own bedroll and was all set to go. He had even remembered to take a second shirt, his own canteen and three peppermint sticks that Mim Wallace had given him the last time he visited her in Virginia City. Joe had only licked them a little and hid them in his dresser drawer with his sox. Little Joe grudgingly gave in to his father’s orders and rode with Hoss.
Everything was going fine with their fishing trip until it started to rain.
Hoss had stopped to help Joe button up his coat and Adam rode up the trail ahead of them. There was a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder. Adam’s horse reared up at the unexpected noise and he was thrown off into a rocky out cropping. The horse bolted and took off down the trail.
When his younger brothers rode up, they found Adam sprawled on the ground. His right leg was seriously injured. It didn’t seem broken but his ankle was badly twisted and he had torn a big, raw gash in his calf. Hoss bandaged the wound with some strips he tore from Little Joe’s extra shirt. Hoss then helped his older brother get on the remaining horse. After that, Hoss swung Little Joe up behind Adam and led the horse down the trail.
At some point, Adam realized he was hurt too badly to go on any further. His leg was bleeding profusely and the cold rain was soaking them all through to the skin. “Hoss, get me and Joe to that line shack and then you ride on home for help. I can’t go on much more.”
“I can’t leave you, Adam,” Hoss argued. “I can’t.”
“Do what I tell you to do, Hoss,” Adam ordered the younger boy, trying to keep his voice firm and sound like he was in complete control of the situation. “You will make better time riding on your own. Little Joe and I will be fine in the line shack until you and Pa come back for us.”
It had started to get colder and Hoss could see Adam was shivering. Joe looked at Hoss wide-eyed and afraid as he held tightly to Adam.
”But Adam, he is only five years old,” Hoss argued
“I’m going to be six,” Joe countered.
“Not for ten months,” Hoss quickly corrected. “Adam, I can’t leave you hurt like this.”
”Do what I tell you to do,” Adam repeated firmly. “We have no other choice. I can’t ride any more and you can’t manage Joe and still go fast.”
Hoss reluctantly agreed. It was clear that Adam was in a lot of pain, even though he was trying very hard not to show it. He was light-headed from the loss of blood and riding astride the horse was making his leg bleed more heavily. Adam needed to rest and get warmed up.
At the line shack, Hoss got his injured brother settled in. He took Little Joe aside and gave him some directions and hugged him tight. “You mind Adam now. I’ll be back with Pa as soon as I can.”
Joe was unusually quiet as he listened to Hoss’ directions.
“Wait! Don’t go yet!” Joe pulled on Hoss’ coat. The small boy went over to his gear and pulled out the peppermint sticks. “Here, Hoss, Take this grub.” You might get hungry.” He handed the candy to his older brother. “They are not too linty. You can lick that fuzz off.” Joe smiled nervously.
Hoss looked down at what his baby brother had handed him. “There are three peppermints here. I’ll take one and you take one for you and one for Adam.”
”No, Hoss, they are all for you. For good luck,” Joe insisted, pushing the candy into his brother’s hand.
Hoss took one candy and put it in his pocket. Then he took the second and put it in Little Joe’s pocket. “This is for Adam. He held the third red and white stick and broke it in two. “This is for both of us. For when I get back.” Then he left. That was the last thing Adam remembered clearly before he dozed off.
Little Joe saw his big brother stir on the bunk. The five-year-old boy immediately stopped singing and reached for the coffee pot of cold water that he had placed on the rickety wooden table. He carefully poured some in a tin cup like his brother Hoss had showed him. Then, lifting Adam’s head, held the cup to his brother’s lips. “Drink the water, Adam,” the little boy urged.
The older boy swallowed a bit of water, and then slowly opened his eyes. ”Pa?”
“No, Adam. It’s me. Little Joe. Hoss went for help. You got hurt pretty bad. Hoss bandaged your foot and it was all bloody. Does it hurt bad?”
Adam tried to shift his leg under the covers and winced at the pain in his left ankle. Now he remembered what happened. The two boys had helped him stagger into the line shack. Adam remembered Hoss helping him onto the bunk and bandaging his foot Then Hoss left to get help. That was the last thing he remembered clearly. He must have dozed off or passed out.
”When did he go? When did Hoss go?”
Joe bit his lip. “A long time ago. A year?
”Can’t be a year. How many nights are we here? How many times did you eat since he left?”
”Two nights? One or two nights. I fell asleep and it never got light since then from the storm. I think it was two nights or one or five. You were hot and I put snow on your head. I ate the bread and the cheese Hoss left. I drank the water in the canteen too.”
Adam stared at his scared little brother and tried to force himself to be more alert. Little Joe really couldn’t judge time or count very much and it was really impossible for Adam to judge how accurate his little brother was.
“Snow? What snow?” Adam couldn’t believe they had snow so late in the year. The cabin was cold and dark and shadowy and he really couldn’t tell what was going on outside.
“Hoss said I should take care of you and he would come back with Pa and the wagon. But it started to snow last night.” Little Joe sniffed and started to cry. “You wouldn’t get up and Hoss said I shouldn’t go out no matter what. No matter what. And that I should watch over you and keep the fire going and give you water. He gave me the candy for you and me to eat when he got back. I didn’t eat the candy, Adam. I swear.”
“Don’t cry, Little Joe,” Adam winced as he tried to sit up on the narrow bunk. He could see it was dark out side and the wind was driving the snow hard against the windows. “Come here, Buddy,” He patted the edge of the bunk. Joe dove into his arms. Adam wrapped the thin rough blanket around both of them.
”I was mighty scared Adam. It got dark and Hoss didn’t come back and you wouldn’t wake up.” He hugged Adam tightly. “I had to go outside. Just a little bit. I had to pee. And to get the snow. I put snow in the coffee pot and put it near the fire to melt the water. All you would drink is the water. Don’t tell Hoss I went outside. Please, Adam. Don’t tell.”
Adam held the frightened little boy close. “You did fine, Joe. You were very brave.”
Little Joe clung onto him. “I slept there.” He pointed to the floor where there was a pile of blankets and Adam’s coat and hat. “I wore your coat and hat, Adam. I pretended I was you. And that you were me. And I took care of you like you would take care of me.”
“Hoss will be back with Pa very soon.” Adam prayed that their brother made it down to the house before the storm hit. He had no real idea when Hoss left and less sense of when he would return. “Don’t cry Little Joe.”
”I was scared. I sang to you.”
”You did?” Adam smiled.
Joe nodded and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I sang the song about Yankee Doodle and the light of the moon and all the church songs I could remember. And I told you stories just like you tell me. Hoss left more bandages for you to put on your foot. I can’t do it.”
“You did very fine, Buddy. You are only five years old.” Adam tried to remember what it was like for him when he was the same age and alone with their father on the road. He had once had to stay alone and frightened with his sick father. Adam had sat quietly in the wagon while his father slept for two nights and a full day. He remembered being scared but he was used to being alone with Ben. Joe was used to having a protective family around him.
Little Joe certainly was not used to being alone in such an isolated place and Marie had died only a few months earlier. Adam was very proud of how well the little boy was handling everything. “You did fine, Buddy. I’m mighty proud of you.” He smiled at his baby brother.
“I wanted to go with Hoss. I want my Pa,” Joe’s lips started to tremble.
Adam could see from his puffy eyes and dirt streaked face that the frightened little boy must have been crying earlier.
Adam bit his own lip. He missed his father too. He truly wished his father was there to take care of him and he didn’t have to put on such a calm façade for Little Joe.
Adam held the little boy close. “You know that Hoss could go back for the wagon and our Pa much faster if you tended to me here.” Both brothers longed for home as they clung to each other.
“I’m hungry, Adam. I ate all the cheese and the bread too.” He had licked the peppermint stick a few times but it made him sad to think how much he missed Hoss.
From the bunk, Adam could see there were plenty of supplies on the pantry shelf. Pa always made sure there was food in the line shack. “Bet we can cook some beans up. Maybe there is some flour or corn meal too. We can make some beans and biscuits.”
Joe smiled. “I can cook water too! I put snow in the coffee pot and put it by the fire and cooked water.”
Adam cautiously swung his legs off the bunk and he carefully looked at the wound in his leg. There was only dried blood on the bandage so the boy could tell it had stopped bleeding. Adam cautiously unwrapped his calf. He sucked in a breath at the pain. ”Damn.” He winced as the wound throbbed and fire shot up his leg.
“You cussed, Adam.” Little Joe was shocked. “You cussed. You told me not to cuss. Pa don’t like us to cuss.”
”Don’t tell Pa. Bring me those bandages Joe. And some more water.”
Joe hesitated. He really didn’t want to move from Adam’s side.
“Please, Little Joe. I need you to help me.”
Joe slid off the bunk and walked over to the table and brought Adam what he requested.
Adam knew he had to change the bandage. He was sure Joe would stand gawking and then would probably get more upset from watching. Adam did not have the strength to tend his own injury and deal with Little Joe if he got to crying again. He had to get Little Joe distracted and busy doing something else. Then he had an idea. “Joe, how would you like to cook some dinner?”
“Me? I can’t cook!” Joe gasped. “I’m just a little boy.”
“You cooked water. You just told me how you cooked water. Are you hungry? I’m sure hungry and you are in charge of tending to me.”
“I don’t know how to cook.” Joe bit his lip. He loved his brother and wanted to take good care of him, just like Hoss told him to do.
“Sure you can. Go over to the shelf and get that blue tin down…”
”Lift me up, Adam. I can’t reach it.”
”I can’t walk on my hurt leg. Pull that chair over,” Adam directed. “You can do that.”
Joe smiled. He pulled the battered wooden chair over to the shelf and pulled down the heavy tin of dried beans. “I need the pot too!” He pushed the heavy black iron pot off the shelf. It fell to the floor with a loud crash that shook the little cabin.
“Now take that pot and fill it full with snow. Pack it down real good. Stand it next to the fire. When it melts, you can put the beans in the pot and get them cooking.”
”I can do that!” Joe bragged.
“Can you see the stack of fire wood by the side of the shack?”
Joe nodded. “Uh huh.”
”Bring in an armload of wood. Do it twice so you don’t have to go out again tonight. Let it dry before you put it in the fire or it will make too much smoke. Put on your coat and don’t go away from the shack.”
”Can I wear your hat?”
Adam nodded. “Make sure you can touch the wall or you can get lost in the snow.”
“I’m scared. Don’t go to sleep again, Adam,” Little Joe demanded.
”No sir, I won’t. Why don’t you sing for me again so I can hear you when you go out.” Adam feared that Joe would wander out into the storm and get disoriented. “Sing for me again. Real loud so I can hear you.” If Joe was busy singing and gathering wood, he wouldn’t hear Adam if he cursed or cried out in pain changing his own bandage.
Joe set right to work.
With his little brother busy, Adam set to re-bandaging his injured leg. By the time he had finished attending to his own wound, Little Joe had completed all the tasks his brother had given him. Adam was completely exhausted but he knew he had to stay awake for Little Joe.
“Now you can learn to make biscuits.” Adam smiled.
*****
Their stomachs full, the two brothers sat and watched the flickering golden light of the fire. Joe didn’t know how to light the lantern, and when he asked Adam to light it, his brother told him to leave it for now. Adam secretly was afraid to use up the kerosene. He had no idea how long they would be stuck in the shack until Pa came to get them. The might need the kerosene more in a day or so.
“Adam?”
”Hmmm,” Adam was fighting to stay awake until Joe fell asleep beside him.
“Do you want dessert?”
”Don’t have any, Little Joe. No pie tree here.”
Joe giggled, “No cake tree either, Adam. But look!” Little Joe went over to his gear and rummaged around. Then he came back to his brother and handed him the peppermint stick. ”Dessert big brother! I didn’t lick it too much.” Joe handed his brother the candy.
Adam smiled, “You do take good care of your guests in this hotel, sir.”
Joe yawned, “I sure wish Pa was here.”
“Me too Buddy. Me too.” The young man who felt so full of himself only a few days earlier longed for his Pa as much as his baby brother, maybe more.
The two brothers fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms on the narrow bunk. The fire kept the shack warm enough and the snow finally had stopped.
“Want me to sing to you more, Big Brother?” Joe asked.
”Not right now, Little Brother.”
“I can tell you stories too if you want.” He was taking his responsibilities seriously. “Just like you do when you put me to bed.”
”Just go to sleep Joe,” Adam whispered. He patted his brother’s curls gently.
”We didn’t go fishing, Adam. I sat really still and we didn’t go fishing,”
”Next time,” Adam sighed and hugged Joe to his chest. Then he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
*****
The line shack door burst open and hit the wall with a loud bang. A blast of cold air filled the cabin. A snow-covered man pushed his way into the shack. Adam jumped and for an instant tried to figure how fast he could get to the rifle that was standing in the corner of the shack. He had to protect his brother from the intruder.
“Joseph! Adam. Are you all right?” It was Ben Cartwright. He and Hoss had finally made their way up to the line shack. The snow had stopped falling but the wind was blowing hard.
“Pa!” Joe leaped out of the bunk and ran to his father. Ben scooped him up in a tight hug. They squeezed each other tightly. Over his father’s broad shoulders, the little boy spied Hoss going over to Adam in the bunk.
“You ok. Adam? I went as quick as I could.” Hoss’ blue eyes were wide with fear.
”Fine as fine can be.” Adam was relieved to finally have his family there to take him and Joe home.
“Hoss! You were gone for years!” Joe hollered. “Do you want dessert?” He slid down from his father and ran over to the pile of gear on the floor and dug out the bedraggled peppermint sticks.
In two steps to his oldest boy, Ben walked across the little shack; Ben was relieved to find his sons.
“Pa. Am I happy to see you!”
“Adam! How are you boy?”
“I really needed your help, Pa,” Adam admitted as he reached out his arms for his father’s embrace.
The End
WomenWritersBlock 