1st Act
Adam

"Full House…", I said triumphantly, put the cards down, and stretched out my fingers to collect my winnings. As I looked up I saw a fiendish grin on Chuck's face. He sat next to me on the poker table, was one of our workers in the lumber camp and only a few months older than me. It was a mere coincident that I ran into him in the saloon… and how much I wished I hadn't.

"Straight Flush…", he said calmly and I felt the heat rushing to my head. "Looks like you owe me some money, Cartwright.", he gloated. A big lump formed in my throat as I watched him grabbing the money from the center of the table.

I forced myself to stay calm and tried to sound as confidently as possible: "I don't have the money with me right now… you'll get it by the end of the week."

The truth was that I was not only broke, I was more than broke: Not only had I lost about 50 $ – I still owed that guy the same amount!
I sipped on my glass of beer so I wouldn't have to look into Chuck's face. Then I grabbed my hat, stood up, murmured goodbye, and left the saloon as fast as I could. On my way out I could literally feel the smirks from the other men. Why didn't I use my senses and quit the damn game earlier?

Now I had to raise 50 $ and what was more important, I had to do it without Pa knowing. Even though I was 21 years old I still had to prove my maturity to my father; and having gambling debts was about as bad as horse stealing in his eyes. Besides, I was only supposed to buy a few tools in town and then return to my job at the lumber camp. I should have never ended up in the Silver Dollar in the first place.

As you can imagine, I was still in a pretty bad mood when I rode home from work. When I reached the house I spotted Hoss in the yard fooling around with a wagon wheel. What in the world was he doing there?I jumped off my horse and strode towards him.

"Hoss!" He didn't even react. "HOSS!" I snapped my fingers. "Do you intend to put the entire bucket of grease on that wagon wheel?"

"What?" Hoss looked at me like he had just awakened from a dream. In a daze he looked at the wheel that he had just greased – with four times as much grease as necessary. "Oh… I… I guess I got carried away."

I shook my head and went into the house. Sometimes I worry about Hoss. I worry that he might forget to breathe one day.

"Adam! Pa wants you to fix the barn door!", he yelled while I was on my way to the house.

"I do that later." Right now I had more important things to do.

I went into my room and searched my drawers, desperately hoping that I had some money stowed away that I had forgotten about… but no such luck. Unfortunately my memory seldom failed me. So I sat down and started thinking. What could I possibly sell that was worth 50 $. I looked around the room but only glimpsed at a couple of long johns and an old shirt. I looked out of the window and something in the corral caught my eye – something that was the answer to my problem.

Pa had a strange look on his face at the dinner table. Whenever I talked to him he seemed to pierce through me with his eyes. I was just about to finish my last bite when Pa sent Little Joe up to his room. I turned to the side and looked at the grandfather's clock. Wasn't it way too early for him to go to bed? The expression on Pa's face told me that he had gotten into some kind of trouble again. I didn't even want to know about it. I was too busy taking care of my own troubles.

"Thanks… no desert for me.", Hoss said when Hop Sing carried in the chocolate cake. I think that was the first time I had ever heard those words out of his mouth.

"Is something wrong with you? You've been acting strangely all day.", I asked.

Hoss only smiled at me. "No, Adam. I feel fine."

Pa also frowned. "Are you sure, son?"

"Yeah Pa, I'm sure.", said Hoss softly and asked to be excused. Pa nodded and Hoss went outside. Now was the perfect time for me to bring up the subject: I cleared my throat and started to talk about the young stallion. I had taken care of him after his mother died and that was why Pa had given him to me.

Slowly but surely I worked up to the idea that I wanted to sell the horse. Of course I didn't want to but it appeared like there was no way avoiding it if I wanted to get rid of my debt. After a few months I would have bought him back with my wages.

I feared that Pa would consider it bad business and would rather wait until the horse was full grown to achieve a better price. To my surprise he quickly said yes and even suggested a buyer: our neighbor Al Gibson. If Pa had known why I was doing this… I would have never heard the last of it.

The next morning Joe was the first one at the breakfast table and poured Pa a cup of coffee. Pa must have really bawled him out; he normally was the last one to shuffle down the staircase looking like an exhausted mule.

Hoss was never known to be late for breakfast but today he was missing. I asked Pa and he told me that he didn't eat much and got right to his chores. With a wry face I sat down and Hop Sing served me a plate full of scrambled eggs. While I was eating, Joe surprisingly offered to help me with my morning work.

What was the matter with this family all of a sudden? Hoss was avoiding food and Joe was asking for work… shouldn't it have been the other way around? Gladly I took advantage of the situation and let Joe take care of the horses while I enjoyed my coffee.

"Adam, why don't you leave for the lumber camp right now, so you can go home earlier and make that deal with Al Gibson.", said Pa.

"Alright.", I said. "And I can really keep the money for the horse?" I wanted to be sure.

"Of course, son. You raised him, I gave him to you, it is your money."

"Thanks.", I smiled and left for the lumber camp to tell Chuck that he would get his money tomorrow. During the ride I felt 20 pounds lighter, now that the weight of 50 $ was off my shoulders.

I slowly rode to the camp and from the distance I saw somebody sitting on a stomp drinking from a whisky bottle. I kicked my horse and as I came closer I noticed that Chuck was the one hitting the sauce. Seemingly this was going to be my lucky day.

"Well, well…", I said when I walked up to him from behind.

Chuck spun his head around: "Adam… uhm… I was only keeping this for a friend, you know.", he stammered. Who did he think he was fooling?

"Did he ask you to keep it warm for him in your stomach?", I asked.

"It was only a little… no, a tiny sip… I swear it.", he said nervously.

"You know my father's rule. There's not drinking on the job… not even a tiny sip.", I said seriously and he tried to wind himself out with phony excuses. I let him dangle for a while before I said: "Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. What I just saw never happened – just like that last round of poker yesterday."

A light grin appeared on Chuck's face. "It's a deal, Cartwright. We're even. And you really won't tell your daddy about that little bottle here?" He tipped his finger against the glass.

"What bottle?", I said and mounted up. "Throw it away and let's get to work."

In a bright mood I rode home for lunch and told Pa that I wanted to keep my stallion after all. He gave me a questioning look but I couldn't do him the favor of giving him the real reason for my sudden change of mind. There are times when ignorance is bliss.

I wanted to try a new way of storytelling and I really hope you liked it. Please comment.